TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jan 28, 2024
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
Maya Angelou - Unit - Kids Disover
Grades
4 to 12
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In this unit, students will discover the actual human behind the famous name Maya Angelou. The unit has three parts: Tough Beginnings - Maya as a child and teenager, Talent ...more
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In this unit, students will discover the actual human behind the famous name Maya Angelou. The unit has three parts: Tough Beginnings - Maya as a child and teenager, Talent to Spare - Maya as a young adult and her early career, and More than Words - Inspiration. Many students may not know that she was the first African American streetcar conductor in San Francisco and a singer and songwriter. Part three, More Than Words: Inspiration, has a timeline from 1971-2008 and colorful images of her later in life. In the last two parts of the unit find four discussion questions called Think Piece. At the bottom of the landing page are three different word activities. You will need to have a free Kids Discover membership to access this unit.
tag(s): african american (111), authors (103), biographies (93), black history (125), poetry (189), women (137)
In the Classroom
This unit is geared for 5th-6th grade readability (Lexile level 750-890). Introduce your students to this unit on your interactive whiteboard or a projector. The first part, Tough Beginnings, is very interesting, describing that Maya didn't speak for five years and why. Once you get through that part and the Think Piece that goes with it, let students read the rest in pairs or small groups. For the Think Piece(s), create a class Google Jamboard, reviewed here, where students can record their answers and include sticky notes and images. Depending on the age of your students, you may want to create a guided reading activity using Read Ahead, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad - TeachersFirst
Grades
4 to 8
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Follow along on this Reading Trek virtual journey of resources about Harriet Tubman's life. This Reading Trek includes a Teacher Guide that uses Google My Maps, reviewed...more
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Follow along on this Reading Trek virtual journey of resources about Harriet Tubman's life. This Reading Trek includes a Teacher Guide that uses Google My Maps, reviewed here, that will help students understand the life and times of Harriet Tubman. Activities correlate to Common Core Standards, National Standards for Social Studies and Visual Arts, and Social Justice Standards. In addition to teaching ideas for working with the map, this Reading Trek also includes extension activities and links to additional helpful resources. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): african american (111), black history (125), civil rights (195), diversity (38), racism (76), slavery (75), women (137)
In the Classroom
Include some of the suggested classroom uses for this resource found in the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism, slavery, and African-American history. Consider using the historical information from the book and other primary sources to create timelines with your students showing the important events during the story. Find various free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here, to have students create simple videos using just photos and their own voices.
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Black Art and Artists in Our Collection - National Gallery of Art
Grades
4 to 12
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Explore an extensive collection of African-American art provided by the National Gallery of Art. This collection includes a variety of mediums, including photography, sculpture, and...more
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Explore an extensive collection of African-American art provided by the National Gallery of Art. This collection includes a variety of mediums, including photography, sculpture, and paintings. Click any thumbnail to find a summary of the artwork to learn more about the artist.
tag(s): african american (111), artists (77), black history (125)
In the Classroom
Include this collection with your other resources shared during Black History Week or as part of art lessons exploring types of media and art genres. Padlet, reviewed here is an excellent tool to curate and share resources with students. Use individual images for story starters or writing prompts. For example, share an image on Google Slides, reviewed here, then ask students to write a short story based on the image. As students explore artists and their work, have them share their learning by creating a website using Carrd, reviewed here. Carrd is a simple website creation tool that asks students to add images, information about artists, and their reflections on the artwork. Extend learning by turning the tables and allowing the students to become the teacher using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here. Ask students to create a Learning Path about their favorite artist or media that includes links to biographies, art displays, videos, quizzes, and more. Share Learning Paths with peers to provide a personalized learning experience about art.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Paramounr
Grades
8 to 12
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Ma Rainey's "Black Bottom" is the theme song for August Wilson's play from 1982 and the Netflix movie from 2020 of the same name. The song, first recorded in 1927, ...more
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Ma Rainey's "Black Bottom" is the theme song for August Wilson's play from 1982 and the Netflix movie from 2020 of the same name. The song, first recorded in 1927, is still relevant today; it is set in the 1920s in Chicago and deals with themes of Black art and culture, racial tension, and power. This song resides on YouTube and may not be available in your classroom.
tag(s): african american (111), black history (125), blues (22), plays (27)
In the Classroom
Are you studying Black history or the Blues? Then your students need to know about Ma Rainey. Have them read Ma Rainey's biography, reviewed here, and then listen to one of Ma Rainey's most famous songs. Ask pairs or small groups to listen carefully and pick out phrases that would still apply to Black Americans today. Use a tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to list the example phrases and research current topics that are relevant. With Padlet, students can post various resources such as videos, primary sources, and books.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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34 Highly Influential African-American Scientists - Interesting Engineering and Christopher McFadden
Grades
6 to 12
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This list shares information about 34 African-American scientists and their contributions to many different fields of science. Scroll through to learn about a pioneering ophthalmologist,...more
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This list shares information about 34 African-American scientists and their contributions to many different fields of science. Scroll through to learn about a pioneering ophthalmologist, a woman physicist who advanced the field of telecommunications, and a physician who developed a tool for use with gastric biopsies, among others. Each entry includes short biographical information along with a summary of their accomplishments.
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tag(s): african american (111), black history (125), careers (139), scientists (62), STEM (264), women (137)
In the Classroom
Include the information and scientists named in this article as a starting point for many different classroom uses. During Black History Month, feature one of the scientists included on the list each day. Share this list with students to use as a starting point for researching influential Black leaders or learning about career options. Engage students in understanding these African-American scientists' accomplishments using Google Jamboard, reviewed here. Create a slide for each scientist, then ask students to add a sticky note with information learned about their career as they research their work and accomplishments. Ask students to create simple blogs using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. Telegra.ph is a no-fuss blog creation tool that makes it easy to create and share visually appealing blogs that include images, links, and text.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reading Treks: A Weed is a Flower - The Life of George Washington Carver - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 3
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks creates a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration...more
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TeachersFirst Reading Treks creates a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using the trade book, A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver. Use our robust Instructional Guide with students in grades prek-3. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, National Core Arts Standards for Visual Arts, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks here.
tag(s): black history (125), independent reading (85), racism (76), slavery (75)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many suggested classroom uses for this resource found on the Instructional Guide (PDF). This book and the suggested activities work well as part of lessons on racism, slavery, and African-American history. Consider using the historical information from the book and other primary sources to create timelines with your students showing the important events during the story. Find a variety of free online timeline creation tools located here. Use Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here to have students create simple videos using just photos and their own voice. Even the youngest student can click the record button to create a video sharing what they learned about George Washington Carver. Find free images to use in your videos within this collection reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Lowdown: The Obama Years, A Retrospective Lesson Plan - PBS Learning Media
Grades
6 to 12
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Explore the achievements and setbacks of Barack Obama's presidency in this lesson that includes an interactive timeline of his eight years in office. The lesson plan includes essential...more
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Explore the achievements and setbacks of Barack Obama's presidency in this lesson that includes an interactive timeline of his eight years in office. The lesson plan includes essential questions, vocabulary, and suggestions for small group or individual instruction. Activities are correlated to Common Core Standards, or sign in using a free account to link activities to your state standards.
tag(s): 20th century (59), black history (125), presidents (121)
In the Classroom
As you explore the interactive timeline together as a class or with small groups, use a simple polling tool like SurveyPlanet, reviewed here, to assess student understanding of the different events on the timeline. Use SurveyPlanet to add each event to a poll and ask students to weigh in on their opinion on if the event was an accomplishment or a setback to the Obama administration. Use an online curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to organize and share additional resources with students to enhance learning. For example, create a Padlet with columns for each year of the Obama presidency and add online articles from different resources that discuss each event. Extend learning by asking students to apply their knowledge of the Obama presidency and compare it to another president's term in office using one of the storytelling tools found at Knight Lab, reviewed here. Scroll down Knight Lab's main page to find options that include a Storyline to tell the stories behind numbers, StoryMap - maps that tell numbers, and a timeline creation tool.
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NAACP History: Carter G Woodson - NAACP
Grades
5 to 12
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Learn about Carter G. Woodson, also known as the "Father of Black History" through this short yet informative article provided by the NAACP. The article tells of Woodson's childhood...more
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Learn about Carter G. Woodson, also known as the "Father of Black History" through this short yet informative article provided by the NAACP. The article tells of Woodson's childhood in Virginia as the son of former slaves and takes readers through his work leading up to his development of Negro History Week. Since that time, his work has become a month-long celebration of African-American history.
tag(s): african american (111), biographies (93), black history (125)
In the Classroom
Include this article along with your other resources for Black History Month, studies of famous Americans, or when studying biographies. Engage students by helping them organize information using a bookmarking tool like Padlet, reviewed here. Use Padlet's column feature to sort information by date, location, careers, or more. Padlet also includes the ability to add comments to share additional information or notes. Include this article as part of a larger unit created using Curipod, reviewed here. Curipod is an easy to use tool for creating interactive online lessons that include videos, websites, PDFs, and more. As a final project and to extend learning, ask students to create and share videos with information learned during the unit. Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here and Powtoon, reviewed here , are excellent resources to create video presentations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mary McLeod Bethune - Learning for Justice
Grades
6 to 12
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Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the...more
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Using an excerpt from an interview of Mary McLeod Bethune, this lesson guides students through an exploration of Bethune's life and comparisons to their life experiences. Through the use of the provided list of essential questions, students use critical reading skills to build knowledge and make connections. This lesson also includes additional extension activities and prompts.
tag(s): black history (125), civil rights (195), women (137)
In the Classroom
Use the provided link to import this lesson into your Google Classroom account. This lesson is part of a four-part series, use the other lessons to build your unit on black history or famous women. As you add additional resources to your lesson, enhance student learning by using Kami, reviewed here, as a collaborative discussion tool. Kami includes tools for highlighting and adding notes to online articles to facilitate peer discussions. Further enhance learning by helping students highlight important information from within articles using a word cloud creation tool like Wordsift, reviewed here. Copy and paste any text into Wordsift to highlight and enlarge frequently used words. Use this information to guide students toward significant portions of text. Ask students to use a digital annotation tool such as Image Annotator, reviewed here, to add notes, links, and additional information to images. Extend student learning by encouraging them to learn more about Mary McLeod Bethune and other feminists and then creating and sharing podcasts. One easy introduction to podcasts is through the use of Acast, reviewed here. Have students use Acast to give a "You Are There" presentation sharing events as they happened during Bethune's life, or to share their takeaways of the importance of Mary McLeod Bethune's contributions to women's rights.
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Sojourner Truth: Abolitionist and Human Rights Activist - PBS Learning Media
Grades
3 to 7
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Learn about Sojourner Truth and her fight against slavery along with her support for women and equal rights using primary sources in this lesson provided by PBS Learning Media. The...more
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Learn about Sojourner Truth and her fight against slavery along with her support for women and equal rights using primary sources in this lesson provided by PBS Learning Media. The lesson includes a video and two primary source documents - a photo of Sojourner Truth and excerpts from her most famous speech. Information is correlated to National Standards for History, Civics and Government, Common Core State Standards, and College and Career Readiness Standards.
tag(s): black history (125), civil rights (195), civil war (134), women (137)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of this free lesson to introduce students to Sojourner Truth, Civil Rights, or Women's Rights. Share the lesson into your Google Classroom account using the provided link. Extend this lesson using technology to motivate and engage students as they learn more about each topic. Create an entire unit that includes this lesson within Actively Learn, reviewed here. Include links to additional online resources, have students take notes, and include assessments all within the Actively Learn framework. Use the many resources found at ReadWriteThink, reviewed here, to help students organize and share information. For example, use the Bio Cube with students to organize biographical information on Sojourner Truth or have students use the Comic Creator to tell the story of Sojourner Truth. For a complete multimedia presentation, ask students to use Book Creator, reviewed here, to share their information about Women's Rights. Book Creator offers a variety of options to include in the digital books such as video, images, audio, and more.
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Famous African Americans - Famous African Americans.org
Grades
6 to 12
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From the little known to the very famous, these people all have something in common: they have all made significant contributions to American history. Though far from complete, the...more
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From the little known to the very famous, these people all have something in common: they have all made significant contributions to American history. Though far from complete, the list has hundreds of names (listed alphabetically by their first names) and a wealth of categories from sports, singers, actors, writers, activists, scientists, politicians, and everything in between. Every person has a picture and a biography. If that isn't enough, investigate this site's engaging blog topics like 6 Must-See Malcolm X Posters, Top 10 Most Famous Black Actors of All Time, Top 10 Richest African Americans, and plenty more.
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tag(s): african american (111), biographies (93), black history (125), cultures (132)
In the Classroom
This is an excellent site to use as part of a biography unit to match biographies to individual student interests. Allow students to choose a category. Have them read several biographies from that category, then research an African American that hasn't been included on this site. Have students use these biographies as a model to write about the person they researched. Instead of using paper and pen to write down information, ask students to use Google Docs or Microsoft Word to begin research. Using these online documents affords many benefits, including the ability to add comments, highlight information, and add links to online information. Once research is underway, suggest that students use a bookmarking tool like Raindrop.io, reviewed here, to organize information. Raindrop.io includes the ability to add notes to bookmarks, making it easy for students to label and add information for later use. As a final project and to extend student learning, ask students to create their own book using OurBoox, reviewed here, that includes images, videos, and text. Math teachers could have students figure out which category has the most people in it, or what percentage of the site is dedicated to the category they are interested in.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights - Scholastic
Grades
4 to 8
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The Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights website includes an interview, a biography, and other reading material that can be easily viewed full-screen on your classroom interactive...more
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The Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights website includes an interview, a biography, and other reading material that can be easily viewed full-screen on your classroom interactive whiteboard (or with a projector). The site is easy to navigate with links built right into the text for vocabulary and other relevant information. The activities help students understand the importance and necessity of every individual citizen in a democracy working together to contribute to a better way of life for all.
tag(s): african american (111), black history (125), civil rights (195), cultures (132), martin luther king (43), rosa parks (9), tolerance (9), women (137)
In the Classroom
Spark your students' interest in how one brave individual changed history by not giving up her bus seat to a white passenger. Whether you are doing a unit on people who make a difference, civil rights, tolerance, or studying women and events in history, this self-contained website provides resources and materials that you can display on your classroom whiteboard (or with a projector). Involve students in using the interactive links to enhance learning and springboard discussions on what still needs to be done in regards to acceptance and embracing racial, ethnic, and cultural differences. Use an online tool like The Interactive Three-Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast discrimination in our country then with similar challenges we face today, and what still needs to be accomplished for a better tomorrow. Broaden the concepts to include that even when we are brave and have courage, change doesn't come about immediately; it takes time and continued perseverance. Culminate the unit with a writing prompt for students to reflect on and explain: Have you ever faced something that you thought you couldn't stand up to? Instead of using paper and pencil, integrate technology by having students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. With Telegra.ph have students click on an icon to upload related images, add YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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By Popular Demand: Jackie and other Baseball Highlights 1860s-1960s - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12
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This Library of Congress collection has information on Jackie Robinson and lots more. As always, the images are the star of the show, and there are pictures of early teams, ...more
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This Library of Congress collection has information on Jackie Robinson and lots more. As always, the images are the star of the show, and there are pictures of early teams, documentation about Robinson's entry into the big leagues, and much more. Students can click on a time period (1860s-1890s, 1900s-1930s, 1940-1946, 1947-1956, 1957-1961, or 1962-1972) to learn more about the history of African-Americans and baseball.
tag(s): 1800s (72), 1900s (73), africa (137), african american (111), baseball (33), black history (125)
In the Classroom
Provide your students with this website and a good 20-minutes of exploration time. Then, enhance learning by having your class write journal entries through the eyes of the African-American baseball stars. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, replace paper journals and have students create blogs (digital journals) sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. With Telegra.ph have students click on an icon to upload related images, add YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. Or divide the class into cooperative learning groups. Extend learning by having each group research a specific time period and share their findings with the class using an infographic tool created with Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Seattle's tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. - Seattle Times
Grades
6 to 12
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This site, created by the Seattle Times, offers an impressive look into the life and words of Martin Luther King, Jr. This extensive site includes a timeline, a study guide ...more
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This site, created by the Seattle Times, offers an impressive look into the life and words of Martin Luther King, Jr. This extensive site includes a timeline, a study guide with various higher order thinking activities, biographical information, video and audio clips, printables, links for more information, and authentic photos.
tag(s): 1960s (27), african american (111), black history (125), civil rights (195), holidays (163), martin luther king (43)
In the Classroom
Check out the free study guide, perfect for your MLK Jr. celebration or even Black History Month. Have students respond to the "thinking questions" by creating a journal entry or blog written by King.
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