Book Backdrops are teacher-curated primary source sets linked to books and accompanied by teaching ideas and/or teaching notes. They are continually added to the TPS Teachers Network using the album tool. A sampling of some great ones are listed below. All of the ones included here are accessible by anyone. But if you want to…
In a TPS Network resource album available to the public, elementary teacher librarian and former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, Tom Bober (@CaptainLibrary), outlines how his students analyzed an historical newspaper article using the See Think Wonder strategy that layered in the Post-it® app for iPad to help organize students’ thinking. The…
Elementary teacher librarian and former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, Tom Bober (@CaptainLibrary), details a plan for pairing primary source analysis with the book, Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey, to help students make connections to history and geography. In his post on Knowledge Quest from the American Association of School Librarians, Tom also…
Tom Bober (@CaptainLibrary), teacher librarian extraordinaire and former teacher in residence at the Library of Congress, put together a fantastic primary source set to accompany the picture book, Her Right Foot, by Dave Eggers. In a post on Knowledge Quest from the American Association of School Librarians, Tom details a plan for pairing primary source analysis with the…
The National Press Club, with more than a century of history behind it, is known for its luncheon gatherings that have featured U.S. presidents, visiting world leaders, and other prominent persons to address the media members and answer questions about current affairs. Now, with the collection Food for Thought: Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Other National Press Club Luncheon Speakers,…
Music is such a powerful primary source and can really help us connect to and engage with a person or an event. The Library of Congress is full of digital music resources, including numerous sheet music collections and items. But what to do if you would like to hear the music but cannot play an instrument…
This is a guest post from Tom Bober (a.k.a. @CaptainLibrary), an elementary librarian at RM Captain Elementary in Clayton, Missouri and frequent contributor to the TPS Teachers Network. Earlier this school year I wrote about an activity in which third grade students analyzed primary sources from the Library of Congress, specifically the notes, diagrams, and…
Today in History–November 26–the Library of Congress features Thanksgiving, designated by President George Washington on this date in 1789. Seventy-four years later, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation that declared the last Thursday in November national Thanksgiving Day. Learn more about U.S. Thanksgiving traditions by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more…