Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Learn how to create simple models and maps with early years students with this free geography printable!
Kids will have fun while learning where do I Live with this printable activity perfect for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
Do you need some ideas for preschool social studies activities? From recycling to road rules, fathers to firefighters, we’ve got you covered.
Get your students outside this school year! We have some tried and true ideas and teacher tips to help you teach your students outside!
Social studies can be one of the most abstract concepts to teach. It’s also rare to be given a special education social studies curriculum. So it can be a challenge to come up with hands-on and engaging social studies activities. Below I’ve listed my best tips on how I keep social studies as engaging as
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
When I first started homeschooling, I have to admit I wondered “what is social studies for young kids and how in the world do I teach it?” Once I stopped overanalyzing everything and learned to go with what my kids were curious about, I found some great ways to teach young kids social studies. One […]
Your students are going to LOVE using this Then and Now sort printable! Perfect for social studies or as a creative writing prompt.
I am so enjoying the 10 Pin Summer Linky Party. Ashley @ Just Reed hosts a weekly linky to share links for a specific topic. I was already a Pinterest addict, now she is enabling that addiction. - However, she is making me go back and look at what I have already pinned, so that is a good thing! This week we are sharing Science and Social Studies pins. I am looking forward to seeing what others share. 1. This landform flip book is such a cute idea. I like that it enables students to see each landform in reference to the others. And - it's a freebie!!! 2. If you have a Smartboard - or the Smartboard software, this is a fun activity. Students get to drag states to their appropriate location!!!! My students had a blast with this last year! Source: Smart Exchange 3. Pearson has some nice resources for teaching American symbols, and they are adding to them. Right now, there are 3, but they have many others listed as coming soon. These include movies that are very relatable for students. Source: Pearson School.com 4. Don't you just love foldables? I do, and I am planning on doing more of them this year to add to my journals for each subject. This foldable is for learning about explorers. Adding that interactive piece, allows many kinesthetic learners to get more involved. Source: The Inspired Classroom blog 5. One of our final units of the year is learning about our own state - West Virginia. I usually have students create a brochure for a tourist attraction or the state in general. I had found this pin, and thought - "I do that!" Source: The Inspired Classroom blog 6. This pin is just AWESOME! I am going to use this for sure!!! It shows each planet as if it were as close to us as the moon. Neato idea!!!! Source: Unknown 7. Who doesn't love to use edibles when teaching - especially Oreos!! This pin uses Oreos to show the phases of the moon. My kids loved this one too!! Source: Unknown 8. This website has all kinds of interactives for all subjects, and science is no exception. Source: All Free Teacher Resources blog 9. Love to get a little dirty, then this pin is for you. I think the kids would enjoy this project idea for teaching how erosion occurs. Source: TLC How stuff works 10: When learning the states of matter, my kiddos love the slime/goop labs we have. I found this one after the fact this year, and might add it to the mix!!! Source: All Things Simple blog So many links, so little time. I hope I found some that inspire you. I can't wait to explore those that others share!!! Make sure you link up so that you can add to my pins!!!
Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!
Looking for fun and engaging kindergarten social studies resources? Check out the interactive notebook that your students will love!
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Social studies is hands-down one of my favorite subjects! Social studies allows students to peer into new lands, explore the past, and tie i...
Kids will have fun while learning where do I Live with this printable activity perfect for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
Make teaching about past vs present in your kindergarten social studies lessons a breeze with these fun and engaging resources.
Introducing land, air, and water is a basic, Montessori preschool geography lesson that helps kids understand the world around them.
Games have been a big part of our family long before we even considered homeschooling. Games are an excellent way to spend quality time together as a family. “Gameschooling” is something that I did not find valuable to our homeschool in the beginning. I found games valuable to our family culture but not to academics....
Make teaching about past vs present in your kindergarten social studies lessons a breeze with these fun and engaging resources.
It's not everyday that our nation elects a new president. And although I am more than tired of hearing campaign ads and seeing yard signs, I am eager to exercise my right to cast a vote...a passion I hope to ignite into all of my children. I realize that the national "Kid's Vote" campaign has made significant strides in spreading the excitement to the next generation of voters, but it does very little to teach kids about the actual election process. So in keeping with my desire to incorporate real-life into learning, I have pushed "pause" on our current Egypt study to complete a mini-unit on voting...specifically voting for a new president. (This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details.) Resources that we used We used the following living literature style books: Know Your Government: Governor by Jacqueline Laks Gorman Know Your Government: Mayor by Jacqueline Laks Gorman Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (But True) Laws by Kathi Linz The Taxing Case of the Cows: A True Story About Suffrage by Iris Van Rynbach If I Were President by Catherine Stier Duck for President by Doreen Cronin Voting and Elections by Patricia Murphy We watched a youtube video on what the very first election process was like. I also gleaned inspiration from several great on-line resources which I have compiled on my Government Pinterest board. Election Process in Practice In an effort to clearly explain the election process, I decided to host a 2012 Family Dinner-Time Election. I joined forces with the Announcer's Wife to put together both a PRIMARY and a GENERAL election to elect the dinner to be served on election night. Our family was one political party and her family was the opposing party. I began by allowing each of my four older kids to pick a dinner-time candidate...a main dish that they enjoy. After looking at a few campaign ads and posters we had received in the mail, they were each instructed to make a campaign poster for their nominee. When the Hubs arrived home for lunch in the afternoon, we spent some time conducting a "town hall meeting" or simple debate. The children were each given a chance to explain why their dinner candidate was the best choice and why the others were not. I explained that voters take many factors into consideration when determining their vote. The Hubs and I (as the audience) asked questions and pointed out key "considerations"...like the fact that we might not have the ingredients for that particular item, the Announcer's family is mostly gluten free, mom has a meeting to get to on election night and might not have a lot of time to cook a huge time-consuming meal, etc. They all did a fantastic job responding to our concerns just as a real presidential nominee would do. Next came the voting. I made up simple "official ballots", set up a voting station, and invited the family to cast their vote for the PRIMARIES. The votes were counted and WAFFLES came in with a commanding lead. I then explained that we would need to choose a "running mate" for our candidate. We discussed how a presidential and vice-presidential combination was much like a dad and mom partnership. Dad is in charge, but Mom is second-in-command and is a helper to Dad. Just as Mom has many strengths that compliment Dad's, a Vice-Presidential nominee is chosen because his/her strengths will compliment that of the Presidential candidate. We all agreed that FRUIT would make a nice "running mate." In a humorous twist, the Announcer's family elected PANCAKES and BACON to represent their political party in the general elections. Our two families will be meeting together the Tuesday of the national elections to conduct our own general election. I have made up simple ballots for both readers and non-readers alike. The votes will be cast and tabulated. Later that evening, I will be serving up the winning combination at the dinner table. Who knows which dinner-time combo will win in this Battle of the Breakfast Foods. Right now, it's too close to tell.
Make teaching about past vs present in your kindergarten social studies lessons a breeze with these fun and engaging resources.
Over the past few years, I have been incorporating inquiry circles into my classroom through Social Studies and Science. Inquiry circles are a lot like most research projects. I would say the main difference is how they start. NOW AVAILABLE… One Stop Teacher Memberships Our grade-level memberships provide the BIGGEST savings on ALL One […]
Heritage and Identify: Communities in Canada 1780-1850-Grade 3 Ontario Social Studies Unit Stop worrying about how to meet the demanding new Ontario Social Studies curriculum. This unit is a comprehensive collection of developmentally appropriate research for your students, along with built in assessments that meet all of the overall and specific expectations. Includes suggestions about how to implement the unit in an inquiry manner, and OESSTA's success criteria for grade 3 Heritage and Identity.
Time-saving tips for teaching first grade social studies to create easy and engaging social studies lessons with cut and paste and writing.
Having a little time at the end of class is something my students look forward to because they have an opportunity to do fun five minute social studies activities. If you find yourself with a
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Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!
One of the first projects or themes I find fun, simple and engaging is learning about Communities (2 weeks) and making a map as the culminating activity to end the unit. (For a total of 3 weeks on Community) This week, I started by reading the class a book on maps I got on Amazon. The book was chunked over a period of 2 days to ensure understanding. Maps - Kindergarten Unit After the story, the students were shown real maps that I had saved from going on little road trips. We sat in a circle and talked about what we noticed on them. I had a few kids share out about a time they used a map with their family. Real maps - San Diego, San Francisco I also had some maps from the San Diego Zoo and and some play maps for kids from a teacher supply store. We watched a video on maps and models from the United Streaming's website. Our district purchased user licenses for all teachers to access their videos on our Promethean Boards. I pulled out our old ELD song for communities from Rigby. The red car is on velcro and sticks to the different places in the community. So we fill in the sentence frames depending on where the car lands. On Tuesday, I read the last chunk of the Map book. Then, I pulled out our Writing Web for the power word "go." (The laminated web is from a district purchased program called Learning Headquarters). I taught the sight words "go" under my own structure however as a part of this writing unit in my TPT Store called Rebus Writing using Sight Words. The word "go" is week 5 of the 8 week unit. With a pointer I pointed to the word web and we orally filled out each sentence frame from the word bank. I allowed the kids to draw their own interpretation of a map on a half sheet of drawing paper as a pre-assessment to see where they are. Most kids drew standard pictures of places but some surprised me and had some streets and people walking in the map to different places. On Wednesday, I read them a book on map keys/legends. Map Keys and Legends I put up a class legend on the Promethean board that had four requirements. The sample legend was pre filled and colored and drawn and labeled. I asked the kids to draw a map on a full sized drawing page that had a: school, police station, neighborhood of homes, and a park. The symbol for each was a: building with flag next to it, building with a car next to it, triangles to symbolize a neighborhood, and a slide to symbolize the park. I set the kids to work and could see them looking up and referencing the sample key as they drew their maps. I noticed an improvement in their pictures from the day before. Once all the required components from the class key were on their maps I passed out markers and let them fill in the blanks and put more detail in the map. I cut out small legends that were identical to the one I had on the board and had kids glue it on the corner of their map. They were allowed to take it home. By Thursday, I brought out the colorful construction paper! The neat piles of color coded paper soon got a little messy! I had pre cut them into squares or rectangles. The first to go was blue because everyone was required to put a body of water on their map somewhere. It could be a river, lake, ocean or backyard pool. Also, the black strips I precut were the first to go because those were the streets and kids were allowed to use up to four. Building community maps 1 Building community maps 2 Children got right to work. They were so excited. Each map came out truly unique. As the kids were finished up I had them set up on the rug so the glue could dry and so kids who needed inspiration could come do a carousel walk around the rug and get ideas. Finished maps One of my late finishers added a church to her map even though we never discussed it. Cute! She made her map look like quadrants! She added sand to the beach and a church! The early finishers were doing literacy centers and reading books from the community tub. Building maps was a busy day. On Friday, I handed back their maps and a blank legend key. I asked them to make a legend for their map. Each was different. map key/ legend I had them glue the legends on the back of their maps. I made them a word bank so they could copy. However, some were ready for inventive spelling and didn't need to reference it. If this were done at the end of Kindergarten I would not even offer a word bank on the board. I would ask all kids to use inventive spelling to fill out their legend. If you'd like the free blackline master for the legend see the link at the bottom of this post. IF I HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN... I would not have them glue the legends on the back of the maps. I would display it next to the maps because once I mounted them all on the wall I realized they were hidden. LOL! Oh well. Next year I'll have learned my lesson. Wall of Maps! Almost done. Just need to add their name tag underneath each map. After reflection, I wouldn't have just had the kids draw on blank drawing paper. So I created these blackline masters as well. Enjoy! MAPS BLACKLINE MASTERS
Looking for fun and engaging kindergarten social studies resources? Check out the interactive notebook that your students will love!
