Social Studies Web Pages Suggested by 
PUSD Teachers

For all grade levels | Links to PUSD Middle School Standards

Early Humans Ancient Mesopotamia
Egypt , and Kush Ancient Hebrews
Ancient India Ancient China
Ancient Greece Ancient Rome

 

All Grade Levels

  • Classroom Classics - It's the one-stop source for classic books to supplement your teaching of the History/Social Science California State Standards in your classroom.  Recommends core literature to align with standards. A pretty handy site.
  • Scott Foresman Outline Maps for all grade levels (Scroll to bottom right of page as of 4/8/02) - (Recommended by Kathy Meyer, TPMS)

 

Early Humans and Archaeology

·          Archaeological Analysis: Pieces of the Past, Royal Ontario Museum
Historic Archaeology is the study of people who lived during the past 200 years or so by looking at the artifacts they left behind. An artifact is anything made or used by people. An artifact can be anything from a 10,000 year old stone tool, to the pop can you recycled after yesterday's lunch.

·          Archaeology, Newton's Apple - Short article, vocabulary and activity on the work of an archaeologist.

·          Be an Archaeologist, Nova - reassemble a pot to see get a feel for the work of an archaeologist.

·          Caves at Lascaux, Minister Culture et Communication - Premiere site for viewing the cave art and learning background information.

·          Desert Finds, Nova - Activity for students to pretend to be an archaeologist seeking the fabled legendary lost city of Arabia. They use clues to find it's location.

·          Flints and Stones - Real Life in Prehistory - Explore the World of the Hunter Gatherers.    Meet a shaman, a leader of the Stone Age people, who will take you into his living world.  Meet an archaeologist who is currently exploring prehistoric times, and gives information on what has been found and how the hunter gatherers lived.  Do the food quiz to see if you could chose the correct foods to survive as a gatherer.

·          Painted Cave at Vallon - Pont-d'Arc (Ardeche), Minister Culture et Communication - To date more than 200 black or red ochre paintings or engravings have been discovered in this vast underground cave. Check it out!  

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Mesopotamia

  • Mysteries of Catal Çatalhöyük - By Science Museum of Minnesota -  A wonderful site that has lots of kid-friendly information and activities.   Virtual tour of current archaeological excavations are interesting and students are invited to online chat about artifacts.  Mysteries and activities has some interesting things for students to do
  • The Ancient Land of Mesopotamia by TCFG Publishing  - This is and Internet "scavenger hunt" in that students will search several sites to find information on Mesopotamia's geography, climate, ancient technology, law and reasons for it's demise.  There are 14 questions, and the author recommends 30-40 minutes to complete this activity. 
  • Collapse, Why do Civilizations Fall:  Mesopotamia  This article deals with the theory that problems with irrigation in Mesopotamia could have poisoned the farmland's soil.   The article questions whether this could happen in California's San Joaquin Valley.

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Egypt and Kush

  • Ancient Art from the Detroit Institute of the Arts
    Click on to "Collection"  then to "Ancient Art" to Egypt to learn about Egyptian tombs, their "holy animals," and their view of life after death.

  • Ancient Egypt from the British Museum -  Explore Egyptian Life, Geography, Gods and Goddesses, Mummification, Pharaoh, Pyramids, Temples, Time and Writing. Very interactive, with great "Challenge" activities that students would enjoy.

  • Cairo - the Triumphant City
    Cairo is the glorious capital of Egypt, the cradle of civilization and the beacon of religion. It is the largest city in the Middle East and Africa and lies at the center of all routes leading to, and from the three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. This site has many images, maps and links to other sites.

  • Carlos Museum Egyptian Art
    Emory University Permanent Collection art, text and images of Book of the Dead, mummies, household items, statuary. Enlargeable images, excellent information.      

  • Cleopatra - Don't let the name fool you, this site is about much more that Cleopatra.  She represents the Greek, Egyptians and Romans, and that is what this video rich, Art Institute of Chicago created site offers.  Lesson plans, timeline also..

  • Duke University Papyrus Archive

  • Egypt World - A ThinkQuest project with a wealth of information.

  • Egypt-Color Tour

  • Egyptian Architecture Archive

  • Egyptian Hieroglyphs - Royal Ontario Museum    Here's a site that explains how hieroglyphs work, and it also writes messages in hieroglyphs and translates hieroglyphs.

  • Egyptology.com - art, archaeology, religion and history

  • Encyclopedia Mythica - Good as a resource for myths. legends, and folktales.

  • Journey To Egypt
    Take a trip from Cairo to Aswan and you will learn about the land and the people of Egypt, both ancient and modern. You will visit temples, pyramids, and learn about some of the pharaohs.

  • Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt Page - excellent resource for pyramids, temples, hieroglyphs,kings, queens, games.

  • Mummification - What is a Mummy? The First Egyptian Mummies Why Egyptians Made Mummies, How Egyptians Made Mummies, Funeral Masks and Coffins, The Tomb, The Funeral Procession - These are the topics covered at this site.

  • Odyssey in Egypt: contains QT VR of excavation sites

  • Pyramids, the Inside Story - A fantastic site by NOVA, full of interactive tours and interesting information.

  • Quiz - Ancient Egypt - the Royal Ontario Museum
    Look closely at the pictures below. Can you guess their function? Read the descriptions and then
    give it a try!

  • Rosetta Stone from the Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Seven Wonders of the Ancient World -  See pyramid at Giza

  • Splendors of Ancient Egypt  - Sixty-seven images comprise a virtual tour of the exhibit from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Includes real audio and video clips.

  • Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser -- Third Dynasty (~2800 BC). Generally held to be the first tomb in Egypt to be built entirely of stone. (includes clickable plan and pictures)

  • Theban Mapping Project
    Features tomb kv5, found by the creators of this site under the Valley of the Kings in 1995. In addition to news on the current excavation and artifact recovery, there is information on the Valley of the Kings and other Egyptology topics including a timeline of ancient Egypt and profiles of prominent Egyptologists. (American University, Cairo, Egypt)

  • Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt This site has a great deal of information on many Egyptian topics.

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Ancient India

  • Harappa - very rich site with information on Mohenjo-Daro and more!

  • The Ramayana Story -  Lessons in Hindu beliefs, done in comicbook style.

  • Images of India - a photographer's tour of India, beautiful photos with descriptions. (includes links to other sites)

  • The History of India - from the Indian government, a good resource

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Ancient Greece

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