Social Studies Sundays: Colonial Simulation

Today I'm going to show you a Colonial Simulation that I found somewhere on the internet (if anyone knows where please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due) but I don't have any pictures of my kids doing it because this group of students are going to give it a go tomorrow and I will be at a two day Common Core training.  I'm bummed because it is one of my favorite simulations and I will miss watching them problem solve, use their critical thinking skills and different background knowledge to figure out how they will survive in this new land.  Click on the picture below to download your copy of the simulation.  It is two pages (front and back) and you will also need the map.

The wonderful thing about this simulation is that I can pass out this bag full of goodies and that's it.  My job is done.  From here on out the students explore, discuss and learn.  It's a very impressive sight to watch.  I include the two simulation scenarios (Moving to the Colonies and Choosing the Best Location for Your Colony), the map for the location scenario, a glossary of what all the terms on the map mean, a blank sheet of notebook paper to work out their math, a set of directions and a jobs sheet.  Each student has a job, just as they do in literature circles, and that is their role throughout the entire simulation.  My cohort from last year made the glossary and job chart so I will ask her if she's okay with me posting them and hopefully add them tomorrow!  Although if you need this ASAP you could create the jobs that will work in your room and I know she found all the terms online :o)

Just think of this as the Colonial version of Oregon Trail.  Have y'all ever played that game?  I used to LOVE it as a kid.  We would always call across the room during free time, "Brittney, you died from a snake bite!" and other ridiculous things like that, lol.  I hope you and your kids enjoy the simulation!

Don't forget to check out Jessica's blog, Joy in the Journey, for her 200 Follower Giveaway!  Besides having some AMAZING prizes to giveaway, she's always got great ideas!  Definitely somebody worth following if you are not already :o)

Social Studies Sundays: Geography Videos

While teaching Geography and the state capitols, these two videos are ALWAYS shown multiple times in my classroom.  Now I'm not saying this a full proof plan, but I have never had a student fail their states and capitols test after watching these two videos all week.  You can watch the kiddos singing in their head and their lips moving while taking the test and it is just too cute!

This first video is from a cartoon when I was a kid, Anamaniacs.  It's Wakko's 50 States and Capitols Song (he also has a song about the presidents and the continents).  It's to the tune of Turkey and the Straw.  I print off the lyrics for my students so they can sing along at school and home.  It is a fast song but once they've watched it a few times then they get the hang of it.

The Tour the US video is a little more "hip" and the kids LOVE to watch the white board drawing!  One of the things I like about this video is that he includes a visual to help the students remember each of the states and their capitols.

I will say that my students remember Wakko's song a lot better than the second video but they still learn something from both and that is why I show them both :o)

I hope you have a fantastic Sunday and Happy Mother's Day to all the mommas out there!

Social Studies Sunday: Geography Suitcase

This week's Social Studies Sunday begins our Geography unit.  I always have the students create their "suitcase" so that as we travel across the United States they can pack their suitcase full of information and souvenirs from our trip!

 

I began this a few years ago when the fifth grade standards used to have us learning about the five regions but now we only need to learn about the state capitols and location on a map.  Instead of my usual notes and handouts from United States Geography Journey by Linda Schwartz, this year we will be using our State Snapshots.

I'm going to TRY to explain how to create your own suitcase but please forgive me if it is confusing...  One of my best friends/fellow teachers Amanda taught me how to create this and I can attest that hands on was much easier than trying to verbally teach in this instance.  So I'm apologizing now!

Steps to create your own suitcase

1. Get the large brown paper bags from your local grocer.  We have Publix here and they are BEYOND helpful!  I asked for 100 of these babies (since we are departmentalized), told them what it was for and they just handed them over with a smile :o)

2. You are going to cut along the edges of the bottom of the bag.  Look at the picture above.  You will only trim the very edge of the right side, top, and left side of the bag.  When cutting the right and left edges you only want to chop off the bottom of the bag along the four edges, not where it folds.  You will see what I'm talking about in the second picture below.  Leave the bottom edge untouched (the portion with no red line).  When you have finished cutting you should be able to open it like this.

Notice how the folded sides are not cut off.  When in doubt it should look like the picture below if you opened it.

3.  Open up your paper bag and lay it flat out.  Now there are multiple ways to use this suitcase.  You can leave it as is and place papers inside the two pockets or you can also fold it up and place it in a hole puncher and add pipe cleaners to make it into a binder.

6. TA DA!  The finished product!

You can use this brown paper bag folder for ANY unit and the kids love making them and decorating it to be their own.  If you have any questions about assembly or confusion please feel free to leave a comment and I will try to clarify the best I can!  Come back next Sunday to see more of the goodies we put inside our suitcase and some amazing online resources to help you teach Geography!

 

Social Studies Sunday: Interactive Notebook - Native Americans

Welcome to Social Studies Sunday!  Every Sunday I will post something about social studies whether it be projects, lesson, pinterest ideas, read alouds, picture books, etc.  This Sunday is about our Social Studies Interactive Notebook and Native Americans!

I know this has been a long time coming and truth be told I just got caught up with so many other things in life and the blog world that I plain forgot to post it when we were studying Native Americans.  Better late than never I guess!

Here is our unit on Native Americans for our Social Studies Notebooks.  Since we did not have a lot of time to study this unit, it is not set up like my traditional interactive notebook with the learning on the left and reflection on the right.  Instead of me teaching the students about the four major Native American regions, I had the students teach the lessons!

We began our unit with a graphic organizer "Who Were the First Americans" and filled in our prior knowledge about Native Americans on the left side.  Then each table group was assigned a different region (Pacific Northwest Indians, Southwest Indians, Eastern Woodland Indians, and Great Plains Indians) and had to find information about the eight major topics for each (Tribes, Shelter, Music, Art, Food, Major Beliefs and Practices, Interaction with the Environment, and Interesting Facts).  I let the students use the textbook, Social Studies Weekly Newspaper, the computers and anything else they could find to help them with their research.  After all their research the students presented their information to the class.  Before each group presented we created a new graphic organizer in our notebook and the students even helped come up with some of the ideas for how they wanted their information presented.

Once all the presentations were over and graphic organizers filled in, we finished off our "Who Were The First Americans" graphic organizer by filling in the AFTER section.  It is the same categories as our prior knowledge, but now we should have more detailed descriptions :o)

On the left you'll see my example and the right is the student's final product.

 

You can really use any of these graphic organizers for any regions, tribes, or topics.  The kids really enjoyed getting to become the teachers for the day and did a pretty good job I must say!