Nations Classroom Blog

Students and teachers are currently navigating a sea of uncertainty. We are struggling to connect with the world around us as we spend more time at home, away from friends and extended family. How are we going to teach our students? How will our lives look once the virus comes to an end?

Help your students face the uncertain future with lesson plans from the Tenement Museum in New York City.

If you haven't heard of the Intrepid Museum located in New York City, you are in for a treat. The Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum Complex "is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of history, science and service as related to its home aboard the aircraft carrier Intrepid, a National Historic Landmark." While it's doors are closed for the time being, the museum has been publishing free online content for educators and students. 

Here are our favorite resources from The Intrepid that you can use with your students!

Unless you're an avid watcher of Bob Ross, you probably don't think about teaching art from the comfort of your own home, especially when there is already so much content to cover during the day. Creating lesson plans for cross-curricular content is difficult when you have a classroom to manage, let alone having to teach on a whole new platform like Zoom or Google Teams.

It's Teacher Appreciation Week again, and it's different than any we've seen before.

Usually, most of us would be running to the store to find a gift for that amazing teacher at our child's school. Mugs with motivational messages, gift cards to Starbucks, and classroom supplies would suddenly be out of stock at your local Target. 

Hopefully, you are still doing something to thank the incredible teachers in your life. Now more than ever, they deserve some extra appreciation. 

Looking for more online teacher resources to use while working from home? Check out our full listing on our Distance Learning web page.

Despite being closed, dozens of museums and historic sites in Virginia have remained active by sharing online resources for parents and teachers. Here are a couple of our favorite resources:

In light of this pandemic, we know most schools have chosen to shut their doors for the rest of the year and switch to distance learning. For many teachers, that means you've lost access to many classroom resources because you have to work from home. But that doesn't mean your students are unable to experience museums, theater, or historic sites!

As 2019 comes to a close, we've got our sights set on 2020.  And 2020 promises to be a remarkable year, full of many civic holidays and important elections.  Moreover, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which said that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of sex.  Don't miss a single civic holiday and learn more about the incredible women who have impacted our constitutional history by downloading the 2020 Civic Calendar from the National Constitution Center.

Did you know that National Contitution Day is coming up on December 15th?  If you're a teacher, rest assured that the National Constitution Center in historic Philadelphia, PA has all the resources you need to commemorate the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution!  Check out the free resources and lesson plans in today's blog post.

“Back to School” is just around the corner - and we at NationsClassroom are teachers’ biggest fans.  And we’re not alone. The historic attractions on our tours love supporting teachers; in fact, most of the attractions offer virtual Classroom Resources designed to enhance learning without having to leave the classroom.  We’ve compiled a list of our favorite “Educator Resources” from some of NationsClassroom’s most popular historical east coast destinations.

So even if a school trip isn’t in your immediate future this year, we encourage you to take a look at these resources designed to make learning history come to life in the classroom. 

As the nation's first president, George Washington faced a series of difficult decisions, all with major implications for our young nation.  The premise of the game is simple:  Given the same information that Washington had, what decision would you have made? 

With the new interactive game Be Washington, you get to step into George Washington's boots.  As a high school teacher, I had to check it out for myself.  Could this game experience hold the attention of my teenage students?  Could this high school English teacher make an informed decision like Washington?  Here's what I found.