Learn about the Presidents of the United States with these printable American Presidents Worksheets and coloring pages for your homeschool classroom supplement to American History, Social Studies, or Omnibus Lessons.
Freedom Homeschooling lists free high-quality homeschool social studies, history, and geography curriculum for all grades.
It's not everyday that our nation elects a new president. And although I am more than tired of hearing campaign ads and seeing yard signs, I am eager to exercise my right to cast a vote...a passion I hope to ignite into all of my children. I realize that the national "Kid's Vote" campaign has made significant strides in spreading the excitement to the next generation of voters, but it does very little to teach kids about the actual election process. So in keeping with my desire to incorporate real-life into learning, I have pushed "pause" on our current Egypt study to complete a mini-unit on voting...specifically voting for a new president. (This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details.) Resources that we used We used the following living literature style books: Know Your Government: Governor by Jacqueline Laks Gorman Know Your Government: Mayor by Jacqueline Laks Gorman Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (But True) Laws by Kathi Linz The Taxing Case of the Cows: A True Story About Suffrage by Iris Van Rynbach If I Were President by Catherine Stier Duck for President by Doreen Cronin Voting and Elections by Patricia Murphy We watched a youtube video on what the very first election process was like. I also gleaned inspiration from several great on-line resources which I have compiled on my Government Pinterest board. Election Process in Practice In an effort to clearly explain the election process, I decided to host a 2012 Family Dinner-Time Election. I joined forces with the Announcer's Wife to put together both a PRIMARY and a GENERAL election to elect the dinner to be served on election night. Our family was one political party and her family was the opposing party. I began by allowing each of my four older kids to pick a dinner-time candidate...a main dish that they enjoy. After looking at a few campaign ads and posters we had received in the mail, they were each instructed to make a campaign poster for their nominee. When the Hubs arrived home for lunch in the afternoon, we spent some time conducting a "town hall meeting" or simple debate. The children were each given a chance to explain why their dinner candidate was the best choice and why the others were not. I explained that voters take many factors into consideration when determining their vote. The Hubs and I (as the audience) asked questions and pointed out key "considerations"...like the fact that we might not have the ingredients for that particular item, the Announcer's family is mostly gluten free, mom has a meeting to get to on election night and might not have a lot of time to cook a huge time-consuming meal, etc. They all did a fantastic job responding to our concerns just as a real presidential nominee would do. Next came the voting. I made up simple "official ballots", set up a voting station, and invited the family to cast their vote for the PRIMARIES. The votes were counted and WAFFLES came in with a commanding lead. I then explained that we would need to choose a "running mate" for our candidate. We discussed how a presidential and vice-presidential combination was much like a dad and mom partnership. Dad is in charge, but Mom is second-in-command and is a helper to Dad. Just as Mom has many strengths that compliment Dad's, a Vice-Presidential nominee is chosen because his/her strengths will compliment that of the Presidential candidate. We all agreed that FRUIT would make a nice "running mate." In a humorous twist, the Announcer's family elected PANCAKES and BACON to represent their political party in the general elections. Our two families will be meeting together the Tuesday of the national elections to conduct our own general election. I have made up simple ballots for both readers and non-readers alike. The votes will be cast and tabulated. Later that evening, I will be serving up the winning combination at the dinner table. Who knows which dinner-time combo will win in this Battle of the Breakfast Foods. Right now, it's too close to tell.
Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
Freedom Homeschooling lists free high-quality homeschool social studies, history, and geography curriculum for all grades.
Do you need free homeschool social studies resources? Check out my list!
US President Unit Study with Free Printable All United States of America Presidents included! Includes BOTH color and black and white worksheets. UPDATE: Joseph Biden has been added. ALSO: Now includes two versions of digital slides. These are great for distance learning or just to save on printing. Worksheets for each president has space for: […]
Fur trade teaching ideas for social studies. Perfect for teaching about Canadian History, New France, and the Hudson's Bay Company.
Have you ever wondered what you 'should' teach in an elementary history course? This post is for you! It can help you choose an elementary history curriculum or you can use it as a starting
Canadian social studies doesn't have to be limiting. Find out how we are creating a Charlotte Mason morning basket loop with Donna Ward!
Looking for fun and engaging kindergarten social studies resources? Check out the interactive notebook that your students will love!
These free history unit studies and lesson plans are perfect for piecing together a history curriculum based on your children’s interests.
Christopher Colombus Lapbook and Notebook Study
Fur trade teaching ideas for social studies. Perfect for teaching about Canadian History, New France, and the Hudson's Bay Company.
{Download FREEBIE pack here.} Economics is my absolute FAVORITE social studies unit to teach. There are so many hands-on activities to do with students and they are so eager to earn and spend money! One of my favorite activities is to end with our "Madden's Marketplace." This is a chance for students to put into action all of the things they have learned about being producers and consumers. To begin with, I send home a letter asking students to create paper goods. Why paper? It's something all of my students have at home (or I can easily give them). I want my marketplace to be fair for all students. I'm sure I could let them have the freedom to create any product, using any materials and I would get some amazing masterpieces. I would also get some elaborate (and expensive) items. That's not what I want. I encourage parents to spend NO money on this and for it to be STUDENT CREATED. I really want them to take the initiative. Here are some samples of paper products my students created to sell this year - everything from rockets to bookmarks to lanterns to hats. I incorporate the making of goods into my students' homework schedule, encouraging them to create two products per night. Before the due date, we work on creating "shops" in class. We create our "shop" by gluing two file folders together. The picture below is using legal-sized file folders, but that just happens to be what we had available. Shop Parts: Signs: Initially, we create the signs for our shops, color the awnings to make them eye-catching. Open/Closed: Next, we create open/closed signs that sit atop our shop so we can easily flip the sign to show the status of our shops. Slogan: We then come up with a catchy slogan. We talk about slogan's we know from commercials. Why did those stick in our heads? We learn to use a play on words, alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc. to make our slogans catchy so consumers will remember them. Product Description: Students each write a product description detailing WHAT their product is and HOW it works or can be used. We talk about the importance of letting consumers know exactly what they are getting. Commercial Script: Finally, students write commercials to "sell" their products to their classmates. We use hooks to get their attention, repetitions of our catchy slogans, and persuasion. Other Components: We also glue on the Consumer Comments, Price, and Interest Inventories, but we leave all of those blank initially. On the day of the marketplace, students set up their shops and lay their products out on display. Then, they have a chance to walk around the classroom and "window shop." They are encouraged to take a good look at all of their options, reading the product descriptions and examining the merchandise. After students have had a good look at all of their choices, I give them stickers (I would recommend 3-4). They walk around and place their stickers on the "Interest Inventory" of the products that interest them the most. The results of the interest inventory are used by the shop owners to determine if they have a high demand or low demand for their products. Knowing the demand helps them determine a price for their product. High demand = higher price. Low demand = lower price. The only rule is that all prices have to be in whole dollars. Once prices are set, then students are ready to go shopping! There are many different ways to let students shop. Some years, if I've done economy-based management system, my students will use "money" they've earned to shop. This year, I just gave them all $12 to shop with. I'm always torn about letting my students split into groups to run their shops (half shop while half work) - it always seems that students don't get to shop at all of the stores in that scenario. To solve that problem, I let all of my students shop at the same time. To do this students create "tokens" to leave at their shop. They create the same number as products they have to sell. For example, if Katie has 10 kites to sell, she creates and leaves 10 tokens with her name or shop name on them. Once each shop has tokens, students are ready to shop. Since there are no workers at the shops to collect money, I give my students "consumer spending logs" with pictures of dollars on them. Since I gave my students 12 dollars to spend, their consumer spending logs had 12 one dollar pictures. As students go around to the shops, they color in the dollars they've spent and pick up tokens (NOT products) that they will trade in for their purchases once the shops close. Once all of the tokens are gone, that shop is "closed." Once a student has colored in all of the dollars on his/her spending log, they are done shopping. It really works out quite well. Once students have traded all of their tokens in for their goods, they are given paper for providing feedback to the shops. They slip these into the "consumer comments" pockets on the storefronts. They love reading the feedback from their customers! <3 After wrapping up our shops, students are often left with some extra products. Instead of having them take their own products back home, I let them put another economics concept into practice - BARTERING! They have a blast working out "fair swaps" for their products and really working to get the other things they may have wanted but didn't have the money to purchase...and of course, they do all of this while proudly wearing some of their favorite purchases. :) All in all, it is a fun day of learning. Students take their roles as both producers and consumers seriously and come away with a real sense of accomplishment! If you would like to download this packet of FREE resources to hold your own Economics shop, you can do so HERE. Enjoy!
A Kindergarten blog about effective teaching and making learning fun.
Integrating art and content in the ELA classroom. Tips and resources.
Kids will have fun while learning where do I Live with this printable activity perfect for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
This year for homeschool we are going to be learning about the 50 states and I'm so excited. I have always loved geography and history.
The connection between social studies and art includes different cultures while using art to explore history in new ways. Read more!
All about using Ancient Egypt Interactive Notebooks for teaching an Ancient Civilizations unit in the middle school or upper elementary history or social studies classroom.
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...
Update: this unit study is no longer available for free. Okay guys, I'm excited to finally share our Vikings Unit Study with you! I've been talking about
Build research and writing skills with a historical travel brochure
I attempted to do a wall timeline with Caroline a number of years ago. For a variety of reasons, it did not work for her. I think part of it was her age, part of it was her learning challenges, and part of it was the layout. However, I believe a timeline can be a
Learn about the science of beaches, plus get fun math, language, and geography practice, in this printable beach unit study!
Looking for fun and engaging kindergarten social studies resources? Check out the interactive notebook that your students will love!
Learn about the Presidents of the United States with these printable American Presidents Worksheets and coloring pages for your homeschool classroom supplement to American History, Social Studies, or Omnibus Lessons.
Do you need some ideas for preschool social studies activities? From recycling to road rules, fathers to firefighters, we’ve got you covered.
15 Fun Resources For History for Kindergarten Homeschool. Teaching history to a kindergarten aged child is not easy to know how to do.
Affiliate DisclaimerWe sometimes use affiliate links in our content. This won’t cost you anything, but […]
Learn a variety of strategies on how to make history class engaging for students. Check out in this blog post.
If you've ever struggled with planning and implementing effective, engaging social studies lessons in your kindergarten classroom, then please read on. This post is for you! Maybe your district supplies you with a big-box curriculum that
Here's a great geography worksheet that doubles as a coloring page! Your child will get to practice reading a simple map of a park.
From free history curriculum to fun timeline activities!
It's important for our children to know the Bill of Rights. Whether or not you're studying American History in your homeschool this year, this 14-page printable pack will be a wonderful addition to a well-rounded student! It includes folder games, fill-in-the-blank sheets, and more!
Integrating language arts skills into social studies can be tricky. There is already a lot of subject matter to cover without having to teach reading and writing skills as well! If a social studies teacher did not receive much language arts training within his or her certification program, integrating these skills can be even more […]
Learn about Ancient Greece with these free printable books to read, color, and learn! Fun geography & history worksheets.
Learn how to use social studies political cartoons to increase student engagement. Includes link to a free political cartoon analysis activity!
