General Resources

• Virginia Department of Education  On the VDOE site you will be able to access the History and Social Sciences Standards of Learning Curriculum Framework in pdf or word format. This document provides the 2015 version of the state standards.
• History Alive!/Social Studies Alive! This link brings you to the home page of Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. The site provides information about all the History Alive! and Social Studies Alive! programs, allows teachers to share tips with each other, preview activities, and access Internet tutorials, enrichment essays, and enrichment activities for selected programs.
• Primary Source Learning This links to a project funded by the Library of Congress to support the use of primary sources in the classroom. In addition to access to primary sources, there are numerous strategy ideas as well as lessons developed by Arlington teachers using primary sources. Additionally, teachers can access this link (http://tpsnva.org/posters/) at the site to locate posters that align with SOL objectives and enduring understandings for all social studies subjects.
• Everyday Civics Civics education in Virginia emphasizes the importance of citizen involvement in all levels of government and promotes the study of state and local government among the Commonwealth’s citizens. This Web site will enhance teachers’ content knowledge and support the development of instructional strategies for teaching civics in k-12 history and social science classrooms. Ready resources for the classroom include lesson plans, discussion boards, primary documents, Internet links, and media.
• Virginia’s Site for Social Studies EducatorsThis website is intended to be a Teacher Resource Guide for Virginia’s teachers to develop knowledge and skills in history, geography, civics and economics to prepare students for informed participation in shaping the nation’s future.
• Documents of American History State law requires that the Documents of American History shall be taught to all students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This file includes the Virginina Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Virginia, Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution.
• National Council for the Social Studies NCSS site contains teaching resources, information on awards and grants programs, and an executive summary of the NCSS Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Included is a list of links which are categorized by the 10 thematic strands of the Standards.
• The Virginia Council for the Social Studies engages and supports Virginia educators in advocating and strengthening social studies. Goals include fostering professional growth, developing communication, and promoting the teaching of social studies. Information about the annual Virginia Conference for Social Studies Educators can be found here.

Other Great Resources for Secondary Students:

• http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/ This site allows you to search the Library of Congress timeline for documents related to American History.
• http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/journal/ A journal that shares classroom ideas for integrating primary sources.
• http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/whmfinding.php This site provides a listing of links for world history resources based on topics of study.
• www.worldhistoryconnected.org World History Connections keeps readers up to date on the latest world history research and debates, provides suggestions of best practice teaching methods, and offers rich teaching resources.
• Beyond the Bubble ( http://beyondthebubble.stanford.edu/ ) is a site from Stanford that incorporates the archives of the Library of Congress with short assessments that teach historical thinking skills. Assessments, rubrics, and student work can be found at this site.
• http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com– From ancient world to the present, this site tells the story of history from the people who lived it. Included are journal entries, audio clips, videos, and pictures that allow students a glimpse of the people that experienced big events in history and recorded information about these events.
• http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/– This free resource from the Library of Congress provides access to teachers of thousands of audio clips and songs throughout American history.
• Historymatters.com– Just recently a number of documents that address historical events post WWII have been released. This website is dedicated to making these documents available to shed some new insights on Cold War events. Site includes primary sources as well as topical essays.