Educator Resources

Social Studies and History-Rich Institutions

American Folk Art Museum

Description:	Education has always been an integral component of the mission of the American Folk Art Museum. Today, the institution is committed to a wide range of programs for students and teachers, including hands-on workshops and gallery tours, professional development courses, Educators Open Houses, lesson plans, and extended school partnerships.
URL:	http://www.folkartmuseum.org

American Forum for Global Education

Description:	The website has a vast collection of lesson plans as well as complete books for teaching about Asia and the Middle East. Most of the lessons are teacher-produced as a result of travels through our programs.
URL:	http://www.globed.org

American Museum of Natural History

Description:	The American Museum of Natural History invites New York City teachers to take advantage of its many exciting Museum opportunities and resources for learning and teaching. The Museum's scientific research, exhibitions, and collections can make social studies and science come alive. We offer an array of resources--instructors, Teaching Volunteers, exhibition explainers, background information, lessons plans, curriculum materials, and experiences for students, both online and in print--to support learning at the Museum and in the classroom. We offer a wide range of professional development opportunities for teachers to deepen knowledge of content, to enhance teaching strategies, and to promote student performance across the curriculum.
URL:	http://www.amnh.org

Anne Frank Center USA

Description:	The Anne Frank Center USA offers a wide range of programs that allow students and educators to explore the history of intolerance in our world and the need to identify and challenge prejudice. Programs include extended in-school residencies with interdisciplinary themes such as conflict resolution and young women’s empowerment as well as education programs for grades 2-12 at our gallery.
URL:	http://www.annefrank.com

Asia Society and Museum

Description:	Asia Society is a global nonprofit educational organization which seeks to promote understanding among the people and institutions of Asia and the U.S. It has as its focus the arts, culture, and education.
URL:	http://www.asiasociety.org

Brooklyn Historical Society

Description:	The Brooklyn Historical Society is a museum, library and educational center that focuses on fostering appreciation of Brooklyn’s history and heritage. It houses a collection of photographs, primary documents, and Brooklyn-related artifacts.
URL:	http://www.brooklynhistory.org/index.html

The Bronx County Historical Society

Description:	The Bronx County Historical Society was founded in 1955 to preserve the heritage of the borough of The Bronx. The Society administers the colonial era Valentine-Varian House, which serves as the Museum of Bronx History; The Bronx County Archives; an extensive Research Library; and Poe Cottage, the final home of America's great 19th century poet and author, Edgar Allan Poe.
URL:	http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/

Caribbean Cultural Center

Description:

The Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center/African Diaspora Institute is a cultural arts organization that represents the African Diaspora. The Center hosts cultural programming including concerts, exhibits, and lectures.

URL:

http://caribbeanculturalcenter.ypguides.net/

Children's Galleries for Jewish Culture

Description:	Visit our curriculum-based, interactive exhibitions for children in grades 2-6. Choosing and packing belongings, shopping for groceries in a foreign language, and designing a neighborhood are only a few of the activities in From Home to Home: Jewish Immigration to America. From Tent to Temple: Life in the Ancient Near East, offers a broad range of activities including hunting for food, grinding wheat, weaving cloth for tents and digging in an excavation pit.
URL:	http://www.jcllcm.com

The Cloisters

Description:	The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The building is located in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan and was constructed of elements from many medieval buildings, including several French cloisters. Approximately five thousand works of art from medieval Europe are on display, including the seven famous Unicorn Tapestries.
URL:	http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/department.asp?dep=7

Coalition for Asian American Children and Families

Description:	The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families is a children’s advocacy organization for the Asian American community, and works with East, Southeast, and South Asian communities.
URL:	http://www.cacf.org/

Ellis Island Museum

Description:	Ellis Island served as an immigrant depot from 1892 to 1954, and processed nearly twelve million immigrants. The Museum is designed for self-guided tours and offers audio/visual displays and exhibits that detail the history of immigration processing.
URL:	http://www.ellisisland.com/index.html

Geography Alliance Network

Description:	National Geographic has helped to build a national network of educators and others dedicated to improving geography education. The Geography Alliances work to promote geography education at all levels of government.
URL: New York Alliance URL:	http://ngsednet.org/community/about.cfm?community_id=94 http://www.nygeographicalliance.org/

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Description:	The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers free resources for students and teachers such as online lesson plans, a searchable collection of over 60,000 primary source documents, electronic and traveling exhibitions, summer seminars for teachers, prizes and awards, and a quarterly online history journal.
URL:	http://www.gilderlehrman.org

Gotham Center for New York City History

Description:	Housed at the CUNY Graduate Center, the Center’s mission is to boost the visibility of New York's historical assets. Our Education Department, an approved DOE vendor, provides professional development in teaching National history through local history. Our website offers a directory of history-rich institutions, units of study, discussion boards and listings.
URL:	http://www.gothamed.org

Henry Street Settlement

Description:	The Arts-in-Education Program of Henry Street Settlement provides sequential, hands-on experiences (in-classroom, afterschool and staff development) in the creation, appreciation, and integration of the visual, performing, literary, and media arts for students from pre-kindergarten through high school and teachers.
URL:	http://www.henrystreet.org/abronsartscenter

Historic House Trust of New York City

Description:	Education programs at Historic House Trust sites reinforce in-school instruction in a variety of curriculum areas for a range of grades and link to NYS Learning Standards. Class trips encourage discovery and inquiry where children acquire knowledge and develop skills by analyzing primary sources and engaging in hands-on activities.
URL:	http://www.historichousetrust.org

Historic Richmondtown

Description:	Historic Richmondtown in Staten Island is a living history village and museum complex of twenty-five acres containing fifteen restored buildings from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. The buildings include a Dutch schoolhouse (Voorlezer’s House, c.1695), a colonial farmhouse (Guyon-Lake-Tysen House, c.1740), a Basket Maker’s House (c.1810), a tavern (Guyon Store/Tavern, c.1819) and a General Store (c.1840). Guided tours and demonstrations of daily activities of early Staten Islanders are provided.
URL:	http://www.historicrichmondtown.org/

Japan Society

Description:	The Japan Society is a nonprofit organization that seeks to bridge the cultures of the U.S. and Japan and foster an understanding and appreciation of the people of Japan and the U.S. Exhibitions of Japanese art are held at the Japan Society Gallery. Performing arts programs in theater, dance, and music are held. Professional development for educators and programs for students and families are offered.
URL:	http://www.japansociety.org/

The League Worldwide

Description:	The LEAGUE is a school-based system that combines service, learning, cooperation, and helping others with live, interactive events. State standards-based lesson plans and community service events teach students the value of giving and recognizes them for their efforts. The LEAGUE provides the platform to help cultivate the next generation of civic leaders and advocates. As students plant trees, collect food for the hungry, and help their community with other service projects, they build character and become agents of change
URL:	http://www.leagueworldwide.org

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Description:	The Lower East Side Tenement Museum provides a historical perspective on the immigrant and migrant experience on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, long a gateway to America. The museum, housed at 97 Orchard Street, was home to an estimated 7,000 people between 1863 and 1935. The museum has restored several apartments in the building and offers interactive tours to learn how people lived in the 1800s and 1900s.
URL:	http://www.tenement.org

Muriel F. Siebert Foundation, Inc.

Description:	The Foundation developed and makes available, free of cost, an educator’s guide to teach personal finance to high school students. The Personal Finance Program: Taking Control of Your Financial Future fulfills part of the required economics course and contains 21 standards-based lessons covering the basics of personal finance – income, budgeting, savings, credit, identity theft, insurance and taxes.
URL:	http://www.Siebertpfp.com

El Museo del Barrio

Description:	Manhattan’s El Museo del Barrio is a Latino museum and educational institution dedicated to Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin American art. Its education department offers programs linked to its gallery exhibitions and connects classroom concepts and objects on exhibit.
URL:	http://www.elmuseo.org

Museum for African Art

Description:	The Museum’s educational goal is to instill a life-long love of learning and cultural exploration and to position the Museum for African Art as a vital community resource for information about African art and culture. We achieve this goal through guided tours, off-site workshops (music, dance, art-making), and lectures.
URL:	http://www.africanart.org

Museum of American Finance

Description:	The Museum of American Finance celebrates America's spirit of entrepreneurship and democratic free market tradition. K-12 education programs focus on the history of the stock market, New York's financial district, U.S. paper currency as well as the life and work of Alexander Hamilton, America's first Treasury Secretary.
URL:	http://www.financialhistory.org

Museum of Arts & Design

Description:	The Museum of Arts & Design is the country's leading cultural institution dedicated to collection and exhibition of contemporary objects created in a wide range of media --clay, glass, wood, metal, and fiber and celebrates materials and processes that are today embraced by practitioners in the fields of craft, decorative arts, and design around the world.
URL:	http://www.madmuseum.org

Museum of Jewish Heritage

Description:	The Museum of Jewish Heritage--A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York's primary institution of public education about modern Jewish history and the Holocaust. The Museum conveys a message of memory and hope that is of universal significance. The Museum offers guided tours, curriculum materials, classroom speakers, and professional development workshops.
URL:	http://www.mjhnyc.org

Museum of the City of New York

Description:	The F.A.O. Schwarz Children’s Center at the Museum of the City of New York offers programs that help children learn about New York City’s history and their place in it. The Center provides a rich mix of lessons and hands-on activities, semester-long programs that explore East Harlem’s evolving neighborhood, and NYC History Day, a city-wide history competition that encourages independent student research.
URL:	http://www.mcny.org

National Archives (NARA)

Description:	As the nation's record keeper, the National Archives and Records Administration maintains the records of our Federal government. It is our mission to educate every American to understand the vital role records play in a democracy. We invite both educators and students to utilize our vast primary sources to learn about our nation’s history.
URL:	http://www.archives.gov/norhteast/nyc/index.html

National Museum of the American Indian

Description:	The George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian is located in the former U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green in downtown Manhattan. It is free to the public. The Center has a computerized Resource Center offering virtual tours, bibliographies, indigenous music and more. The museum offers educational programs for children, including The Haudenosaunee Discovery Room, a hands-on interactive display.
URL:	http://www.nmai.si.edu/

The New York Transit Museum

Description:	The New York Transit Museum is the largest urban public transportation museum in the U.S. Educational programs and tours give information about the history of public transit. The museum’s galleries feature exhibits on the building of the subway system, and a look at its trolleys and buses.
URL:	http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/museum/

Queens Historical Society

Description:	The Queens Historical Society offers a broad range of educational programs, workshops and walking tours for teachers and students. Many offerings are based at the society's headquarters, historic Kingsland Homestead. These programs include such topics as Slavery and the Underground Railroad, the Abolitionist Movement, The Civil and Spanish American War, The Revolutionary War, Quakers, Immigration and Constructing and Forecasting the Historical Record. All of our programs are multi-disciplinary and meet NYS Learning Standards and NYC Performance Standards. Our program, "Teaching With Documents: Slavery and The Underground Railroad" has been tailored to enhance student performance on the Social Studies Exam, as students work with primary source documents and are asked to complete many document-based questions as they would see on the actual exam. Education programs include an on-site workshop and teachers are provided with supplementary pre-and post-visit lesson plans and materials to help connect the knowledge students learn at QHS to their classroom curriculum. Queens Historical Society also provides many educational tools for teachers to use inside the classroom such as resource books, a supplementary textbook, education kit, lesson plans and educational craft workshops. We also offer a number of educational workshops for both individual children, and groups including summer schools and camp groups.
URL:	http://www.queenshistoricalsociety.org

The Queens Museum of Art

Description:	Offers tours and workshops of its exhibitions, including the Panorama of the City of New York (9,335 square foot architectural model of NYC that includes every building in all five boroughs) and Robert Moses and the Modern City (Spring 2007). For educators, the museum offers custom-designed professional development programs.
URL:	http://www.queensmuseum.org

Reach the World

Description:	Founded in 1998, Reach the World (RTW) is the nation’s first and only nonprofit organization to provide public schools with access to online journeys that uplift and expand the curriculum far beyond the classroom’s walls. Our mission is to connect students and teachers in public elementary and middle schools with online journeys that uplift and expand the curriculum and connect disadvantaged students to a global community. Reach the World provides schools in our program an annual field trip and provide teachers with extensive training in how to integrate technology and global studies into their teaching, via our graduate student Interns Program at Teachers College.
URL:	http://www.reachtheworld.org

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Description:	The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a national research library (part of The New York Public Library system) devoted to collecting and providing access to resources documenting the history and experiences of people of African descent. The Center provides access to materials through five research divisions: Art and Artifact, General Research and Reference, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Moving Image and Recorded Sound, and Photographs and Prints. The Center also presents exhibits on items from its collection.
URL:	http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Description:	Home to one of the world’s finest collections of Modern and contemporary art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is itself a masterpiece. The Education Department offers interactive tours and workshops for students and professional development opportunities for educators that focus on both permanent and changing exhibitions.
URL:	http://www.guggenheim.org

South Street Seaport Museum

Description:	The South Street Seaport Museum preserves the history of New York City’s waterfront, demonstrating its vibrant history as a world port. Its early 19th-century commercial buildings house exhibition galleries, which include collections of commercial shipping memorabilia, ship models, and maritime art. The museum also houses a fleet of ships, including the Pioneer, an iron cargo sloop that sails daily for harbor tours.
URL:	http://www.southstseaport.org/

Staten Island Institute for Arts and Sciences/Staten Island Museum

Description:	The Staten Island Museum, also known as the Staten Island Institute for Arts and Sciences offers exhibits on the arts, natural science and local history. It provides education programs for school children at its St. George site and exhibits at the College of Staten Island and at Snug Harbor Cultural Center.
URL:	http://www.statenislandmuseum.org/

Thirteen/WNET New York

Description:	Thirteen/WNET’s Education Department offers a wide range of award-winning video content and dynamic media/technology professional development services in support of the NYC DOE Social Studies curriculum. Thirteen/WNET is a NYC DOE approved professional development provider.
URL:	http://www.thirteen.org

UNA-USA Global Classrooms

Description:	Global Classrooms connects students with international issues in fields such as peacekeeping, human rights, sustainable development, and economics. It is a comprehensive skills- and knowledge-building educational program aligned with the New York State learning standards, as well as the New York City Public Schools’ Citywide Performance Standards. Participating schools are given Global Classrooms curriculum units and teachers are offered formal professional development and ongoing support. A full-time consultant, students from local universities serving as Model UN “trainers”, and expert volunteers from Global Sponsor Merrill Lynch are available to visit classrooms and offer assistance in a variety of ways. Finally, all participating students are invited to attend a UNA-USA Model UN Conference each year. All of this, including the curriculum, consultant, and conference, are offered to New York City public schools for free, thanks to the generous donations of our funders.
URL:	http://www.GlobalClassrooms.org

UNICEF

Description:	Unicef , the United Nations Children's Fund, is a global organization that works for children's rights. It believes that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress. All its efforts center on advancing humanity by removing the obstacles of poverty, illiteracy, disease, discrimination and violence so that all children can thrive. Unicef works in 190 countries worldwide.
URL:	http://www.Unicef.org

Working in Support of Education (w!se)

Description:	Serving 15,000 students in the United States, Working In Support of Education (w!se) is a not-for-profit that offers technical services and programs dedicated to financial education and literacy, social and business entrepreneurship, and preparedness for college and the global workplace. w!se also provides client services including program design, management and evaluation; event planning and implementation; and fiscal management. For more information, call (212) 421-2700.
URL:	http://www.wise-ny.org