Week of July 6-10 Learning Materials

Bringing the Past to Life in Technicolor
One of the most important features of animals is their color. Whether it be to attract a mate or hide from a predator, color is involved in most aspects of animal behavior and influences how well they survive and pass on their genes to future generations.

Making North America- Fossil Fish in Kansas
Learn how the fossilized remains of a 14-foot-long saltwater fish were discovered in the plains of western Kansas, in this video from NOVA: Making North America: Life.

Pre 1500 Era Lesson 1: A Sense of Geologic Time
Scientists divide geologic time into eras, measured in millions of years. Within each named era are periods, and within each period are epochs. Each vast unit of time is defined by the appearance and disappearance of various life forms and climatic conditions on Earth's ever-changing face.

Field Research with Cameras Undercover in the Jungle
Follow a team of naturalists on a mission to capture wildlife behavior in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador. In this video from NATURE: Undercover in the Jungle, scientists use a network of more than 50 remotely operated cameras.

Animal Observation: Understanding Unusual Behavior Undercover in the Jungle
Naturalists use scientific reasoning to explain unusual behavior in this video from NATURE: Undercover in the Jungle.

Undercover in the Jungle
Go undercover with a film crew on a perilous journey to the untouched wilderness of biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest. Meet some of the most incredible creatures, from pygmy marmosets to pumas, as the wild secrets of the jungle are revealed.

Cuba’s Wildlife
The island of Cuba is home to many diverse and unique species. This video from Nature introduces the smallest bird in the world, the smallest frog in the Northern hemisphere, and the country’s famous painted snails. The video explores how these distinctive animals interact with Cuba’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Nature Extraordinary Birds: Little Brain, Big Journey
The Rufous hummingbird is a small wonder that, with respect to body size, migrates farther than any other creature on earth. In this video segment from Nature, learn about the little brain and big journey of the Rufous hummingbird.

Nature’s Miniature Miracles
Great things come in small packages and animals are no exception to the rule. Learn the epic survival stories of the world’s smallest animals as NATURE shines a light on these tiny heroes.

Hotel Armadillo
Hotel Armadillo follows the work of conservation biologist Arnaud Desbiez, who founded the Giant Armadillo Project, and his team. The Project is supported by more than 40 zoos and aquariums worldwide. Not much was known about its life in the wild until recently because it is rare, nocturnal, solitary, and wary of people. It also digs a new underground burrow, up to 20 feet deep, every other night where it spends 75 percent of its life.

Lucy Worsley’s Royal Myths & Secrets Elizabeth I The Warrior Queen
Join Lucy Worsley for an exploration of how Elizabeth I’s image as a warrior queen, created by a series of myths and secrets about her victory over the Spanish Armada, shaped British national identity for centuries.

Lucy Worsely’s Royal Myths & Secrets Queen Anne: The Mother of Great Britain
Episode Extras
Investigate why Queen Anne’s powerful role in the forging of Great Britain has often been forgotten. Lucy Worsley shares the inside story of the salacious gossip about Anne’s love life that helped destroy her image and legacy.

Marie Antoinette
Explore the life of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution with this interactive resource from the PBS documentary about her.

The Woman in the Iron Coffin
Extras to the Episode
On October 4, 2011, construction workers were shocked to uncover human remains in an abandoned lot in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York. So great was the level of preservation, witnesses first assumed they had stumbled upon a recent homicide. Forensic analysis, however, revealed a remarkably different story.

History as Narrative Treasure of New York: “Museum of the City of New York”
Learn about presenting history as a character-driven narrative in this video from Treasures of New York: “Museum of the City of New York.” Historians discuss the difficulty in attempting to summarize the story of New York City and to select individuals who represent key moments in time for a new museum exhibition. Support materials include a lesson plan, student handout, discussion questions, and teaching tips.

Viking Warrior Queen
Extras to the Episode
In 1878, archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe uncovered a grave containing a large number of weapons and the skeletal remains of what seemed to be a great Viking warrior. For a century, people assumed the body was male until the 1970s when Berit Vilkans, a young researcher, observed the bones had female characteristics. In 2017, a team of Swedish geneticists proved through a DNA study that the great warrior wasn’t a man, but a woman.

Vikings Unearthed Space Archaeology
Learn how a new generation of archaeologists is using satellites to uncover ancient settlements, in these clips from NOVA: Vikings Unearthed.

Ted Williams “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived”
Episode Extras

Baseball: Ken Burns in the Classroom
This 18-hour film series examines nearly 200 years of American history through the prism of our national pastime. It is the story of the transformation of immigrants into new generations of Americans; of the rise and fall of cities; of our insatiable need for heroes. It traces the fortunes of two of the most beloved teams—the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox—and tells the stories of the extraordinary stars of the Negro Leagues, the pioneers who paved the way for the integration of baseball, and ultimately, America at large.

One hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote. Stream online and learn more on this WMHT site.

Teaching Women’s Suffrage
This collection of video clips, lesson plans, and primary sources details key figures, events, and regional movements of the decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. Students will encounter activists including Sojourner Truth, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Grace Abbott, and examine key regional efforts within the movement. Primary source documents offer evidence for a study of the chronology of campaign for women’s suffrage, from the movement's beginnings through the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women
Carrie Chapman Catt devoted most of her life to the expansion of women’s rights nationwide and around the world, and is recognized as one of the key leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement. Her political strategies and organizational skills led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920.

10 Towns that Changed America
Ever since the first European settlers arrived, North America's town founders and planners have asked some big questions about how to shape the places we live.

NOVA: Australia's First Four Billion Years- The Evolution of Kangaroos
Learn about the evolutionary history of the kangaroo, the only large mammal that hops, in this video excerpt from NOVA.

NOVA: Australia’s First Four Billion Years- Megafauna in Ice Age Australia
Find out about some of the giant prehistoric animals that existed during the last ice age in Australia in this video excerpt from NOVA. Host and scientist Richard Smith visits Victoria Fossil Cave to learn about the large collection of Australian megafauna fossils that were discovered there.

NOVA: Australia’s First Four Billion Years- Ancient Sea Reptiles
Find out about plesiosaurs—giant marine reptiles that lived about 100 million years ago—in this video excerpt from NOVA.

Spy in the Wild Nature
In the most innovative production Nature has ever presented, this five-part series employs more than 30 animatronic spy cameras disguised as animals to secretly record behavior in the wild. These “spycams” reveal animals as having emotions and behavior similar to humans: specifically, a capacity to love, grieve, deceive, and invent.

Engineering Robotic Cameras to Observe Animals in Nature
Learn how filmmakers use the engineering design process to make animatronic spy cameras in this video from the NATURE mini-series Spy in the Wild. The cameras are disguised as animals to secretly record behavior in the wild.

The National Parks Of Texas
The National Parks in Texas -- a diverse mix of sites where visitors can climb rugged peaks, kayak beautiful waterways, discover the state’s rich history and experience an endless choice of adventures. In many ways, the story of Texas parks is the story of the state itself. These special places preserve all of our natural resources and they speak of our collective history, beginning with a reef that dates back more than 260 million years and ending with an intimate look at 20th century politics.

This is America Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will examine the challenges these individuals faced, their contributions and the personal qualities they each possessed. Then they will consider issues and problems at a national park near them and develop an action plan to address those or other community needs.

Country Music a film by Ken Burns collection
Country Music is a 16-hour series that chronicles the history of a uniquely American art form that rose from the experiences of remarkable people in distinctive regions of the United States. Through archival footage, photographs, and intimate interviews with musicians and scholars, the series offers the opportunity to explore key events in 20th century history, including technological changes, the Depression, and tensions around race and Civil Rights, all through the eyes of people who lived through them and the music they created.