The Library of Congress Home Page

Essential Questions:

  1. Why use primary resources inPre-K through 12 classrooms?
  1. How can busy educators quickly and effectively access Library of Congressdigital primary sources?

Today’s Agenda:

  1. Introductions
  2. Model Activity (Examples from Fairfax County Public Schools: UsingLibrary of Congress primary sources to teach Virginia SOLs)
  3. Search strategies
  4. It’s not Google: How notto search the LOC site`
  5. Instructional Collections (ready-made resources for teachers)
  6. Educational Collections (interactive resources for students)
  7. Model Activity (Patrick Henry Zoom-In Teaching Cause and Effect)
  8. Q and A
  • Lynne Gaines

Primary Source Peer Coach for Adventure of the American Mind

School location: GlenForestElementary School

  • Kim Miller

School Based Technology Specialist

School location: GlenForestElementary School

  • Kathleen Riley

Grade 4 Classroom Teacher

Student populations: LD, Regular Ed, Young Scholars (Gifted instruction for disadvantaged populations)

School location: GlenForestElementary School

  • About Our School

Title 1

Culturally diverse population (58 countries, 23 different languages)

58% of the students are identified as Limited English Proficient

67% of the school is on free and reduced lunch

We are fully accredited having met AYP 3 years in a row

  1. It’s not Google!

Analogy: Search light on a dock

Mainly locates search term matchesfrom the top layerof a multi-level site.

Two home page search mechanisms:

  • Main search box
  • collections
  • press releases
  • New BETA search
  • Collections
  • press releases
  • individual items
  1. Collections v. Individual Items

Individual items: photograph, print, cartoon, music, poetry, document, video, and speeches.

  • Bibliographic Information

Analogy: A photo album

Collections: a group of individual items that relate to a particular topic or theme.

  • Bibliographic Information
  • Background Information
  • Context

Analogy: A museum exhibit

The starting place for locating any of the following collections will be:

features & activities / collection connections / community center
Thematic as well as interactive investigations from American Memory.
Examples:
  • Fill up the Canvas (Lewis & Clark interactive map)
  • From Slavery to Civil Rights
  • Immigration (Native American Map)
/ Suggestions for using American Memory through the lens of history, critical linking, or the arts & humanities.
Example:
  • Abraham Lincoln Papers
/ Primary source sets, lesson plans, online resources for students & teachers.
Example:
  • We the People (Constitution)

Song of America / Kathryn Dunham / Patriotic Melodies
Contains sound recordings, sheet music, and background information on songs such as America the Beautiful and Hail to the Chief. / Contains still images and videos of Kathryn Dunham’s dances which infuse African American cultural traditions into movement. Tip: Videos can be found by following “performance” links. / Contains sound recordings, sheet music, and background information on songs such as Flanders Field and Beautiful Dreamer.

Home Page

Poetry Reference Resources at the Library of Congress / For Teachers and Students / Poetry Webcasts
Contains Civil War Poetry (pre-, during, and post from multiple perspectives) and Presidents as Poets (George Washington wrote very mushy love poems in his youth). / Contains Poetry 180: A Poem A Day for American High Schools. Many of these poems are very accessible to elementary school students. My favorite: #1 “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins. / Contains webcasts of poets and others reading poetry.

The starting place for locating any of the following collections will be:

American Memory

  • Analogy: hundreds of trunks full of unique treasures.
  • Can search for both collections and individual items.

Notes: