The MI Open Book Project is a multi-year initiative funded as part of the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG) which will empower groups of master teachers to come together, collaborate, and develop open education resources for use in classrooms around Michigan.
The final products will be available on their website as soon as they are ready. Even cooler, the source files (iBooks Author and InDesign formats) will also be available to download and add your own content. |
General
Resource Help
Best of History Websites Start here. It is the gateway to greatness.
The British National Library- Explore the World's Knowledge
Museum Box Create your own museum exhibit of historical artifacts
Zinn Education Project Howard Zinn teaches a People's History which is often the untold story when it comes to American History and what is not in your text book
FedFlix This site has over 18,000 free movies on many social studies topics.
8BillionLives mini documentaries of the lives of special unknown people all over the world
Mr. Donn must be a great social studies teacher. Awesome links and resources.
Facing History and Ouselves This site is dedicacted to linking the past with moral choices today.
C-Span Video Library Videos dating back to 1987
National Geographic for Kids
Academy of Achievement This is an outstanding online museum with achievers from all areas of society.
Historical Voices audio and text files of historical speeches and more.
My Hero read stories and biographies of famous heroes. You can also submit your own stories.
National Geographic Homepage
The Smithsonian Homepage Known as the nation's treasure house for learning.
American Revolution Interactive site that teaches about the American war for independence.
GeoNet Games Excellent site that with games that teach location, physical and human characteristics, physical systems, human systems, human environment interactions, and changes over time for all the places in the world.
Avalon Project Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
National Humanities Center Visual Toolbox of primary documents organized by theme.
LIFE Photo Timelines
American Cultural History
This Day in History by the History Channel
Docs Teach - This site has ready made lesson plans to go with documents from the National Archives
One Day In The World's History
The Week in Rap This is a great current events site
Family Echo Free online family tree maker.
101 Practical Ways to Ditch That Textbook-Ideas for implementing learning materials without using a textbook
Geography
National Geographic Maps: Tools for Adventure Interactive games to learn map skills along with other Social Studies concepts
GeoGames Build Planet Earth from the big picture down to the local with click and drag map features.
ArcGIS This is a Web2.0 tool where you can create your own maps or view maps created by others.
Geography 4 Kids
Shappard Software Geography Games
Interactive maps Latitude, Longitude, and Mapmaking - This lesson requires students to review the concepts of latitude and longitude and to use these concepts to create maps of different countries on the computer
Maps that Teach from Owl & Mouse software - Learn the countries of different continents and their capitals with these fun and educational map puzzle games. Interactive maps to learn continents, countries, states, capitals, borders, physical features and cultural monuments. Download maps from all over the world to use in class.
The Map Machine from National Geographic - interactive maps, or go to their Xpeditions section to find maps to print.
Maps of War Visual History of war, religion, and politics
Countries
CIA World Factbook - links to information about every country in the world
Continents - Scroll over a continent to learn more, click on a continent to visit its interactive map.
Country Studies - an index of country information on the web posted by the Library of Congress
Interactive Quizzes about a variety of countries
U. S. Department of State: Background Notes - These publications include facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty.
States of the United States
Coast to Coast - students try to complete a cross-country road trip by answering questions about the states. The questions are hard, but students quickly learn interesting facts about the states. When they make it to Hawaii, there is a surprise.
Fifty States index gives links of interest for each state. You can find out what a state bird or flower is, for example, but a link will also show you the bird or flower. This looks good for projects on any of the states.
Fifty States Guide - Website consists of concise and meaningful information about each state. Take a trip around the country without ever leaving home! Includes history, geography, outdoors, tourism, State links and State Info.
A Virtual Car Trip Through the USA! -- The open road calls, even when you're trapped at home. When the itch to explore, see, and do takes hold, consider a digital road trip.
Interactive U. S. Geography Activities -
- How well do you know the states of the United States?
- Do you know the names of the state capitals?
- Can you locate these major cities? (this one is very hard)
- Can you find the major rivers and lakes?
- How well do you know the major land features in the United States?
U.S. States - States web games; locate states, name states and more
Where in the USA - students choose from three categories (U.S. capitals, cities, or landmarks) and have two minutes to answer as many as they can
Government
icivics The Democracy Lab a super cool Interactive Animation site
Center on Congress This site has e-learning modules and videos that teach students about congress from the inside out.
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
First Gov for Kids
USA Government
Kids in the House Learn about the house of representatives
happard Software USA for Kids
Interactive White House Tour
Time Lines Applications and Mind Mapping Graphic Organizers
Time Toast- Easy to use, Start with this one for no fuss time lines
Capzles free multimedia time line maker
Time Rime These time lines can be made with text, pictures, audio and video files.
Internet4Classrooms list of timelines
Read, Write and Think Timeline Creator
Timelines
Drop Mind highly interactive mind mapping software online
bubbl.us - free web application for brainstorming online
Gliffy.com
Flowchart.com - Flowchart software - Create Flowcharts Online with Realtime collaboration - [BetaOnline Mind Mapping - MindMeister
Games
Playing History 126 and counting Interactive Games that teach history
History Globe Links to The Jamestown Online Adventure, the Oregon Trail, and Anglo Apache Conflicts
Big Picture Small World Experiential Games
Taking it Global for educators Rich, Interactive experiences that help develop Global Citizenship, Critical Thinking, and Leadership Skills
Flash Card Makers
Quizlet
Headmagnet
StudyStack
Cramberry
Smart Fm This tool uses scientific research to tell you what to study and when for maximum results.