Search results matching tags 'social studies' and 'history'

Calling all teachers and students! Monticello and HISTORY® invite you to participate in an art-based project that encourages students to connect Thomas Jefferson with their hometown. The contest includes $10,000 in prize money and a chance to see your work featured on Monticello’s website.

Learn more here.

Bloom Ball Reports

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:21:00 GMT

CHECK OUT MY NEW TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS WIDGET!! YAY

Click on the arrows to see my other lessons!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hands on projects!

As I've said in many of my posts, we have to really encourage creativity in our

classrooms these days, even if it means a ten minute group brainstorming, problem solving

topic that makes the kids THINK.

I know that with all the mandated test preparation it's often difficult to break away

BUT

it's important that students remember their teachers and school experiences

for reasons other than

just preparing for tests.

I run into many of my former students who are have graduated from college

and are starting new phases of their lives. Their greeting is always the same..

"I'll never forget the GeoBear project you did with us.

I still have my GeoBear and all the postcards and letters he sent me when he

was traveling around the world."

"You made school so much fun. I'll never forget when I was a Senator and wrote

a bill that said kids 12 years old should be allowed to have driver licenses.

I remember how hard we worked on that bill, but the House of Representatives, sent it back to us and we had to amend it.

Then it was approved by the House and YOU vetoed it." (HAHA! I was the President!)

By the way, those kids almost ran me out of the room when I vetoed their bill.

They had told me that 12 year old kids should drive

because they have 16 year old siblings and they're not responsible, but 12 year old kids are!

The House kids said that 12 year olds wouldn't be able to reach the gas pedals or see over the steering wheels.

The bill was amended to read: 12 year old kids will strap blocks of wood to their shoes

so they can reach the gas pedals and sit on pillows so they can see over the steering wheels.

(I tried my best to keep a straight face throughout the proceedings) :)

To prepare for Congress, they chose a state they'd represent, made name tags, and even came to school dressed UP! I was soooo impressed. AND they kept their name badges on ALL day..

Senator Smith from New York, Representative Brown from Massachusetts. It was GREAT!

THESE are the things kids remember. Interactive, creative, collaborative, fun projects!

This is one of those unforgettable types of projects

where creativity walks hand in hand with academics.

This update of my Bloom Balls packet has the latest verbiage of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Included is everything needed to create colorful displays for your classroom

while encouraging higher level thinking.

Students will have fun working in groups to create their reports.

There are instructions/rubrics for a fiction book report as well as a bio report.

Templates included are two sizes, in black and white and in color.

Detailed instructions demonstrate how to put these displays together.

Use for ELA, science and social studies reports.

High school teachers are using them for literature reports, science and history reports!

I suggest playing some music as the kids work on these reports.

Best for grades 4 and up.

Fun!

My poster of the new Bloom verbiage that's included in the packet.

Neat Stuff: 9-7-12

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:13:21 GMT

Mobento - http://www.mobento.com - High quality, fascinating videos from established academic institutions and learning organizations. Searchable by subject area. These include some TED videos like “Why is X the unknown” http://bit.ly/OsVcfm and “Logarithms, Explained” http://bit.ly/OsVpiO; Khan Academy videos like “Why Dividing by Zero is Undefined” http://bit.ly/OsVyTe; Stanford University videos like “Larry Page: Tips for the Entrepreneur” http://bit.ly/OsVWRZ; and many more. 10 Ways [...]

Create a "Museum Exhibit" for History Projects

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 01:55:00 GMT

Click the video posted by ScienceNotebooking, who posted a super idea for history and social studies projects. This simple craft is created using little more than an old pizza box and plastic wrap. Underneath the plastic wrap, the box can contain students' 3D creations, pictures or other visual items next to their written research. This mimics the effect of looking at an exhibit or display in a museum. You can use it for all kinds of research projects and have students bring their boxes to class, and allow everyone to walk around to view and read the "exhibits" they have all made. For instance, she says her class behaved as archaeologists presenting artifacts (of their own creation) that were important to various Native American tribes.

Review Any Subject with a 'Word Whomp'

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:11:00 GMT

This cool idea comes courtesy of Beg.Borrow.Teach, and it's a neat way to review almost any subject, particularly social studies and history. They call it Word Whomp.

Simply make letters for A-Z on cards or paper. Put them all in a paper bag or a shoebox. Give it a good shake, select a letter, and give students 1-3 minutes to write everything beginning with that letter that comes to mind about the subject.

For instance, if they're studying the Great Depression and the letter "S" is picked, a student may jot down "soup lines, social security, stock market crash," etc. The student with the most things listed correctly can have the privilege of picking the next letter from the bag.

I think this activity is ideal for review just prior to a unit test.

You can probably adapt this to closely resemble the game Scattegories. Perhaps you can have the students discover if anyone came up with words that no one else did, and they can win the round.

Visit the blog to see her examples of the activity and the extension she included!

A Man of Many Hats

Anonymous — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:03:00 GMT

It has been a busy few weeks! This past week we had our first grade program and my was it a big production! One of the teachers on my team let me use her son to model all of the darling hats we made. Our school has an emphasis on history, so we sang various different songs that highlighted our history curriculum and used these hats to match. The kids looked SO cute! You can see the program below.

Paul Revere Style Hat

Revolution Style Hat

Columbus/Sailor Style Hat

Native American Style Hat

Colonial Woman Style Hat (bowl w/ doilie & ribbon)

Queen Crown

King Crown

Next up.... FLAT STANLEY! My kids are in love with him. Our history curriculum includes learning about several different ancient civilizations, so a few months ago we read Flat Stanley and the Great Egyptian Grave Robbery. A few weeks ago when I saw the entire 9 book collection of Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures in our Scholastic bookorder I couldn't pass it up. My kids are hooked. They beg me to read it and complain when it's time to stop and go to lunch or recess! Haha. We're just finishing the last chapter of Flat Stanley and the Japanese Ninja Surprise. So... I created a Flat Stanley inspired unit. I know a lot of people are already done with school, but we still have 2 weeks left, and we're pretty well through with our curriculum and testing, so we are going to be having lots of Flat Stanley fun! I've integrated the unit with several subjects (reading/writing/grammar/math/social studies/geography...) so it'll be a great review and culminating unit for us. Next year (now that I have all the books) I think I'll spread it out and read/teach them throughout the year. Anyway, here are a few preview photos. I'll be posting the unit a little later today.

H.S.I. - Historical Scene Investigation Designed to give...

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:11:47 GMT

H.S.I. - Historical Scene Investigation

Designed to give students experiences that more closely resemble the work of a real historian.

#elemchat #spedchat #sschat #history

“The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was designed for social studies teachers who need a strong pedagogical mechanism for bringing primary sources into their classroom.”

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PROCON: Pro’s and Con’s of Topical Issues

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:00:22 GMT

Greetings,

PROCON is a web site which presents controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan manner.

One of the big complains about the current education system is the lack of problem solving or critical thinking instruction. Instead, students are taught to “learn” a set of facts or information which is then validate by a test where [...]