Today on CNN Student News there is a brief segment about the role of slaves in building the White House and the role of slavery in the lives of the early United States Presidents. I’ve embedded the video at the bottom of this blog post.

The CNN segment reminded me of some other resources for teaching lesson about the White House. White House for Kids, run by the US government, features games and activities for learning. On White House for Kids students can learn about the history of the White House, what happens in a typical day in the White House, and read brief biographies of past Presidents. There is also a page for teachers that contains lesson plans and guidelines for writing letters to the President.

The White House Historical Association is a great source of information about the history of the White House. On the White House Historical Association’s website you will find tours, timelines, and images documenting the history of the White House. Of particular interest to teachers is the classroom page where you will find lesson plans categorized by grade level.

DC Historic Tours has a great list of popular real and virtual tours. Currently, DC Historic Tours is featuring a map of President-Elect Obama’s inauguration parade route. DC Historic Tours could be a useful resource for providing your students with a geographic context for the lessons you are teaching.

Here is today’s CNN Student News video. The segment about slavery in the White House is about 90 seconds into the video.

(If you’re reading this in a RSS reader you may need to visit the blog directly to see the video).