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1. Like many such proclamations and treaties the title…..Laws of Burgos…is based on a location. The document was formerly published in Burgos, Spain in 1512. 2. The laws were the first code of conduct governing how Native Americans should be treated in the Americas by Spanish foreigners in America. 3. At first the laws only included the island of Hispanola, but later Puerto Rico and Jamaica was included. 4. The laws addressed the mistreatment of natives and called for their conversion to Catholicism. 5. The laws were rarely enforced making the Laws of Burgos of little value. 6. The laws called for encomiendas…..a labor system where a Spanish citizen was granted a certain number of natives they became responsible for. Basically in exchange for religious instruction the receiver of the encomienda could exact tribute from the Natives including labor, gold or other products. 7. The laws were written due to the reports of Domingo de Mendoza, the cardinal archbishop of Seville regarding abus

Ask students today to brainstorm a few adjectives to describe politicians and the words honest, trustworthy, and true will rarely come up. Descriptors that are provided over and over are crook, shady, and liar. I have to wonder….is it the politician who is dishonest or does the dishonesty stem from such a convoluted and corrupt system that has been allowed to flourish? In 1975, following President Nixon’s resignation from the White House, Americans were longing for a simpler time….a time when they felt they had a more honest relationship with the man inhabiting the White House. Follow this link over to American Presidents for my post 1975: Nostalgic for Give ‘em Hell, Harry . If I still haven’t gotten your attention then follow the link to discover what the band Chicago and Harry Truman have in common

What you see here is a little booklet a group of students created in my classroom once we completed our study of World War I. It’s very simple…just a ring binder and unlined index cards. The activity begins by asking groups of students to review the notes in their notebook. Working with group members they should create a series of factual statements tracing the events of World War I. Statements should be fairly simple and straightforward. The number of statements created should correspond to the number of students in the classroom. For this particular activity we needed 18 statements. Class size determines how many statements should be assigned. Now…..before you tell me how lucky I am that in this particular group I only had 18 students let me remind you that the actual class size was larger, but a few of my special needs students had been pulled out for the review and were working with the special needs teacher. Usually this activity would require 24 or 25 statements. Once students wo

Many thanks to the folks at Free.Edu for including History Is Elementary in their list of 100 Best Education Blogs . It’s a fantastic list divided by educational topics. Also included in the category for history is Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and Cardinal Woolsey’s Today in History . Lots of other educational topics are included as well including education reform and technology. Enjoy hunting for blogs you might not have found yet……

Haiti…it’s been a week and one day since the devastating earthquake and every day we hear more and more heartbreaking stories tempered with a triumph here and there. As I write this post one major news outlet reports 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless….and now a second earthquake. Heartbreaking…. Haiti has had such a sad and terrible history considering certain accolades. Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America. The island-nation is the first black-led country in the world from post-colonial times, and Haiti has the distinction of being the only nation that gained independence as part of a successful slave rebellion. Yet…..falling victim to such a horrific natural disaster isn’t the only time Haiti has fallen prey to hard times. Times have always been hard for Haiti. The list is long, but to be brief I have to mention exploitation at the hands of the Spanish, the process of being racked with infectious diseases brought by the so-called civilized Europeans and the vir

Isn’t this a great portrait of Dr King? My friend, Tina Steele Lindsey created it to honor Dr. King for his birthday. You can view her artwork at her blog found here and website here . I had been pondering all day yesterday regarding what I might post today for Dr. King’s birthday, and then I came across Tina’s portrait on Facebook as it rolled across my wall last night and some of the comments left there inspired me a bit. The U2 song, (Pride) in the Name of Love was mentioned. Here are the lyrics: One man come in the name of love One man come and go One come he to justify One man to overthrow In the name of love What more in the name of love In the name of love What more in the name of love One man caught on a barbed wire fence One man he resist One man washed on an empty beach. One man betrayed with a kiss In the name of love What more in the name of love In the name of love What more in the name of love (nobody like you...) Early morning, April 4 Shot rings out in the Memphis sky

As my regular readers know I contribute articles to American Presidents Blog and for that reason I became interested in researching and writing about the yearly White House Christmas card that have been sent out by each president since the 1950s when it became an official practice of each administration. So, last month I once again began my search for the first card of the Obama administration. It’s been difficult to say the least, and I’ve found a little art mystery as well that has really challenged my research abilities. First off….even several days into December the only image I could find was the a picture of the inside of the card showing the sentiment and signatures. I’ve posted it below. Of course, I’m a traditional kind of girl, so in keeping with tradition here at History Is Elementary you will have to follow me over to American Presidents to discover more about this past season’s card and the art mystery I discovered within the White House walls. It truly astounds me tha

1. While I was roaming around Biltmore over New Years I became enthralled with the ornamentation found everywhere along the 780-foot façade. I love to take close-up pictures of architectural details, and Biltmore provides me with all sorts of delights. 2. One of the things that Mr. Elementaryhistoryteacher and I focused on were the many gargoyles on the house. The word ‘gargoyles’ is derived from an old French word gargouille , meaning throat. The English words gargle, gurgle, and gargoyle are derived from gargouille. 3. Some believe that gargoyles – sometimes called grotesques – are inspired by the skeletal remains of prehistoric dinosaurs and other fossils. Originally a gargoyle was considered a waterspout, directing water away from a building. Yes, I agree.....the figure below seems rather proud of his ummmm.....attributes. 4. Technically an architect calls a waterspout on a building a gargoyle. It a stone carving does not carry water and has a face that resembles a creature, it

Vocabulary is key when teaching any subject from Math ( integer….diameter….cotangent ) to Science ( antimatter…circuit…velocity ) from Language Arts ( compound sentence…simile…alliteration ) to Social Studies ( amendment…capital resources…inalienable ). If students are unable to master and manipulate the subject’s vernacular they will encounter difficulty reading various texts, understanding their notes, and once April rolls around the student might not be able to understand the questions on the all important state mandated test. Vocabulary acts as the foundation for each instructional unit. In fact, Marzano contends in his book Building Academic Vocabulary (2005), “…students in the 50th percentile in terms of ability to comprehend the subject matter taught in school, with no direct vocabulary instruction, scores in the 50th percentile ranking. The same student after specific content-area terms have been taught in a specific way, raises his/her comprehension ability to the 83rd perce