Category: New York

New Amsterdam, New York, primary_documents, Uncategorized

New York City 1609 and 1755

saralissapaulson

NYC in 1609: Amazing project called Welikia–recreating what Manhattan looked like as a habitat in 1609 and related National Geographic article and interactive map.

Great article on using primary sources with all grade levels

NYC in 1755

List of questions about the 1755 Plan of the City of New York

What is a map?
What dates are on the map?
What places does it show?
What on the map looks unfamiliar?
What is the scale of the map?
Is the name of the mapmaker on the map?
Is there a title on the map?
Describe the legend of the map. What was important to the colonists?
For what reason was this map created? What evidence do we have for that?
Who do you think was the audience for this map?
How does it compare with current maps of this place?
What does this map tell you about the people who lived there?

New York

Teaching resources for children and teens on Hurricane Sandy and disaster recovery

saralissapaulson

Back to school after a long, media-saturated week. How do we help kids make meaning of   the suffering and the fear of what might be a trend of annual superstorms?

There is a lot to discuss and analyze. New York Times Learning Network put together some great teaching resources and ideas. I especially like the social media lessons that ask kids to separate real photos from fakes, and facts from rumors.

Colorado State University published an annotated resource list, “Children and Disasters,” which gives educators a comprehensive list of websites for kids and adults, research findings on the effect of disasters on children, and well as a book list.

Focusing on what was done right–volunteerism, helping neighbors, donating, and creating safety plans for future disasters–will help children build resilience. It is also a teaching moment for media literacy since now the news is partly generated by the public via Twitter and other social media tools.