Social Studies Toolbox

Do your middle and high school students like to color? My students love coloring. I often have students ask for coloring sheets when they finish an assignment early or when they don't have anything to work on in Homeroom or Study Hall. Sometimes I have kids who ask for coloring sheets when they are feeling anxious and they need something to occupy their minds. I've never had so many requests for coloring sheets as I have this school year. With that in mind, I recently started creating coloring sheets for my students for each unit in my U.S. History class. My students love them. I thought your students might enjoy them too so I'd like to share them with you!  Do your students enjoy coloring, doodling, sketch-noting, etc.? Do you incorporate coloring and/or doodling into your Social Studies classroom? I'd love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments!  Happy coloring!  Grab your free History Coloring Pages (Cold War, Civil Rights, Vietnam War).

I genuinely enjoy designing my Social Studies weekly agendas. My aim is to make them informative, easy to navigate, and fun! I design them to be a one-stop "hub" of information and resources for my Geography and U.S. History students. And lastly, my agendas often include images, gifs, and "Easter eggs (hidden links). Most importantly, they work for my students. They know how to use them and they enjoy the gifs and hidden treasures! I often post pics of my agendas on Instagram and Facebook. Fellow Social Studies educators often ask questions about how I make my agendas, where I find my images and gifs, and how I use them with students. Regarding how I make my agendas, it's pretty simple!  I use Google slides and I find most of my gifs on giphy.com. Pixabay is my go-to for images. I post my weekly agendas in my Google Classrooms on Sunday evenings so they are ready to go on Monday morning.  Here are a few of my favorites from this past school year: Would you like a fre...

One of my favorite units to teach is the Cold War. One thing I struggle with every year is I never seem to have enough time to cover everything I'd like to cover! In addition, the Cold War period spans 50-plus years! That's a lot of content for both high school and middle school students (especially when there are only two weeks of school left in the school year!) This year, I thought I'd try something new with my 6th graders. After introducing the unit with a brief lecture, short video, and discussion, I assigned a timeline/graphic organizer. I shared a digital version in my Google Classroom and provided students with paper copies. (Most students prefer paper copies.)  I also provided my students with both hard copies of timelines and infographics I found online. I also encouraged students to use their textbooks as resources as they completed their graphic organizers.  I provided two class periods to work on this assignment. Most students were able to finish in this amount...