Secondary Humanities Online Resources

These online resources have been curated for connections to the BC curriculum, usefulness and appropriateness for students. Please note the first filter column on the left-hand side shows which resources are available as paid databases on Destiny, our library database. The links will take you to the library homepage; all databases will be under either the student or teacher section, or both. You can find out about accessing library resources here. The Covid-19 filter column indicates additional content or access offered within the resource in response to the pandemic. You can scroll through the document or hyperlink to the specific section that is of interest. Please let us know if you find any broken links or if we have missed an excellent resource!

1. Online Texts 2. News Sources 3. Lesson Planning Sites 4. Film and Podcast Sites 5. Primary Sources and Research Sites 6. Video Sites 7. Outdoor Learning 8. Online Textbooks 9. Poetry and Creative Writing 10. Virtual Museums

Created by Shannon Daly, Brandy Lekakis, Leanne McColl, Rebeca Rubio and Baren Tsui April 15, 2020

Online Texts These sites provide access to many texts, including novels, graphic novels, non-fiction and poetry. They include both e-books and audio books

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Tumblebooks

Tumblebooks teen has a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction options, including graphic novels.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Orca Readers

Includes a wide variety of high interest, low reading level books for intermediate and secondary students. Please note: many of these novels contain mature subject matters and language.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Richmond Public Library

Your public library has a wide variety of resources available with your library card. Don’t worry if you or your students don’t have one, you can apply online. Resources include access to digital newspapers and magazines, eBooks, audiobooks and streaming music and video.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Audible Audible has made a large number of audiobooks available for free for the duration of school closures. There are some excellent book choices for every age, in both English and French.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Lit2Go

This site includes many classic novels, mostly American and some British. While the interface might be difficult to read for long periods of time, many novels have an audible component right in the text or a link to a free book on various platforms.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Scholastic Learn

at Home

Educators and families can access Scholastic digital subscriptions including BookFlix (K-3), Shared Reading (K-3), True Flix (3-5), Science Flix (4-9), Scholastic Go! (2-12). French resources available.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

News Sources

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Curio Curio.ca gives teachers and students streaming access to educational content on CBC and Radio-Canada. You’ll find documentaries from television and radio, news reports, archival material, stock shots and more. Search on Curio by collection or subject area.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Newsela

An online news site which allows you to search by topic, provides collections of stories around a single idea and allows you to present the same news article at a variety of reading levels. Students should not create accounts or sign in. They can just browse the available content.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

APTN The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network offers a wide variety of programming, from news to children’s programs, from a First Peoples perspective.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Lesson Planning Sites

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

The Critical Thinking

Consortium

TC2 has ready-to-post resources to support student learning online. In addition, under the Resources tab, see “Tools for Thinking” (aligned to our core competencies) and “Critical Challenges” (aligned to our K-12 curriculum), and searchable by subject and grade level. Our district has a subscription, so please create an account using your sd38 email address.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Les Plan

This site focuses on an in-depth study of current issues, including lesson plans, activities and readings. Publications include The Canadian Reader and What in the World? This is a paid subscription, but it is free for the time being.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Glen Thielmann Pacific Slope Consortium

This website, along with Glen’s personal website, are a wealth of information for SS and Humanities teachers. There are some great story prompts for historical creative writing.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Facing History and Ourselves

Facing History and Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and students to stand up to bigotry and hate. The collection of educator resources includes flexible, multimedia materials, from primary sources and streaming videos to teaching strategies, lesson plans, and full units.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Historica Canada

Historica Canada builds awareness of Canadian history and citizenship. There are ready to go lessons on a variety of topics in their education section here. There is also an Indigenous Perspectives Education guide which has downloadable pdf lessons, worksheets and a timeline. The material could be divided between SS9 and SS10.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Voices into Action

Voices into Action is an online resource dedicated to providing students with access to information on issues regarding human rights, prejudice, and hatred.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Teaching Tolerance

The mission of Teaching Tolerance is to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy. Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to (K-12) educators including lesson plans, film kits, downloadable posters, and texts in order to supplement the curriculum, to inform practice, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Media Smarts

MediaSmarts is a Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization for digital and media literacy. Comprehensive collection of classroom ready resources, units, lessons around digital and media literacy.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Common Sense Media

Education

This is the American version of MediaSmarts. There are many great resources here for digital literacy and citizenship.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million supporters in 150+ countries working together to protect and promote human rights. A non-profit organization, Amnesty International runs independently of all governments, political persuasions and religious creeds, and is funded by members and donors. Letter writing campaigns provide interesting cross curricular investigations. Amnesty International has current information about the human rights concerns connected to Covid-19.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Learn 360 This is a paid database that gives teachers and students access to wide variety of educational videos on widely diverse topics, as well as many teacher resources.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The Representation

Project

This website offers analysis of the impact that gender and representation have on societal issues and events. Excellent documentaries are also available.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Great Unsolved Mysteries in

Canadian History

A collection of cold cases from throughout Canadian History (starting with migration theories and moving through to the Cold War); each mystery has its own website with information and resources, as well as activities/webquests for interactive, inquiry-based student learning.

✓ ✓ ✓

Bamboo Shoots

This teacher resource website provides information about the contributions of Chinese Canadians and the injustices they faced throughout Canadian history. The site has a gallery, a free card game, and 2 sets of lessons: grade 5 and grade 9.

✓ ✓ ✓

Vancouver Holocaust Education

Centre (VHEC)

The VHEC is devoted to Holocaust-based anti-racism education and commemoration and is dedicated to educating the next generation, and engaging educators to work toward a better future. VHEC's main online feature, Primary Voices, includes lesson suggestions based on survivors' testimonies. Other online resources are its Teacher Resource booklet and many detailed in-focus Teacher's Guides. VHEC documents its local Holocaust survivor testimonies at the Fortunoff Video Archive.

✓ ✓ ✓

Student Vote

These learning resources for grades 4- 12 are intended to improve civic literacy, introduce the concepts of governance and democracy, increase awareness about the workings of government in Canada, and teach students how to effectively participate as active and informed citizens in their community.

✓ ✓ ✓

Library of Parliament

Classroom and Teacher

Resources

This free website resource delves deep into the topic of the Canadian Parliament. There are maps (interactive and static) of both houses of the government, and details regarding the history and development of our parliamentary system. The site includes classroom activities, simulations, virtual tours, videos and digital games regarding every aspect of the Canadian federal government.

✓ ✓ ✓

Elections and Democracy

Canada

This Elections Canada website is dedicated to providing non-partisan information and resources to educate students (K-12) about democracy and Canada’s elections process. There are classroom resources, and distance learning resources. All resources are available for free download, and you can also order physical copies for free.

✓ ✓ ✓

Newsliteracy

This website, which requires an account, has numerous resources to help students learn how to critically look at where their information comes from. There are two mini online games, lesson plans for (K-12), and case studies with discussion topics ready for classroom use.

✓ ✓ ✓

National Geographic

Under the Education tab, is the Resource Library, which contains classroom activities, lesson plans, and units for teachers (grades 3-12).

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Nikkei Place

This is Nikkei National Museum's online educational offerings for both Japanese Canadian history and Japanese culture for at-home learning.

✓ ✓

Film and Podcast Sites

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Journeys in Film

This site contains free resources, film discussion guides and lesson plans for a wide variety of film.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Jacob Burns Film Center

This is an excellent resource for teaching film, particularly the visual glossary.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

NPR Teaching

Podcasting

This is an excellent resource for using and creating podcasting in the classroom.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

CBC Podcasts in Class

Podcasts in Class is a way for teachers to bring podcasts into their classrooms, with custom-made lesson plans, slides, handouts, homework and even videos. These guides were written and vetted by teachers who work across a variety of boards, in different cities across Canada.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The Moth

The Moth is an online storytelling collective. There is a huge collection of shared oral memoir, both audio and video. While much of it is adult in nature, the education page has many excellent stories and resources that are appropriate for secondary students.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Primary Sources and Research Sites

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Global Issues In Context

Includes academic resources that are excellent for research.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Canada In Context

Includes in-depth analysis of historical and present-day events and issues.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Dictionary of Canadian

Biography

“Thousands of individuals await you, each of whom, in his or her own way, has contributed to the history of Canada.”

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Canadian Points

of View Includes Canadian perspectives on a wide variety of issues.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The History Education Network

A collection of online archives, websites and databases of primary sources on significant topics in Canadian history designed to help educators and historians locate significant online collections of primary sources for a wide range of topics in Canadian history. Also available in French.

✓ ✓ ✓

The Canadian Images and

Letters Project

Website of primary resources of Canadian War experiences from Pre-1914 to Korea War. The site includes collections with primary resources such as letters, photographs, telegrams, postcards, poems and more. There is also a teacher’s resource.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Gapminder

A database containing a large volume of statistics over a huge array of people and countries. The website allows you to compare different statistics easily in either bar graphs, trending graphs, or as maps.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Video Sites

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

National Film Board

“The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas.”

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Crash Course Crash Course is a YouTube channel for educators of all areas, created by Jon and Hank Green.

✓ ✓ ✓

Oversimplified Oversimplified is a YouTube channel for educating about war and revolution

✓ ✓

Historica Canada Heritage Minutes

Historica Canada has created and archived the collection of bilingual Canadian 60-second short films, each depicting a significant person, event or story in Canadian history. First released in 1991, they have been shown on television, in cinemas and online, and have become a part of Canadian culture

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Ted-Ed:

Ted-Ed has videos on teaching and learning, with subtopics of critical and critical thinking, collaboration and information literacy.

✓ ✓ ✓

Outdoor Learning

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Walking Curriculum:

Evoking Wonder and Developing

Sense of Place

Gillian Judson is offering the Walking Curriculum for free, no e-reader required, at amazon.ca. This resource provides 60 ideas for interdisciplinary outdoor walks for K-12

✓ ✓ ✓

Connections to the Walking Curriculum

K-12 teachers have posted their connections to the Walking Curriculum, including activities to promote reconciliation, deep listening and imaginative writing. Surrey School District supports the Walking Curriculum with a 30-day walking curriculum challenge that introduces an Indigenous perspective to the learning activities.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Project Learning Tree

Project Learning Tree uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase students’ understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. It offers free resources for families to connect children (grades K-10) to the outdoors and nature.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Geocaching This real-world outdoor, treasure hunting game may be used for social studies or science classes. Teachers can create their own geocaches, or use ones already created to help students learn map reading, navigation and GPS skills.

✓ ✓

Online Textbooks

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Pearson Publishing

This publisher has made a large number of textbooks available for free online. There is a sign-up process required for both teachers and students. Students under 18 years of age need parent permission.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Nelson Publishing

This publisher has made a large number of textbooks available for free online. There is a sign-up process required for both teachers and students. Students under 18 years of age need parent permission.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Lightboxes These are on the bottom

ribbon of your library page

Digitally enhanced and interactive non-fiction books that are hyperlinked with audio and video components. The Lightboxes available will be school dependent. Note: because of the COVID-19, all lightboxes are currently free. Click HERE and then choose:

1. “any school” 2. Follett eLearning, McHenry, IL

Once you are in there, click the login button in the top right-hand corner: 1. guest 2. follett

They’re cool! Check them out!

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Poetry and Creative Writing Sites April is poetry month, so check out these great sites!

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

Poetry & Short Story Reference

Center

This database has a huge collection of poems and short stories, many with the option to have it read aloud. There are also reference materials and critical analysis.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Literary Reference

Center

This database has a huge collection of online novels. There are also reference materials and critical analysis.

✓ ✓ ✓

TED-Ed There’s a Poem

for that!

This is a collection of beautifully read and animated poems for all grade levels and interests.

✓ ✓

Button Poetry

Spoken word poetry is often engaging and powerful. Button poetry has created a curated list of spoken word poems for secondary students.

✓ ✓

Poetry In Voice

Why not have a virtual poetry café?

✓ ✓ ✓

Voices Visible

Are your students doing some great creative writing? Together, you can submit their work to BCTELA’ Voices Visible student writing journal. Provide a great authentic audience!

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The Globe Theatre

The Globe is closed due the pandemic (not for the first time in its history!), but it is offering a variety of performances for free online.

✓ ✓

Virtual Museums

Lib

rary

Su

bsc

rip

tio

ns

En

glis

h

Soci

al S

tud

ies

Fre

nch

Ava

ilab

le

Ind

igen

ou

s C

on

ten

t

Fic

tio

n

No

n -

Fic

tio

n

Co

vid

-19

Co

nn

ecti

on

The Royal BC Museum Online

Exhibitions

The Royal BC Museum hosts 15 online exhibitions, including the gold rush, and Emily Carr. This portal, created by the Royal Museum of BC, aligns with BC K-12 school curriculum. Designed with a constructivist approach, it is a non-linear, learner-centred, inquiry-based and interactive website.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Virtual Museum of

Canada

Virtual Museum of Canada is the largest digital source of stories and experiences shared by Canada’s museums and heritage organizations. This site is also available in French.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Google Arts and Culture

A huge repository of all things arts, culture, history, geography, science, space, basically everything one can think of. A great provocation to inspire inquiry.

✓ ✓ ✓