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Teachers around the U.S. are scrambling to come up with lesson plans and resources for students as many school districts are making the decision to shutter schools for the next two to three weeks (or even more) to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, which has been declared a global pandemic.

Hollywood movies pose a unique set of problems for social studies teachers: How often should I show films, how much of the film should I be showing, and which films are appropriate to show? The short answer is film is an essential part of the social studies classroom that, if used in the proper manner, can be a pedagogical tool that enhances your students’ understanding of historical events and themes.

How often should I show films?

You should show films as often as your curriculum calls for it. Movies give the students the unique ability to see history happen in a modern medium with special effects and a cultural significance that you cannot recreate in your classroom. The key to using movies well is to use them wisely. They should serve as a complement to your more traditional methods of conveying information.

For example, a primary source about the modernization by the Meiji government of Japan in the late 1800s gives the students the ability to visualize history while improving their skill of interpreting text. But if that source is followed by a clip of the Tom Cruise film “The Last Samurai”, the students see their vision come to life. The students can make a T chart of the traditional and modern aspects of Japan they see in the clip. Think of all of the skills used in this ten minute activity: drawing upon prior knowledge that was gained through reading a first hand account, comparing and contrasting two vastly different eras in Japan, and interpreting the film not as a Hollywood production but as a secondary source.

Don’t let the stigma of showing films alter your best judgment as a professional. Cops still eat doughnuts despite the public’s negative connotation. Teachers should still show movies despite the public’s misconception as to why we show them.

How much of the film should I be showing?

I have worked with teachers who earned nicknames such as “Lights Out” and “Matinee” for their use of movies in the classroom. It wasn’t their frequent use of film that earned them these monikers; it was their reliance on showing FULL LENGTH Hollywood movies on a regular basis. This is not a pedagogically sound practice on any level. Movies are more useful in the social studies class through a series of short clips, not when they are shown in their entirety. The few exceptions to this rule include Glory, Schindler’s List and Hotel Rwanda because these are stories that more completely tell of the emotions and individuals that make history happen and make it special. These stories cannot be properly told in ten minute clips.

When I was in high school, my tenth grade teacher showed the class the film “Gandhi”. The entire 191 minute movie. Today, I use three specially selected clips from the movie (less than thirty minutes in total) to illustrate the themes of human rights violations, collapse of imperialism, and the importance of the individual.

Which films are appropriate to show?

There is no one right answer to this question so I recommend you ask your school’s administration before showing any movie – even just a clip! – that is rated above the age of your class. Some districts have an approved movie list that is constantly reviewed and updated.

Below is an abbreviated list of films that would be ideal to show in the social studies classroom. Again, I advise that you view the film and find clips that apply to your lesson and reinforce the themes and concepts that you are trying to deliver to your students.

American History

1492: Conquest of Paradise (Exploration)
The Crucible (Salem Witch Trials) – worksheet
The Last of the Mohicans (French and Indian War)
1776 (Revolutionary War)
Amistad (Slavery) – worksheet
Glory (Civil War)
Gettysburg (Civil War)
Lincoln (Civil War)
The Godfather Part II (Immigration)
The Grapes of Wrath (Depression) – worksheet
Saving Private Ryan (Invasion of Normandy/World War II)
We Were Soldiers (Vietnam War)

World History

Gladiator (Bread and Circus/Roman Empire) – worksheet
Luther (Reformation/Diet of Worms)
Elizabeth (Reformation/Absolutism)
The Last Samurai (Japanese Imperialism) – worksheet
The Last Emperor (Qing Dynasty)
Flyboys (World War I)
All Quiet on the Western Front (World War I) – worksheet
The Lost Battalion (World War I)
Gandhi (Indian Independence)
Schindler’s List (Holocaust) – worksheet
Thirteen Days (Cuban Missile Crisis)
Hotel Rwanda (Collapse of Imperialism/Genocide) – worksheet

Not only can watching films enhance students’ understanding and interest in a topic, having your class make a movie is an excellent method for assessment that asks the kids to interpret and analyze material to make an organized and accurate representation of history. With smartphones and almost every pocket and programs such as Windows Moviemaker becoming available to more districts, the ability to use film as a tool for assessment is more relevant than ever. Students can create a documentary or newscast that discusses history as it happens. This makes set design and wardrobe very easy. A more detailed project can be to have them act out history as it happens. Posting these projects on YouTube is another way to view films and share them with other classes. There are numerous examples of similar projects online, enabling you to show students both good and poor examples of what you would like them to do.

Don’t let parents, administrators, or colleagues shame you into ignoring such a popular and effective medium. Hollywood films can be used as an effective tool for learning if they are used in the proper manner. Follow the tips above for maximum impact on your students and check out our post Teaching with Movies in the ELA classroom post for more ideas.

The impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. on American society and politics is immeasurable. His efforts to bring equality to all races living in America led to lasting change and still hold an important place in all American history curricula. As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King on the third Monday of January every year, it is important to find fresh ways to teach our students about his life, while still incorporating some of the essential reading, writing, and thinking skills students need.

Let’s look at Dr. King’s most memorable speech with a focus on historical thinking skills.

Close Reading:

Close reading asks students to determine a source’s point of view and purpose.  For example, Dr. King’s famous I Have a Dream speech includes the sections:

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Students can break down each line to determine the vision that Dr. King had for his country. They can then summarize the entire section by analyzing the interpretation for each line.

To help students see the speech from an ELA perspective, Presentation Magazine offers a compositional analysis of the speech.

Contextualization:

Contextualizing is the skill that asks students to look at the facts and events surrounding a particular document that may have influenced its creator. To fully understand the context of Dr. King’s message we must look at race relations and segregation in America in 1963. Teaching Tolerance offers a five lesson teacher’s guide to their film A Time for Justice: America’s Civil Rights Movement which chronicles the civil rights movement from the 1954 ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education to the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act. The guide includes primary sources, interactive activities, and the background information that give Dr. King’s words context.

For upper elementary students, Scholastic provides a brief overview of the same era. It provides context for Dr. King’s speech, but does not require a lot of class time to convey much of the same information.

Corroboration:

Corroborating a source’s content is when students locate other sources that back up or contradict the source being analyzed. In trying to corroborate Dr. King’s words, students can be presented with various speeches.

Here are two examples:
The first is by Alabama governor George Wallace, that says, in part,

and I say . . . segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever.

The second example is from President John Kennedy, which says:

This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro.

Students should use excerpts of these speeches to corroborate Dr. King’s characterization of a country that is divided and unequal. Students can also use these speeches to make a claim about American society in the 1960s.

Sourcing:

To properly source a document, students must determine if the who, when, and where of a document makes it more or less reliable. All three of our speeches were given in 1963. We know from our contextualizing, that America was in a state of racial turmoil at the time. In our corroborating, we learn that the speeches by President Kennedy and Governor Wallace highlight the issues stated by Dr. King. All sources seem to be a reliable source of history of the time they were created.

Dr. Martin Luther King is a monumental figure in American history. His contributions cannot be overlooked. With some of the sources and activities above, you can honor his work and memory, while still integrating the skills our students need. To learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., have students listen to the Read-Aloud: Martin Luther King, Jr. which offers a short overview of his life. Also, you may enjoy our free Martin Luther King, Jr. printables. For more on historical thinking skills, check out Help Teaching’s Online Self Paced Lessons on Sourcing and Corroboration, and well as two different lessons on Contextualizing.

In 2016, Help Teaching, once again, shared blog posts about a wide range of educational topics. We started the year off with our annual Top 100 Free Education Sites. In September, we updated our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science. Throughout the rest of the year, we shared posts related to social studies, language arts, and general education. We even included some test-taking and teaching strategies. To round out the year, we’d like to take a moment to highlight some of the posts HelpTeaching users found most useful. You might discover a few you missed or a few you want to share with friends.

#1 25 Ways to Show Kids You Care About Them

At the end of the day, kids just want to know you care about them. We’ve come up with 25 ways to help you make that happen. Everything on the list can be done right away, without a lot of thought or planning. Watch for more posts in 2017 to help you develop a better relationship with your children and your students.

#2 Guide to Quality Screen Time for Babies, Children, and Teens

When it comes to technology, it’s important to pay attention to what type of content and how much content your children are consuming. We break down what you need to know about the AAP’s guidelines for screen time and provide you with some quality educational apps and video series you can feel safe letting your kids interact with.

#3 Everything Your Students Always Wanted to Know About Electing the President…

In the United States, 2016 will go down as the year of one of the most talked about elections in history. All of the attention around the election likely raised a lot of questions in students’ minds. For example, what is the electoral college? This post seeks to answer students’ most pressing questions about the presidential election. Now that the election is over, in 2017, we’ll bring you facts about the inauguration and more posts to help you understand U.S. and world history.

#4 Brain Breaks: Helping Students Refresh, Reset, and Get Moving

Do you use brain breaks in the classroom? Brain breaks are one of the latest trends to help improve student performance. They give students a chance to recharge so they can focus on learning. If you’ve never used brain breaks or are looking for new brain breaks strategies to use in your classroom, this post will help.

#5 How to Become a Champion Speller

Can you spell hippopotamus? How about ambidextrous? Using the strategies found in our post about becoming a champion speller, you can help your students improve their spelling skills. We include advice from pros and other tried and true spelling strategies.

#6 Why I Review With Students and How You Can Too

Review is an important component of the learning process. Without regular review, students are likely to forget the material they’ve learned throughout the year. We’ve listed some reasons to make review a part of your classroom routine, as well as strategies to use with students as they review. Don’t forget, you can find plenty of worksheets to use for review on our site.

#7 10 Ways to Help Students Avoid Procrastination

Some students love to procrastinate. However, procrastination rarely leads to a quality learning experience. Use these tips to help your students learn to manage their time and avoid the pitfalls that come with procrastination.

#8 Social Studies Reading List

If you’re looking for quality social studies texts to use with students, check out our social studies reading list. The texts on the list are designed to spark students’ interest in social studies and help them learn the basics before heading into class.

#9 10 More Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week

In 2015, we brought you 10 Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week and in 2016 we brought you even more. Did you know that the wettest city in the United States is Mobile, Alabama or that China shares its border with 16 nations? Find these facts and more in our post.

#10 Science Activities You Will Want to do with your Kids

Science can be a lot of fun. Instead of letting your kids have all the fun, why not enjoy some activities with them? We’ve come up with a list of experiments and other science activities that you can do with your kids. When you’re finished with the activities on this list, check out our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science for even more fun science activities and resources.

Stay tuned to Help Teaching’s website and blog in 2017 for even more quality content to help you both in the classroom and at home. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see us cover? Share it in the comments. Who knows? It may become the next topic featured on our blog.

In October 2016, Microsoft released the long-awaited Minecraft: Education Edition, making it easier for teachers to bring Minecraft into the classroom. However, you don’t need a computer or even Minecraft software to make Minecraft an integral part of your classroom. We’ve come up with some great ways to help you engage your Minecraft-loving students offline too.

Develop a How-To Guide
For students it’s often easy to play a game and much harder to show someone else how to play again. Get students to stop and think about what it takes to play Minecraft. Then have them hone their expository writing skills by developing a how-to guide or video to help other students learn how to play the game. You can have students create a brochure outlining Minecraft’s key features or create a video focused on a more specific element of the game, such as how to make a hidden doorway in a staircase.

Create a List of Rules
Before setting students free to explore the world of Minecraft, teachers often lay out a list of rules students should follow while in the game, such as not destroying others’ structures. Once students have interacted with Minecraft a bit on their own, have them come up with their own list of rules for the online community. Rules can be serious, such as using kind words, or silly, such as banning all purple structures. Developing rules will help students learn about concepts related to citizenship and developing a healthy community.

Write a Minecraft-themed Story
A quick internet search will result in a ton of Minecraft stories written by authors hoping to capitalize on Minecraft’s fame. Chances are your students know more about Minecraft than many of those authors. Put their knowledge of the game to the test by having them write stories centered around their own Minecraft worlds. If they need help getting started, check out some of our own Minecraft-themed story starters to help spur the creative writing process.

Learn Minecraft Vocabulary
Minecraft has its own set of terminology and skills. See how much your student know by pulling out Minecraft-related words and using them as part of a spelling or vocabulary test. You can also download and print our Minecraft-themed Word Search and Bingo games to introduce students to some key Minecraft vocabulary words.

Build Minecraft-inspired Structures
When students play Minecraft, they’re immersed in a pixelated world. Everything is designed using cubes, which means creating objects with triangular or rounded edges is a bit more challenging. You can explore the same concept by having challenging students to build 3D sculptures outside of the game. Sugar cubes and square blocks make great building tools.

Design Paper Plans
Before creating in Minecraft, students can also create paper blueprints of the worlds they plan to create. Using some basic graph paper, kids can shade in different grids to represent the elements of the landscape. Then they can try to recreate their drawings within the game.

Study Perimeter, Area, and Volume
The pixelated world of Minecraft offers a great way to help students learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Using their paper plans, sculptures, or groups of blocks, have students determine the perimeter and area of a structure. They can do it easily by measuring the side of one block, and then counting the number of blocks that make up the length and width of the structure. They’ll also build their multiplication skills at the same time.

Solve Minecraft-themed Word Problems
Help build students’ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills through the creation of some basic Minecraft word problems. For example, how many apples does a character need or how many ink sacs and bone metal are needed to make enough gray dye? We have a few Minecraft-themed word problems to get kids started.

Create Minecraft-inspired Mosaics
Cut construction paper into squares or pick up a bag of tissue paper squares at the craft store. Glue the squares onto a piece of white construction paper to create different Minecraft-inspired mosaics. For example, students could design self-portraits or glue the squares onto a box to create full-size Minecraft-inspired versions of their heads.

Design a Color by Number Worksheet
Similar to Minecraft-inspired mosaic, design a color by number worksheet for students to complete. Have students color every square with a particular number, letter, or word a certain color. Once all the squares have been colored correctly, students will have a fun picture. You can also challenge students to create their own color by number worksheets using graph paper. Then they can give them to a classmate to solve. We’ve created a few color by number worksheets to get you started: Color by Number Parts of Speech and Color by Number Addition and Subtraction.

All of these activities incorporate the principles and ideas of Minecraft without requiring students to play the actual game. Whether you already use Minecraft in the classroom or just have students who enjoy the game, you can use these activities to help engage students throughout the school year.

Do you have any fun Minecraft-inspired resources that you use in the classroom? If so, we’d love to know about them. Share them in the comments!

Today, experts aren’t the only ones who can create very professional documents. “Content creation” tools have become far more accessible to a much broader audience. This is particularly true when it comes to math documents. By using some of these free, and incredibly useful tools, you’ll find it doesn’t take much to put together and publish quality math documents that you can be proud of.

1. Grapher

One the most indispensable tools is Grapher, which comes preinstalled on Apple computers. I frequently use this program to create most images of graphs that I include in my posts, but you can also use it to prepare graphs for worksheets or to help solve equations.

When you open Grapher, you must first determine the type of graph you’d like to make, with options that include both 2D and 3D versions, along with standard Cartesian, log, or polar graphs. Then, simply type in the formula you want to graph and Grapher does all the work. Once it’s drawn, if you click on the Inspector button, you can then click on your graph to further customize options, such as setting tick spacing on the axes, or changing the colors of your lines. In addition, there is a + button on the lower left which allows you to add additional equations to your graph. This option may be incredibly useful to show how changes to the basic equation causes the plot to shift or stretch.

Additional features of Grapher allow you to evaluate your curve at a specific point, and to even differentiate or integrate your equation. Alternately, you can use Grapher to plot specific points on a graph, and then interpolate a best fit line. Grapher fits my needs perfectly for creating beautiful images of graphs to include in my writings, and also as an advanced calculator to help me solve complex equations. There are many more features that I have not yet explored (e.g. periodic functions, parametric curves…), so you can see how valuable this free software can be! I can’t recommend it enough.

2. Microsoft Mathematics

A similar program to Grapher that’s designed for PC users is called Microsoft Mathematics. Considering the software is free, the feature set that it contains is extremely powerful and well-designed. It provides the same graphing and equation solving functionality found in expensive graphing calculators, plus additional features such as a triangle solver and unit converter. The basic software, with its comprehensive math components (e.g. trigonometry, statistics, calculus, algebra, etc.), targets students and helps them solve math problems. However, Microsoft offer an extra Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote, which may help educators embed graphs and equations into other documents, such as exams or worksheets. Considering that it’s free and made by Microsoft, you don’t have many reasons to not try it to see if it’s suitable for you.

3. LaTeX

LaTeX (pronounced “lay-tech”) document markup language is more universal, and should be able to apply to any computer system. With it, you can create consistent, sharp math formulas that look like something you would see printed in a textbook. When you first start using LaTex, you may find it is slightly more complicated than simply typing out a document, but once you get going, you’ll find that it’s fairly self-explanatory and it comes highly recommended.

When you bring up the Online LaTeX Equation Editor, you will immediately see a large white box where you will add in the specifics of the equation you wish to produce. Below, updated in real-time as a properly formatted equation, you’ll see the final result. The gray buttons near the top are the functions you can use to build more advanced equations, although you can simply type the components of simple ones. For example, to generate a nicely formatted basic equation, you could just type in f(x)=2x^3. This will produce a consistently-formatted image representation of your equation, which you can copy and paste into your document. The downside to this method is that if you wish to make changes to your equation, you need to go back to the input rather than directly modifying your image inside your document.

Similar online tools include MathJax, an open source JavaScript program. Help Teaching members may also appreciate the Help Teaching Math Equations Editor which allows you to create your own math equations to add directly to math worksheets.

While a general type of tool, rather than a specific tool, cloud-based apps allow you to work on your documents wherever you happen to be. If you have a Google account, then you can take advantage of Google Drive. Similar to the Microsoft Office suite of software, Google’s version is all online, and much more basic. Similarly, Apple users can take advantage of the new iWork for iCloud apps, which includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to prepare their drafts. I like this option, because it syncs with my iPhone easily and allows me to make changes on the go.

When it comes to generating material for my math blog, these useful tools mentioned above are some of my go-to resources. They don’t cost anything and they help make my site that much more attractive and professional. Give them a try, and see what they can do to help with your math documents. If you use them, I’d love to see the results! Leave me a comment or email me at (thenumerist101 at gmail dot com). Also, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, @TheNumerist. And if you have some incredibly useful math tools of your own, be sure to share them in the comments below.

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Shaun Klassen has been writing online about math concepts for several years. His newest website project is The Numerist, where he includes a wide variety of quality tutorial pages that help explain mathematical concepts to students, or provide ideas for teachers to apply to their math lessons.

In the world of education, there’s nothing a teacher loves better than the word FREE and every teacher knows the internet is full of free content to use in the classroom. However, not every teacher knows how to find that content. Whether you teach early elementary school or are trying to keep seniors from checking out, many of these sites have been designed to help you.

Elementary School

Language Arts

1. Funbrain Reading offers games to help students brush up on their grammar and reading skills. Teachers and students will also find digital graphic novels and excerpts from popular children’s books.

2. Scholastic Student Activities feature lesson plans and interactives for multiple grade-levels and subject areas. While the site covers multiple subject areas, many of the lesson plans are text-based, making them ideal for use in a language arts setting, particularly when it comes to introducing students to informational or non-traditional texts.

3. Merriam-Webster Word Central is designed to help kids practice their spelling skills. The site uses games, a build-your-own dictionary feature and lesson plans to help accomplish that purpose.

4. Paragraph Punch helps students learn to write a basic paragraph. This site is ideal for students in upper elementary school.

5. Storyline Online features videos of members of the Screen Actors Guild reading popular children’s stories. It is a great site for getting students to read and also offers a new way to present books to students in the classroom.

Math

6. Math Playground is full of games designed to help kids practice their math skills. Activities feature a range of problem types and many are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

7. Figure This encourages families to get involved in learning math skills by offering fun challenges for them to complete. Teachers can also adapt many of these challenges for use in the classroom to help students build some real-world math and problem-solving skills.

8. Math Cats offers a fun math fact every day, as well as numerous activities designed to help kids learn and explore more about basic math and problem-solving skills.

9. Funbrain Numbers contains multiple games for students. They can solve math problems while kicking soccer balls, racing cars and playing other arcade-style games.

Science

10. Wonderville helps kids learn about science by answering questions kids may have and exploring unique topics in science. The site also offers a section on “Neat Jobs,” helping kids see some of the ways science is put to use in the real world.

11. Science Kids is full of fun science facts, experiments and other activities designed to help get kids interested in science. Teachers can also find lesson plans, videos and project ideas to bring science into their classrooms.

12. The Electronic Zoo allows kids to take a trip to the zoo without leaving the classroom. The site features information on all types of animals, from invertebrates to primates and many more.

13. Kitchen Chemistry shows kids how they can perform science experiments in their own homes. Teachers can adapt many of the experiments for use in the classroom as well.

Social Studies

14. BBC History provides games and activities to help make history fun for students. Special animations help students see what life was like during certain periods in history and interactive activities allow them to participate in history.

15. Geosense test students’ knowledge of world geography. Kids can play by themselves or compete against each other.

16. Xpedition Hall is an online interactive museum from National Geographic. Students can learn about geography as they explore the museum and teachers can download a special guide to help them use the content in their classrooms.

17. Archiving Early America provides teachers with videos and images to use as they teach students about early American history. Some documents and biographies are also available.

Middle School

Language Arts

18. Essay Punch takes students through a series of exercises designed to help them learn how to write an essay, a crucial skill for all middle school students.

19. Scholastic News helps get upper elementary and middle school students interested in the news by providing them with news stories geared towards their interests and reading levels. This is a great site for finding informational texts for students as well.

20. VocabularySpellingCity gives students a place to practice their spelling and vocabulary words. While the free options on the site are limited, students and teachers can build vocabulary lists and take quizzes to help them learn the words.

21. Sheppard Software’s language arts games help students brush up on their grammar and punctuation skills, as well as learn new vocabulary words and play fun word games.

Math

22. Aplusmath.com features flash cards, games and worksheets designed to help students brush up on their math skills. While the site covers elementary and middle school skills, the way its content is presented is better for middle school students.

23. AAA Math offers math lessons for students at multiple grade-levels. Teachers at the middle school level can find lessons and interactive activities on topics such as measurement, exponents and geometry.

24. CoolMath is not just for elementary students. Middle school students can also brush up on their basic math skills and practice basic algebra and geometry skills through these fun games and interactive lessons.

25. MathMovesU is full of activities, games, information and lesson plans designed to help get middle school students interested in math.

Science

26. Learner.org offers numerous interactives designed to help students understand complex scientific topics. While content is able for all grade-levels, some of most engaging interactives are geared toward students at the middle school level and cover topics such as DNA and divergent boundaries.

27. NASA Quest is focused on helping students learn to think critically and engaging them in scientific inquiry. Many of the activities found on this site are geared toward students in grade 5-9, making it an ideal resource to help students at the middle school level solve real-life scientific problems.

28. Physics Central offers a free comic book series called Spectra to help students learn about physics. The main character is a middle school student.

29. Exploratorium is a science museum that has filled its online site with websites, videos and other resources to help students learn more about science. Students can also view and interact with many of the museum’s exhibits online.

Social Studies

30. Eyewitness to History provides teachers and students with lesson plans and media files designed to help them experience history. Students can access a wide variety of primary source materials to see history as it really was.

31. Teachable Moment helps take current events and use them to teach students valuable lessons. These lessons are especially beneficial in the middle school years when students are learning to think beyond themselves and develop their understanding of how they fit into the world around them.

32. Mr. Donn’s Social Studies Site is full of lesson plans, quizzes, worksheets and other activities related to various countries, cultures and periods of history. Many of the resources are ideal for middle school students and their teachers.

33. Virtual Tourist helps students learn about geography by taking them on a behind-the-scenes tour of many different countries. This is not typical textbook information; instead, it is designed to help students actually see what a visit to these countries would actually be like.

High School

Language Arts

34. Grammar Bytes helps students brush up on their grammar skills by going through sets of interactive activities. Students are then rewarded with off-the-wall virtual prizes.

35. Project Gutenberg features thousands of public domain texts in the form of free eBooks. Teachers can find numerous fiction and non-fiction texts to use with high school students. Students can also find texts to use for book reports or to help them explore specific subject areas.

36. Purdue OWL is the online writing lab for Purdue University, but it also features a lot of information that can be helpful to high school students. This should be their go-to resource when writing papers, citing sources and learning how to avoid plagiarism.

37. A Word a Day provides students with a new vocabulary word each day. Teachers can use this site as an opening activity in the classroom or just to help students build their vocab skills. Archives of previously featured words are available as well.

Math

38. S.O.S. Mathematics offers over 2,000 pages of lessons and worksheets designed to help students improve their skills in high school math. Subjects covered include algebra, trigonometry, complex variables and matrix algebra.

39. Math Bits features tutorials related to high school math and computer programming. Students can also find information on how to operate graphing calculators.

40. Math Planet brings math to students through video lessons. Teachers can use these lessons in the classroom or students can watch them at home to help learn more about complicated math processes.

41. Analyzemath.com contains numerous free questions for math teachers to use in the classroom or students to use to brush up on their skills.

Science

42. PBS LearningMedia features a wealth of videos, audio files and lesson plans related to science. Students can see the scientific principles they are learning about in action. While an account is required to view most of the materials, creating an account is free.

43. ScienceGeek.net was designed by a high school science teacher to benefit his students. Students can find review sheets, worksheets and problems related to high school chemistry, A.P. Chemistry and biology.

44. NSTA: The Science Teacher allows high school science teachers free access to some of the articles from its magazine designed just for them. Some of these articles, such as those about careers in science, can be used with students in the classroom.

45. PhET offers a variety of interactive simulations to use with science students. Simulations are organized by topic and grade-level, making it easy for teachers to find simulations to use to help bring science to life for their students.

Social Studies

46. PowerPoint Palooza contains numerous PowerPoint presentations for teachers to bring directly into the classroom. Topics cover a wide range of history and include collections designed to be used in A.P. European History and A.P. American History courses.

47. Teach with Movies helps engage students, especially high-schoolers by helping teachers find movie clips that relate to core topics. Social studies is only one of the many subjects covered on this site.

48. Econedlink offers free economics lessons for students at all grade-levels, but a majority of the lessons are focused on students in grades 9-12. Many feature interactive handouts and quizzes to help test students’ knowledge of economics.

49. Internet History Sourcebook is full of online texts for teachers to use in the classroom. These texts are geared toward major periods in history and ancient civilizations and get help students get a glimpse of history outside of the textbook.

50. Help Teaching offers a wide variety of free printable worksheets and activities that use unique map images.

Looking for more web-based teaching resources? Read Help Teaching’s articles Ten Social Studies Web Resources and Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science.

Teachers have embraced Pinterest, the modern day equivalent of clipping magazine photographs and showing them to your friends, as a source of inspiration for classroom organization, projects, and curriculum resources. Pinterest offers a multifaceted platform for educators to research ideas for their classrooms, follow other pinners, and create boards linking to resources for students. For STEM educators, Pinterest is a visual brainstorm of hands-on science activities, curriculum materials, and the most recent advances in science and technology.

If you are looking for new ideas for your science, technology, engineering, or math classroom, get started by following some of these Pinterest boards:

Best Kids Science Experiments – Steve Spangler fans will enjoy this collaborative board and visual playground of icky activities to engage students in the scientific process.

Citizen Science Programs – Check out these pins and find a citizen science project for your class to participate in.

Earth Science – Kids Discover offers a host of interesting boards for teachers, but geo-geeks will especially appreciate these pins to earth science articles, videos, and images.  

Explore and Get Outdoors – The National Wildlife Federation’s board of ideas on getting kids back to nature.

Explore the Natural World – STEM educators will appreciate this board by PBS, featuring stunning images of nature that blur the boundaries of science and art.

Invertebrate Love – View these stunning images and videos of strange sea critters lacking skeletons.

iPad Landia – With the integration of iPads into more and more classrooms comes the need for finding quality apps and educational best practices. Get started with iPad Landia.

Los Alamos National Lab – Cool collection of boards for those who embrace their inner geeks. Pocket protectors anyone?

NASA EDGE Vodcasts – Engage students with these vodcasts by NASA EDGE. Maybe one of your students will become a rocket scientist.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – Don’t miss out on any “Wicked Cool Space Stuff.” Follow any or all of these boards from the Maryland Space Center.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards – The standards are out. Become familiar with them and stay up-to-date with NGSS progress with these pins by The Einstein Project.

Scientific Explorer – An essential collaborative board dedicated to “exploring scientific knowledge”.

Science & STEM – Get your STEM ideas flowing for hands-on, home projects with this resource board.

STEM STEM STEM – In case the name was unclear, this collection of pins by the National Science Teachers Association helps teachers stay up-to-date with trends in STEM education.

STEM Works – The STEM-Works program strives to increase science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills in communities nationwide and maintains this collection of boards including pins about CSI, jobs, lesson plans, robotics and more.

Students Like Tech! – Follow Edutopia’s board for EdTech ideas and trends.

Teaching with Sci-Fi – Even reluctant science students may enjoy a good science fiction book.

U.S. Department of Energy – Get the latest information on everything energy related, from STEM education to green energy.

Video Lectures in Mathematics – Looking for a refresher course on differential equations, a tidbit on the history of math, or a good math joke? Check out this collection of boards with over 1,400 pins to math lectures.

Women in Science – These photos of groundbreaking women in science, courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives, link to further information about these pioneers.

Follow Help Teaching on Pinterest to keep up with our newest free printables, premium worksheets, and blog articles!

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.