Eight Easy Ways to Make Social Studies More Engaging for Grades 3-5

Social Studies used to be my least favorite subject to teach.  The private schools I attended as a child didn't really teach a lot of history.  When I was moved to fourth grade from third grade, I realized that I needed to do a lot of research in order to teach my students about important events in the history of my state.  This is when my obsession with Social Studies began.  Here are eight ways that I made my students (and me) look forward to Social Studies.

1.  Use Google Earth to show students where history takes place.  When studying a place or event, visit the location on Google Earth and view it in street mode.  

   • Click "Explore Earth" and ask students to determine the part of the world they think this.  Is it in the tropics?  Look around some more while they try to figure out the climate.

   • Use historical layers for a Then vs. Now Street View.   Explore local neighborhoods and famous landmarks.  What changed?  What stayed the same?

   • Track real or historical routes of explorers, immigrants, or trade routes.  

2. Show students photographs or videos from the time period.  You can find photos on Wikipedia Commons.  YouTube has a number of street videos from the early 1900s.  Before telling your students what you are studying, show them primary sources from that time period.   Have them discuss with a small group and come up with what they think they are about to learn.

3. Put 4-5 items in a paper bag that give hints about what you are about to study.  Give the bags to students and have them discuss the items.  What do they think we are going to learn?  You can add physical things such as spice jar and something gold to teach about explorers or photos of a buffalo and a mask for teaching Native Americans.

4. Make an ABC Book. After studying a unit, have students help you list words for each letter of the alphabet that describe the topic.  Then have them create an ABC book about your topic.

5. Bring the arts into your lesson.  If they were living at this time, what historical event would they paint?  Use salt dough to have them create a landform.  Have students write a skit about what you learned and perform it.  Have them write a Haiku or an I am poem.  Play music from the time period you are studying.  Teach them a traditional dance.  

6. Focus on important words.  If you are studying a speech or poem in Social Studies, give them a copy.  They should have a pencil for this.  Read it out loud to them.  As you read, they should underline words or phrases that stand out to them.  After you finish reading, have them choose their favorite 15 words (or however many you want to choose).  Explain that you are going to read it again, but this time, they should join in on only their highlighted parts.  After you are done, have a discussion about why some parts were louder than others.  Why did they choose the words they did?

7. Are you studying a topic that isn't very exciting, and you want to make the kids more interested?  Find a primary source from the past to share with them.  Wikipedia has so many old maps that were drawn by explorers.  Look up some old maps on Wikipedia.  Show your students the maps and have them compare them to maps today.  You can also find artifacts that have been found from the past.  Ask students what they think it was used for.  What do they think it was made out of?  Go to the Library of Congress and look up your title.  You can find letters, photos, and more.

8. Studying a historical person?  Have your students create a social media page for this person.  What would they post today?  Here is a great FREE template!  How about a Yearbook for the American Revolution?  

Social Studies can be the class that your students look forward to.