I really like the apps! I always find it really hard to teach some of the famous figures we are required to teach in first grade because my students do not have an idea of where they fit in to our nations history or the basics of our government. I specifically liked Engaging Congress and KidCitizen because they provide an engaging way of learning some of these basics in our government and history. I would have loved to have known about these this past year for distance learning. They are interactive and engaging and I think some of my students would have really enjoyed these. Some of the apps are limiting to my students because they are still learning how to read. 

I also liked looking at the apps and learning about them. Since I teach 2nd grade, many were too difficult for younger children, requiring too much reading or background knowledge. The ones that I think would be the easiest and most engaging, were Kid Citizen, specifically the episodes to learn about different topics (Rosa Parks, Community Helpers & Primary Sources). I think the Play area inside DB Quest, would be engaging for the kids, especially if we played as a whole group. The game, Cast Your Vote would mesh with topics we learn about in class. Also, Eagle Eye Citizen included a game area under SOLVE. Becoming American was a quick and fun sorting game to try. It included links to learn more which I felt was helpful and easy to use.

I enjoyed the inquiry based tactics used within Casemaker that could lead to really rich discussions.  While they weren't directly related to math, it would be a wonderful way to display how people can have differing views but we need to have a respectful discussion where everyone can feel free to share their ideas. I use these same tactics a lot within my classroom to have students listen to one another and defend their own thinking.

I have used eagle eye citizen and I love the activities. I could have students solve some of the sequencing activities and then discuss why they decided to use the order that they did (what clues helped them get it correct)

I love the quick links to LOC using Engaging Congress https://engagingcongress.org/teacher-toolbox/index.html#us-history. 

Some of Thinkport site was for a younger student, but the resources provide excellent resources to review History skills. https://www.thinkport.org/tps/research-learning-modules.html

Encyclopedia Virginia is interesting, but not in the way I was thinking initially. Eventually, I was looking at content alphabetically and I came across a history of the highway markers in VA. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/historical-highway-marker-program/. I could have the students research an area and create a version of a highway marker, during my Geography lessons. 

The civics interactives look great.  The thing I like about Casemaker is that there are a number of topics that I actually cover in my civics class and that it gives students access to a number of primary sources related to the concept, one stop shopping.  During the year I use iCivics for their games but I have not used their DBQuest application.  I like how it offers a "big question" and students are then tasked with using a few selected primary sources to address the question.  This seems like a good way to help students build a base of knowledge to then complete a written response to the big question.  I also like the little matching game I tried in Eagle Eye.  It encourages students to take a closer look at images/documents and then place them in categories and is something that doesn't take a great deal of time.    

DBQuest: Love it! The topics are great and can be easily used in my US History class to further engage students. 

Casemaker:  While I initially thought it wouldn't necessarily work with my high school juniors, I had a change of thought and feel like it could be used at the very beginning of the year to review how to use primary sources to create an argument.  This would be INCREDIBLY helpful for our National History Students in World II Honors. 

Eagle Eye:  LOVE it!  What a fun way to have students engage in primary sources!  Wish I knew about this one during distance learning!!!!!  

Thinkport:  Great resources for both classes I teach!  I saw some activities that could help me improve some lessons!

Overall- great resources that I didn't know existed but wish I did last year!  Excited to have them this year! 

I might use Voices for Suffrage in a lesson that I teach using speeches. 

DBQuest introduces students to major questions in civics and history, so I might use that in a Socratic format, or with mini-research projects. 

I like Kid Citizen for the same reasons. 

Three of the apps have real potential:

1. Thinkport's high school level Learning Resources included 12 Research steps that I can then apply using primary sources. This site also contains subject-specific learning skills such as paragraph writing, locating strong evidence, and interpreting various text types. 

2. DBQuest has "Founding Preambles" which can assist in our study of early documents. The Historical Monuments and Meaning offers background to a current event, highlighting the value of research. 

3. Casemaker was geared for Middle School, but I could use one lesson as training and the resource allows teachers to download and tweak materials to serve other levels. I did not see specific examples as the confirmation did not appear in my work email after I registered twice. 

The others were less useful for grade 11 American Literature. 

I have enjoyed exploring the different apps!  I think they all have potential uses for my cross-curricular library classes, and they offer different resources that work for a wide variety of student ages and skill levels.  I will definitely use them in conjunction with my language arts and social studies lessons.

Some standouts are:

KidCitizen: This works so well for elementary students.  I watched two of the videos that introduce primary sources and maps.  They provide an excellent explanation of both concepts and tie in LOC primary sources in a very engaging way.

Casemaker: Like KidCitizen, this resource is very engaging a appropriate for elementary students.  I think the premise of students as history 'detectives' will really engage, as they: challenge a topic, gather evidence, and make a case on a topic.  This elevates student critical thinking to interact with primary sources much like an historian or social scientist would.

Engaging Congress & DB Quest:  Both of these resources will work well for upper elementary, middle, and high school students.  I was impressed with the variety of games and activities both sites offer, along with teacher resources (lesson plans, etc.) organized by topic, grade level, and Common Core standards (which we all are used to 'translating' into SOLs).

*Journalism in America: I almost totally skipped over this one until I clicked and saw the cool topics that are there.  Right off the bat I wonder if I could have my students work through the American Revolution/Early Republic topic as a means to explore how our new nation eventually got to the point of writing the Constitution.  Other interesting topics could be Mental Health as that would be related to the Capstone project all 8th graders at my school complete.

*DBQuest: I've definitely used many of iCivics resources in the past, beyond the games, but I would have to explore more.  I think I tried some DBQuests last year but because of the shortened school week I didn't have time.  I will now! (I hope...)

*Casemaker: I've definitely fiddled around with this one in the past.  In fact, I decided to use some of the primary sources already in their challenges for my Final Lesson.  It gave me the idea to create a very broad, all encompassing lesson about the overall content of my course.

Eagle Eye looks interesting, I want to explore that more.  Also, Engaging Congress also gave me some great primary sources to use for my final product.  I will play around with those further as I continue to add images into my Final Lesson album!