ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] GHS (3) 11 :

11 ) Interpret various primary sources for reconstructing the past, including documents, letters, diaries, maps, and photographs.

•  Comparing maps of the past to maps of the present

[SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

[SS2010] GEOG (7) 1 :

1 ) Describe the world in spatial terms using maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies.

•  Explaining the use of map essentials, including type, projections, scale, legend, distance, direction, grid, and symbols

Examples: type—reference, thematic, planimetric, topographic, globe and map projections, aerial photographs, satellite images

distance—fractional, graphic, and verbal scales

direction—lines of latitude and longitude, cardinal and intermediate directions

•  Identifying geospatial technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

Examples: Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), satellite-remote sensing, aerial photography

•  Utilizing maps to explain relationships and environments among people and places, including trade patterns, governmental alliances, and immigration patterns

•  Applying mental maps to answer geographic questions, including how experiences and cultures influence perceptions and decisions

•  Categorizing the geographic organization of people, places, and environments using spatial models

Examples: urban land-use patterns, distribution and linkages of cities, migration patterns, population-density patterns, spread of culture traits, spread of contagious diseases through a population

[SS2010] US11 (11) 5 :

5 ) Evaluate the impact of social changes and the influence of key figures in the United States from World War I through the 1920s, including Prohibition, the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the Scopes Trial, limits on immigration, Ku Klux Klan activities, the Red Scare, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Jazz Age, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, W. C. Handy, and Zelda Fitzgerald. (Alabama) [A.1.a., A.1.b., A.1.d., A.1.f., A.1.i., A.1.j., A.1.k.]

•  Analyzing radio, cinema, and print media for their impact on the creation of mass culture

•  Analyzing works of major American artists and writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and H. L. Mencken, to characterize the era of the 1920s

•  Determining the relationship between technological innovations and the creation of increased leisure time

[SS2010] CWI (9-12) 1 :

1 ) Describe current news stories from various perspectives, including geographical, historical, political, social, and cultural.

•  Evaluating the impact of current news stories on the individual and on local, state, national, and international communities (Alabama)

•  Comparing current news stories to related past events

•  Analyzing news stories for implications regarding nations of the world

•  Locating on a map areas affected by events described in news stories

•  Interpreting statistical data related to political, social, and economic issues in current events

[SS2010] CWI (9-12) 6 :

6 ) Compare information presented through various media, including television, newspapers, magazines, journals, and the Internet.

•  Explaining the reliability of news stories and their sources

•  Describing the use, misuse, and meaning of different media materials, including photographs, artwork, and film clips

•  Critiquing viewpoints presented in editorial writing and political cartoons, including the use of symbols that represent viewpoints

•  Describing the role of intentional and unintentional bias and flawed samplings

This graphic organizer will guide students through the process of analyzing a historical document such as a newspaper article, a report, a magazine article, a congressional record, a press release, a census report, an internet article, a map, an official memorandum, or an announcement. This worksheet includes guiding questions that will support students as they closely read and analyze a selected historical document.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about the development of a transportation system in Alabama, which first included river towns, then upland towns serving as railroad stops, and then highway towns as roads were built to connect the shortest distance between places. Politics and highway construction have gone hand in hand as elected officials made decisions about where roads would be built and how monies would be spent. President Eisenhower established the Interstate System and automobile travel became the major source of transportation for people and goods.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about the development of a highway and byway system leads to growth and prosperity in Alabama, but with the amount of traffic on the roadways comes the rise in highway related accidents and death. National and State safety boards and law enforcement personnel work to make the highways safer and laws are enacted to make road travel less of a risk.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn as the growth of the automobile industry continued and more and more people purchased cars, a system of good highways was in demand. United States legislators and senators became involved in passing bills to establish federal highways and to provide monies for the construction and maintenance of those roads. This boom in the building of new roadways led to both good and bad practices and called for innovative ways to raise money to match the demand.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn that using the old Native American trails, white settlers to Alabama begin the first transportation system in the state. Early roads were simply dirt paths widened for wagons and animals. Later corduroy and plank roads covered the dirt helping to eliminate the muddy conditions that followed the rain. River transportation and the first railroads also played a large part in the growth of Alabama’s transportation during this time. The invention of the automobile caused a revolution in the transportation world and increased the need for a better highway system.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT2 (2) 3 :

3 ) Use various primary sources, including calendars and timelines, for reconstructing the past.

Examples: historical letters, stories, interviews with elders, photographs, maps, artifacts

[SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students will be led on a historical adventure. After jumping through the portal into this world, the kids go on an adventure to learn more about Moundville, one of the largest Native American towns ever built.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT2 (2) 3 :

3 ) Use various primary sources, including calendars and timelines, for reconstructing the past.

Examples: historical letters, stories, interviews with elders, photographs, maps, artifacts

[SS2010] ALA (4) 1 :

1 ) Compare historical and current economic, political, and geographic information about Alabama on thematic maps, including weather and climate, physical-relief, waterway, transportation, political, economic development, land-use, and population maps.

•  Describing types of migrations as they affect the environment, agriculture, economic development, and population changes in Alabama

[SS2010] ALA (4) 2 :

2 ) Relate reasons for European exploration and settlement in Alabama to the impact of European explorers on trade, health, and land expansion in Alabama.

•  Locating on maps European settlements in early Alabama, including Fort Condé, Fort Toulouse, and Fort Mims

•  Tracing on maps and globes, the routes of early explorers of the New World, including Juan Ponce de León, Hernando de Soto, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa

•  Explaining reasons for conflicts between Europeans and American Indians in Alabama from 1519 to 1840, including differing beliefs regarding land ownership, religion, and culture

[SS2010] ALA (4) 3 :

3 ) Explain the social, political, and economic impact of the War of 1812, including battles and significant leaders of the Creek War, on Alabama.

Examples: social—adoption of European culture by American Indians, opening of Alabama land for settlement

political—forced relocation of American Indians, labeling of Andrew Jackson as a hero and propelling him toward Presidency

economic—acquisition of tribal land in Alabama by the United States

•  Explaining the impact of the Trail of Tears on Alabama American Indians' lives, rights, and territories

[SS2010] ALA (4) 5 :

5 ) Describe Alabama's entry into statehood and establishment of its three branches of government and the constitutions.

•  Explaining political and geographic reasons for changes in location of Alabama's state capital

•  Recognizing roles of prominent political leaders during early statehood in Alabama, including William Wyatt Bibb, Thomas Bibb, Israel Pickens, William Rufus King, and John W. Walker

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, three young kids venture outside their 2-D animated world to learn about early Alabama history for their upcoming school report. Aided by their hyper-intelligent robotic friend Roto and a magical portal, they visit some of Alabama’s historic sites to learn about Native American societies, early settlers, and the beginning of Alabama’s statehood. With the help of local archaeologists and historians, they just might make it back home in time to get to school and turn in their report!