4th Grade Theme-by-Theme Resources for HMR
Theme 1 (Journeys)
Launching the Theme:
United Streaming:
 Rafting Alaska’s Wildest Rivers (clip on Alaska’s Rivers: The Last Great Frontier)
Selection 1: Akiak
United Streaming:
 The Jeff Corwin Experience: Alaska: An Extreme Environment
 National Parks: Alaska’s National Parks
Iditarod Race Across Alaska: Information about the race, the dogs and Alaska from
Scholastic
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Official website of the Iditarod race
http://www.iditarod.com/
Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic: Information, pictures and an animation from PBS (go to
Dogsledding 101 link)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sleddogs/index.html
Federal Aviation Administration, Alaskan Region's Weather Cameras: View current
weather conditions in various parts of Alaska
http://akweathercams.faa.gov/
All About Snow: Information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center
http://nsidc.org/snow/
Selection 2: Grandfather’s Journey
Japan: Pictures and information about Japanese culture and life in Japan today from a
teacher on a Fulbright program
http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/fmf/
Japan for 6 to 10 Year Old Children: Site with pictures and information about Japanese
culture from a teacher on a Fulbright program
http://www.sover.net/~johnd/categories.html
Selection 3: Finding the Titanic
United Streaming:
 Science of the Sea: Places in the Sea (clip on A Closer Look at Shipwrecks)
I Survived the Titanic: The story of a 12-year old girl, Ruth Becker, who survived the
sinking of the Titanic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/media/world/9607/titanic.html
RMS Titanic, Inc.: The official website of the Titanic with photos and historic and
current information about the ship
http://www.titanic-online.com/
Ocean World: Icebergs: Pictures and information about icebergs
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/iceberg/
International Ice Patrol: Official home page of the International Ice Patrol from the Coast
Guard
http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/home.html
Selection 4: By the Shores of Silver Lake
United Streaming:
 Elementary Video Adventures: Early America (clip on Trains)
 Follow My Leader (clip on Jimmy Struggles to Adjust to Loss of His Sight)
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History: Pictures of the Transcontinental Railroad
http://cprr.org/
Central Pacific Railroad, Photographic History Museum: Site contains many images of
old trains
http://cprr.org/Museum/index.html
The New Nation: Read about the Transcontinental Railroad on America’s Story
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/train_1
Driving the Last Spike: Pictures and information from the Virtual Museum of the City of
San Francisco
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/rail.html
Welcome to the Braille Bug Site: Information about Braille and blindness for kids from
the American Foundation for the Blind
http://www.afb.org/braillebug/
Blindness: Information for kids about blindness from a visually impaired teacher
http://www.mcwdn.org/Blind/BlindKidsMain.html
Theme 2 (American Stories)
Launching the Theme:
United Streaming:
 America At Its Best: America: A Land of Many People (clips on What is Diversity?,
So Many Americans!)
 This Is Our Country (clips on Different Cultures, Landmarks)
Main Selection 1: Tomas and the Library Lady
Weedpatch Camp: Pictures and information about the migrant camp in California.
Teachers could share the site when introducing the selection to build background about
the lifestyle of the main character.
http://www.weedpatchcamp.com/camp.htm
Families Living in the Camps: Black and white photos of families living in migrant
camps that could be shared by teachers when introducing the selection to build
background about the lifestyle of the main character.
http://www.cyesis.org/webinstruction/grapesofwrath/pictures2.htm
Take a Tour of the DDC: Online Flash tour of the Dewey Decimal Classification system
used by libraries. Teachers could share some of the Flash tour with students so they’d get
a better understanding of how books are categorized in the library. (Click on the Take
Multimedia Tour link for information about libraries; click on Let’s Do The DCC and
then on Dinosaurs since Tomas read about dinosaurs). The Information and Study Skills
lesson (page 181C-D) that corresponds to this selection covers Using the Library so this
website addresses that lesson as well.
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/tour/
Main Selection 2: Tanya’s Reunion
United Streaming:
 What is a Family? (Family History clip)
Wessels Living History Farm: Learn about the history of farming, watch the web cams,
and take a virtual tour of a living history farm. Teachers could share some of the 180degree views of the farm if students need to know more about farming to understand the
story.
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/
Main Selection 3: Boss of the Plains
Stetson: The hat’s official website. It provides background about Stetson hats for
teachers.
http://www.stetsonhat.com/
The Gold Rush: Images and information about the California gold rush from PBS. The
pictures could be shared with the class to build background for the time period of the
story.
http://www.pbs.org/goldrush/
American Cowgirl: Movies and history of the women of the west. This site provides
additional background about their lifestyle.
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/cowgirl/
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Diamond Ranch: The museum’s
official website for children. Click on the Songs link. Content supports Cowboy Songs
selection.
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/diamondr/index.html
Main Selection 4: A Very Important Day
United Streaming:
 America At Its Best: What It Means To Be An American Citizen (clip on What Is An
American Citizen?)
Ancestors in the Americas: Stories about immigration in America, including QuickTime
movies. Teachers can share clips about immigrants to American to build background.
http://www.cetel.org/programs.html
Ellis Island: Audio and video files about Ellis Island and immigration. Teachers can share
audio files or clips about immigrants coming to Ellis Island to build background for the
selection.
http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/index2.html
Immigration: Stories of yesterday and today from Scholastic that could be read by
students, if time permits.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm
The Light of Liberty: Site from National Geographic for Kids that would be a good
resource for learning about the Statue of Liberty.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/9907/liberty/
NOAA Photo Library: Images of different types of weather conditions. (ELL students
may profit from seeing images of snow and other types of weather.)
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nssl/
Savage Seas: The Weather Factory: Video of savage weather conditions. (ELL students
may profit from seeing images of snow and other types of weather.)
http://www.thirteen.org/savageseas/weather-main.html
Additional Resources Related to Theme:
The following online resources also support the theme. Students or teachers can
download and print images to add to the Focus Wall, showing various landmarks or
symbols of America.
Kids Voting USA: Official website for the program
http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/
Ben’s Guide to Government for Kids: Information about government and the United
States for students in grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/
America’s Story: Site for children about people and places in America from the Library
of Congress.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi
Theme 3 (That’s Amazing!)
Launching the Theme:
No suggested online resources
Selection 1: The Stranger
United Streaming:
 The Four Seasons (clip on Fall)
Autumn Leaf Scrapbook: Browse through the pages of a virtual scrapbook of autumn
leaves
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/temp/leaves/
A Change of Seasons: Site from NASA with audio of text (downloadable in Real Player)
and a narrated animation about the seasons
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/News/2001/News-AutumnalEquinox.asp
Selection 2: Cendrillon
The Annotated Cinderella: Story has definitions in hypertext
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/index.html
Cinderella: Multicultural Cinderella stories (all text)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#woodencloak
Selection 3: Heat Wave!
United Streaming:
 Weather Smart: Weather (clip on Hot and Cold Weather Safety)
The Sun: Statistics and information about the sun from the Melbourne Planetarium
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/planetarium/solarsystem/sun.html
Temperature Converter: An online temperature converter (Celsius to Fahrenheit and
Fahrenheit to Celsius)
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/lookitup/crunchers/Temperature.html
Tall Tales: Information about the format of Tall Tales and some of the characters and
tales
http://www.hasd.org/ges/talltale/talltale.htm
Theme 4 (Problem Solvers)
Launching the Theme:
No suggested online resources
Selection 1: My Name is Maria Isabel
Where Did Your Name Come From?: Information about the origins of names
http://www.siskiyous.edu/class/engl12/naming.htm
Names for Japanese: information about the origin and meaning of Japanese names (all
text)
http://www2.kanawa.com/japan/names.html
Selection 2: Marven of the Great North Woods
No suggested online resources
Selection 3: The Last Dragon
Chinese Dragons: Read about the role of dragons in China
http://www.crystalinks.com/chinadragons.html
A Virtual Journey into San Francisco’s Chinatown: Take a tour of Chinatown right on
your computer
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/chinatown/intro.html
Selection 4: Sing to the Stars
The String Section: Read about, watch videos and listen to the violin, viola, cello, and
double bass
http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/instrumentlab/strings.html
Welcome to the San Francisco Symphony for Kids Site: Learn about the instruments of
the orchestra and compose your own music
http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1
The Instrument Lab: Pictures, information and audio of music from different parts of an
orchestra
http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/instrumentlab/
Jazz Kids: Interactive site about jazz music for kids from PBS
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/kids/
Jazz for Young People Curriculum: Read about Louis Armstrong and hear his music
http://www.jazzatlincolncenter.org/educ/curriculum/modules/louisArmstrong/module.ht
ml
Theme 5 (Heroes)
Launching the Theme:
No suggested online resources
Selection 1: Happy Birthday, Dr. King!
United Streaming:
 American Heroes and Heroines: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 The Boyhood of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and African American History: Links for kids to information on
King and other Civil Rights leaders
http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/index.htm
We Shall Overcome: The Players: Background for teachers about the Civil Rights
Movement
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/players.htm
Timeline of Selected Events of the Civil Rights Movement: Timeline of events from
1865-1989
http://www.greensboro.com/sitins/timeline.htm
“I Have a Dream”: Audio of MLK speeches
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/king/speeches.html
Rosa Parks: Pioneer of Civil Rights: Profile, biography, pictures and an interview with
links to audio and video files
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0pro-1
Selection 2: Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan – Bio: Background for teachers about Gloria Estefan in English or Spanish
http://www.epiccenter.com/EpicCenter/custom/56/biojump.html
Selection 3: Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man
The History Channel Speeches and Video: Type Lou Gehrig into the search box to hear
his farewell to baseball speech
http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/home/index.jsp
Lou Gehrig: Picture and short biography from the National Baseball Hall of Fame
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/gehrig_lou.htm
Baseball Hall of Fame Statistics: Links to batting, pitching and managerial records for
hall of fame members
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers%5Fand%5Fhonorees/hofer%5Fstats/
Yankee Stadium History: Picture and information about the history of Yankee Stadium
from the official site of the New York Yankees
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nyy/ballpark/stadium_history.jsp
Theme 6 (Nature: Friend and Foe)
Launching the Theme:
United Streaming:
 Earth Science: Weather and Climate (clip on Violent Weather)
Selection 1: Salmon Summer
Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association: The official website of the association with
information about tribes, history and culture
http://www.apiai.com/
Aleut: Information about the Aleut from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History
http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/croads/aleut.html
Selection 2: Wildfires
United Streaming:
 Enviro_Tacklebox: Module 4: Forces in the Environment: Rebirth in Fire (clips on
Successful Prescribed Burns, Benefits of Prescribed Burns, etc.)
Forest Fires: Learn some of the benefits of forest fires from Ranger Rick’s site (all text)
http://www.nwf.org/gowild/kzPage.cfm?siteId=3&departmentId=76&articleId=817
SmokeyBear.com: Learn about wildfires, their effect on different ecosystems and how to
prevent them from the official Smokey the Bear site
http://www.smokeybear.com/
Selection 3: Skylark
United Streaming:
 Pioneers: The American Frontier
Homes on the Prairie: Information, pictures and a virtual tour of a farmhouse
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/farmhouses/homesprairie.html
Tropical Savannah: Information about the tropical savannah
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/savannah.html
Build A Prairie: Learn about prairie ecology in this interactive activity
http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/prairie/build/