Teacher's Guides and Tools

Teachers can access several publications for help on using Americans All program resources and state resource databases most effectively. Click on the title to view sample pages from each Americans All publication.

The Peopling of America: A Teacher's Manual for the Americans All Program

Gail C. Christopher

This teacher's manual introduces the conceptual framework, teaching philosophy and methodology of Americans All. It provides an overview of the program's components, goals and objectives. A rationale for using the history of the peopling of the United States as a construct for incorporating diversity into social studies instruction also is addressed.

Teacher's Guides to Learning Activities

Janet Brown McCracken (K–2) Gail C. Christopher and Steven Sreb (3–4, 5–6, 7–9 and 10–12)

Separate teacher's guides are available for grades K–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–9 and 10–12. Each guide contains two sets of learning activities to help teachers use Americans All resources. The first are generic activities that use the construct of the peopling of the United States to introduce and reinforce the concepts of self-esteem, stress management, motivation and diversity. The second are activities using the movement of people and cultural diversity as underlying themes. All the teacher's guides contain maps and other teaching aids.

Student Background Essays

The teacher's guides for grades 3–4, 5–6 and 7–9 contain student background essays that can be used with the learning activities. The essays focus on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Angel Island, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Teachers are encouraged to use the essays as part of language arts,reading and writing activities.

The Peopling of America: A Synoptic History

Compiled by Jason H. Silverman

This publication is a teacher's guide to accompany The Peopling of America: A Timeline of Events That Helped Shape Our Nation. It provides an overview of our nation's history through the context of diversity. The guide also includes immigration statistics and instructional materials to encourage and enhance the use of the timeline publication.

A Guide to the Americans All Photograph and Poster Collections

Compiled by Allan S. Kullen

This guide accompanies the collection of more than 300 photographs that portray a cross-section of the people who have come to our nation. It includes photographs of Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans. These are augmented by period-specific photographs of the Statue of Liberty and two major ports of entry, Angel Island and Ellis Island; some of the photos are repeated in the posters. Also included are general and specific learning activity suggestions for the photographs and posters that start with basic learning skills, such as identification, classification and sequencing, and move on to higher levels of reasoning and interpretation skills.

Music of America's Peoples

Dick Spottswood

The Americans All music CD contains 22 original recordings of historic songs representing diverse ethnic and cultural groups. In addition, during the program's pilot phase, Chicago teachers, students, parents and volunteers worked together to produce a theme song, “Many Children,” for Americans All. Both the lyrics and the music embody the spirit of our the program. The song reflects the theme of ethnic harmony and the importance of education to our nation’s future.