Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
Top 5 Free Resources for Teaching US History: Use More Primary Sources in Your Classroom
In this video, I share my top 5 favorite resources for your US history classroom, especially to help support your work with primary sources!
Top 5 Free Resources Mentioned in the Video:
Newsela
newsela.com
If you are looking to incorporate current events or primary sources into your class, but struggle to find news articles that are modified to fit the reading levels of your students, look no further than Newsela! They post several articles daily that are modified to fit a variety of needs. There are even reading quizzes, text sets, and articles in Spanish offered on the site!
SHEG (Stanford History Education Group)
https://sheg.stanford.edu
This group has created some incredible activities centered around primary sources and Common Core standards. There is a Reading Like A Historian series that have a variety of thought provoking activities with modified texts.
icivics.org
If you teach anything related to the Constitution or government, I-Civics has some excellent resources and games! My favorite game (as well as the students’ favorite game) is the Do I Have A Right? Game, in which students own a law firm and have to accept clients based upon which amendments they know.
Library of Congress
loc.gov
These sites are excellent for primary sources, in addition to some activities that accompany the primary sources.
Kahoot
kahoot.com
This is the ultimate game-based learning platform and is a great review game for tests or quizzes, or even if you want some quick formative assessment. You can search from a variety of existing quizzes or make your own with multiple-choice questions. Students can all play at the same time and compete against each other, trying to answer the questions correctly as quickly as possible. I have had 6th graders through high school students love this game!
Connect with us and see more resources!
Teacher Store: teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mr-And-Mrs-Social-Studies
Instagram: instagram.com/mrandmrssocialstudies
Top 5 Free Resources for Teaching US History: Use More Primary Sources in Your Classroom
In this video, I share my top 5 favorite resources for your US history classroom, especially to help support your work with primary sources!
Top 5 Free Resources Mentioned in the Video:
Newsela
newsela.com
If you are looking to incorporate current events or primary sources into your class, but struggle to find news articles that are modified to fit the reading levels of your students, look no further than Newsela! They post several articles daily that are modified to fit a variety of needs. There are even reading quizzes, text sets, and articles in Spanish offered on the site!
SHEG (Stanford History Education Group)
https://sheg.stanford.edu
This group has created some incredible activities centered around primary sources and Common Core standards. There is a Reading Like A Historian series that have a variety of thought provoking activities with modified texts.
icivics.org
If you teach anything related to the Constitution or government, I-Civics has some excellent resources and games! My favorite game (as well as the students’ favorite game) is the Do I Have A Right? Game, in which students own a law firm and have to accept clients based upon which amendments they know.
Library of Congress
loc.gov
These sites are excellent for primary sources, in addition to some activities that accompany the primary sources.
Kahoot
kahoot.com
This is the ultimate game-based learning platform and is a great review game for tests or quizzes, or even if you want some quick formative assessment. You can search from a variety of existing quizzes or make your own with multiple-choice questions. Students can all play at the same time and compete against each other, trying to answer the questions correctly as quickly as possible. I have had 6th graders through high school students love this game!
Connect with us and see more resources!
Teacher Store: teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mr-And-Mrs-Social-Studies
Instagram: instagram.com/mrandmrssocialstudies
