Learn About the 7 Continents! Exploring the 7 Continents has never been more exciting! It’s a Small World Continent Study is filled with over 35 activities to help your students gain a greater understanding of the seven continents. This 130+ page unit is filled with great resources, posters, printables, activities, and projects that will open […]

As a kid in school I loved when my teachers celebrated creativity in the classroom. In fact, when I reflect on my own education, the moment...

Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.

Do you teach about the ancient Chinese dynasties? These Doodle Notes cover the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasties. Students will enjoying coloring and doodling as they take notes to learn about the dynasties of the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han. If you are looking for a more in depth resource of these dynasties, you may like my Ancient China PowerPoint and Guided Notes {Xia,Shang,Zhou,Qin,Han} instead. What's included with the Printed Doodle Notes: *Teacher directions and a list of the videos included the included PowerPoint (4 pages) *Blank doodle notes for students to fill in and color as you cover the information on the handouts (6 pages; uneditable PDF) *Fill-in-the-blank version for students who have difficulty with note taking (6 pages; uneditable PDF) *Completed or filled in version for students who need more support ( 6 pages; uneditable PDFs)) *Color version for examples or displays (6 pages; uneditable PDF) *PowerPoint that covers all of the material in the doodle notes and includes video links to help you expand your lesson (35 slides; the text in the PowerPoint is editable, but graphics are not) What's included with the Digital Guided Notes (these notes cover the same content and look the same as the doodle notes, but they are not considered doodle notes since students cannot color or interact with the pages like they would in print) *Teacher directions and suggestions (3 pages, uneditable PDF) *Blank version of digital guided notes (6 pages; students type into text boxes; fillable PDF and Google Slides versions; not editable in Adobe Pro or Slides) *Fill in the Blanks version of digital guided notes (6 pages; students type into text boxes; fillable PDF and Google Slides versions; not editable in Adobe Pro or Slides) *PowerPoint and Google Slides versions of the presentation that covers all of the material in the doodle notes (35 slides; the text in the PowerPoint/Google Slides is editable, but graphics are not) **This zip file contains uneditable PDF and PowerPoint files. This download contains files that may be printed and copied or used digitally. Use whichever version fit best with your class. The other version remain yours in case you ever need to use them (in case your school makes the jump to 1:1 classes sometime in the future or if you have a student whose IEP requires a hard copy of assignments instead of digital ones). You may put the materials in this file on a LMS for STUDENT USE that RESTRICTS access like Google Drive, Google Classroom, OneDrive, Edmodo, Blackboard, etc. where students are either invited via an email address or log in with a user name and password. IT MAY NOT BE UPLOADED TO A CLASS WEBSITE UNLESS THE SITE IS RESTRICTED TO STUDENTS WITH A LOGIN AND PASSWORD AND IT MAY NOT BE USED IN A COURSE ON OUTSCHOOL OR ANY SIMILAR PLATFORMS/MARKETPLACES. Questions? Email me at [email protected]. ***This doodle notes set is included in the following bundles: Ancient China Bundle Ancient World Mega Bundle Set #1 Ancient World Doodle Notes Bundle World History Mega Bundle Want to learn more about the benefits of doodling? Head over to Math Giraffe's blog to read an informative post or jump to the Tools for Teaching Teens website and watch a video from Math Giraffe! Doodle notes is a trademarked term used with permission. Please visit doodlenotes.org for more information. ******************************************************************** You may also like: Ancient China Map Activity Silk Road Graphic Notes More Doodle Notes and Coloring Pages Ancient China Stations Activity More Resources for Teaching the Ancient World ********************************************************************* Customer Tips: Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. If you have any concerns or any of my resources are not what you expected, please contact me first before leaving feedback so I can have a chance to fix it for you! You can email me at [email protected]. How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. Like this product? • Click on the Pin it button and pin it to one of your boards! ********************************************************************* Connect with Me Follow my Blog Follow me on Facebook Follow me on Pinterest Follow me on Instagram Follow me on Twitter Click HERE if you'd like to get freebies from me sent to your inbox.

Parts of a Castle Nomenclature Cards http://suzyhomeschooler.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Free-Parts-of-a-Castle-Printable-from-Suzy-Homeschooler.pdf Knights, Armor, & Weapons Nomenclature Cards https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8_71tjoHnsNZ0VSRko3dS12dE0/edit Feudal Hierarchy Illuminated Monograms on Foil http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/lessonplans/plan.asp?id=5245 Illumination Information http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/high/ken-illum2.htm Mainly Castles, but only some illuminated manuscript and heraldry information http://thehelpfulartteacher.blogspot.com/2012/02/medieval-castles.html?m=1

We celebrated the end of our homeschool year with an Around the World Feast. We tasted foods from each of the seven continents and played geography games.

5 Great Games from Around the World I just finished up a week long camp where I taught children ages 3-12 games from around the world. We plowed through what seems like hundreds of games, but ther…

Take a trip Around the World with Activity Village and explore continents and countries in far away places! We bring you a little geography, a little history and lots of interesting facts about many of the countries of the world. We haven't covered all of them yet, but we are nearly there! As you explore you will find an enormous, and still growing, collection of useful flag printables (including colouring pages, bookmarks, notebooking pages and jigsaws) for all the countries we cover, as well as outline maps and location maps for many. You can also jump right in and explore the country's location on Google maps and enjoy photos too.

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About this Product:Current Events are a nice way to integrate Social Studies, Reading, and Writing. Additionally, they are a wonderful way to keep your students connected to the community and world around them.  🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.This resource addresses the following Common Core State Standards:Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.Common Core Reading Anchor Standard 6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of the text.This product includes:What’s the Scoop? Directions, Rubric, and Checklist?This page gives the student directions for their assignment and then offers a checklist/rubric. In this way, students know exactly what is expected of them and how they will get their grade. This is also helpful for the teacher when grading the assignment.What’s the Scoop?This part of the assignment requires students to find a newspaper article and then answer Who, What, When, Were, and Why questions based on the article. The Author’s CraftThis portion of the assignment requires students to think about the author’s perspective, angle, and word choice in the text/about the topic. Students will identify the author’s tone (positive, negative, neutral) and then give examples of the author’s word choice. Students will also identify two new words, give the sentence from the article that used the word, meaning of the word, and create a new sentence using the word. Sum it Up!Students will use the article as well as the answers to the previous questions to write a summary of their article.

"When you hear the word ‘document’ you might not get all that excited. Maybe you think about filing paperwork, taxes, or important documents you’re scared to lose like your birth certificate. But really… Documents can change the world. That’s right. With just ink and a few, or many pages, the entire world can be impacted.

The feudal system was a simple but effective means of medieval government in which the king rented land to barons, who provided him knights and taxes

How is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand connected to the current unrest in Iraq? According to this infographic from James Carson, founder and editor of the new website MadeFromHistory.com, the June 28, 1914 shooting...

Some innovative castle designs by my middle school students, Samuel E. Shull Middle School, Perth Amboy NJ 2017 After watching the video of David Macaulay's Castle, my students designed their own fortresses. They tested the defensive walls by building catapults with popsicle sticks, rubber bands and spoons and firing mini marshmallows at their creations to see how many could land inside. Caerphilly Castle was built in the thirteenth century. It is the largest castle in Wales. To learn more about Caerphilly Castle, click here. More views of Caerphilly Castle David Macaulay re-creates the building of a medieval Castle in his book Castle. For more information about this very detailed and informative book, visit the author's website by clicking here. To watch a four part movie based on the book, click on the YouTube videos below. The castle in Macaulay's book is imaginary but it is based on several real Medieval castles. One of them is Caerphilly castle in Wales. Here is a floor plan of Caerphilly Castle: The film starts off with the author, David Macaulay, with his sketchbook, in Conway Castle in Wales. Here are some photographs of Conway Castle: Here is a floor plan of Conway Castle: Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Deal Castle, in Kent, England Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Windsor Castle in England WHY DO ALL THESE MEDIEVAL CASTLES LOOK SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER? HOW ARE THEY ALL ALIKE? Keep reading to find out. There was no standard shape and structure for a castle. The builders adapted their designs to suit the site, the budget and the military dangers of the day. THE ANATOMY OF A MEDIEVAL CASTLE Print out the picture above and look at all the basic parts that make up the anatomy of a Medieval castle. The castles all look very different from each other, yet they are all made up of the same basic components. See if you can identify the components all of these castles have in common. How would geographic location and the topography of the site influence a castle's design? Some cool Medieval castle activities: Click here to learn how to build your own paper and cardboard Medieval castle Click here to learn how to design a castle floor plan Click here for a step by step Power Point presentation by The Helpful Art Teacher on how to design and build your own paper castle. Printable Worksheets How to build a paper castle You will need heavy paper, like oak tag or card stock, white glue,masking tape,cardboard for the base scissors,markers, paint and whatever else you wish to use to decorate your creation. A small inexpensive low temperature hot glue gun is useful but not necessary. The starting point: A tower You will need to build at least four of these towers and connect them by walls just to start building your castle. These worksheets are just to get you started. Be inventive! Figure out how to include all the parts of the castle from the moat and draw bridge to the gate house and portcullis to the inner ward and keep. Work in progress: These 7th grade students are creating a curtain wall, the wall surrounding their castle complex. A soldier can walk along this wall and shoot arrows at his enemies from behind the embrasures. These students have created a portcullis and draw bridge using yarn, Popsicle sticks and a low temperature hot glue gun. Interior and exterior shots of one 7th grade student's work in progress. She used a sharp scissors to cut the points on the Popsicle sticks that form the portcullis. When each group was done constructing their castles I gave them 12 Popsicle sticks, a rubber band, a plastic spoon and permission to go over to the hot glue gun table. Their mission? To design a working catapult capable of lobbing mini marshmallows into another group's castle. Catapult designed by a 7th grade student Click here to learn how to build a miniature working catapult out of Popsicle sticks (so you can storm your paper castle). This website gives step by step directions but I prefer to have my students come up with their own designs. As you can see, from the video below, my 7th graders' original contraptions worked quite well. catapult design by a 7th grade student from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo. STEAM connection: How does building a catapult connect art to science, technology, engineering and math? When you create a catapult you are using a simple macine, the lever. If you pull the spoon back, the taut rubber band has potential energy. When you let go of the spoon the marshmallow is propelled by force and has kinetic energy. When you pull the rubber band back to a 45 degree angle, the marshmallow will travel the farthest distance. When you pull it back farther, the marshmallow will travel higher, but not go as far. We set up our catapults behind a taped barrier and asked the students to see how many mini marshmallows they could get into each castle. In order to make it over the wall, student found that they ideally needed to pull the spoon back farther than 45 degrees to attain more height and less distance. We discussed how the goal of the job affects the method used to launch the catapult; had the goal been to make the marshmallow go the farthest distance, then a 45 degree angle would have been preferable. STEAM Vocabulary/Definitions accuracy : The degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. For example, in the associated activity, accuracy is the ability to hit the target with the Ping-Pong ball. catapult: A toy/machine that launches a projectile. geometry: An area of mathematics that studies shape, size, position and properties of space. precision: The degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results. For example, in the associated activity, precision is the ability to hit the same location multiple times with the Ping-Pong ball. projectile: An object that is launched or thrown, usually in the air, by a force. Source:https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_catapult_lesson01 Other STEAM connections in this lesson: The portcullis and draw bridge on the castles above operate using a pulley, another simple machine. Show students simple machines and have them divide into small groups to brainstorm how they might incorporate simple machines into their castle designs. For instance, a pulley might be used to draw water from a well as well as to control the draw bridge and portcullis. What is a simple machine? A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. The six simple machines are: Lever Wheel and axle Pulley Inclined plane Wedge Screw This student took the assignment a step farther. After researching medieval weapons he decided to design a crossbow to defend his fortress and siege neighboring castles. He was, of course, very careful to aim his weapon at rival social studies projects and never at people. Learn all the parts of a real medieval castle and what they were used for before you begin. Look at several real castles and their floor plans before you create your own. Remember, fortresses were designed and built for defense so make sure your castle will protect the inhabitants within. The Parts of a Medieval Castle Vocabulary terms you will need to know: You will remember the vocabulary better if, after reading the definition, you click on the word. This will bring you to a picture that illustrates the word. If you are building a castle for a 7th grade social studies class your teacher will probably expect you to use these vocabulary words to label the parts of your castle. You will also be expected to demonstrate the ways in which your fortress uses these elements to protect it's inhabitants. Arrow Loops - These were slots in the walls and structures that were used to shoot arrows through. They came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Ashlar - Blocks of smooth square stone. They can be of any kind of stone. Bailey: This is a courtyard or open space surrounded by walls.The walls that make up the Bailey are also considered to be part of the Bailey. A castle could have several. Sometimes they were called the upper bailey and lower bailey or the west bailey and east bailey. Barbican: A stone structure that protected the gate of a castle. Think of it as a gatehouse. It usually had a small tower on each side of the gate where guards could stand watch. Barmkin: A yard surrounded by a defensive wall Bartizan: A small turret at the corner of a tower or wall. It is usually at the top but not always. Bastion: A tower or turret projecting from a wall or at the junction of two walls Battlements: These are the structures at the tops of the walls surrounding a castle. Picture what you have seen in the movies where archers are at the top of the wall and firing arrows between open slots down on the attackers. These shapes at the top (Where the archers position themselves for battle) are called battlements. They are also referred to as crenellations. Buttress: A masonry projection used as additional support for walls. Notre Dame Cathedral is a good examlple of the use of Buttresses. Corbel - A stone projection from a wall. It supports the weight of a battlement. Courtyard - The open area with the curtain walls of a castle. Curtain Wall - The stone walls around a castle. Drawbridge - This was a wooden bridge in front of the main gate of the castle. In the early centuries of castles it was moved horizontal to the ground and in the later centuries it was built so it could raise up in a hinged fashion. Dungeon - A deep dark cell typically underground and underneath a castle. This is a derivative of the word Dunjon. Donjon - this is an old word for a great tower or a keep. Embrasure - An opening in a parapet wall. GateHouse - A strongly built and fortified main entrance to a castle. It often has a guard house and or living quarters. Hall or GreatHall - This is the major building inside th walls of a castle. Hoarding: a covered wooden gallery above a tower the floor had slats or slots to allow defenders to drop object on besiegers. They could also drop liquids and projectiles. Keep - This definition changed slightly over the centuries of castle building. In the early years of stone castle building the Keep was a standalone structure that could be defended and often square in shape. Over the centuries these structures were improved upon and built around. Thus a castle was made that was a larger and more complex structure. The main tower that this was built around was still called the Keep and it was usually the tallest and strongest structure in the castle. It was also used as the last line of defense during siege or attack. Machicolations - The openings between the corbels of a parapet. They form areas that stick out along the top of the wall and defenders inside the castle can drop items like boiling water and rocks onto attackers. Merlons - The parts of parapet walls between embrasures Moat: A Body of water surrounding the outer wall of a castle. It was often around 5 to 15 feet deep and it was sometimes within the outer wall -between the outer wall and the inner wall. The primary purpose of the moat wasn't to stop attackers it was to stop tunnelers. Tunneling under a castle was an effective means of collapsing the walls or infiltrating it. A moat would cause any tunnel to collapse. Motte And Bailey: This isn't part of a castle it is the predecessor to the castle. A Motte and Bailey was an early form of castle where a large mound of dirt was built up then a wooden fortification was placed on top. This wooden fortification was in the shape of a timber fence that formed a circle like a crown at the top of the mound. The Mound is the motte, and the timber fence and the space it enclosed is the Bailey. Murder Hole: An opening in the roof of a gateway over an entrance. Used to drop projectiles or other things onto the besiegers. Oubliette: A deep pit reached by a trap door at the top. Prisoners were kept in it. Palisade: A defenisive fence Portcullis - This is a metal or wood grate that was dropped vertically just inside the main gate to the castle. Postern - A small gate at the back of a castle. Often considered to be a "Back Door". Rampart: Picture the battlements in the previous definition. The battlements are the top sections of the outer wall of the castle. Now to access these battlements the archers would stand on a walk way that was a wall in it's own right. This walkway is built right up against the outer wall and is called the Rampart. Ward - The area inside the walls of a castle. Often also called the Courtyard. Yett: Iron gates at the entrance of a castle To learn more about Medieval weapons, click here Click here to learn more about what life was life like in Medieval times If you were a peasant and wanted the protection a castle afforded, you had to pay your taxes If you were a monk you might work in a scriptorium painstakingly copying The Bible in Latin by hand and creating Illuminated manuscripts What is an illuminated manuscript? Before the invention of the printing press books had to be written by hand and very few people knew how to read.Click here to learn more about Medieval illuminated manuscripts If you were a knight, you would have to decorate your outfit with distinctive heraldry to avoid accidentally being killed by your own men Special thanks Richard Burzynski, Alexandre Lopez, Derrick C. Kyriacou and the Social Studies department at William C. McGinnis School. Please note: The pictures of actual medieval castles come from Wikimedia commons and are in the public domain. A few of the black and white images are handouts I have had for many years. If anyone knows who I should attribute them to, please email me. The pictures of step by step directions and photographs of student art work are my own. They may be downloaded and reproduced for educational purposes only (with appropriate credit given) in accordance with fair use law. Please do not republish them without contacting me for permission. Castles and creative writing: Middle school students love learning about castles. They figure heavily in many beloved children's stories, movies and video games. Why not use a castle construction project as a jumping off point for a unit on imaginative story telling? Castles are often a main feature in fantasy and mythological stories. Here is a fantasy art and storytelling assignment that I gave to my students during the 2016-2017 school year: Samuel E. Shull School, 2017 STUDENT ART GALLERY:

My daughter made a

Can you tell we are tackling Beowulf next week? I am amazed at the number of quality resources available for free! This list includes research pages, writing assignments, history lessons, and literature guides. Updated 08/12/22 Beowulf Resources Beowulf: Still a Hero An Introduction to Beowulf The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf [...]

In 2016, the National Library of Medicine started collecting "graphic medicine" — materials that use comics to teach the public about illness and health.

Ο Θεωρία του Φρόιντ ενσωματώθηκε στον Δυτικό Πολιτισμό! Πρώτη δημοσίευση 10 Νοεμβρίου 2009 Ψυχαναλυτική Θεωρία Κεντρική αντίληψη της ψυχαναλυτικής θεωρίας του Φρόιντ είναι ότι τα ανθρώπινα όντα έχο…

Quiz your kid on different landforms in this quick match-up geography drill. Download to complete online or as a printable!

The following article describe the detail information about the level sociology exams which help to build career. Sociology is the have a look at of civilization — how people communicate in…

Need ideas for a hands-on, literature-based Middle Ages unit study? This post has got you covered with projects, literature lists and resources.

Explaining the Feudal System can be difficult and, well, futile, if you don’t add some life to it, when teaching kids. I’ll be teaching the second half of Story of the World, Volume 2 …

After publishing my landforms interactive pack this past week, many of you have said you weren't sure which of the landforms are which. So, I took a moment to

Students created interactive PowerPoints of the four main levels of society in feudal Medieval Europe--similar to the ones they created for feudal Japan. Each picture on the pyramid links to a slide where that figure in society gives a first person account of his/her role, including job, description, thoughts/feelings, etc. The last slide is a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the Japanese samurai and European knight. Enjoy a student example below: Below are more examples of pyramids showing hierarchy: Here are examples of pyramids showing hierarchy of other civilizations, including America:

Here's a handy guide for both transgender people and those who are not, to answer your questions, and perhaps raise new ones.

Learn how to use escape rooms in your social studies classroom to increase student engagement. Free social studies escape room is included!

Hi teacher friends, I’ve been busy creating a series of STEM projects for students who are studying Medieval Times & Middle Ages.. Next stop, the Islamic World! Challenge 1: Caravan Contraption! The Arabian Peninsula is desert land that lacks rivers and lakes. It has very hot and dry air. Travelers had to cross huge

"World Literature" is an ill-defined term, which can limit how we understand and teach. Here are my insights from a year teaching World Literature.

Making a connection to the past through hands-on learning helps a child to remember what he has learned and develop critical thinking skills.

This easy to follow guide will make teaching the Age of Exploration easy and provide you with all the resources you'll need!

The essentials of the systematic and scientific study of human social behavior, groups and society. Extremely easy to access, study by, and reference for students in college courses or students of the world around them.