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Free U.S. History: Pilgrims, Mayflower, & 1st Thanksgiving

November 12th, 2020

American History – From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium

USHistory.org

Grades 4-12 approximately, with parental supervision

This ad-supported website is sponsored by the non-profit Independence Hall Association whose mission is to educate the public about the Revolutionary and Colonial eras of American history.

At the site, you’ll find a free virtual textbook of American history from Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium, including an entire section on “The New England Colonies” that includes:

  • The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony
  • William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving
  • Massachusetts Bay — “The City Upon a Hill”
  • Puritan Life
  • And more!

When you get to the site you’ll see a Table of Contents of all 60 chapters. Click on a topic of interest and a new page opens where you can read the articles and see pictures and illustrations. Use the “Next” button near the top of each page to read each entry in this virtual textbook.

Look in the left margin to see comments provided by visitors to the website, who often provide additional resources and links to reference materials.

Note: Because this site contains randomly generated ads and allows comments by visitors, parents (as always) should preview the site and supervise all Internet activity.

Note: We make every effort to recommend websites that have content that is appropriate for general audiences. However, all of ClickSchooling’s recommendations assume that parents will preview the sites for suitable content, and then review the sites together with their children. 

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Free Sheet Music, Theory Lessons, and More

September 19th, 2020

 

It’s Saturday, September 19, 2020, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

8notes.com

(www.8notes.com/)

Age Range: 7 and up (Grades 2 and up; children with parental supervision)

 

This website from Red Balloon Technology Ltd. in St. Albans, England, is a fabulous resource for free sheet music for all kinds of instruments. 90% of this website is free to use with subscriptions to additional features available for $20 a year. The free portions of this website are ad-supported, but they are minimal and do not interfere with use of the site.

When arriving at the link, visitors will see sections broken down into smaller categories with image links. Sections include: 

  • Free Sheet Music & Lessons – sorted by instruments including string, wind, brass, vocal, ensembles, and other instruments
  • Music Lessons & Resources – included are Lessons, Improvisation Pieces, Play along Jam tracks, Licks & Riffs, Chord Charts and Tuners, Charts & Resources
  • Free Sheet Music Categories – music sorted by classical, pop & rock, jazz, film & TV, world, weddings, Christmas, traditional, funeral, children’s, Christian, and new music

Music lessons and resources include basic lessons for drum, guitar, piano, saxophone, violin, music theory and more. Find guitar, ukulele, piano, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, recorder, and trumpet, and interactive finger and chord charts in the Chord Charts, Fingering Charts & Scales section. There is also a Music Biographies collection to explore to expand your knowledge of music greats.

When selecting from a music category, you are presented with a chart of available music within the genre. You can easily make selections by searching for difficulty level, artist, or title from the information in the chart. Click on the song title and another list shows all the instrument versions that are available. Select the instrument and the sheet music page will open.

When the sheet music pages open, you can not only view the music but also print out the sheet music. There is also access to use an online metronome and review other information about the piece.

Music lovers will want to bookmark this website and check the “Latest Additions” category in the Resources section to see all the new additions to this continually building website.

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Learn all about Jamestown and Captain John Smith

January 9th, 2020

 

It’s Thursday, January 9, 2020, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

On the Trail of Captain John Smith

(www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/trail-captain-john-smith/)

Age Range: 9-14 (Grades 4-8, with parental supervision)

 

This website offers a fun, interactive game that allows kids to learn about Captain John Smith’s voyage from England to America and the establishment of a colony in what is now Virginia.

When you get to the site simply click on “Let’s Go” to play the game. Be sure to turn on your speakers so you can hear the narrated video presentation that is also displayed in text below the screen.

The topics are:

  • Off to Virginia – Watch an introduction and brief history about the initial voyage.
  • Building A Fort – Learn about the disagreement among the colonists about building a fort to protect the colony.
  • John Smith is Captured! – Discover the difficult conditions the colonists face and the exploration they embarked upon to find relief. Find out how John Smith was captured by Native Americans and the result of his capture.
  • Powhatan’s Power – Learn about Captain John Smith’s meeting with the Indian Chief Powhatan. Is the legend of how Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life true? Discover historians’ perspective on this story.
  • Help from the Indians – Play a treasure hunt game to find the natural resources in the bay and marshlands that helped the colonists survive.
  • Exploring the Chesapeake – John Smith and the colonists were seeking gold and a Northwest Passage. Find out what they DID find, and play some games that will test your skill at virtual fishing and boating.

And more!

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Video to Explain Daylight Saving Time!

November 4th, 2019

 

It’s Monday, November 4, 2019, and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Daylight Saving Time Explained

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84aWtseb2-4)

Age Range: 8-18 (Grades 2-12, with parental supervision)

 

C. G. P. Grey, an American living in England, cheerfully shares his insights on history, politics, and more, by means of illustrated videos.

This YouTube video explains Daylight Saving Time and why we change the clocks in the spring and fall. 

Once you understand Daylight Saving Time, you can go to Mr. Grey’s site and see more of his featured videos. His YouTube videos are  surprisingly fun to watch, well-made, and highly informative. Even if you find yourself disagreeing with some of them, they are still good launching points for discussion and further study. Some of the math related videos are: 

  • The True Cost of the Royal Family
  • What is a Leap Year?
  • Which Planet is the Closest?
  • Social Security Cards Explained
  • and more.

As always, parents should preview the site and the videos to determine suitability of content, and supervise all Internet use.

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Step Back in Time with a Visit to Old Sturbridge Village

October 18th, 2019

 

It’s Friday, October 18, 2019, and time for a Virtual Field Trip at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Old Sturbridge Village

(www.osv.org/explore-the-village/historical-buildings-landscapes-and-gardens/)

Age Range: 6-18 (Grades 1-12, with parental supervision)

 

Old Sturbridge Village is one of the country’s largest living history museums where a staff of historians in costume reenact early New England life from 1790-1840.

You can explore this living history museum without leaving home. When you get to the website, scroll down to take a photographic tour of the museum that is accompanied by text explanations of the exhibits: 

  • The Common & Center Village
  • The Countryside
  • The Mill Neighborhood
  • Gardens

Learn about the Friends Meetinghouse: Members of the Society of Friends were also called Quakers and had a distinctive way of life.


Visit the Salem Towne House: This Federal-style dwelling was the home of a prosperous farmer.


And the Printing Office: Rural printing offices produced books, broadsides, bills, and pamphlets.


Check out the Tin Shop: In the 1830s, tinware shops competed successfully with pottery stores.


Be sure to see the Educator Resources under the Education link in the top menu. You can download a map and “Make History” activities.

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New England History-Only a Click Away

May 16th, 2019

 

It’s Thursday, May 16, 2019, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

American Centuries: View from New England

(www.americancenturies.mass.edu/)

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision)

 

Step back in time with this website which features a huge digital collection of objects and documents from the Memorial Hall Museum, one of New England’s oldest museums in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Through the use of hundreds of images, videos, interactive learning activities, transcribed historical documents, and lesson plans, visitors can gain a window into the past of life in New England.  

This site is extremely user friendly with straightforward navigation and clear explanation of all exhibits and activities. When arriving at this website, hover over the text links in the upper blue navigation bar to reveal more refined destinations. Or you may select from the interactive main page image map to begin exploring. There is even a “Just 4 Kids” special image link of a man in a top hat in the upper right corner of the website that brings visitors to a kid-friendly page with an image map linked to some of the interactive activities available.

On the Online Collection page you can narrow your discoveries for these topics: 

  • Highlights of the Online Collection – Browse through highlighted collection treasures grouped by topic.
  • Explore the Online Collection – Using the text links in the instructions, discover the best way to locate items of interest.
  • People, Places and Events – a mini-encyclopedia for researching important people, places and events
  • Civil War Newspaper Index – Search for articles that were published in the Greenfield, Massachusetts Gazette and Courier during the Civil War. (Please note that most of the articles cannot be viewed online but can be viewed on microfilm at the Memorial Libraries.)

There are loads of fun and interesting interactive activities to find on the Things to Do page. Just a few of those activities include: 

  • Dress Up – See, hear, and learn about the clothing of American history interactively.
  • First Person – Read about and listen to audios of 20th century histories from the people who lived them.
  • Magic Lens -Easily read the fanciful writing of old manuscripts with the use of the interactive “Magic Lens.”
  • Video Demonstrations of Early American Tools – brief videos of how tools from the past were used
  • Activities from Turns of the Centuries Exhibits – tons of interactive activities to learn more about Family Life, Native Americans, African Americans, Newcomers, and The Land of the years 1680-1920
  • And so many more

Be sure to check out the Online Exhibits. Select from: 

  • Turn of the Centuries – Focuses on the pivotal time periods of 1680-1720 (the Colonial Period), 1780-1820 (the Federal Period), 1880-1920 (the Progressive and Colonial Revival period)
  • Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 – Takes you to a new website that explores all sides of the story through audios, images, interactives, and texts. Also includes a link to a Teacher’s Guide with several lesson plans.
  • Shays’ Rebellion and the Making of a Nation – opens another website that digs deep into the story, people, artifacts, documents, music and more regarding the rebellion. Also includes a companion study guide located at the “For Teachers” link on the site.

When you are visiting In the Classroom you will find hundreds of lesson plans, online curricula, teacher resources, and other online activities.

This is an extremely well thought out and well-designed website that encourages visitors to explore at length. You will definitely want to add this to your “must see” list when you are studying the history of New England.

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