This is a new interactive feature that appeared in the February 1, issue of the the Richmond Times-Dispatch Online. Readers are challenged to be the Governor of Virginia and balance the state budget that is already $2-billion in the Red. This lesson will be great for U.S./VA Government classes to show the diffuculty in making and balancing a budget. It opens a discussion on how budgets are made, where revenues come from, and how special interest groups play a part in making sure their piece of the budget pie is the biggest. It will be great to see your Seniors going to some of the state universities, fight over how much money should be cut from their favorite university!
The New York Times has developed questions about the tragic Earthquake in Haiti. You can use this with students while they read about it in their current events lessons.
Geography has been taken to the next level with Google Earth’s new feature: Rumsey Historical Maps. These select historical maps can be layered over the existing Google Earth globe. Mixed with modern day overlays, like roads and rivers a student can make historical geographic connections and see how inacurate man-made maps were back in the day.
To use this feature in Google Earth:
Go to the ”Layers” section on the left hands side of the screen.
Expand the Galleries menue and click on “Rumsey Historical Maps”
Zoom in on the map of the US and look for the “Rose” symbols.
Click on the rose and then the maps and they will overlay on Google Earth.
The actual parole papers on file in the Library of Virginia Special Collections Archive
The Library of Virginia has a website where you can view primary source documents stored in their special collections archive. One of the features is a “This Day in Virginia History” site where you can click on the calendar and find a document relevant to that day in history.
I’ll have to repost this later since this has already been taught this year, but I just found this in the National Archives Sites: Brown v. Board of Education lesson plan.
This could also be done as an in-depth study after the SOLs. Because this comes from the National Archives, students will have access to primary resources they’ve never seen before, such as the dissenting opinion from Judge Waites in the Briggs case in South Carolina the Thurgood Marshall used in defending Brown a few years later.
A Summer Reading list for Social Studies Teachers:
The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story
A true story—as powerful as Schindler’s List—in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.
Salt: A World History
The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind.
Assassination Vacation
A road trip like no other — a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.
As Glenn says, “it’s [the site] still basically an attempt to help Social Studies teachers do their jobs better. Information about learning opportunities, teaching materials, links to resources, ideas about best practices – the kind of stuff that I hope is useful for classroom teachers.”
Soon, he’ll include more videos and lesson plans to help social studies teachers in their classes.
This is a new interactive feature that appeared in the February 1, issue of the the Richmond Times-Dispatch Online. Readers are challenged to be the Governor of Virginia and balance the state budget that is already $2-billion in the Red. This lesson will be great for U.S./VA Government classes to show the diffuculty in making and balancing a budget. It opens a discussion on how budgets are made, where revenues come from, and how special interest groups play a part in making sure their piece of the budget pie is the biggest. It will be great to see your Seniors going to some of the state universities, fight over how much money should be cut from their favorite university!
