{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!

Do you need warm up ideas? I want to share 3 warm up ideas for social studies classes with you. These are engaging and easy to implement!

Social Studies Class will be your students' favorite time of the day with this popular, engaging bundle of activities, including foldables, timelines, mini books, bulletin boards, and more! The hands-on units in this bundle will help your students learn and understand the events and concepts of American History, Government, and Geography. Click the PREVIEW button above to see everything included! By purchasing this complete bundle, you are saving 30% off the price of the individual units. ALL packets in this bundle include both a printable version AND a digital version. The digital versions are on Google Slides and are perfect for distance learning, independent work, centers, and more! Each of the 15 packets include all or some of these components: Informational Reading Passage & Questions Interactive Notebook Foldables Bulletin Board Sets Writing Activities Timeline Activities Mini Books Worksheets Information Guides Photo Examples Other Fun Activities This year-long Social Studies bundle includes these 15 resources: Maps, Continents, and Landforms (Printable) Maps, Continents, and Landforms (Google Slides) Explorers of the World Road to the Revolutionary War The Revolutionary War The 13 Colonies (Geography) Colonial America - Daily Life Colonial America - Jobs and Trades Lewis and Clark Expedition The Oregon Trail The Gold Rush The Civil War - Events Leading to the War The Civil War The U.S. Constitution 3 Branches of U.S. Government Elections and the Voting Process By purchasing the bundle, you are saving 20% off the combined price of each of the 15 individual packets. Don't forget that leaving feedback earns you points toward FREE TPT purchases. I love that feedback! Also, FOLLOW ME and be notified when new products are uploaded. New products are always 50% off for the first 24 hours they are posted. It pays to follow me! As always, please contact me with any questions! Thank you so much, Shelly Rees

3rd Grade Social Studies Worksheet. Your students will use this useful resource to analyze their vocabulary words and relate them to different concepts and ideas. This selection of worksheets explores how the American Government is structured.

After years of thinking about it, this summer I finally bought a set of classroom white boards (my largest class is 22 this year so it wasn’t cost prohibitive). Instead of wasting paper and prep t…

Picture books are one of my all-time favorite ways to introduce content in social studies! They're perfect for bringing in higher order thinking skills.

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

**Bible Prayers Inspired by Inside Out 2 - Digital Download** Dive into a unique spiritual journey with our digital download of Bible prayers inspired by the beloved movie "Inside Out 2." This collection of heartfelt prayers is designed to connect your faith with the powerful emotions and lessons from the film, helping you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and strength. **Key Features:** - **Emotion-Focused Prayers**: Prayers that resonate with the key emotions depicted in "Inside Out 2," including joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. - **Biblical References**: Each prayer is rooted in scripture, providing a solid spiritual foundation. - **Easy to Use**: Convenient digital format allows you to access prayers anytime, anywhere. - **Inspirational and Uplifting**: Encouraging words to help you find peace and comfort in your faith. - **Perfect for All Ages**: Suitable for both adults and children, making it a great family resource. **Why Choose Our Prayers?** - Inspired by a beloved movie, making it relatable and engaging. - Crafted to deepen your spiritual connection and emotional well-being. - Instant digital download for immediate access and convenience.

Social studies can be one of the most abstract concepts to teach. It’s also rare to be given a special education social studies curriculum. So it can be a challenge to come up with hands-on and engaging social studies activities. Below I’ve listed my best tips on how I keep social studies as engaging as

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,

Free map printables! Welcome, homeschooling parents, to a journey of exploration and

I’ve some resources you need to go ahead and bookmark right now! I mean it. bookmark them all before you leave this page! But wait, make sure you’re bookmarking the right grade level. I’m linking different grades’ resources in this post, but I’ll link each grade levels’ resource homepage at the very

We wrapped up Friendship Week today. We did a lot of discussing what it means to do a friend and what are some fun/safe things you can do with your friend. I created this fun matching game to use in our sensory bin. I dyed some rice for the first time and it turned out perfect! It also reminded me of grass, so I found pictures of kids on the playground. On the cards I wrote words that describe what a good friend does, like share, help, kind, etc. Then, we picked a card, read the word, and discussed the word more. I added these fun "Buddy Builders" from Amazon and they were perfect "friends" for our park. This book is a great way to talk about the nice things our hands can do. Especially, if you have any kiddos who like to use their hands in an unsafe way ;) I also dyed noodles for the first time, too! We used those noodles to make friendship necklaces! We also used a bead kit for friendship bracelets :) Click on image to grab this bead kit! These peanut butter and jelly color matching cards were a huge hit! We played restaurant and worked together to serve the correct colors. I got these from The Homestead Teacher! Grab them HERE! We like to think of words that start with each letter. When we are out, we will see a letter and I always have to think of something that starts with that letter. It totally helps connect learning, so I made these "F is for friends!" page and we decorated the 'f' different supplies. For our play dough invitation, I printed off this cute friendship clip art set from Creative Clips! We put the friends in our play dough and pretended we were playing at the park! The last game we did was this fun math activity! We had to help the boy get to his friends by rolling our dice and counting each circle. It was a great way to practice some counting, number identification, and taking turns! Grab these activities HERE! *NOTE: the play dough friends are not included in this due to terms of use, but they are free for you to download HERE!

Do you need some ideas for preschool social studies activities? From recycling to road rules, fathers to firefighters, we’ve got you covered.

Social studies for kids does not have to be boring and dry. Break away from the textbook with these ideas for engaging students with your social studies curriculum.

As you begin to learn about inquiry-based Social Studies education, you might find the quality pre-written inquiries are hard to come by. In the post, I've collected the best that the internet currently has to offer.

Landforms Digital Activity Social Studies NO Prep easily assign through google classroom. Easy activity for students to complete independently, my favorite thing to leave for substitutes! Students first watch a video regarding landforms and then answer five questions about them. After that, they hav...

Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!

Digital activities for Social Studies: 5 EASY to use technology tools for Social Studies Projects

Social-emotional activities have never been more important for younger kids.

This set of 9 printable historical eras posters details the 9 major historical periods in our history! They are a great addition for any social studies classroom and can easily be used for students or teachers to reference! Just print from home your favorite shop and enjoy :) This set of 9 posters come in 5 different sizes: - 18x24inches - 16x20inches - A4 (8.3x11.7inches) - 8.5x11inches -11x14inches How it works: 1. Purchase the listing in my Etsy shop. 2. After your payment is processed by Etsy, you can instantly download the PDF file under the “Purchases/reviews” tab. 3. Open the PDF file. 5. Print your posters from home or from your favorite print shop  Please be aware that due to differences in monitor setting and printers, the print colours may appear slightly different from what you view on your screen. I have tried to make the on-screen image appear as accurately as possible. This item is intended for personal use only, so please do not sell copies or produce them commercially. Thank you! Refunds: This is a digital download, which means you will not receive a physical product. Therefore, there are no exchanges or refunds. If you have any issues with your purchase, please feel free to reach out and I will be happy to help! If you have any problems with your product, please reach out to me and I will be happy to answer any questions!

Our Landforms Interactive Notebook is a great tool to study and learn about the world around us and learning about landforms and bodies of water.

These FREE Printables and Unit Studies for Eric Carle's Books will help you expand on what your kids are learning through these beloved books.

I can’t believe is is February already! I love teaching this month, and I also love that it is a short month because February always flies by. Between President’s Day, Valentine’s Day and all of the fun activities we have planned, it just flies. Have you noticed how much easier your days have gott

I love spending the final weeks of school working on projects with my students! While we complete a variety of projects throughout the year, my students become project-making machines after testing!! And we love every minute of it!! At this point in the year, the stress of fitting in curriculum has vanished, students have…

Wondering how to incorporate the literacy standards in social studies? This product has 38 pages of writing strategies to be used in social studies. I've made it easy for you to print and use! Each strategy has an instruction page and then a printable or graphic organizer to use. Page 1 Sample Use Pictures Pages 2-3 Sort, Label and Explain Pages 4-5 Word Associations Pages 6-7 KWL Chart Pages 8-10 Cause and Effect Map Pages 11-14 Relationship Tables Pages 15-16 Venn Diagram Pages 17-18 Double T Chart Pages 19-21 Author & Me Pages 22-23 Key Word Journal Pages 24-25 What, What, How Journal Pages 26-27 Concept Map Pages 28-29 Text Features Map Pages 30-31 Headings Map Pages 32-34 Problem-Solution Map Pages 35-36 Sequencing Map Pages 37-38 Annotation Organizer You may also be interested in my other social studies products: - Boston Massacre Study and Project - Boston Tea Party Study and Project - Paul Revere's Ride Study and Project - Native Americans of the Great Plains - Native Americans of the Northwest Coast - Native Americans of the Southwest Project - Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands Please click the green star below my store name to learn about upcoming sales.

Looking for ways to engage your students while teaching the continents and oceans? I've got you covered with games, songs, vidoes, and more!

SO MANY printable books your preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten kids can make throughout the year. Students practice literacy, math, social studies, and fine motor skills with these free printable emergent readers. Click on the Fun-A-Day.com link to get access to all the mini books.

Do your students have to create timelines to meet academic standards? I'm sharing 10 engaging types of timelines that make this activity FUN for students!