Formative assessments in Social Studies
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
March 22, 2017 Here is an infographic we created for the post we published earlier today titled ' 15 Great YouTube Channels for Social Studies Teachers'. The visual features what we think are some of the best channels on YouTube that provides educational video content relevant for social studies classes. Please check out the previous post for links to these channels. You can also download this visual in PDF format from this page. Have other suggestions to add to this list? Share with us on our Facebook page. This post originally appeared in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning ( www.educatorstechnology.com ).
Do you need warm up ideas? I want to share 3 warm up ideas for social studies classes with you. These are engaging and easy to implement!
Learn how to create simple models and maps with early years students with this free geography printable!
Every year in July I am drawn like a kid in a candy shop to the classroom décor section of any store. I can't help myself - it's just so exciting to imagine how my classroom will look when I return to school! While I'm definitely not rushing my summer vacation away by any means, there's just something special about the beginning of the school year that makes me smile...and begin envisioning how my classroom will look when my students first walk in the door. If you teach middle school students, like me, there's just one little issue. All of those decorations are adorable...but definitely not designed for older kids. I love decorating my classroom and making it feel warm and inviting, but I also want to fill it with items not only themed to my curriculum, but that also add value to my students' academic lives. If this is a dilemma you're facing, too, here are some ideas to use in your classroom this year: 1. Flags and Bunting Summer is a great time to purchase flags and bunting in the United States because there are always Fourth of July sales! I love running to Michaels, Target or Hobby Lobby after the holiday and grabbing new decorations for my classroom when I'm teaching American History or American Government. Flags and bunting are perfect for hanging around the classroom, on bulletin boards or over windows to easily make the classroom feel "homey" and themed to your year's curriculum! You can also make your own if you want a different color or pattern to match your personal classroom style. 2. Posters Posters are a great way to decorate your classroom with your curriculum theme of the year while providing value to your students' learning. I've collected a few posters over the years like a copy of the Constitution, some motivational quotes and other history-related content. This year, I'm adding new posters to my decor. I had a ton of fun making them and I'm excited to continually reinforce these two questions: What is History? and Why Study History? There are three different sets, so if you are teaching American History, American Government / Civics or Ancient History, check them out! :) 3. Pictures I love using pictures in my classroom! A small selection of personal pictures near your desk can help students see people and places that are important to you. I also love taking photos of students learning in my classroom, on field trips, as a class, etc. and posting them around the room. It really helps students to "own" the space and makes it feel personal to us for the school year! 4. Word Walls A word wall is a portion of your classroom dedicated to showcasing the vocabulary you are teaching. The more students see and interact with content vocabulary, the better they will understand what it means and how it relates to their current studies. You can write these words on a white board or type and print them out to post in your classroom. I love using word walls that include images and definitions to reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. If you are looking for easy print-and-go resources, check out the Word Wall section of my TpT store. The word wall resources are organized by unit so you can find what you need! :) 5. Student Projects / Work I've saved the best for last! Student work is always the best "decoration" I can have in my classroom. Whenever I add new work to my walls or change a display, students are always keen to walk over at the beginning of class to see what is posted. As such, I always make sure to try and feature all the kids' art/projects/work at some point during the school year so that everyone gets the recognition they deserve! :) It also serves as a great example of what we've learned in recent units when visitors walk through our classroom. What other décor ideas do you have? I'm always on the look out for creative ideas for the classroom and I'm sure others are as well! Add your ideas to the comments - I'd love to read them! :)
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...
To make sure your upper elementary students receive high quality social studies, use this social studies interactive notebook!
These 4 questions will make your Social Studies lesson more meaningful to students!
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
Add some depth and complexity to your social studies lessons with this critical thinking choice board. Students must create complete three activities, completing a tic-tac-toe and passing through the center. If you print these at 90%, students can cut them out and glue them into their notebooks. I print the choice boards out on colored yardstick and laminate them for use at centers. I then run off a handful of each of the choices for students to choose from. For more choice boards, visit my store at: Choice Boards for Critical Thinking Blessings, The Curious Apple
Don't you love it when other teachers do the research for us?
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 […]
5 YouTube Channels that Rock!
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 art and content in the ELA classroom. Tips and resources.
Build the bridge between ELA and social studies.
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 […]
Social Studies Interactive Notebooks are a great tool to reinforce learning in any classroom. Give your students a forever resource this year by ...
