When I taught sixth grade, one of my favorite resources for creative ideas to use in the classroom was I Love That Teaching Idea. It is a website where teachers submit their creative teaching ideas for others to use. Some even include printable worksheets and forms! The ideas are divided into categories so you can easily locate an idea for any subject!
Here are a couple of example ideas from the Social Studies category
World Map Skills–For a take-home assignment in my class, I make a copy of a world map for each student. The assignment is to look through the yellow pages of a phone book and make a list of all the ethnic restaurants in our area. Then they are to plot on the map where the country is that this food was originated.
The ABC’s of My Great State–At the beginning of a study of your state, have your students keep an “ABC” book that they can add to thoughout your unit. Simply staple or bind 26 pages, each with a letter of the alphabet placed on the page. As students learn about the state bird, for example, they can go to that page in their book and draw a picture of it. Students continue to add to their books until it is full. Title it, “The ABC’s of My Great State!” Older students could even go and share their books with a younger class.
Ancestor Party-Plan a class party where the students each come as an ancestor of theirs. They can wear costumes, and each will tell the rest of the class a little bit about the person they are dressed as. Previous to the party there are activities that can be done, such as writing about the person they will be. We have had students come as a flapper, Butch Cassidy, an Indian, a mom, etc. It was lots of fun.
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