If you want to up your Google Slides presentations, click above. These Google Slides hacks will make your classroom presentations polished and interactive.
Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.
Learn a variety of strategies on how to make history class engaging for students. Check out in this blog post.
You will love these creative classroom decor ideas for social studies teachers or history teachers! Check out this list of 10 different ideas for...
Learn how to use social studies stations in the Middle & High School classroom to increase student engagement. Includes link for a free station activity!
This blog post is going to be short and sweet! I wanted to round up some of the best games I have used that are available on line, as well as mention a few other types of games you can play in your social studies classroom. Why use games? Because students love them, and it's a great way to grab their interest. Not to mention games can be a great way to review before assessments or to informally check for learning. So, without further adieu, here are some games you should definitely try in your classroom!
As a kid in school I loved when my teachers celebrated creativity in the classroom. In fact, when I reflect on my own education, the moment...
There are so many different directions you can go when decorating your social studies or history classroom! I have scoured the internet and Pinterest to curate this list of perfect social studies classroom decor! Everything is linked just for you! General Decorating: Standards Posters and Compu
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
Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast :
Update your Social Studies classroom decor cheaply and easily with fun and useful decor. Make your classroom fun and inviting for students.
Using primary sources to teach history can be challenging. Use these valuable tips to bring more primary sources into your teaching.
10 Creative One-Pager Ideas for Social Studies As a social studies teacher, you understand that the subject is one of the most important asp...
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
There's nothing quite like the feeling of looking around your classroom and seeing students engaged in an activity that introduces them to a new concept or deepens their learning. I'm always on the hunt for activities that will keep students' interest and web quests are one of my go-to resources for that very reason. P.S. Stick around until the end of this post to snag a web quest to use with your students - a little gift to you! What's a web quest? A web quest is a digital scavenger hunt. During the activity, students visit websites or watch short videos on platforms like YouTube while answering questions or completing various tasks. 5 Reasons to Love Web Quests Reason #1: Web Quests Engage Students I know I said this before, but it's that important to me! I love using diverse activities in Social Studies units. Today it's a web quest, tomorrow they'll focus on guided notes, next week they'll design a creative project - you get the idea! There are certainly common activities that keep each unit "grounded" (interactive notebook notes, for example), but I also love to keep things fresh. Web quests are an easy choice for that reason! Since students are visiting multiple websites, it keeps their interest in the activity. They also have to read and "hunt" for answers in different places Reason #2: Web Quests Use a Variety of Sources As history teachers, we love using a variety of primary and secondary sources throughout our units, right?! Web quests take students on a journey through web sites and videos that prompt them to analyze different sources and use historical thinking skills to answer questions. In the span of one class period, students might interact with informational text from a secondary source, analyze a historical document and watch a video that features both secondary and primary sources. In the process of completing a web quest, they're activating their critical thinking skills to analyze these sources and reach conclusions. Reason #3: Web Quests Promote Critical Thinking When I create web quests, I love incorporating a wide variety of question types to promote critical thinking skills. A mixture of questions that prompt students to recall facts, explain concepts, and interpret documents are used in conjunction with questions that ask students to compare and contrast various sources or ideas, defend their opinion and more. I love asking students to stretch their minds and think critically and creatively about the topics they're learning in class. It's easy and fun to do through a web quest! (Click here to see some of my favorites!) Reason #4: Web Quests Help Students Learn Research Skills My administrator loves seeing students use technology safely and productively in class. Web quests, by nature, promote that very practice! Students are guided to various sources online to answer questions and complete tasks. They get to practice using online sources that are reputable and safe. Oftentimes, they'll return to those websites on their own when completing research projects, which is so awesome to see! I always preview every website I send my students to before assigning a web quest. Making sure the links work properly and it's a website I feel confident using with my students is super important. Reason #5: Web Quests Are Easy As teachers, we're always keeping our eyes open to spot ideas and activities that will be easy to implement in the classroom. I love a good challenge, but there are some days when I want something that's effective, meets the state standards, engages my students...and is easy to implement in my classroom. Do you ever feel the same way? Web quests meet all of those goals. If I'm using a printable web quest, I'll often make the links available on my class website so students can click on each one when needed. When I use the digital version, I just assign it to my students and PRESTO! They can click on the links in the web quest themselves and off they go. If you want to try a web quest in your classroom, I'd love to send you one as a gift! Fill out the form below and a download will be sent to your inbox. I'll also keep you updated on exciting lesson ideas, inspiration for your classroom and welcome you to a community of teachers who share your passion in bringing history to life in our classrooms! Download the Historical Thinking Skills Web Quest! Click Here for the Web Quest We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime. Built with ConvertKit
Last year I started utilizing notebooks like the one pictured here in my U.S. History and Geography and World Cultures classes. The impetus ...
Using pocasts in the US History Classroom is a great way to extend learning and add a new voice to your classroom!
Learn how to use social studies stations in the Middle & High School classroom to increase student engagement. Includes link for a free station activity!
Want to create stations for your Social Studies classroom? Check out my tips for creating stations for your Social Studies classroom.
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.
Learn a variety of strategies on how to make history class engaging for students. Check out in this blog post.
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
Do you need a social studies bulletin board for you classroom? This is the perfect product for you! This social studies bulletin board kit will help if you teach or cover any of the following topics: Ancient Civilizations Communities Culture Economics Geography Government History State History News I am so excited about this Social Studies themed bulletin board! I plan to hang various pieces in my room (or on an anchor chart) for my students to reference all year long! A few pieces (not many) are editable-- so please read the description to see if it works for you! Download includes: 2 Generic Titles: Studying Social Studies (or just "Social Studies") Titles for 8 main topics: Ancient Civilizations, Communities, Culture, Economics, Geography, Government, History, State History, and News Mini titles and topic headers for each subject (example: Economics will have a mini title for "producer" and "consumer", etc.) 18 premade "Goal Getter" cards Editable file is in PowerPoint (to make for easy editing) and include editable blank word cards (use your own fonts) and a set of blank goal cards. Editable file is in PowerPoint (to make for easy editing) and include editable blank word cards (use your own fonts) and a set of blank goal cards.
If you teach social studies and are struggling for end of year lesson ideas, this post is for you!
AVID Strategies for the History Classroom...
Use this one simple question to help bring inquiry and historical thinking into your Middle School Social Studies classroom.
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...
Last year I started utilizing notebooks like the one pictured here in my U.S. History and Geography and World Cultures classes. The impetus ...
History Station Lessons are a fun and interactive way to get your students out of their seats and engaged in the content.
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
This bundle of over 50 posters is perfect for a middle or high school Social Studies classroom to inspire and encourage your students! The bundle includes: - A Proofreading Checklist Poster - An inspiring quote poster - World Flag Posters (6) - Social Studies Vocabulary Posters (28) - Classroom Poster "Your Voice Matters" - History Quote Poster "The study of..." - History Quote Poster "The study of..." - Welcome Signs (World Map Theme) - Classroom Culture Poster
Every classroom benefits from these two purchases: So, in the weeks before the holiday break, my kiddos walked into this..... I you are a reader of my blog, you will recognize this as an activity I did last year on the Boston Massacre. Read about it here! For those of you that followed along last year, do you love my new tablecloth? Bloodier than last year's window clings and I get to use it again and again. My eighth graders were so excited because they saw the set up of this last year. They did such an amazing job!!! These kiddos are champions of textual evidence and totally would have gotten those British soldiers off in a court of law! If you are interested in using this in your classroom, click here for the resources and click here for the video website.
Don't you love it when other teachers do the research for us?
“A strategy to unlock vocabulary” by Roderick Graves, Social Studies Specialist - Holub Middle School Teaching students academic and content vocabulary is one of the most important components to mastering social studies. There is nothing more
After years of thinking about it, this summer I finally bought a set of classroom white boards (my largest class is 22 this year so it wasn’t cost prohibitive). Instead of wasting paper and prep t…
