Did you know there is a U.S. National Postal Museum? I didn’t. I’ve learned that the National Postal Museum is part of the Smithsonian and it is full of interesting things. Fortunately for those of us who don’t live near Washington, D.C. , it can be explored online. One area organizes resources thematically. For example … Continue reading
If you could meet anyone in your community, who would you pick? Joe Rhatigan encourages young people to explore that question in his book, People You Gotta Meet Before You Grow Up: Get to Know the Movers and Shakers, Heroes and Hotshots in Your Hometown. I’ll admit that one of my favorite things about this … Continue reading
How would you represent a great person’s life work in a single symbol? What single image could represent the contributions of Martin Luther King? Abraham Lincoln? Srinivasa Ramanujan? The artist using the pseudonym Hydrogene tackles that question, while also creating art work focusing on STEM education and technology across cultures. The most recent additions to … Continue reading
How much time do you spend thinking about bugs? Have you thought about how they’ve changed the world? Sarah Albee has. The first time I spotted the book Bugged: How Insects Changed History, I was fascinated. In it, Albee recounts notable events in world history that were caused by insects. Did you know insects were … Continue reading
One of the joys (and time-wasting dangers) of the web is that you never know where an interesting link will lead. For me, today’s exploration involved LEGOs. It started when a friend sent a link to 50 States of LEGO, a creation of photographer Jeff Friesen, with LEGO scenes representing (naturally) each of the 50 … Continue reading
The U.S. Library of Congress is a treasure trove for teachers—so much so that it can become a bit overwhelming. So, for today, I’d like to share just one resource, Lyrical Legacy, a collection of 400 years of American song and poetry. Few things can give us insight into a place or period of history … Continue reading
Years ago at one of our many used-bookstore-quests I bought a book called Daughters of America or Women of the Century by Phebe A. Hanaford. Published in 1882, it celebrates the accomplishments of women in the first century of the United States, from preachers to scientists, and everything in between. It saddens me how few … Continue reading
The Star Spangled Banner is 200 years old this year. Like many Americans, I suspect, I learned in school that it was written by Francis Scott Key after a battle in the War of 1812—possibly to the tune of an old drinking song. I assumed it became the national anthem soon after that. I was … Continue reading
I’ll admit it—I get a lot of ideas from Facebook. While there is much there I’d just as soon avoid, I love keeping in touch with far off friends, and I love seeing the examples of creativity I’d never find on my own. Today’s post started with a Facebook link to artist Chino Otsuka, who … Continue reading
I love museum shops. They are almost always full of interesting and beautiful things—and they are one of my best sources for historical “artifacts” I can use to help students explore historical research. In museum stores I’ve acquired replicas of the newspapers reporting activities of the U.S. women’s suffrage movements, tin lamps and other gadgets, … Continue reading
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