Activities offer an interactive, "hands on" experience and focus on a specific topic, rather than broad themes. They require teacher direction, but invite students to participate.
Activities
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The Big Picture | Complete the jigsaw puzzles, then hunt for information in American Memory to find the theme for each puzzle set. | Students of all ages (readability is upper elementary) |
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Creating the United States: Word Search | A quick way to get acquainted with some of the words related to the founding documents of the United States. | Students of all ages |
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The Declaration of Independence: Rewriting the Rough Draft | Students take a close-up look at Thomas Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, and then try their hand at crafting an alternate version of the nation’s founding document. | Teachers Students (Gr. 4-12) |
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Historical Detective | Search the American Memory collections to solve the riddle. Archive of Cases. | Students (with teacher facilitation) |
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It's No Laughing Matter | Use this interactive activity to take apart real-world cartoons as you learn how to spot the methods behind the message. Political Cartoon Resources. | Teachers Students (Gr. 5- 12) |
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Making Connections Through Poetry | In this activity, students analyze primary source documents from the Library of Congress, then share their understanding through the illustrated poems they create. | Teachers Students (Gr. 4-12) |
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Maps and Mapmakers: Seeing What's on the Map | Students examine Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 map of the world to discover a new way of thinking about what was important to the mapmaker. | Teachers Students (Gr. 4-8) |
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Port of Entry | Use your detective skills to uncover the stories of immigrants to the United States. Analyzing Images | Students (with teachers facilitation) |
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Songs for Our Times | Songs express what people think and feel, even as they introduce people, places and events. In this activity, you can explore the past through songs of the time. Non-Flash Version | Teachers Students (Gr. 8-12) |
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The Thomas Jefferson Building: Secret Messages | Students explore the Library's historic Thomas Jefferson building to discover some of the unusual objects in and around the building, and to think about what messages these objects might send about the Library's purpose. | Teachers Students (Gr. 4-12) |
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Thomas Jefferson's Library: Connecting the Books to the Life | Books from Thomas Jefferson’s personal library provide unique insights into the mind of the third President, and help students draw connections between his reading and his life’s work. | Teachers Students (Gr. 4-12) |
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Thomas Jefferson's Library: Word Search | A simple, fun introduction to some of the words related to the books in Thomas Jefferson’s Library. | Teachers Students (Gr. 3-6) |
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What in the World Is That? | Learn about amazing innovations and inventions from the past through primary sources. Play the challenging game, and use the learn more with additional resources. | Students (with teacher facilitation) |