The Library of Congress is a fantastic resource for teachers and students. Their web-based collections, interactive ebooks, and mobile apps are perfect for classrooms studying United States history. Students can swipe through the ebooks on their tablets, access fables on their smartphone or examine primary source documents hosted on the web.
Finding resources online can be tough but these free resources from the Library of Congress can connect students to people of the past. Primary source documents are powerful, important pieces of informational text that are appropriate for K-12 classrooms. Check out one or all of these favorites!
- Student Discovery SetsThe Library of Congress has dynamic, multi-touch ebooks that are completely free for teachers. The Student Discovery Sets include a handful of topics such as the Dust Bowl, The Constitution, and The Harlem Renaissance.
- Slideshow CreatorThe fantastic creation tool Shadow Puppet EDU has partnered with the Library of Congress to give students access to a collection of images. Students can create narrated slideshows using images to record their understanding of different topics in history.
- Aesop’s Fables With this free app you can access a collection of Aesop’s Fables. It’s available for Android and iOS devices and makes locating favorite fables super easy.
- Primary Source SetsFrom Veteran’s stories to Baseball in America, the primary source sets from the Library of Congress have plenty to choose from. The range of resources is fantastic for students of all levels – a great place to search for inspiration.
- Lesson PlansThe Library of Congress has lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students easily searchable and organized by collection. From African American History to World War II the choices are fantastic.
Do you have a favorite or want to add to this list? Comment below!
cross posted at classtechtips.com
Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.
