INSTRUCTIONAL LINKS

These Web sites are a resource for Virginia Studies teachers to aid in expanding knowledge of social studies strategies and instructional practices.

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/
Encyclopedia Virginia is a publicly accessible online publication of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The first phase of Encyclopedia Virginia focuses on topics related to Virginia literature, Civil War history, and twentieth century history. Soon to follow will be content on subjects relating to geography, city and county histories, and environmental sciences. To help contextualize these entries, the Encyclopedia offers users sound and video excerpts, images and maps, links to articles on related topics, cross-referencing and search functions, and suggested readings for further research. With each publication phase, Encyclopedia Virginia will introduce new topics that will be covered comprehensively and authoritatively.

http://www.virginiamemory.com/
Welcome to the Virginia Memory open beta from the Library of Virginia. Please keep in mind that Virginia Memory is currently a work in progress, so on occasion pages may be unavailable, buggy, or will display incorrectly. We appreciate your patience during this period. Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia, the state archives and reference library as the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The goal of Virginia Memory will offer access to a host of online materials highlighting the richness of our holdings and presented in flexible, yet integrated ways, providing users with a greater understanding of our collections.

More Than Arrowheads American Indian Content in the 2008 SOL
The revised 2008 History and Social Science Standards of Learning reflect new content for studying the native peoples of Virginia, past and present. Karenne Wood presented this session at the 44th Annual Conference for Social Studies Educators in October 2008. CLICK HERE for a copy of the PowerPoint presentation.

Virginia Indians Past and Present
A variety of online resources for instruction on American Indian content, past and present, is presented in this PowerPoint presentation. This was presented during a session at the 44th Annual Conference for Social Studies Educators in October 2008. CLICK HERE for a copy of the PowerPoint presentation.

http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/marzchat1.html
Researchers at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) have identified nine instructional strategies that are most likely to improve student achievement across all content areas and across all grade levels. This site offers an outline of the Nine Essential Instructional Strategies.

http://www.vahistorical.org/storyofvirginia.htm
The Story of Virginia, a long-term exhibition at the Virginia Historical Society, provides 10 topics and resources to use in Virginia Studies.

http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/intprimdig.htm
Using Primary Sources on the Internet to Teach and Learn History is the topic of this site, which offers many practical classroom ideas on the types and usage of primary sources.

http://www.socialstudies.org
An information service for educators from the National Council for the Social Studies is provided at this site.

Civics Education Instructional Resources

http://www.civnet.org
CIVNET is an online resource and service for civic education practitioners (teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum designers), as well as scholars, policymakers, civic-minded journalists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) promoting civic education all over the world.

http://www.civiced.org/
The mission of the Center for Civic Education is to promote an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. Selected curricular materials available from the Center for Civic Education are available at this site. Materials may be printed or downloaded.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/pt/index.html
Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids is the educational component of GPO Access, the Government Printing Office’s (GPO) free online service of official Government information from all three branches of the U.S. Government. Ben’s Guide provides information and activities specifically tailored for educators, parents, and students in K-12.

http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/cfapps/free
Civics lessons from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), on behalf of the FREE Working Group, to support federal agencies that would partner with teachers to develop online learning materials and learning communities around agency resources.

http://www.kidsvotingusa.org
Kids Voting USA combines dynamic, hands-on civics activities with an authentic voting experience to get students involved and ready to be active citizens.

http://www.youthleadership.net
Youth Leadership Initiative develops free K-12 civic education resources designed to encourage student interest and participation in the American political process.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/civics
Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans have activities that promote civic action by getting students involved in their own community. Many lessons take participation in public service, advocacy for participation in the political process, interest in social issues, civil discourse, and other activities as the focus of the lesson.

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/education
The National Constitution Center created this section to help teachers teach the Constitution and other civic-related topics to students of all ages. Each month this page will feature a new lesson plan highlighting recent Constitutional issues as well as historical events such as the Constitutional Convention.

http://servicelearning.org/slice
Lesson Plan Library – Civics from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)

http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate
From the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Celebrating America ’s Freedoms is a collection of stories about some of America ’s most beloved customs and national symbols.

http://eduref.org/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Social_Studies
A collection of civics lesson plans from the Educator’s Reference Desk (Information Institute of Syracuse).

Just as the Standards of Learning are not designed to be objectives for individual lessons, no strategy or resource link on the site by itself will satisfy an entire SOL. These links are meant for teachers' use. As with all material found on the Internet, teachers should consider the age appropriateness of the site and be very careful in allowing students to explore these sites unless direct supervision is provided. The Virginia Department of Education is not responsible for the content of various links beyond the initial levels linked in this site and does not officially endorse any software or other products mentioned on the linked sites.