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  • Make A Glossary


    This activity combines different skills from language
    arts. It improves vocabulary and can be used for alphabetizing practice and
    sentence structure. Students in older grades can also state what type of word
    each word is.

    It can be used for any subject, and is especially good
    for things like science, where children tend to forget definitions of words.

    You will need:

    • a list of words, taken from a lesson, unit or story
    • construction paper
    • lined paper
    • colored markers
    • glue
    • scissors

    Directions:

    Take a look at a finished page
    so you can better understand these instructions.

    Measure the construction paper.  Words will be
    pasted on the left and definitions beside them. Be sure to allow a space between
    the words and definitions and a free border around the whole thing.

    Write the words on lined paper, space them out well so
    that they can be cut out in individual boxes.

    Take each word and write a definition for it. If you are
    using a book that has a glossary at the back, try and avoid using the
    definitions from there. The student should define the word in their own way. It
    is important that the definition applies to the word in the context it was
    found. For example:
    He     bore
    a hole in the melon with a thorn.
    He was an awful     bore.
    The word bore in those sentences has a totally different meaning in each.

    The definitions should be on separate strips of paper.
    If the definition is long, or the students writing large, allow two lines for
    the definition.

    Cut out the words and arrange them in alphabetical
    order. Arrange the definitions beside them.

    Place the words and definitions on the construction
    paper. Leave the top three inches of the construction paper free. You may
    require more than one piece of construction paper.

    When you are happy with the placement of the words,
    paste them in place.

    Look at the first and last words on the page, these are
    the guide words. Write these words again, on lined paper. Paste the first word
    on the top left of the page and the last word  on the top right.

    Write a title for the page and paste it in the free area
    at the top. The title can be the title of the story, or in the case of science
    the unit. If you still have room at the top draw or paste a picture to go with
    the story.

    On a clean sheet of lined paper, make sentences for the
    words. One sentence per word. Paste it to the back of the construction paper. If
    there is extra room draw or paste pictures also.

    If you make multiple glossaries they can be made into a
    book, by punching holes in the top or left margin and attaching together with
    yarn.

    For a really good effect write the words in one color
    and definitions in other colors. When you write the sentences write the word in
    a different color to the rest of the sentence.

  • Reading Activities


    Some children just naturally love to read, and others are
    what are known as reluctant readers. People will often tell you that their child
    just loves to read because they were read to from an early age. This
    works with some children, but others don’t want to sit still long enough to
    read or be read to.

    These activities are great for children just starting to
    read. They are particularly good for reluctant readers, who pull faces and
    attempt to run away when books are brought out!

    Flash Card Games. (geared to words the child already knows)

    It is important that when you first start out this is
    exciting, fun and easy. If the child finds it took difficult, flash cards take
    on the same connotation as books, and you are lost. Pick about twenty words that
    your child CAN read. Write each word on an individual index card. You also need
    a pack of stickers, or similar reward.

    Game 1:

    Place the cards face up. Ask the child to hand you words
    beginning with a particular sound. Be sure to emphasize sounds with this
    activity, rather than the names of letters. Once the child gets all, or most
    correct, move on to end or middle sounds. Be careful to lavish praise for
    correct answers, give rewards for a fixed number of correct answers, and skip
    over incorrect ones! When the answer is incorrect, NEVER say, no, that’s
    wrong. Say something like, are you sure, hmmmm..I don’t know I don’t think
    it begins with (name the sound again), let’s try again, or something equally
    soothing and non-threatening.


    Game 2:

    Place the cards face down. Ask the child to pick a card and
    read it. If the answer is correct, they pick another, if incorrect it is the
    next players turn. If only you and the child are playing, allow yourself only
    two correct answers before passing the turn back. Never deliberately get it
    wrong, children don’t like to be allowed to cheat, they feel that they are
    stupid if they need to cheat. As the child improves at the game you can increase
    the number of cards you take before passing the turn back.

    Game 3:

    Each player takes a card. They read the card and then act
    out the meaning. Other players have to guess what the card says…this one is
    particularly good with animal names (cat, dog, rat etc) and actions.

    Game 4:

    This requires pictures to match the words, so isn’t
    suitable for all words. Make pairs of cards, one with the picture and one with
    the word. Place all face up and match words to pictures. For variety, you can
    place them face down and play matching pairs with them.

    Increasing Words

    If you feel your child can read more words, then increase
    the number of cards. If they seem unable to read more, move on to a different
    type of activity.

    Activities geared towards learning more
    words.


  • More Reading Activities


    Learning More Words

    Activity 1: Pictures.

    Use old magazines, pictures from the computer or even
    hand drawn pictures. Make a collage on a large poster size sheet of paper. The
    collage can be haphazard or depict a scene. Ask the child to name items in the
    collage. Write he things they name on small slips of paper, or post-it notes.
    Place, but do not stick the words on the poster. Ask the child to look at the
    pictures and read the words under each picture. Remove the labels and then ask
    the child to place them. When they get words consistently correct allow them to
    paste the word to the poster.

    This activity helps learn new words because many of the
    words begin differently. For example if you have a refrigerator in the picture,
    then the child can probably label it by recognizing just the refr
    part of the word. Once they have done it a few times they can probably recognize
    the word without the picture t remind them.

    Activity 2: Similar Words

    Use word flash cards again with this one. Write groups
    of words with similar sounds. Use colored markers and mark the similar sound in
    one color and he differing sound in another. Use different parts of words that
    are similar. Examples:

    Initial sound similar

    End sound similar

    man

    mast 

    mat

    last

    mad

    past

    mast

    cast 

    This activity is is particularly good for
    teaching word patterns.

    Activity 3: Mixed up sentences

    Write about ten simple sentences on strips of paper.
    Glue each sentence to a different color of construction paper, and cut them up.
    Ask the child to reassemble the sentence. Then try making different sentences
    using words from some of the other sentences. Silly, meaningless sentences are
    fine, provided the child can read what they have produced. In order to get them
    to make silly sentences you may need to make a few yourself. Children are often
    unsure of what is and isn’t acceptable to an adult. Make silly sentences and
    laugh about them! Have a competition to see who can make the silliest sentence,
    or the longest sentence. Because of the problem of capitalizing initial words in
    sentences, it is probably better to ignore capital letters altogether and write
    the entire sentence in lower case. Children rarely remember the rule anyway, and
    may become confused by a capital letter in the middle of a sentence. If your
    child does know and remember the rule, you can just ask when the sentence is
    done, which letter should be capitalized and where the period should be.

  • Changes in Matter Science Lesson

    Different Forms Water Takes?



    Water can be a     solid,
     liquid or
    gas. When it is a solid it is ice or snow. When it is a gas it is water vapor, or steam.


    Changing the Temperature of Water
    Water comes in three different forms. It can be a solid (ice) a liquid (water) or a gas (water vapor or steam). To change the water from one form of matter to another you need to add or take away heat.

    When you investigated your ice cubes, what form of matter was the ice cube? What about after it melted? When you heated one on the stove, the water disappeared.
    What form had it turned into?

    Water changes form at different temperatures. It becomes a solid at 00C. It becomes a gas at
    100    0C.



    Adding Heat to Water
    If you add enough heat to water, it will turn into a gas. That gas is known as water vapor, or steam. Water vapor is difficult to see. The best way to see it is to boil a pot of water and shine a flashlight above it. The steam will make a shadow on the wall behind the stove.

    If you have water in its solid form (ice) and you add heat it will turn into a liquid. That change is easy to see.

    If you start with an ice cube and heat it, it will turn into water (liquid). If you keep heating it, it will turn into a gas (steam).


    Taking Heat Away from Water
    If you take heat away from water, it changes form. If you start with a liquid and remove heat, it will become a solid. That is what happens when you put an ice tray, full of water, into the
    refrigerator.

    If you start with a gas and remove heat, it becomes a liquid. That is what happens in the bathroom when you take a shower. Have you ever noticed that the mirror gets steamed up when you take a hot shower? That is because the hot water vapor meets the cold mirror. The heat is taken out of the vapor and it turns back to water.

    There are special words to describe what happens to water when it changes form. When water changes to a gas we say it
    evaporates. When water vapor changes to a liquid we say it
    condenses. When you boil the kettle, the water evaporates and turns into steam. When the steam meets a cold surface, such as a mirror, the windows, or ceramic tiles, it condenses and turns back into water.


    Water changes from solid to liquid to gas and back again. You can change it from one form to another by adding or taking away heat. These changes are
    reversible. If you can make a change, and then change it back to the way it was, the change is reversible.


    Lesson Review:


    What different forms can water take?


  • What makes water change its form?


  • How can you change a solid to a gas?


  • How can you change a gas to a solid?


  • What does reversible mean?


  • When a liquid evaporates, what does it turn into?


  • When a gas condenses, what does it turn into?

Changes in Matter Science Worksheet>>

Changes in Matter Experiment>>

<< Changes in Matter Investigation

More Science
Lessons

  • Animal Classification

    Classifying Animals


    When you classify an animal you place it in the group to
    which it belongs. All animals are divided into groups. The major groups are
    fairly simple. Each group is then divided into smaller groups, and divided
    again, until you eventually place the animal in its exact position in the
    classification of the Animal Kingdom.

    All of this may seem a bit complicated, and you are
    right, it is. For now, we are going to study seven groups, divided between
    animals with and without bones. We will only deal with insects
    and spiders in the group with no bones, and mammals,
    fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians     in the group with bones.

    What is an Animal?

    That might seem like an odd question, but if we are
    going to classify them, we really ought to decide if they belong in the animal
    group in the first place. Animals are living organisms. This means they breathe,
    they eat, they grow and they reproduce (make more like themselves). Plants are
    living organisms, too. So, what is the difference between a plant and an animal?
    The biggest difference is that most plants do not move, whereas most animals do.
    The true difference, though, is that plants produce their own food, whereas
    animals feed off other things.

    Bones or No Bones?

    Once you have decided you have an animal, you need to
    decide where to put it. The Animal Kingdom is divided up into groups. Every
    animal belongs in a special place, sort of like an address. The first two groups
    are the vertebrates and invertebrates. The invertebrates
    are animals with no bones. These include insects, spiders,
    and other groups for things like crabs, jellyfish, oysters, earthworms and more.
    The vertebrates, or animals with bones, can be
    divided into five main groups. These are mammals, birds,
    fish, reptiles and amphibians.



    Invertebrates
    (no bones)

    We are only going to look at two groups of
    invertebrates. Spiders and insects. Many people thing that spiders are
    insects, but they are wrong.

    • Insects have three main body parts and six legs.
    • Spiders have two main body parts and eight legs.

    Vertebrates
    (have bones)

    There are five main groups. These groups can be split
    further, into warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals. A warm-blooded animal is
    like you and me. It keeps its body temperature the same, unless it is sick. Cold
    blooded animals don’t keep their body temperatures the same, it changes
    according to the surroundings. So if the weather is hot, the animal is hot, and
    if the weather is cold, it is cold.

    Warm-blooded:
    Mammals:

    • Have hair or fur
    • Breathe air
    • Feed their young milk

    Whiskers are a type of hair, so just having whiskers counts as having hair or fur. 

    Birds:

    • Have wings and feathers
    • Breathe air
    • Lay eggs

    Cold-blooded:
    Fish:

    • Have scales, fins and tails
    • Breathe underwater (using gills)

    Reptiles:

    • Have dry skins and scales
    • Breathe air
    • Lay eggs

    Amphibians:

    • Have smooth wet or slimy skins
    • Spend part of their life in water and part on land

    Now print out the chart!




  • Animal Habitats


    Habitats are regions where certain species of plants and animals grow or live. The term ‘habitat’ is derived from the Latin term ‘it inhabits’. In other words habitats are the native environment which influences and are utilized by a specific populace.

    Ecology has allowed the maximum use of the word habitat. According to the definition of Clements and Shelford in 1939, habitats are physical conditions that surround a species, or species population, or assemblage of species, or community.

    A habitat that is shared by many species is called a biotope in ecology. Otherwise a habitat where a set of flora and fauna grow and live occupying a specific geographical territory is called a ‘biome’.

    Shark Week 20th Anniversary DVD Set

    Today’s world faces the major problem of the devastation of habitats making certain species endangered and even leading to extinction.

    Now we will classify different types of habitats

    The City Of Water

    Water habitats are of two types, fresh water habitats and salt-water habitats. Water habitats are the dwelling places of numerous fish, aquatic animals, birds and microscopic organisms.

    Fresh Water Habitat

    Rivers and lakes have fresh water unlike the salty seawater and different species of fishes, animals, plants and other lives flourish in the riverbeds, lakebeds and banks.

    Fish is a water animal equipped with gills for underwater breathing. It swims in the water living on the aquatic plants and animals. Animals like oyster and starfish live all their lives in water. Amphibians like frogs and salamanders spend half their life in water and the rest in land. Animals like herons and crabs live in the lands near water. All these species depends on water for their lives.

    Seawater Habitats

    Sea is a different world with layers of ecological strata decorating its aquatic lives. One life revolves round shallow water and another turns out in the deep dark depths of the heart of the ocean. There are arrays of coral reeves, skeletons of millions of tiny sea beings, which dazzles with the hustle and bustles of colorful fishes in the sunny shallow water.

    Salty water is essential for survival of animals like whales, dolphins and sharks. Many animals like the clams, oysters and jellyfish and plants like seaweeds live in salty water all their lives.

    The Citi Of Forest Habitat

    Forest is the jade colored residence of different species of plants and animals. The classification of the tree family is:

    Coniferous Trees

    Coniferous trees grow closely in high altitude cold regions and can survive snows in long winters. They have needle like tough leaves and seeds inside the cones. Nothing much grows in the ground. Insects feed on the floor covered with pine needles and some birds feed on these insects.

    Deciduous Trees

    Deciduous trees grow in temperate warm zones. These trees have broad leaves, which fall with the fall of autumn. Woodpecker is a common bird of this forest. Deer eat the plants and trees; squirrels live on the trees and feed on the oak tree acorns, skunks live in dens burrowed out of the earth and rotten tree trunks feeding on berries, insects and bird eggs stolen from the bird nest, spiders weave webs to catch insects and feed on them, snails live on fallen leaves and raccoons live on snails.
     
    The City Of The Underground World

    The underground habitats are a safe house from the enemies, from the extremities of temperature and overtly dry climates.

    The muddy world of the underground is the permanent habitat of different living creatures like the earthworms. Moles, armadillos and aardvarks are fossorial animals that burrow the earth and build their residences underground. Animals like the prairie dogs live some of their life underground and some above. Some creatures like some insect larvae spend a part of their life cycle in the underground citi.

    The Underground world provides food like tubers, roots, insects, worms, larvae and insect eggs to many animals.

    The Desert Habitats

    The world of desert, which is dry and deprived of rains, stages the extremity of temperature. Desert sizzles at the day and shivers at night. The topography is generally dry rocky sands, thus desert population of plants and animals have to survive with meager water.

    The monotony of desert is broken with sparse cacti, which stores water in their fleshy stems with thorns in the body to repulse thirsty animals from eating them.

    Camels also store food in their humps and store huge amount of water when they get the chance, thus can survive long without water. Whereas, lizards love the sultry weather of the desert, they like to lie in the rocks and take sunbaths.

    The prevention of the habitats is the essential base to maintain the proper ecology of the earth.

  • Kindergarten Handwriting Worksheets


    Kindergarten handwriting worksheets are child friendly tools that help the children to learn the art of writing. Kindergarten is the introductory phase of educational life when some basic skills are inculcated in a child using certain scientific methods that are practical and interesting. The worksheets are more about fun, which is why they engross the toddlers into studies.

    What is handwriting worksheet?

    Kindergarten handwriting worksheets are those, which help students to learn and write cursive and manuscript letters, words, and numbers. Handwriting worksheets allow the first shape to your kid’s handwriting. Repetition and practice offered by the worksheets further refines the handwriting skills of your child.

    Significance of handwriting worksheet from child’s point of view

    The children learn the primes of writing with kindergarten handwriting worksheets. It teaches them how to hold a pencil, to start writing from top to bottom and from left to right, to sit in a correct posture while writing. The handwriting of the kids becomes readable and clear thanks to the introduction of kindergarten handwriting worksheets. The handwriting worksheet grooms the child to follow the dictation and learn the essence of using small and capital letters.

    Handwriting worksheets designed by teacher

    The teacher clearly understands the importance of worksheet and designs it according to the need of child. Each worksheet has five practice lines with dotted letters. The teacher decides the words that are to be practiced. Other elements like font style, paper positioning are also chosen by the teacher. The written instructions are also fixed by the teacher.

    Fundamentals of handwriting

    Before designing the kindergarten handwriting worksheets the teacher should primarily concentrate on three vital aspects of handwriting – the form and slant of the letter, its size, and space. The letter formation that is the form and slant of certain alphabets depend on the pattern or style followed. Regardless of the type of handwriting child follows, he or she must conceive the beginning and ending point of the alphabet.

    The size of the letter is almost similar in different handwriting styles. Capital letters are of same size as the ascenders (b, d, h, k, l, t) and small letters like (a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, z) are half the height of ascenders and descenders (g, j, p, q, y). The sizing of letter can be taught to child using handwriting work sheets marked with a dotted middle line.

    Online worksheets

    There are various resources available online through which a teacher can prepare handwriting worksheets. The demand for such handwriting worksheets has grown with its popularity.

    The kindergarten handwriting worksheets help every child learn handwriting in a scientific way and pave the foundation for good handwriting.

  • Medieval History


    Medieval history roughly spans the era from 400-1500 AD in Europe. Though it is most commonly divided into the Early, High and the Late Middle Ages, there are many controversies about the exact starting and ending of this epoch.   

    Until the Renaissance, European history was generally categorized into six eras in conformity with the Biblical six days of creation. In the early Renaissance period, historians marked two historical epochs of the Ancient and Dark Ages.

    In the beginning of the 15th Century, the ‘three period view’ of history came up. Historians concluded that there was a transitional period between the Dark and the Modern era. This, they termed as the Middle Ages.

    The division of medieval history into Early, High and Late periods became more common after World War I, spearheaded by the writings of Henri Pirenne and Johan Huizinga. 

    Early Middle Ages

    The beginning of this era started with the decline of the Roman Empire by “barbarian” invasions. The Vandals, Huns, Bulgars, Avars and Magyars and some Germanic and Slavic groups, invaded Roman life and culture. This marked the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the end of the 5th Century.

    This was also the time when the Roman supremacy over England declined and led to the rise of great British ruler King Arthur. However, the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire continued to flourish, centered around the city of Constantinople.

    This was a time of not only socio-political upheavals, but also marked by great cultural changes. In the field of art and culture, Celtic and Germanic forms merged with Christian elements. Despite the incursions, the Church continued to survive as a unifying institution.

    Then occurred some landmark events: the rise of the Franks and that of Islam in the East. The Franks or the Merovingians became the first powerful rulers of the West after Rome. In fact, they were seminal in curbing Islamic incursions under their famous ruler Charles Martel.

    Then came the illustrious times of Charlemagne. In the 800s, he united France, western Germany and northern Italy under one empire. During his reign and that of his son Louis the Pious, the Frankish-ruled Holy Roman Empire reached new heights of revival.

    High Middle Ages

    A more stable Western Europe in the year 1000 marked the beginning of this medieval period. The barbarian raids had ended with the only exception of Mongol raids. Christianity gave rise to a new united European civilization. It was a time of economic, cultural and philosophical restoration of Western Europe.

    The Hanseatic League and other such commercial institutions were formed at this time, as were the first universities that led to growth in literacy. As the continent united, the leading rulers of the times called upon the Western European people for a collective war against Islam. This led to the Crusades.

    Late Middle Ages

    This was again a time of great unrest. The Little Ice Age, the Great Famine and the Black Death (the outset of plague that wiped out a huge population) marred it. 

    Politically it saw the decline of feudal power and rise of nation-states centered around England, France and the Iberian Peninsula. Despite the nationalized unification conflicts such as the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, the Battle of Manzikert etc. continued. 

    In the religious arena, Christendom saw great discord in the Western Schism that lasted from 1378-1418 and the formation of the Roman Catholic Church in 1517 that led to rise of the two schools of Catholicism and Protestantism.

    Medieval history was ending and the continent was now all set to take on the Early Modern Period.

  • Social Study Activity


    Social study activity is a must for all students to develop their mental horizon on a variety of subjects. It not only helps the students to mature but is also the most practical form of teaching. Games and sports are a child’s best friends. Therefore, if a child studies while he plays, you couldn’t have asked for anything better.

    Among the popular games, ‘Botticelli’ is one, which is apt for the students of upper elementary level to high school. As regards the norms of the game, the entire class is segregated into two separate groups equally. The teacher is the moderator who controls the course of the game with a quick response quiz round. This round is subject to the points system followed by the next round of identification challenge. One of the students is appointed as the scorekeeper who keeps a track of the winning side with the most number of points.

    Believe it or not the above-mentioned game not only increases the student’s familiarity with the established materials but also stirs an air of enthusiasm in the classroom.




    On the other hand, “Character Counts” bulletin board display, which is meant for the third and the fourth graders, deals with different characteristic traits like for example respect, trustworthiness, responsibility etc. In class any one of the characteristic aspects is singled out and thereafter examined for almost a week. Each of the students then writes about what they have understood about the characteristic traits discussed in class.

    As teachers, you should ask your students to garner some past information of their parents about their childhood and anything relative. Interestingly, it would result in long discussions and revelations amongst the students and this sharing experience would help them realize that not everything is jotted down in history books.

    Social study also deals with history’s relationship to one’s life, which further proves that history is beyond political and military events since everyone has a personal history subject to their respective times.

    The child puzzle is another such activity, where the students sort the pieces to the respective places where they actually belong. You being the teacher should ask your students that why they pondered that you have demanded from them such a tough task. Apparently, the expected answer would be that history is altogether a puzzle with missing pieces. The only thing we can do is relying on guesstimates and presumptions. Ironically speaking the visible lines of the pieces of the completed puzzle just shows how we still don’t see the real picture of what actually happened.

    It just goes to show how practical and fruitful social study activity can be to the overall mental development of the students helping them to cope up with real life situations.




  • US History


    US history can be dated back to some 50000 years ago when people migrating from Asia (via the Bering land bridge) settled in the Alaska region. Many cultures thrived in the Americas before the arrival of European explorers in the 1400s. Very little is known about these early settlers or Native Americans.

    History has it that Christopher Columbus, sailing on behalf of the Spanish Crown, first ventured in the territory of the United States; however, it took some 20 years for him to reach mainland America. An important event in the timeline of US history – the arrival of the first European in the continental United States – is known to have taken place in 1497, when John Cabot touched the mainland.

    Early European Settlements And Colonization Of America (1493-1776)

    Following exploration by various European nations, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish settlements were established in the Americas. Jamestown (present-day Virginia) established in 1607 was the first English colony in North America. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was set up by the English Puritans in 1620. French and Spanish explorers too established their rules in extended territories. Strife among these powers for control over land continued and accounts from US history tell us that ultimately only the English were left with their Thirteen British Colonies. 

    Colonial America saw many conflicts between the Native Americans and the European colonists. Differences in culture and religion together with the British policy of utter negligence (as reflected in displacing the Native Americans westwards to make place for the European settlers) bred resentment among the Native tribes. These led to conflicts like the 1622 Powhatan uprising in Virginia, King Philip’s War in New England and other such clashes.

    Declaration Of Independence And Formation Of The United States (1776-1849)

    The American War of Independence culminated in the ‘Declaration of Independence’ from British rule by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, whereby the former thirteen British colonies established themselves as the United States of America under the Articles of Confederation. Later, on March 4, 1789, the Articles of Confederation was replaced with the United States Constitution, which made provisions for a representative, elective government with a weak executive.

    George Washington, a prominent figure of the American Revolutionary War (Commander and chief of the Continental Army and the president of the Constitutional Convention), became the first President of the United States under the new U.S. Constitution. In the ensuing period of US history, the federal government followed a policy of expansion largely by displacing indigenous population. 

    American Civil War

    The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing individual states to have their own stance on slavery. When Abraham Lincoln was elected the President of the United States in 1861, eleven Southern states pulled out from the Union, establishing a rebel government, the Confederate States of America. Civil War broke out when the Confederate General Pierre Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter. President Lincoln ably guided the Union armed forces and the Civil War ended in the ultimate defeat of the rebel Southern States in 1865.

    Following the Civil War, America experienced rapid growth in industrialization and became a major economic force. This glorious period of US history saw America make an entry into the World War I as a key military power.

    Great Depression

    Industrial progression continued in the post World War I years, but the era was also marked by lowering of prices of farm produces and lowered labor wages. This status quo led to the Stock Market crash in 1929. During the Great Depression years, the federal government undertook economic reform measures (like Roosevelt’s New Deal) to bail out the victims. The United States of America experienced rapid recovery in every sphere excepting unemployment, which continued to plague the nation till the initial years of World War II.

    World War II And The Cold War Era

    America’s involvement in World War II would have been limited to diplomatic and economic aid had it not been for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. After the attack, US joined Britain, China and the Soviet Union to defeat the combined forces of Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

    Post World War II America emerged as one of the two superpowers (the other one being Soviet Union). One prime event in the history of United States – the nation’s entry into the United Nations – took place on December 4, 1945. In the ensuing years, USA found itself locking horns with Soviet Union in what is described as the Cold War. This resulted in a series of conflicts wherein both Soviet Union and United States tried to prove their supremacy in cultural, economic, military, social and technological spheres.

    The Cold War reached its climax with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. At about the same time, the Civil Rights Movement took deep roots in America and it brought institutionalized racism to an end. The period also saw America make immense progress in both Missile and Space Technology.

    Modern Era

    Following the collapse of the Communist Regime in Soviet Union in 1991, USA became the sole superpower of the World. America continues to play a pivotal role internationally in its capacity as the only superpower of the modern era. The 1991 Gulf War, the Digital Revolution and other such happenings propelled United States to a great height.

    Into the new millennium, the nation witnessed one of the most heinous incidents in the US history – the September 11, 2001 attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center (and that of The Pentagon) planned by a terrorist outfit, led by Osama Bin Laden. In response, America launched attacks on Afghanistan (where Laden had taken refuge) with support of international community. 

    America’s involvement in the Iraq war, which ended in the collapse and ultimate capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003 invited scathing criticism from all quarters of the world. The Bush administration was even condemned by millions of Americans.

    History stands witness that except for a few blotches here and there, United States has always upheld human rights.

    This is only an abridged presentation. For more details on the glorious US history, go through the individual chapters of US history.