We are learning a lot about US History. We are enjoying reading different books, watching videos and talking about the beginnings of our country. The next document our kids will be memorizing is a short form of the Bill of Rights. I had fun creating some materials to help them in this process. I typed [Read On]
Handy civil war worksheets for 3rd-6th graders. Print american history worksheets to learn about the Civil War for kids from 1861-1865.
Looking to learn about the great white north, eh? You will love this free printable Canada for Kids reader to color, read, and learn!
5th Grade Social Studies is where it's at, my friends! In this blog post, I will share how I sequence, plan, and make social studies fun for my students. I'm fortunate to have found my niche
Enhance geography skills with FREE printable 7 Continents and Oceans worksheets for elementary students: maps, facts & more!
Here are 7 Bible Verse Memory Games that are fun, creative, and unique! Plus these Memory verse activiteis work with any Bible verse.
Last year while I was perusing through the wonderful teaching blogs, I came across Teaching in Room 6's blog. She has SO many great ideas and resources for 5th grade. I was in need of an engaging Native American activity and she had one! I bought her Native American Tribe Research Report Project at her TPT store. Last year and this year, my students seemed to be a little overwhelmed when given the research report project packet. However, this year my students have it a little easier because I put together a Power Point with photos and video footage of last year's student projects and the Native American Museum. So they have a better idea of what the final product looks like. I must say that both last year and this year the kids were BEYOND excited to participate in this project. I like how the packet includes a calendar. I use the calendar to break up the project for my students. We set different due dates for the different components. I give my students one month to complete the project. The packet also lists the different Native American Tribes within the different regions. There are more than enough tribe listed and I don't allow students to research the same tribe. This ensures that everyone will be engaged and learn about many different tribes during our Native American Museum. They all get to choose their top 3 tribes. I haven't had to many issues with students not getting any of their top 3 choices. But we do have a discussion beforehand about the possibility that they may not get any of their choices. The packet includes extra credit options, such as, dressing up the day of the museum, making crafts in relation to their tribe, making dolls, etc. The majority of my students did make the extra credit activities. My 5th graders never cease to amaze me! Yesterday, we had our Native American Museum and it was a BIG success! They have been so excited all week to debut their exhibits. The students have worked hard for the past month researching, building a home, and making crafts, etc. for their project. I was overjoyed by how many parents and family members came to our museum to celebrate the wealth of knowledge my students gained! We also invited the administrators, 4th, and 5th grade classes to come and learn about all the different Native American Tribes across the U.S. It was great to see the parents not only heading over to their son or daughter's exhibit, but they made sure to visit every exhibit which made my students so happy! The 4th graders were adorable! They asked some great questions and commented on how "amazing" the projects were. The project was completed at home and I told my students that they didn't need to spend a lot of money to create their projects. I told them to think outside of the box and be creative. I know that some of the students received help from their parents and back in my earlier years of teaching that would've bothered me. However, I now feel that having their parents help them is a great bonding experience for them. They both learn about the tribe together and if they child isn't used to working on projects like this, they need someone to model and show them how to do things. Last year, I had a parent tell me how much she enjoyed working on the project with her son and how nice it was to spend quality time with him albeit learning something new. It put a huge smile on my face! If you have any social studies ideas make sure you link them up with Fifth in The Middles Social Studies Linky. It is great to see all the social studies projects being linked up! Now for some photos of this year and last years projects (I apologize for the amount of photos! It was just so hard to pick a few). I smudged out any names and faces to protect people's identities. This student used an old shirt to make her teepee. I love the doll she created! Another great home! This year I had quite a few students dress up! She put so much time into her project. I love her headdress and her crafts/dolls! This student brought in her tablet in which she had images on a slideshow?!?! Amazing...right?!?! Another headdress and a bow Love the totem pole in the front of this home. This home looked exactly like the photo she brought in! Again, very creative...no need to spend a ton of money. Super cute A doll made out of play dough! This teepee was made out of canvas and even had a canvas door cover! This house was made from an old basket! Another great example of a Native American home I like how this student made a scene and had two homes I loved how all the headdresses were so different! So much detail! Another student dressed in her attire. He did such a wonderful job with discussing his tribe! Made me one PROUD teacher! Love the colors! Getting creative with the letters. Lots of information and photos...even a replica purse Such great drawings! We decorated the hallways with totem poles they created. A poster one of my students made. Last Years Projects Love how she backed her information with construction paper. He made so many craft items! Very creative and it looks EXACTLY like the photograph. Full house! These 3rd graders were so intrigued! She made the headdress and her display board is beautiful! She made mortar and pestle out of construction paper! Love it! Another scene (definitely adds to the project) Lots of pop with the colors She made her teepee out of a paper towel and twigs. It looked great! It was a full house! Wow! She even constructed a basket out of the same material used for the home!!! A couple of long houses I know this was a long post! I'm just a proud teacher, what can I say!
Having a little time at the end of class is something my students look forward to because they have an opportunity to do fun five minute social studies activities. If you find yourself with a
Teaching respect in the classroom is easy with this read aloud list and ready to use character education ideas!
13 Colonies Unit with 15 complete lessons, simulations, games, worksheets, activities, and more! Can be used with 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th graders.
The My State Report Worksheet is designed to help elementary school students learn about and showcase their knowledge of a specific state. This worksheet provides a structured format where students can research and gather information about the state's geography, history, notable landmarks, and more. By using this worksheet, students will be able to delve deeper into their chosen state and present their findings in an organized and engaging manner. Whether it's for a school project or simply to expand their knowledge, this worksheet acts as a valuable tool for young learners interested in discovering more about the United States.
There's nothing better than listening to your teacher read a book about the historical event/time period you're learning about in class! I have been an upper elementary teacher for my entire teaching career (15 years) and
Three week interactive Westward Expansion Unit for 5th-8th graders. With everything you need right there, this unit is easy to plan and engaging to teach!
Hi friends, I posted a picture of me working on my pacing guide and some of you asked me to share. Here are the images of the pacing guide. Click here to access all the downloadable templates and guides. There are a lot of options for you to choose from and they are a lot ... Read more
Chapter books aren't the only options for 5th graders! Take a look at our top picks of 5th grade picture books, sure to delight your child.
Are your students too old for the traditional desk plate name tags? I want my students to have name tags but they feel that the ones with the number lines and other reference items are too young for them. Because of this I have my students design their own name tag. By having them design...
Are your students loving their social studies classroom or are they feeling that it is an extension of their ELA class? Are you wondering how to increase student engagement in the classroom so that your student cannot wait to come into your classroom and learn? Keep reading for ideas to incorporate all learning styles into ... Read more
Upper Elementary Novel Study Ideas - favorite book suggestions and novel study ideas for upper elementary ELA classrooms.
You're teaching social studies, yay! If you need ideas on how to start the year in 5th grade social studies, you've come to the right place! The first week of social studies class sets the
Thinking about implementing a Daily Three reading structure for reading rotations? Check out this post for details and example activities for each roation.
Learn about twelve different USA symbols for kids with thesefun and FREE printable American Symbols Worksheets.
5th Grade Social Studies is where it's at, my friends! In this blog post, I will share how I sequence, plan, and make social studies fun for my students. I'm fortunate to have found my niche
Learn about the most advanced ancient civilization in this fun, hands on Ancient Mesopotamia History Unit. This is fun for kids of all ages.
Are you a teacher-in-(di)stress? Have no fear - your students are here! Empower them to save the day with these 32 classroom jobs! They will LOVE it!
Free lesson plans 5th grade forces
Kids will have fun learning about other countries, famous landmarks, and geography with this France for Kids FREE Printable Mini Book.
Looking for Constitution Day activities for your elementary classroom? These lesson ideas, read aloud and projects will engage your students
Use these 7 continents worksheet pagges to teach elementary age about CONTINENTS for kids. Grab continents book printable!
Read a few ideas for civics and government activities. There are free lessons and activities as well as other fun hands-on, engaging ideas.
I love teaching the American Revolution. It is by far my favorite thing to teach when it comes to Social Studies. I just love to see how our country fought for their freedom. Now, even though I love to teach the American Revolution, it is not easy to teach. I have found that my kids don't know that much about the topic and that seems to slow us down. That is why I have been working hard this year to #setthestagetoengage when it comes to this topic and let me tell you there are some AMAZING things out there that helped me. Let me start off with how I address my students lack of schema when it comes to social studies in general. Meet the schema box. This is where I pull tons of books from our school library (which I might add we have a pretty awesome librarian who helps me) that have to do with our current social studies topic. My students can pull from this box whenever they want to. I have found that this helps my students feel more confident in social studies because they can actually make some connections about what we are learning. I have also found that if I add some books about our next topic students begin to make connections between events. Another helpful resource that I have for the American Revolution is the pack from Collaboration Cuties. I have been using this in my classroom as morning work for students to build schema on the topics that we will be discussing each day in social studies. The kids really love the flippables that they can use in their interactive notebook. By building schema before the lesson, we are able to dig deeper into events during our social studies block. We begin our unit on the French and Indian war, which leads into the Stamp Act. If you are interested in a exit slip for the French and Indian War I have one here and here. Before students can really understand the Stamp Act the have to put themselves in the shoes of a colonists. In years past I've done the lesson where one student is the king and he makes students pay taxes based off of rules he passes. This year, I found an awesome resource by Kristine Nanini and the best part of all, it was FREE. My students got so upset when they had to give up their m&m's to the king and they got even more upset when some of them had more m&m's than others when it was all over. This lesson was so much more meaningful to my students than if I would have told them how angry the colonists were. After this lesson, students read more about The Stamp Act, and added this event into their timeline in their social studies notebook. Then they were assigned the task to create a political cartoon depicting The Stamp Act. They loved this activity and it was a great assessment for me to see who know knew what The Stamp Act really was. If you are interested the rubric used to grade this assignment you can grab it here for free! Up next was the Boston Massacre and this is my favorite topic to discuss during this unit. So much happened leading up to the Boston Massacre and after it was over. I wanted to do something engaging with this event so I immediately searched Pinterest. My search led me to a blog that I had never seen before, but quickly became one of my favorites. To Engage Them All has so many wonderful engaging activities for students. Immediately I knew that I had to do the crime scene lesson for my students. Kara has everything that you need for his lesson ready to go and guess what, its FREE! You can't go wrong with awesomely engaging free lessons for social studies. This lesson was a HUGE hit in my class. I even heard some of my students who don't usually like social studies talking about how much fun this was. I will have to say that this lesson was made for 8th grade students and I did make some changes to the detective guide for my 5th graders. I set up the crime scene before school so my kiddos had time to stew over what could have happened in our classroom. They couldn't wait for social studies to see what had happened. This is just the beginning of our American Revolution. Come back next week to join our tea party and midnight ride with Paul Revere.
I've gotten so many amazing resources from my blogger contacts out there. Now it is my turn to share one with you. I know many of my Virgini...
Project Based Learning (PBL) is becoming an increasingly popular teaching method in the classroom these days - and for good reason! Not only are there many benefits of project based learning, but it can also create an engaging learning environment.
Are you a new or "new-ish" 5th grade teacher? The 5th Grade Teacher's First Day Survival Guide is just for you! It happens to all of us every summer... Happily steering your cart down the aisle
Use the free website, Mapmaker, to create maps and practice measuring with a digital ruler.
Finally, a guide for upper elementary teachers that will show you how to teach research reports in a step-by-step format! If you are struggling with teaching the research report process, you are not alone. Seriously, we’ve
