Making Social Studies Fun

Ever wonder why Football is the most popular American sport? What impact does having over 160 games have on the price of a Baseball ticket? This assignment has students analyze the relationship between the number of games in a season the price of tickets for each of America's top 4 sports. Not only does the lesson work as a great discussion about the impact of Supply and Demand but it also gives us an interesting picture on what people are willing to spend their hard earned money on.

This assignment is based on a Washington Post article from a few years back explaining how the rise of corn based gasoline in the USA has led to the rise of tortilla prices in Mexico. It is a great lesson to show the connectivity of the world markets and how changes in Supply and Demand can affect prices both home and abroad.

Through this lesson students work in groups to build a classroom pyramid. They are given an engineering puzzle that asks them to move a theoretical 5000lb block across the desert. The lesson helps the students understand that while the tools were basic, the ideas were not, and that the Ancient Egyptians had a strong understanding of math and science, and figure out how to best reduce friction with the materials that they had. This is a lesson that even years after completing it, students stil

Once you've taught the Qin Dynasty you need to teach the Han, and you can't teach the Han without discussing the Silk Road, the trade route that stretched from China to the Mediterranean. The exit card comes with a discussion question which has students analyze the differences between the economic systems of the Qin and the Han.

Leo, Don, Raph, and Mikey...those are the original four turtles. With this lesson you have students read through 6 historical figures from the Renaissance. Students will analyze the importance of each person, evaluate their impact on history, and then create a brand new turtle. It may sound silly, but it hits the three highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy! Included in the file: Introductory powerpoint: I have this set to music from the tv show, but didn't upload the music files for copyright

Students read quotes from Sun Tzu's Art of War and use his thoughts to help develop a battle plan. Perfect lesson for a rainy day :)

All 6 world religions bundled together. Start with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism before you move into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The level of information is quite deep but works well for middle school students who are just starting to explore views outside of their own! Comes with notes, exit cards, flipcharts for each religion

Here is a very fun way to learn about the laws of Supply and Demand using the Raffi song "Banana Phone." This powerpoint tells the story about the growth and decline of the Banana Phone industry and explains how the rise and fall of the demand of the Banana Phone impacted the price of this wonderful device. For added fun find the Raffi song "Banana Phone" and play in the background while the powerpoint is showing. Kids will likely bounce and sing along while learning Supply and Demand.

Survivor Rome follows Rome’s path from Republic to Empire. In this kit you have: All the notes, both for the kids to take and the key Exit Cards Extension BCR Activslate Flipchart Warm-up sheet for kids to use each day Powerpoint for day 1: Final ppt For the warm-up sheet and ppts: Take student pictures and add them to the slides. Each day update the ppt to show who died/”got voted off” Also, download the theme song to Survivor and have that play in the background as the slideshow plays…d

Now that you have taught all 5 religions it's time for a simple 20 question quiz. This quiz has students analyze the similarities between the religions while also quizzing them on some basic facts, such as who was the first Buddha. This is a word document and the correct answers have been highlighted, so they can easily be unhighlighted when you print it out and give it to the kids.

An intro into teaching with Primary Sources, with a focus on Sourcing content and perspective. Has many images and documents, as well as a graphic organizer to help focus the students attention to what is important when sourcing.

Find the circumference of the earth! In this lesson students complete the easy experiment Eratosthenes completed over 2000 years ago. While you won't be accurate in your data because you probably won't be doing this on the solstice at local noon, you can still give your kids a hands on experience in the sandals of the Ancient Thinkers. Use this in conjunction with an easy reading about Greek Philosophers to help students realize that even though these people lived 2500 years ago, they were no

This product contains notes on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It has outline notes, notes for the kids to take, flipcharts, and assessments. Everything is nicely bundled together for your convenience! Each flipchart contains pictures from wikicommons that help illustrate the ideas of the religion

In this package you'll find materials on how to teach about growth mindset, posters to put in your classroom, as well as a growth mindset self evaluation for students. This is a great way to get students who struggle to learn to understand that they can expand their intelligence with just a little bit of effort.

This product contains everything you need to teach the Persian Wars. Usually this is a skipped over topic by most middle teachers but this is a chance to really make the history come alive. In the zip file you will find: 1) Guided notes page for the kids to take notes on 2) Guided notes key for your to follow along with 3) An exit card that assesses the comprehension of the information plus has an additional analysis question to prep the kids for the Peloponnesian Wars. 4) Answer key to the

Need to teach about the Qin Dynasty and the Great Wall? Then this a great resource for you. Use this with a video or image analysis or on its own to support your China curriculum.

This product contains notes on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. It has outline notes, notes for the kids to take, flipcharts, and assessments. Everything is nicely bundled together for your convenience! Each flipchart contains pictures from wikicommons that help illustrate the ideas of the religion

Through this assignment students use Google Earth or Google Maps to figure out where some of the oldest and largest cities in the world have been settled. It gives students a better idea of where cities are located because it uses the most up-to-date satellite images.

This is a brief outline of the basic beliefs and history of Hinduism. Included in the file are the notes, a sheet for kids to take notes on, and an end of lesson assessment. This the 1st in a sequence of lessons about the 5 major world religions.

This contains the Banana Phone, as well as: Supply and Demand sports; Tortilla Crisis; and the analysis of "Rush-The Trees" all in one fell swoop! It's a great mini-unit on Supply and Demand!