The History Place
http://www.historyplace.com/index.html

The History Place is a must-bookmark site for all history and social studies teachers. There are a variety of featured exhibits on topics ranging from Abraham Lincoln to the Irish potato famine.

Biographical Dictionary
http://www.s9.com/biography

This massive biographical dictionary contains entries for more than 27,000 people and is searchable by name, birth or death year, position or profession, literary or artistic works, miscellaneous achievements, or other keywords. Entries are clear, concise, and well written.

History/Social Studies Web Resources
http://www.execpc.com/~dboals/boals.html

This exhaustive site contains thousands of links in 32 categories for K-12 history teachers. One distinction between this site and others with similar missions is the range and variety of materials available. In addition to lesson plans and curricula, there are links to topical lecture notes, magazines, radio programs, and more.

American Cultural History: The 20th Century
http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decades.html

This site is both educational and extremely entertaining. For each decade, there is information about art, books, fashion, historical events, music, theater, and more, along with a fascinating assortment of basic facts.

Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Save this page! Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May with these great Web sites.

Ask Asia
www.askasia.org

An important resource for teachers planning a unit on Asian culture, the site features a variety of teaching aids in Instructional Resources. The standards-based information is sorted by theme, country, and grade level. On the students' page, primary students can learn how to count, say words such as sun in Chinese, and make origami. Intermediate students can design their own art exhibit or play a map game. All grades can benefit from the Student Library, which contains a timeline, maps, and various readings.

Las Vegas-Clark County Library District
www.lvccld.org/

The Clark County Library created this site to celebrate the diversity found in the state of Nevada. In "Just for Kids & Teens," you will find great kid-friendly information. For example, in Fun & Interesting Facts, students can read fascinating facts from India, Korea, and many other Asian countries. Children can learn how to write a Haiku or play Catch a Carp's Tail in Games & Activities from Asia. Learn how to make nian gao (Chinese rice cakes) in Recipes from Asia to give your students a special treat while celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

Asia For Educators
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/

Just for teachers, this site's four cat-egories—Teaching Aids, Asian Topics, Resources, and World History — are dedicated to supplementing any curriculum. Teaching Aids contains electronic versions of workbooks, guides, and theme units — all of which are written and researched by the East Asian Curriculum Project of Columbia University. You will find a library of Chinese and Japanese multimedia topics ranging from poetry to government. All the information is printable and includes related Web links. Resources contains an Education about Asia Journal for teachers as well as a review of Asia in American textbooks. For social studies teachers and anyone looking to supplement their world history curriculum with primary sources, East Asia in World History provides them based on specific topics.

Asian Educational Media Service
www.aems.uiuc.edu/index.las

Many teachers are always looking for ways to keep up with today's fast-paced media-driven world, stay current, and stay within a budget. Although AEMS's focus is Asian studies, this Web site was created with the former factors in mind. You can search for resources based on region or do a general search. The site provides an Online Guide to Finding Educational Films as well as resources specifically focused on Afghanistan. The Bargain Buys Column features news about and reviews of inexpensive media for educators. While AEMS doesn't provide all of the products that have been reviewed, it does list all the necessary information on how to purchase them.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
www.factmonster.com/spot/asianhistory1.html

Fact Monster, an excellent kids resource, spotlights Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Interesting features include the Origins of APA Heritage Month, and Notable Asian Americans, which contains biographies of Asian Pacific Americans from astronaut Kalpana Chawla to actress Lucy Liu. In History and Timelines, students can read about the Transcontinental Railroad, Angel Island, and the McCarran Walter Act of 1952. If your students are wondering about the history of chopsticks or tea, check out Special Features.

By Francine Cabreja. Send your favorite Web site links to [email protected]

Black History Month

AFRO-American Almanac
www.toptags.com/aama

Trivia games, folktales, historical documents, biographies, and more! This almanac will keep your class well informed about Black History. Older students can benefit from receiving a free newsletter about current events e-mailed to them on a biweekly basis. You can even make a classroom almanac by creating a collaborative book based on students' research about African-American history.

World Book: African-American History
www2.worldbook.com/students/feature_index.asp

This site contains a wealth of biographies and historical events related to African-American history, including the history behind Black History Month. Kids can listen to samples of music as they find out about African-American music such as spirituals, jazz, and blues. A collection of articles about African-American literature is also featured. For an enriching experience, invite an African-American author or musician from the community to visit your classroom.

Africans in America
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

Based on the PBS TV series, this site offers practical guidelines and resources to incorporate Black History into your classroom. Each part of the series contains a historical "Narrative," and a "Resource Bank" full of images, documents, and biographies. As you visit each era of Black History documented on this site, print out images of key events to post on a time line. Want to extend your unit? Visit the online store to view classroom resources.

COLORU: The People of Color School on the Internet
www.saxakali.com/coloru/body.htm

Go to school on the Net! These online courses are self-study tutorials designed for people of color. You will find a variety of grade-specific lessons on African history, including African math, folktales, and biographical studies that let children proceed at their own pace. Invite your students to enroll and take a course during their free time for extra credit or as a Web activity. Interactive features include online discussions and group projects. Teaching opportunities for volunteers are also available.

History Channel Exhibit: Black History Month
www.historychannel.com/exhibits/blackhist/proindex.html

Tune into the History Channel's Web exhibit on Black History Month. During the months of January and February, consult the Black History Month TV Schedule for show times of many informative shows, such as "The Night Tulsa Burned." Use the correlating study guides that include extended activities, or use the guides to start the day with a featured discussion question. Go to "Great African Americans" and click on the names of some key figures in African-American history to learn more about them. Read about the Port Chicago Mutiny in a special feature on the site, which contains downloadable clips and pictures. Looking for a primary source? Visit the speech archives to hear actual speeches from historical personalities such as Malcolm X.

Education First: Black History Activities
www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/AfroAm.html

Make Black History Month an essential part of your classroom study. Use this Web site to participate in an interactive "Treasure Hunt" or join a live videoconference with your upper-elementary students. Explore carefully researched links during a WebQuest. As part of the WebQuest students can dress as specific characters from their research on Black History and interview one another for a classroom video. Use the teacher's guide to take a look at school desegregation in 1957. Specifically geared to educators, this site is an important classroom resource.

NAACP
www.naacp.org

See how the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has impacted America's past, what it's doing now, and how it's helping shape the future. You can stay current with organization news, take part in their weekly poll, share your opinion, and even locate your own local NAACP and take a class field trip for hands-on learning.

National Register of Historic Places: African-American History Month
www.cr.nps.gov/NR/feature/afam

Pack your suitcase and climb on board! This site features online photos of historic properties pertinent to people and events from African-American history. Look at a sunken antislavery schooner off the Florida Keys, view Underground Railroad stations, or visit the Frederick Douglass National Historical Site. Photographs of these landmarks and others are showcased along with interesting background information. Practice map skills with your students by tagging a map with the locations of these key places in African-American history as you visit their online sites. If you wish to plan a class field trip, phone numbers and maps are also available. Whether you take a virtual tour or visit these properties in person, everyone's sure to enjoy the trip!

NASA QuestChats: Black History Month
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk99

Chat with African-American scientists and engineers from NASA. You can view the archive of chats from 1998 and 1999, or check the schedule to join in on future events. Background text and photographs are included about each of the experts and information about the space program is also provided. You can use the suggested age-level activities for star watching, or plot the route of the Underground Railroad as a follow-up to reading Jeanette Winter's Follow the Drinking Gourd (Knopf, 1988).

Stamps on Black History
http://library.thinkquest.org/2667/Stamps.htm

This site features a complete list of African Americans who have been honored with a postage stamp. Explore the "Black History" tour, take a trivia quiz, or get some tips on stamp collecting. The informative biographies can be viewed alphabetically or cross-referenced according to which curriculum area the person's achievements relate to. Ask students to design their own stamps about Black History, then mount the stamps on the wall as a way to honor famous African-Americans this month. Nancy I. Sanders is the author of A Kid's Guide to African American History: More Than 70 Activities (Chicago Review Press, 2000).

Native Americans

Discovery School Lesson Plans
school.discovery.com/lessonplans/

For ready-to-use lessons on Native American history, go to Discovery School. Click on Lesson Plans: K–5 and under U.S. History/Government, click "Create Your Own Native American Board Game." This grade 4–5 game/lesson plan includes everything from the objectives to suggestions for extensions. In Lesson Plans: 6–8, also under U.S. History/Government is: Trails of Understanding: The Earliest Immigrants. This cooperative lesson plan links to sites that look at whether Native Americans were the first immigrants to North America. The lessons are complete and include standards drawn from McREL. Everything in one neat package.

American Indians and the Natural World
www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmnh/exhibits/ north-south-east-west/index.html

This spectacular site features four Native American nations: Hopi, Tlingit, Lakota, and Iroquois. Sub-sites are organized by elements that are distinct to each Native American nation with regard to history, nature, beliefs, and how each one has adapted to changes in modern society. For example, when exploring the Iroquois, you can discover how the Iroquois Confederacy was formed; learn about their natural resources such as the yellow bass and deer; and find out how their men, known for their ability to work at great heights, became construction workers who helped to build modern skyscrapers. The site is an excellent way to compare many aspects of these four important Native American nations.

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
www.pbs.org/lewisandclark

This PBS site is an extension of their documentary about Lewis and Clark. Start by clicking on "The Native Americans" to read some of Lewis and Clark's accounts of their expedition — from tensions with the Blackfoot and the Tenton Sioux, to friendships they had with the Arikara and the Shoshone. In Classroom Resources, there are 16 lessons for social studies, mathematics, science, and language arts. Each lesson includes downloadable worksheets and reproducibles (in Adobe). Another important feature is the Archive, which contains maps of the journey. Explore Journals for firsthand accounts by Lewis and Clark. The site can be used together with the documentary (available on video from PBS) or on its own.

Native American Women
gowest.coalliance.org/exhib/gallery4/leadin.htm

A great resource for primary sources, the site is an electronic gallery of photographs from the late 19th century, depicting the daily life of the Native American woman. Hosted by the Denver Public Library, there are four different parts: Dwellings, Children, Daily Life I, and Daily Life II. In Dwellings, the photos show women constructing a teepee, demonstrating the role they played in building housing for their families. The captions under the photos are informative, and give us a sense of what daily tasks were like. In Children, see how children helped their mothers and how babies were cared for. These beautiful photographs make a Native American lesson come alive. Please note, however, that some computers not equipped with higher-speed modems may take longer to load the photos, but they are worth the wait.

Native American Craft Unit
www.teachersfirst.com/summer/nativecrafts.htm

Celebrate Native American culture by making easy crafts from this Web site. Each project includes a list of materials, illustrations, techniques, and step-by-step instructions for activities such as making a dreamcatcher, a corn husk doll, or a pinch pot. The crafts listed here have historical value and they make a Native American unit fun. This site also includes some traditional Native American recipes for dishes such as boiled corn and pemmican.