Fire Prevention Week is celebrated every October. Originally proclaimed as Fire Prevention Day in 1920 by President Woodrow Wilson, it commemorated the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge expanded the event to a …[Continue]
Geography, Social Studies Resources
This category is further divided into: Around the World, Economics, Geography, Social Studies and Current Events, Travel, United States.Trains
In 1830 there were only twenty-three miles of railroad in the United States. This number grew to 30,000 miles of track by 1860. Trains hold a mystique and fascination for many: the romance of leisurely travel, the thrill of building …[Continue]
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land, and the only court specifically created by the Constitution. It consists of nine justices, appointed for life by the President, who weigh in the meaning of …[Continue]
Statue of Liberty
The copper lady dressed in robes who stands at the entrance to New York harbor is one of the largest statues ever built. Her full name is Liberty Enlightening the World, but she is better known as the Statue of …[Continue]
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a man-made waterway, completed in 1914, linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the Isthmus of Panama. An eight-hour trip through the fifty-mile Panama Canal saves a ship 5,200 miles on a voyage from Los Angeles …[Continue]
Financial Literacy
Although there is more to learn about money than how to count coins and bills, the subject is largely ignored in most middle- and high-schools. But somewhere between giving them an allowance, and waving goodbye as they move out of …[Continue]
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is not a single museum, but rather the world’s largest collection of museums (nineteen) housing 155 million objects and hosting 30 million visitors a year. The Smithsonian was founded in 1846 to “increase knowledge”, per the wishes …[Continue]
In Pursuit of Tolerance
Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century writer and philosopher said “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” If spreading tolerance and stopping hatred is important to you, the following sites offer both historical perspective …[Continue]
National Parks
The world’s first national park, Yellowstone National Park, was established on March 1, 1872 by President Ulysses Grant. Forty-four years later, on August 25, 1916, the National Park Service was established by Congress. Today there are fifty-eight National Parks in …[Continue]
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. Among the rights protected are freedom of speech, the right to bare arms, and protection from unreasonable search. Although originally opposed by pro-constitution Federalists, …[Continue]
