Are you coming to Charlotte, North Carolina for AASL? We will be in booth 161 in the exhibit hall. There will be in-booth presentations every half hour including sessions on our new Teachers Page, the World Digital Library, TPS-Direct, our new our new online professional development system, and teaching with maps. In addition to being in the exhibit hall, we will have conference sessions on our new professional development modules and using books as hooks to primary sources. Hope to see you in Charlotte!!

Two new primary source sets from the Library of Congress can bring your students face to face with American war veterans. Veterans' Stories: The Veterans History Project and Veterans' Stories: Struggles for Participation let veterans tell their stories firsthand through interviews, diaries, photographs, and drawings. All these items were collected by the Veterans History Project, and they're accompanied by teacher guides and analysis tools that make them easy to use in the classroom.

You can find these primary source sets and a teacher’s guide to analyzing oral histories at the following url’s:

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/veterans/
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/veterans/struggles.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Oral_Histories.pdf

The Young Reader’s Toolkit has been updated for 2009 and provides tips on how to create local reading celebrations. The Young Readers’ Toolkit helps to bring the National Book Festival into libraries, schools and homes across the country. The Toolkit features information about National Book Festival authors who write for children and teens, podcasts of their readings, teaching tools and activities for kids. This interactive resource also shows educators, parents and children how they can host their own book festival.

Thomas Jefferson’s library helped rebuild the collections of the Library of Congress. His thoughts about the kinds of books Congress might use in its work shaped the mission of the Library. As we think about the role that libraries play in supporting our democracy, the free flow of ideas and the creativity of the American spirit, learn more about the kinds of books Jefferson collected and how they shaped his thinking and his life.

HISTORY(tm), together with the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress, will host a National Teach-In on Veterans History on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 12pm EST. Educators and students nationwide can tune-in and view this LIVE webcast online at www.veterans.com. The webcast will be broadcast live from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

A panel of educators and veterans will answer questions from students via video, email, and a live audience. The teach-in will focus on the histories and stories of veterans, and will provide information on how communities nationwide can help preserve the stories of veterans and possibly submit them to the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project. This event is part of the Take A Veteran to School Day initiative created by HISTORY.

The panel features Robert Patrick, Director of the Veterans History Project, Terry Shima, WWII veteran and Executive Director of the Japanese American Veterans Association, Professor Darlene Iskra, a US Navy veteran of Desert Storm and the first female commander of a US Navy ship, and Jonathan Bickel, a teacher from Eastern Lebanon County High School and part of a teaching-team on veterans history at his school. Dr. Libby O'Connell, Chief Historian for HISTORY, will moderate.

This fall, HISTORY will air a 5-part special series presentation entitled WWII in HD premiering on November 15th. Each school or teacher that signs up for the October 21st webcast will receive a colorful WWII in HD poster and a field kit developed by the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress. (These will be sent in early October and are available while supplies last.) To register for this webcast and the Take a Veteran to School program, visit us at http://www.history.com/content/veterans

If you have any additional questions or feedback, contact us at veterans@aetn.com.

There is no registration fee -- HISTORY has fully funded this event.

Additional Library of Congress teacher resources relating to Veterans History can be found at http://www.loc.gov/vets/youth-resources.html

Interested in learning strategies to teach about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights using Library of Congress primary sources? Register to attend the Library of Congress Creating the US Teacher Institute. Participants will leave with strategies and materials they can use in their schools. The institute uses the Library's exhibition Creating the United States as its foundation. Learn how to make this era in our country’s history “come alive” for student using images, manuscripts, letters, photographs, maps, and poetry.

Looking for resources for Constitution Day activities? The Library of Congress has a variety of sources you can use. Explore the Creating the United States online exhibit <http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/Pages/default.aspx> and learn more about the impact of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence on U.S. history. Explore the interactive Constitution where students can learn more about the Constitution and origin of important parts of the Constitution. The Learn More will lead you to links for other exhibits, online resources, webcasts and lessons you can use to help students learn more about the Constitution.

As we celebrate the inauguration of our new president take this opportunity to look back at previous inaugurations. The American Memory collection "I Do Solemnly Swear . . .": Presidential Inaugurations http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pihome.html provides information from prior inaugurations including presidential inaugural speeches, diary entries, letters from those who witnessed inaugurations and photographs. If you want to learn how to incorporate these resources into classroom activities you can look at our feature on presidential inaugurations http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/inaug/theatre.html and our Collection Connection on the Inauguration which is jammed-packed with teaching ideas http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/inaug/.

As we pause to give thanks next Thursday take a few moments to look at these resources that show how we celebrated Thanksgiving in the past and how some celebrate today:

Review the Thanksgiving Timeline and other materials that document American tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/thanks/thanks.html#

Use our Thanksgiving Primary Source set to see resources that document the first Thanksgiving
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_earlyamerica_kit.php

Look at the Today in History feature to learn more about the history of Thanksgiving
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov25.html

Learn more about other “First Thanksgivings” through the LC Wise Guide
http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/nov06/thanksgiving.html

Want to find out why turkeys have white meat and dark meat? Read the Everyday Mysteries feature at
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/turkeymeat.html

Learn about Somali Food Traditions for Thanksgiving? You can view a webcast featuring Barlin Ali author of Somali Cuisine at
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4365

Did you know that October 5-11 is National Newspaper Week? Want to include historic newspapers in your classroom activities? Here are resources from the Library of Congress Web site.

Chronicling America
http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/

Provides access to pages from several historic American newspapers from 1880-1910 as well as information on American newspapers published between 1690 and the present day.

Stars and Stripes
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sgphtml/sashtml/sashome.html

Published for members of the armed forces, this collection includes copies of The Stars and Stripes from 1918-1919 that document events from World War I.

Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rotogravures/

A new printing process created in the early 1900s, rotogravure printing produced richly detailed, high quality illustrations and allowed newspapers to create new pictorial sections. This collection includes an illustrated history of World War I selected from newspaper rotogravure sections that graphically documents the people, places, and events important to the war.

Photographs from the Chicago Daily News, 1902-1933
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/ichihtml/cdnhome.html

A collection of photographs taken by the photographers of the Chicago Daily News.

Publishing the Declaration of Independence
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/journey/declaration.html

This webcast focuses on the role of early American newspapers in distributing the text of the Declaration of Independence and in leading the charge for independence.

Witness and Response
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/911-serial.html

See how newspapers documented the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

American Journalism Webcast
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3929

Listen to writer W. Joseph Campbell talk about the events of the year 1897 and how they changed the way journalists cover the news.

The People’s Art
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/peoplesart.html

Watch a webcast featuring Julie Goldsmith, Manager of the Chicago Tribune Historical Collection at Michigan State University, where she discusses how the Chicago Tribune newspaper developed mass production techniques to help bring color and art to their newspaper.

Does your school celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day? Here are some links to pirate resources to add some educational heft to a fun activity:

Watch one of the webcasts from the day long symposium on Pirates and Corsairs of the Americas in History and Literature. Find the list at http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/webcasts.html

Explore the book The Buccaneers of America from the Exploring the Early Americas collection http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/earlyamericas/buccaneers/html/. Also share maps documenting early treasure ships and the treasures they found and the work that was done to stop pirates in the Americas at <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/earlyamericas/online/aftermath/aftermath2.html#object119>

Read Gerald Gawalt’s Essay on the Barbary Pirates at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html

Play some pirate related sheet music. The Music for the Nation collection http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/smhtml/smhome.html has the Pirates March and the Pirates Cave March. Or listen to the song Down Around the Coast of La Barbaree from the California Gold Collection. <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cowellbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(afccc+a3812b1))>

Watch an Edison Film of Police Arresting Pirates <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(lcmp002+m2b48027))>

Be among the middle or high schools selected to have students help capture and archive today’s primary source materials on the Web.

There is a growing awareness among libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions of the importance and urgency of preserving the often transitory digital cultural artifacts distributed over the Web. But so far, the vast majority of decisions about what Web sites will live into the future have been made by adults, and reflect adults’ sensibilities about which records are historically significant. In order to broaden this perspective, the Internet Archive, the Library of Congress and California Digital Library launched the K-12 Web Archiving Program.

For a complete program description and application questions, go to: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/newsevents/news/. Apply by August 14, 2009 for full consideration.

The Summer 2009 issue of the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Quarterly is now available at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/. This issue focuses on the theme of using primary sources to support inquiry learning. Previous issues on the themes of literacy integration, promoting critical thinking, differentiated instruction, and technology integration are also available in both html and pdf versions through the TPS Quarterly archive.

The Library of Congress has a new home for its teacher resources: the Teachers page at loc.gov/teachers.

For more than ten years, the Library has provided teachers with access to millions of digitized primary sources and the tools educators need to use them in the classroom. As of today, these tools are moving to a new, easy-to-find center for teachers just one click away from the Library's home page. Some of the new features include:

- TPS Direct, the Library's new build-your-own professional development tool.

- A dedicated home page for primary source sets.

- Using Primary Sources, a quick introduction to the authentic classroom use of primary sources.

- Coming soon, a new search tool just for classroom materials.

The full transition will take place over time, and new features will become available from now on, so keep watching for the latest developments. If you’re having trouble finding a familiar resource, ask our reference staff using the Contact link at the bottom of every Library Web page.

Whether you're a longtime user or just beginning, we hope you'll explore the new site, update your bookmarks, and discover the instructional power of primary sources at loc.gov/teachers.

The National Educational Computing Conference will be held at the Walter Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC from June 27-July1. Staff from the Library of Congress will be offering a number of workshops, presentations, Bring Your Own Laptop sessions and poster sessions during the conference. In addition we will be introducing our new online professional development system, TPS Direct, on Monday, June 29th from 11-12. Visit us in our booth in room 146B on the concourse of the convention center. We hope to see you there.

Want to find ways to incorporate music and poetry into classroom activities? Lyrical Legacies helps teachers explore eighteen American songs and poems from the digital collections of the Library of Congress. Each song and poem is represented by an original primary source document, along with historical background information and, in many cases, sound recordings and alternate versions. Also included on the Lyrical Legacies website are links to analysis tools and activity ideas to use in the classroom.

Interested in helping your students learn more about the Americas prior to colonization by the Europeans? Exploring the Early Americas documents the complex and fascinating past of the Americas. It provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native American and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds. Jay Kislak, a noted collector and philanthropist, donated this collection to the Library where visitors will be able to behold the first map using the word “America” to describe this part of the world, the paintings and other materials that document the lives of those living in the Americas prior to the arrival of the explorers and results of the encounters of the explorers and the indigenous cultures. Make sure to visit the Learn More section to find lesson plans, a bibliography and links to other resources.

Learn more about the experiences of our combat veterans through the Veterans History Project. Students can listen to veterans talking about their experiences and understand the realities of war. This month’s feature, Experiencing War: Helicopters: the Multi-Mission Aircraft explores the important role of helicopters in military missions including its role in rescue missions, in delivering troops or munitions to battle sites and by allowing troops access to areas with rugged terrain.

Did you know the Library provides podcasts of some of its presentations and online resources? Listen to book festival presentations, material on music and its impact on the brain and oral history interviews with African Americans who provide first-person accounts of the hardships of the slave plantations and of life during and after slavery. Download the audio recording and a transcript of the program to your iPod, other portable media player, or to your computer from the Library of Congress website. You may choose to automatically download this and subsequent episodes via a free subscription from the Library's podcast website or through Apple iTunes.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and 32 partner institutions today launched the World Digital Library, a website that provides free, unrestricted public access to unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world. The site includes manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints and photographs. The World Digital Library functions in seven languages―Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish―and includes content in more than 40 languages. Descriptions of each item and videos, with expert curators speaking about selected items, provide context for users and are intended to spark curiosity and encourage both students and the general public to learn more about the cultural heritage of all countries.