It’s Thursday, July 25, 2019, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Age Range: 13-18 (Grades 8-12, with parental supervision)
This website offers an amazing library of historical primary source documents that provide eyewitness accounts of North American explorers including the Vikings in 1000 AD, Spanish, French, and English explorers, American Indians, Pilgrims, Frontiersmen, Lewis & Clark, and the mountain men of the Rockies in 1800. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services, it was designed for students exploring one of National History Day’s theme, “Exploration, Encounter & Exchange.”
When you get to the site you will see a brief introduction and a menu bar that includes:
- Find A Document – A search engine to help you find documents on the topic that interests you.
- Images – An incredible resource of paintings, sketches, and pictures of the events chronicled in the documents.
- Highlights – Not sure where to begin? This page offers a selection of eyewitness accounts of famous moments in American History by date. Pick one and with a click of your mouse jump right into history.
- Teachers – THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO START. Read the description and use the menu bar that helps you choose a topic, select lesson plans, understand the geographical references and nomenclature used in the accounts, consider who wrote the accounts and what factors color their interpretation, determine how to deal with sensitive content in the accounts, and more.
Parents, as always, should review this material to determine suitability for your children and students. Be sure to read the comments under “Sensitive Content” on the menu bar in the “Teachers” section.
These documents provide a window into the past like no other. Bookmark this site so you can use it for research and supplementation to your studies of the history of exploration in North America.
