Social Studies Resources

Sample Review Units – The Arkansas Department of Education has created numerous sample review units for U.S. History 1800-1900 and U.S. History since 1890. These are designed to help students analyze through inquiry causal relationships among the colonial period, the American Revolution, and foundations of our government. (The list of sample review units begins just below the Social Studies Frameworks section on the ADE webpage.)

C3 Resources – The ADE Social Studies webpage also has an entire section devoted to the C3 Framework (College, Career, and Civic Life). In addition to an overview and framework, there’s a special section with archived presentations and handouts from the June 2015 two-day Inquiry Design Model (IDM) workshop. There’s also a link to the New York Social Studies Toolkit that contains several K-12 inquiries … many of which are annotated, and all of which are free, downloadable, and may be revised to align with Arkansas Curriculum Standards. (Look for C3 Resources about midway down the ADE Social Studies webpage.)

Secretary of State – The Arkansas Secretary of State offers a number of free resources (programs, materials, presentations) for teachers. Their Education Service Specialists even visit classrooms to share information on various topics. And if you teach High School, be sure to check out their Young Voter Workshop … an interactive program that seeks to get teens involved in this important aspect of American life. 

Discover America – The ADE also has compiled over 40 links to Social Studies/History resources. These include Virtual White House tours100 Milestone DocumentsColonial Williamsburg, and much more! (Links can be found at the bottom of the ADE Social Studies webpage under “Other Social Studies Resources.”)

National Geographic – National Geographic has many Arkansas specific pages like this one about the Little Rock Nine. There’s also a special Arkansas page aligning the Arkansas 7th grade curriculum framework to specific resources (activities, videos, lesson plans, maps, etc.). This valuable resource is free to Arkansas teachers.

More resources coming soon …