The Dirksen Center wants to help teachers teach better by giving them the opportunity to use technology to create, customize, and share online learning activities in their classrooms. The Center wants to help students learn more by bringing educational resources together in one place that provide new ways to learn about Congress interactively.

* THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN COLONIES & TRUE OR FALSE *

Have your students read about the Original Thirteen Colonies at: http://www.congressforkids.net/Independence_thirteencolonies.htm. Then have them complete the online Original Thirteen Colonies word search.  They will find the Original Thirteen Colonies listed below the puzzle by clicking the first and last letters of each word in the word search. They may be forward, backward, up, down, or diagonal. As they find a word in the word search, that word is highlighted in yellow and crossed out below the puzzle.

Find the Original Thirteen Colonies word search at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/thirteencolonies/1_wordsearch.htm

* The Order of the Original Thirteen Colonies *

See if you can name the Original Thirteen Colonies by knowing the order in which they ratified the Constitution.  Find Hangman - The Order of the 13 Original States in the list at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/thirteencolonies/2_thirteencolonies.htm

* True or False *

Roger Smith set up the colony of Rhode Island.

1. True
2. False [Answer: Roger Williams settled the colony of Rhode Island. He created this colony for religious tolerance because he disliked the idea that in the colony of Massachusetts, the Puritans had too much power and that non-puritans could not worship freely.]

*Find the answer in next month's issue.

Answer to October 2009’s Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/classroomresources/funfactstrivia_ans1009.htm

Do you have or know of an online activity you would like The Dirksen Congressional Center to feature on its new Web site for students -- Congress for Kids? The Center is currently seeking online activities that provide new ways to learn about Congress and the workings of the federal government interactively.

If you have questions or suggestions for online activities, contact Cindy Koeppel.