Winding Path Teaching

Need a ready-to-go activity for Valentine's Day for something all kids love? Food! This Blind Date with a Dish activity is perfect for making Valentine cards your students will love to make. This activity gives your students a chance to do some Valentine's Day coloring or craft, or could even be your emergency sub plans! Students create fun and mysterious descriptions of their favorite dishes while decorating personalized cards using 15 included templates (5 are Valentine's Day-themed!). It’s e

Don’t miss out on the perfect way to challenge your students’ minds: logic puzzles! These 20 logic puzzles are perfect for building critical thinking skills while keeping students entertained and engaged! Each logic grid puzzle is designed to spark logical reasoning, critical thinking, deduction skills, making them ideal for Fun Friday activities or as part of your emergency sub plans. Whether you're looking for brain-boosting activities for early finishers or something to energize your class,

Are you looking for a powerful way to teach immigration as a current event while enhancing students' critical thinking skills? This immigration lesson is the perfect resource for your classroom. Focusing on using evidence to make claims, this lesson encourages students to explore historical and current immigration trends through data analysis. They’ll learn how to craft strong arguments backed by facts, a crucial skill in both ELA and social studies courses. With structured activities, ready-mad

Looking for an interactive way to teach your students about US citizenship? This citizenship lesson is designed to help students understand both the legal and moral definitions of citizenship (i.e. What is a citizen? and What is a good citizen?) as well as the rights and responsibilities of both citizens and non-citizens. In this lesson, students will explore how citizenship is acquired through birth or naturalization and will engage in a document-based question (DBQ) activity analyzing persp

Students in FACS and history classes rarely get to see that the food they eat has a political history. This lesson puts primary sources from journalists, legislators, and advertisers in front of them and asks them to work out for themselves why food safety became a public concern in the early 20th century. It's built around a guiding question that has a real answer students can construct from evidence, not just describe. The Value in Your Classroom: Engagement: Students enjoy the peek into the p

Need extension activities that will engage your students across multiple dimensions of thinking? These seven activities will engage your students' creativity, logical reasoning, computation skills, and artistic abilities! You will have access to several activities that will utilize different modes of thinking and interests, so all your students will have something to engage with. Some activities are great for individual work and some work well for groups. These are perfect for your emergency s

Need an activity fast that helps students practice their critical thinking? These eight logic grid puzzles will engage your students' brains, logical reasoning, critical thinking, and deduction skills! Students will use clues provided and logic to complete each puzzle and solve the problem presented in each puzzle. These are perfect for your emergency sub plans or when you need extension activities for early finishers.All eight puzzles are themed around food, restaurants, chefs, and the field

Looking for a clear way to explain early river valley civilizations and the effects of the Neolithic Revolution? This lesson includes a slide deck about the effects of Neolithic Revolution and the importance of creating settlements in river valleys, guided notes (with an answer key!), key vocabulary defined, and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the effects of Neolithic Revolution and early river valley civilizations, including exploring the spread of ag

Looking for a clear way to introduce the Neolithic Revolution and the beginning of human agriculture? This lesson includes a slide deck about the Neolithic Revolution, guided notes (with answer key!), key vocabulary defined, and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the Neolithic Revolution, including comparing life during the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, the origins of agriculture, the differences between agriculture and hunting-gathering, and the conseq

Looking for a way to add some excitement to your lesson about the Interstate Commerce Clause? Or your lesson on the national government's regulatory powers? In this engaging lesson with simulation game, students role-play the scenarios described in the Supreme Court's decision that empowered the national government's regulatory power through the Interstate Commerce Clause. Students learn about the Interstate Commerce Clause, prep for their simulation game using an anticipatory activity about sc

This bundle prepares you to teach about the Atlantic Revolutions from beginning to end, with slides, guided notes (with answer keys!), and quiz questions. Students will explore the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, as well as the unifications of Italy and Germany. Each lesson includes a slide deck, guided notes, and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts, vocabulary words, and important figures. In each lesson, students will learn about the causes of the

A clear way to introduce the unification of Italy and the unification of Germany, including key vocabulary. This lesson includes a slide deck, guided notes (with answer key!), and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the Unifications of Italy and Germany: the influence of the French Revolution, their own wars of unification, the role of leaders, and the formation of unified Germany and unified Italy. In this lesson, students will learn about nationalism, the

A clear way to introduce the Haitian Revolution and its connection to the French Revolution, including key vocabulary. This lesson includes a slide deck, guided notes (with answer key!), and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the Haitian Revolution: its beginning, the war, the role of Toussaint L'Ouverture, and the formation of the Haiti. In this lesson, students will learn the three class system of St. Domingue, the influence of the French Revolution, the

A clear way to introduce the French Revolution and its connection to the Enlightenment, including key vocabulary and a creative activity. This lesson includes a slide deck, guided notes (with answer key!), and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the French Revolution: its beginning, the war, and the formation of the French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte. In this lesson, students will learn the three estates system, the grievances of the French commoners, t

A clear way to introduce the American Revolution and its connection to the Enlightenment, including key vocabulary and primary source analysis. This lesson includes a slide deck, guided notes (with answer key!), and a list of 10 possible quiz questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the American Revolution and how the ideas of the Enlightenment helped shape it. In this lesson, students will learn what a revolution is, the grievances of the American colonists, and why the American colonist

An easy and clear way to introduce the complex federal US budget, including key vocabulary and real data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This lesson includes a comprehensive slide deck, guided notes, and an activity with reflection questions to help reinforce the key concepts of the federal budget and why it's so difficult for elected officials to balance it. In this lesson, students will learn what a budget is, how the government gets money, what it spends its money on (and how much

An easy way to introduce and contrast three economic systems: capitalism, communism, and socialism. This lesson includes a comprehensive slide deck, guided notes, and a quiz in Google Forms. In this lesson, students will learn what an economic system is and how to tell three different systems apart. They'll see how capitalism, communism, and socialism began, how they answer four core economic questions differently, and where in the world those systems are used today. The slide deck clearly ident

Looking for an easy, engaging way to dive deep into the US Executive Branch and explore presidential powers? In this critical thinking activity about the Executive Branch, students delve into the president's powers, explore multiple perspectives on the topic, and analyze the historical, political, and international contexts surrounding the ongoing debate. Students will identify and evaluate the context and growth of the Executive Branch's powers, critically examine divergent viewpoints regardin

Looking to incorporate critical thinking skills into your existing lessons? This lesson on the US Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause (also called the Elastic Clause) is the perfect fit. Students will delve into the Clause, exploring its historical, political, and current contexts, and gain insights from various perspectives. By analyzing the context and definition of the Clause, students will assess two contrasting viewpoints on whether it grants excessive power to Congress. They will t

Get all the scaffolded, engaging, and relevant critical thinking activities to easily integrate into your current civics and US government curriculum. In each activity, students learn about a point of contention in US civics and government, examine multiple perspectives on that issue, and learn about historical, international, and current contexts of the debate around it. Students will identify basic information about the issue, examine two different viewpoints about some relevant debate around