Learn a variety of strategies on how to make history class engaging for students. Check out in this blog post.
Get your students thinking like a historian from the get-go with these tips and ideas for your first Social Studies lesson of the year.
You will love these creative classroom decor ideas for social studies teachers or history teachers! Check out this list of 10 different ideas for...
5 YouTube Channels that Rock!
Don't Decorate - Design! It is back to school time, and teachers all across the US are frantically putting up posters and bulletin boards to decorate their room before the first day of school. But instead
Learn a variety of strategies on how to make history class engaging for students. Check out in this blog post.
These 8 creative social studies vocabulary activities will be a great addition to your teaching and can be used with Google Drive!
I randomly came up with this idea during the last week of school. One of my reading groups had finished their book and project before any of the other groups had finished. Instead of giving them a new book (there was only one week left), I quickly created this template and told them to pick an event in history and research it. I had one boy choose the Vikings, someone else chose the atomic bomb, a girl wanted the great depression, and another student picked the Korean war. I loved that everyone had such diverse topics. After they got started, I saw some great learning take place in my classroom! Because it's an inquiry-based activity, they generated their own questions. And because they got to choose their own topic, they were excited and felt ownership over the project. I plan on using this next year as a fun fast finisher activity. This list is something I quickly generated. {I know it is not all inclusive - if I left something off that you really want me to add on, please leave me a comment.} This would be fun to hang up somewhere in the back of the classroom so fast finishers can work on a project whenever they want. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HISTORY DETECTIVES! * * * * * Want to hear some GREAT news? I am leaving next week on an 8 day history trip to Virginia where I get to study at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute! I also get to visit Jamestown and Yorktown. I'm so excited! I plan on posting lots of the things I learn, including pictures!
Many moons ago, as a part of my grad school endeavors I had to follow a student around from class to class for an entire day. It was the longest day of my life! BUT… I realized some pertinent things – Students SIT ALL DAY! (Except for that 3-4 minute break heading to their next… Continue reading →
Formative assessments in Social Studies
Hey thanks for stopping by! It’s so great to meet you! I'm Mister Harms and I teach junior high and high school social studies in a small-town school. During the summer months, when I'm not teaching, I enjoy helping lead a youth camp that focuses on life transformation. My family
Build the bridge between ELA and social studies.
Allow students to choose their project to demonstrate their understanding of researched or taught content. I used this assignment for both a 5th grade Native American tribes unit and a 6th grade ancient civilization unit, but it can be applied to any research topic.Students are able to choose a proj...
Update your Social Studies classroom decor cheaply and easily with fun and useful decor. Make your classroom fun and inviting for students.
Learn how to use social studies political cartoons to increase student engagement. Includes link to a free political cartoon analysis activity!
Well it took almost a full school year, but thanks to a professional development I went to, I found a review technique ALL of my 7th graders were on board with. I call it “True, False, Fix.…
Before I started my first year of teaching, the principal I worked for asked me how I felt about teaching one middle school history class...
Do your students thrive on competitive games? Are you looking for competition games for your classroom? Check out this blog post!
If you want to up your Google Slides presentations, click above. These Google Slides hacks will make your classroom presentations polished and interactive.
Most Secondary Social Studies teachers recognize the importance of using Document Based Questions in their classroom – however writing an entire DBQ can be daunting. My recent DBQ – What was Texas’s greatest
What Can I Do For You? host a workshop view curriculum browse products What is Social Studies Success? Social Studies Success is a place for you – a place to get fresh ideas and to share in the excitement of
Lap Books have been a very popular tool for research, study and review in the world of homeschool instruction. The variety of benefits from creating and using Lap Books has helped them to move into
Free 7th & 8th grade worksheets, printable games, and activities to make learning math, literacy, history, and science engaging and FUN!
As a classroom teacher, you often get hit with that question – usually within the first week of school by a student who “Does Not Want To Be Here”… and truthfully, how do you answer
I've read about choice menus forever, but never tried it until just recently. I decided to created a menu to use during social studies review when students finish with stations early or we have a few extra minutes in class. I introduced the menu a week ago and you would've thought I'd given my students gold! They were thrilled!! I asked if they'd seen a menu before and we talked about a fast food restaurant menu. Then I asked what they would buy if I told them they had $5 to spend at the fast food restaurant. We played around with that a few minutes and then, with great drama, I introduced the social studies menu. I told them they had 50 points to "spend" and they were beside themselves - some even wanted to know if they could "spend" more! As we were going over the points values for different items one students even said, "All the fun stuff costs more points, but the boring stuff doesn't cost as much." I really had to pinch myself! How did this happen?!?! We've had a week to work on the menus and they have really been successful so far. I've been amazed at the creativity my students have shown. It's also been really interesting seeing which people and time periods they choose to work with. I think this is a strategy I will try to use again. Maybe next time I'll try something with reading - after a class novel or maybe even for their self-selected texts. You can click on the picture to download a copy of the menu. It is specific to 4th Grade Virginia Studies, but it might be a good place to start for a menu specific to your social studies standards. I'm linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for another great Tried it Tuesday linky.
Integrating language arts skills into social studies can be tricky. There is already a lot of subject matter to cover without having to teach reading and writing skills as well! If a social studies teacher did not receive much language arts training within his or her certification program, integrating these skills can be even more […]
Teaching Social Studies is so much more than dates, people, and events of bygone years. History can inspire students, impart valuable lessons, and help students to think critically. If you are hoping to breathe new
In just about a month, students around the world (or at least the northern hemisphere) will be asking their social studies teachers, “why do we have to study history?” Of course there a…
If you have 10 minutes left in your social studies class and don't know what to teach, you will love these creative social studies teaching strategies!
Here are our 20 favorite Social Studies youtube channels for kids! Some are funny, some are put to song, some are outrageous- but all are entertaining.
These 4 questions will make your Social Studies lesson more meaningful to students!
Looking for 5th grade anchor charts? Try some of these anchor charts in your classroom to promote visual learning with your students.
Bellwork is something I have been doing in English for almost ten years now since I student taught, but I haven't been doing it near as lon...
Looking for ways to teach critical thinking skills in social studies? These low-prep activities help get students thinking critically about history.
To make sure your upper elementary students receive high quality social studies, use this social studies interactive notebook!
