1. Tool Presentation Created by: Brittany Price

2. What? “Way Back~Presidents~A Secret History” This website walks students through the campaign trail, gives an interesting “secret” fact about each president, and even has quotes from elementary students on what makes a good president. This website also has “way back” sites for other topics such as discrimination and the gold rush.

3. Background check… This site is published by PBS Very user friendly site with lots of color and animations “Raising Readers” a program on the website sponsored by the US Department of Education

4. Kid Friendly…. The website featured all kinds of neat activities for kids. Many of the buttons talk or are animated when you run your mouse across them When you link to “PBS Kids Go!” on the home page kids are asked a higher order question relating to science or taking care of the earth.

5. Resources for adults… The website included parents and teachers in on the action as well! Parent link: provided information on everything from developmental stages to how to approach important topics with your child. Teacher link: lesson ideas, websites, content based contests….even professional development opportunities!

6. Let’s check it out……. http://pbskids.org/waybac k/http://pbskids.org/waybac k/

7. Why bother? Social Studies is rarely taught It’s an election year It’s important to know about the democratic process Most kids can’t tell you who the current president is, much less the previous ones It’s fun!

8. How would I use it? I really liked this site and envision using it with my 2 nd graders. They’ve learned a lot about elections and the Presidents this year and I think this would be a nice culminating activity. They could even be assigned a president or two and find out their “secret history” to make sure they were staying on task.