President's Day Websites

Since I love history and it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share two interactive websites on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln that I'm rather sweet on (the websites that is, not the presidents ; ). Hopefully you read this in time to incorporate it into your instruction before President's Day!

Discover the Real George Washington is the most awesome, comprehensive, interactive timeline ever! Developed by Mount Vernon and based on a traveling exhibit of his life, it basically brings the field trip to the classroom through cartoons, video, and pictures of Washington - all in a chronological, organized format. Students love learning about the truth behind the myths about George, his teeth (you even get to see how they made his dentures!), Martha, and his role in developing espionage strategies during the Revolutionary War - which, you will find, is incredibly cool. Your class will love it. It's a great site to show on an interactive whiteboard as a class, or have your students explore it in the computer lab. Students up through middle school would enjoy this website; although the reading and wording is above the primary grades, they would still enjoy the cartoons and some of the videos on the timeline.

Abraham Lincoln's Crossroads is for fifth grade and up. Unless you have already covered the Civil War in your classroom, you may want to wait to share this one with your class. That being said, this is my favorite website created by the National Constitution Center. President Lincoln "talks" you through the decisions he had to make during his political career. Students get to decide what they think Lincoln should do - and then find out the actual outcome. Along the way, other prominent historical figures are introduced, such as Stephen Douglas, Horace Greely, and Frederick Douglass, to name a few. It's takes a while to get through Lincoln's life, and there is a lot of reading involved. While you could introduce it in the classroom, students would probably get more out of it by going through it independently. The website a great way to review the major points in Lincoln's presidency and the Civil War. There is a broadband and a low-bandwith version of this website to choose from; it you want the animated, interactive version, choose the broadband.

Hope you elect these web resources as your February favorites!

http://discovergeorgewashington.org/

http://constitutioncenter.org/lincoln/#