NCSS Online Teachers' Library
NCSS has selected a collection of classroom activities, teaching ideas, and articles from Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. Browse the collection, or search by historical period and grade level using the search function below.
(Collections on other disciplines are under development.)
Search NCSS Teachers Library Collection
Browse by Historical Period or Grade Level
Folk in the History Classroom: Using the Music of the People to Teach Eras and Events (Elementary Education)
By Michael G. Lovorn
The featured lesson uses Woody Guthrie’s “Dust Storm Disaster” to study the Dust Bowl from the perspective of those most affected.
Printer-friendly versionQuestion: Who Can Vote?
By Misty D. Rodeheaver and Mary E. Haas
Key historical events changed voting practices in America and extended the right to vote. This article spotlights a few of those events, as well as contemporary voting issues, and outlines a teacher-tested lesson on voting.
Habeas Corpus and “Enemy Combatants”
By Carolyn Pereira and Nisan Chavkin
The writ of habeas corpus has been a critical tool for balancing the rights of individuals with the government’s responsibility to protect the nation’s welfare. The featured elementary, middle, and high school lessons explore the significance of this right.
Conducting Interviews to Learn about World War II (Elementary Education)
By Mary E. Haas
The featured lesson plan offers student interviewers the opportunity to evaluate multiple perspectives, interpret information, and draw historical conclusions.
Fear, Panic, and Injustice: Executive Order 9066 A Lesson for Grades 4-6 (Elementary Education)
By Theresa M. McCormick
In this lesson, students use primary sources to understand how a climate of fear influenced the president to sign the order that forced the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Using Art to Teach History to Young Learners (Elementary Education)
—Lois McFadyen Christensen
This lesson plan offers elementary students the opportunity to learn about the civil rights movement through the memory-inspired paintings of folk artist and voting rights activist Bernice Sims.
The Garbers: Using Digital History to Recreate a 19th-Century Family
Cheryl L. Mason and Alice Carter
An online archive, "Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities during the American Civil War", provides primary sources for elementary students.
Ribbons and Beads: Native American Art Reveals History and Culture
Ava L. McCall
The textile arts are a valuable means by which students learn about the history of specific Native American nations.
Piecing It Together: America’s Story in Quilts
Judith R. Marrou
Like the United States, a quilt could be described by the words "e pluribus unum" -- out of the many, one.
Virginia’s New Hamster: A Thirteen States Mnemonic
Nancy L. Gallenstein
This humorous short story assists students in memorizing the original 13 states of the Union in 1776.
