How good are your students at European geography? Lufthansa Airlines has created a game site that allows students to attempt to land their plane in the correct location! A location is provided, there are several red dots to choose among, and you simply click on the dot that you feel is in the correct location. Three levels of difficulty make the activity easier to differentiate. The first level shows a bunch of cities in Europe as starts. Students who guess closer to the target city get more points. The second level shows only countries. Students have to pinpoint the location of their desired city with a mouse click. The third, most difficult level, has students clicking on the continent of Europe, trying to locate countries and the desired city. Points add up quickly, even if players do not get the exact location, since more points appear for guesses closest to the desired city. What a terrific way to learn and remember cities (and countries) in Europe!
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Looking for interactive review activities for your subject area? Use Bubbabrain's vast array of activities created for many levels and subjects. Registration is not required to play. When Game ID is checked (this is the automatic default for the site,) you choose a level ranging from Elementary to College (be sure to click the circle in the appropriate grade level) and then choose a subject area from the drop down box at your level. Subject areas vary by grade level and may include: telling time, government, family and consumer science, world languages, sociology, technology, and countless others.

Click the "Go" button to start your activity. Click on the correct answer to the question and then a new question appears. Prompts to try again appear if the answer is wrong and a percent right appears on your screen as you progress. Click on the teacher's link in the upper right hand corner for more information on becoming registered. Once registered, teachers can create their own games for the site. Your teacher ID can be entered by students to access created games.
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Looking for a way to teach vocabulary about the Holocaust? This site offers 8 interactive puzzles, a vocabulary word bank comprised of 16 words (perfect for a review quiz), an alphalary of words about the Holocaust, names of those heavily involved in the Holocaust, and several lesson ideas.
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Irena Sendler saved more Jewish lives than the famous Schindler. This webpage highlights her remarkable story, how she saved 2,500 babies during the Nazi occupations. Sendler hid their names and locations in a glass jar, and after the war tried to connect families with their babies. Many, of course, had to be adopted into new families. In 2007, Sendler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her heroic act. (Al Gore won the award instead that year.) Her story though lives on through this website and many other new sites, who realize her story MUST be told.
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This website tells an interactive Christmas story through several famous artists and paintings. You have the option of reading the story or hearing the story. This is the biblical Christmas story, so may not be appropriate in all school settings. What a fabulous way to connect the holidays to famous paintings and to study the relationship between religious iconography and the arts. This website requires FLASH. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Leonardo da Vinci is one of history's greatest geniuses. This site looks at Leonardo's work in ways that highlight how comprehensive and interdisciplinary his impact has been. Of course, you can examine his individual works of art, but this site is organized along threads, which you can access through a traditional menu or through an interactive web. Follow Leonardo's influence in math, through his inventions, in his understanding of the human body or his examination of the natural world. There are also some just-plain-fun flash-enabled games to play: make the Mona Lisa smile broadly by correctly answering questions about her, practice mirror writing, or see if you can power his glider across a ravine.
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While there are countless sites on Shakespeare, this one offers the OTHER authors from the greatest period of English literature. This site doesn't even bother with Shakespeare, sending the reader to a different source for that information. The site divides the plays into Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean periods. This is an impressive array that focuses on the history of the Tudors as background for Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Hooker, Spenser, and dozens more. There is a new section on Renaissance drama and another on religious writers, who were very influential at this time. The variety offered here, particularly for those who think the only writer of this time was Shakespeare, is amazing. The small Google ads are unobtrusive.
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This site contains a number of activities and Flash-enabled simulation games centered on World War One. Students can choose various weapons and try to win a mission, listen to eyewitness accounts, and discover various roles played by those on the homefront. There are also lesson plans for teachers. The site is clearly designed for use in British schools and comes from the British viewpoint, but could be very useful in American classrooms as well. Because our country was not part of the war theatre, it can be hard to imagine the war's impact. This site more clearly shows the impact.
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This comprehensive approach to studying the Holocaust has students reading, viewing the film Devil's Arithmetic, and doing research about a real person who was involved in the Holocaust. The lesson plans include videos of the different phases of the plan for teachers who would like to see it modeled. The questioning encourages the development of higher order thinking skills, and presents a well-considered approach to the study of the Holocaust, providing students with a template for future historical study. Student final presentations include students preparing their own PowerPoint or Hyperstudio presentations, an appropriate use of technology to express their own observations and research findings. Detailed student outcomes are available to instructors who wish to use this plan. Examples of student projects as well as links to other sites about the Holocaust complete the site offerings.
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In Search of Shakespeare is a 4 part video series shown on PBS. Though the series is quite good, you are likely to "lose" lower level students with it. If you own it, in conjunction with this site, you can’t miss. But you don’t have to use the video series to use the site effectively. The site contains a multitude of sources, lesson plans, supplementary materials—almost anything you want to teach in a basic through high academic course on Shakespeare is here. The site is divided into 4 parts: the investigation, for educators, the playwright game, and the show. Clicking on any of those links takes you to a specific site within PBS that digs deeply into the Bard’s life, Elizabethan times in both Stratford and London, Folger Library lesson plans, creative writing assignments for students, plus actual summaries and guides for the series itself if you should choose to use it.
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This British site looks at women's roles in war time from 1900 to the present. Divided chronologically (pre-1914, WWI, WWWII, and post-1945) the site focuses on five main themes: A Woman's Place is in the Home, Woman's Work: War Work, That's no job for a woman: The Services, War Babes: Stereotypes, pin-ups and prejudice, and You have no Right: Protest and Equality. There is an image guide for each theme, lesson plans, reading lists and suggestions for further research.
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Take virtual tour of the famous cave paintings of Lascaux in France, read about their discovery, learn to interpret the drawings, and find out fragile environment of the caves. The site itself is beautiful to explore, letting you experience the caves with a virtual "flashlight" as you enter.
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The life and death of the Berlin Wall is examined in this site that provides period photographs, historical background, and political commentary on the emergence, effects, and subsequent fall of Europe's most dramatic symbol of the Cold War. This is an excellent resource for student research. Available in French and German.
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It may be a weighty title, but this user-friendly site provides a fascinating glimpse of how the development of moveable type during the Middle Ages completely revolutionized human communication, transforming Europe and, eventually, the entire world. From the earliest manuscripts and prayer books, to the very first books printed with Gutenberg's metal type, students can gain an understanding of how the metamorphosis of the written word affected human society. Includes images of manuscripts, bindings, and illustrations, along with descriptive commentary.
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This beautifully designed unit examines the twentieth century's first worldwide conflict and emphasizes the rich primary source material that places a human face on the Great War. Audio recordings, vintage newspaper articles, and transcripts of historic speeches provide students with a treasure of resources for use in building a personal understanding of the devastation and effects of World War I. Aligned to standards.
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This companion site to a PBS special is filled with riveting details and historical photographs that capture the significance of the Nuremberg trials, the people and events that defined this era, and the devastation experienced by citizens of Berlin after World War II. Includes an illustrated timeline with links to related sites, a photo gallery, and transcripts of interviews with a prison guard and an army photographer.
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Encourage students to think critically about events that led to the rise of Adolph Hitler with this interactive story board. After learning about the complex issues faced by German citizens after World War I, students can use this interactive tool to create a presentation reflecting their understanding of Germany's political environment during the 1930's. Completed storyboards can be viewed, saved, or printed.
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German culture and daily life are highlighted in this nicely organized ThinkQuest site. Students can find concise, well-written descriptions of the German school system, customs and traditions, everyday life, holidays and celebrations, and traditional foods. Visit the Interactive page for links to German word games and pen pal opportunities. A nice resource for those students planning a trip abroad.
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This site examines the "Cold War" events that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, life behind the Iron Curtain, stories of escapes, the political changes that brought about the wall's demise, and what life is now like for those who no longer live behind the Curtain. Includes period photographs and a gallery of art work from the East side. Also available in German and French.
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This no-frills site examines the indictments, defendants, participants, and outcomes of the Nuremburg war crimes trial. Also includes selected transcripts of the proceedings. Great resource to add to a study of World War II.
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