Using Primary Sources to Set the Scene in Social Studies

Setting the scene before reading a book or studying a topic is one of my favorite strategies.  Handing students real photographs of what you are about to study captures their attention.  Giving them time to discuss their observations gives them time to process the photo.  Then discussing their observations opens up into really interesting discussions.

If you are teaching about transportation, show them street scenes from the past.  You can find these photos on https://commons.wikimedia.org/ and searching for a specific year.  You can also search for videos like THIS  How fascinating that there seems to be no traffic or pedestrian laws!  How is this different from the way we live today?  Is anything the same?

When teaching about explorers, find some old maps from the 1500s and 1600s and compare them to maps today.  Here is a map from 1506:  How is it different from our map? Why is it different?

My decade units allow you to immerse your students into a specific decade.  You can present it on a large screen for all students, or you can allow your students to go through the lesson on their own computer.  Each of the eight slides have links to a video, photo, map, website, or other source.  There is also a PDF with questions about each slide as well as a critical thinking menu.  I have all decades between 1900 and 2020.  I also have one for colonial times.  Click on the product to see.