Did you know that important historical documents can now be read in Microsoft® Reader, which allows students to take notes, add text drawings, highlight important information, and add bookmarks? That they can even load these documents onto their Pocket PC handhelds?  With Microsoft® Reader, students can now download texts, such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, Gettysburg Address, etc., directly onto their Pocket PCs. Downloading these historical documents onto a handheld allows the student to take the document with them and refer to it at any place at any time.  Consider these project ideas: Ask students to take the document home on their handheld, read it, discuss it with their parents, siblings or grandparents, and jot notes of the conversation in the margin using Microsoft® Reader.  When traveling to a field trip in which the students may be learning more about a specific time period or historical documents in general, use the handheld version of the document to review on the bus during the trip and to motivate students academically toward the topic of the field trip.

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Historical Documents Right on Your iPod

Just yesterday on the news, there was a survey given to the public that found that more people can recite and name the characters and events on the hit television show “The Simpsons” than can name the amendments to the constitution and recall lines from other historical documents.  Possibly, the reason these results occurred, is that people learn about those documents at a young age but are only exposed to them a few times while learning about them.  “The Simpsons” is on television every day, so viewers get that repetition that allows them to memorize and recall information about the show quite easily.  If those historical documents, such as the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, were shown to us or easily available to us on a daily basis, then possibly more people would be able to recall and recite important facts about those documents.  iPREPpress has provided a great solution that addresses that problem.  If you own an iPod and visit their website at http://ipreppress.com/Pages/college.htm, you can download these documents to your iPod to read and have instant access to these documents at all times!  On their site, you can download 10 free documents, such as those already listed, along with the “Bill of Rights”, “Gettysburg Address”, “Civil Rights Act”, “Emancipation Proclamation”, “Louisiana Purchase Treaty”, “Social Security Act,” “Monroe Doctrine”, and “Brown v. Board of Education”. Also on their site, you can download study guides, at a reasonable price, that they call SparkNotes for several literature readings, charts on anatomy, biology and math, as well as test preparation for ACT and SAT.  For these other documents, visit http://ipreppress.com/Pages/studyguides.htm. 

For more information on this topic, visit the following sites: http://ipreppress.com/Pages/home.htm
http://www.sparknotes.com

Lemonade Stand
Lemonade Stand is a simple and fun game for children of all ages.  For each game, the player starts with 3 dollars and plays for a “month” to see how much they will earn in that time.  The player gets to make all the decisions, such as price per cup, how many glasses to make, and how many advertising signs to put up.  There is also a pretend weather forecast each day, so the player knows how to make his or her decision about whether or not to sell that day.  Lemonade Stand is made for the Pocket PC, and costs about 6 dollars.  It can be purchased at http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail
.jsp?productId=79901.

Sketchy
Sketchy is a program designed for the Palm and Pocket PC.  It is a drawing tool that has many different objects to draw, frames to use, and special features. So almost anyone at any age can make his or her own animations.  Students can also send their work to the teacher.  For pricing information, or to download a demo, go to http://goknow.com/Products/Sketchy/.

Quizzler
The Quizzler allows students to download and take quizzes from their teacher, or from a quiz library.  They can also make their own quizzes or flashcards, to help them study.  Teachers can send out a quiz, and then get it back and grade them instantly and without the hassle of so many different papers.  Quizzler was made for both Pocket PC and Palm.  It can be downloaded at http://www.quizzlerpro.com/downloads.html.

CityZen
CityZen is both a world map and a database of cities, countries, oceans, and seas.  It was designed for students to get a better understanding of where things are in the world, and other things in proximity.  There is also a place that can give quizzes on things like capitols, countries, and cities.  This was made for the palm and can be found at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~hancockd/CityZen/index.html.

Day Trader
This is a game where students can try to earn as much money as they can by buying and selling as much stock as they can in an imaginary stock market.  Each stock comes with an imaginary graph that shows how well that stock has done.  This game was made for a Palm and can be downloaded at http://palmgear.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=software.
showsoftware&SID=75BACA5F-CF18-ADC9-18357DF7E0B618CF&PartnerREF=&prodID=8060.

The following is a list of handheld lesson ideas geared towards the social studies curriculum:

• Use a spreadsheet program (such as Cells, QuickSheet, or SheetsToGo) to create a comparison chart for comparing more than two items (such as the population in several countries).  Visit http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html for examples of these diagrams. 
• Use PiCoMap to create an expanded linear string to explain a sequence of events, such as major battles in a war. 
• Use Sketchy to have students animate a governmental process or historical event. 
• Use PiCoMap to have students create a double cell diagram to compare and contrast two items, such as countries. 
• Have students use PiCoMap to create a concept map to review a unit, chapter, or major concept. 
• Use PiCoMap to have students create a hierarchy diagram to show a government hierarchy. 
• Use FlingIt to give your students country study pages from the CIA Factbook at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/. 
• Have students create quizzes using Quizzler for each other on topics that you are studying. 
• Use Address Book to create a customizable database on famous people such as presidents, on vocabulary words, on countries of the world, on civil war battles, and on famous places or events.  Use the Note feature to add details to each entry.
• Make the most money in the shortest amount of time on an imaginary stock market using DayTrader. 

Other lesson plans that deal with social studies and other curriculums can be found at http://learninginhand.com/lessonplans.html. 

iQuest® Handheld and iQuest® Handheld Master Edition

The iQuest® handheld is a game-based system that includes thousands of questions and answers on key topics, from the most commonly used math, science, and social studies textbooks.  All the user needs to do is insert a subject cartridge into the iQuest® handheld.  Then, select their publisher, textbook, and chapter, and then fun and learning take off.  Two game modes, Pop Quiz and Chapter Challenge, add a little fun to the equation.  An anagram game makes learning vocabulary words exciting.  The handheld also includes a calendar, scheduler, calculator, dictionary, address book, notepad, headphone jack, and volume control.  The iQuest® handheld can be purchased for approximately $49.99.  For a list of retail stores that carry the iQuest® handheld, visit http://www.leapfrog.com/do/wheretobuy?age
GroupKey=middlehigh&key=iquest.

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Handheld Educator Social Studies Lesson Plans
The Handheld Educator series brings you educator-designed discussions and lessons that explore the integration of handheld computers into administration, teaching and learning.  The Handheld Educator Guides are provided in AdobeÒ Acrobat PDF format. The discussion topics include: Why Handhelds, Handhelds and Learning, Technology Funding, Handheld Administration, and Classroom Management.  The lesson topics include: Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Cross Curricular and Other Subjects.
http://www.palm.com/us/education/studies/handheld_ed.html

Inspiration for Handhelds Social Studies Lesson Plans
In social studies, Inspiration for Palm OS and Inspiration for Pocket PC help students organize information so they can analyze historical events, draw conclusions and understand how the past relates to present day issues. By creating graphic organizers, students can integrate new knowledge and identify misconceptions, while continuing to learn more about the subject at hand.  Inspiration for handhelds is a powerful visual tool for comparing historical figures, events and cultures.
http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/handhelds/index
.cfm?fuseaction=classroom.social

Willard K12 Social Studies Applications
Willard School District in Willard, Missouri, has listed the following Social Studies applications for Handhelds as a tool to continue learning in the classroom.  City Zen is a mapping application, The Constitution of the United States allows  students to read the constitution at their own pace, Herbert and the Presidents teach children the facts about the Presidents who have led America ($9.95 for a single license), Inflation Master uses actual inflation data published by the US Federal Reserve and takes into account years with high and low inflation rates to figure out the dollar values for any year since 1914. Learn World Geography enables students to learn the capitals of the world.  Mapopolis allows students to download maps from any county in the US.  Trade allows students to make stock market trades and learn market skills.
http://www.willard.k12.mo.us/co/handheld/software.htm#social

Learninginhand Palm Social Studies
This is a list of software programs that can be used for the palm pilot, and are focused toward social studies classes.  The website provides a diagram for each software program that tells for which ages the software is appropriate, and if it is free or it needs to be purchased.  There is also a description of each program.
http://learninginhand.com/palmsoftware/socialstudies.html

Learninginhand Pocket PC Social Studies
This is a list of software programs that can be used for the palm pilot, and are focused toward social studies classes.  The website provides a diagram for each software program that tells for which ages the software is appropriate, and if it is free or it needs to be purchased.  There is also a description of each program.
http://learninginhand.com/ppcsoftware/socialstudies.html