We all love “quick starts” when it comes to setting up electronics or learning a new program, so I thought, “Why not share three quick start ideas for social studies class?”
What if I said that you CAN start social studies class in a quick, meaningful way?
You’d say TELL ME MORE, obviously!
We all know that TIME is the thing we’re most lacking when it comes to teaching social studies, right?!?
In many classrooms, students enter the room, put down their notebooks, slowly and dramatically pull out their chairs, sharpen pencils, chat with friends, ask questions that have nothing to do with the class content, and etc.
Let’s put a stop to that nonsense and build classroom procedures that include starting instruction quickly and efficiently!
Idea 1: Start every class with a social studies slide!
Students crave consistency!
I suggest displaying a daily slide with some sort of instruction or welcome message to help get class started quickly every day.
These slides can be as creative as you are! They might include interesting facts, “Did you know?” questions, short informational texts, trivia questions, journal prompts, quotes, and etc.
You should make each slide before class begins… There’s no worse feeling than having 25 pairs of eyes stare at you while you try to throw together a slide at the last second.
Grab a free sample set of the slides I use in my classroom here:
Idea 2: Tell a story to spark students’ curiosity!
“Ok, everyone sit down. Yes, Bobby, you too. Please sit down. It’s time for class, everyone listen to me. 1, 2, 3 eyes on me. Ok, that didn’t work, everyone just sit down and open your social studies books. Hang on, I’ll find the page. No, don’t throw that, Sara. Oh my goodness, you guys stop wasting time, let’s get our lesson started.”
Well, that was exhausting! I hope none of us are starting class that way.
What if, instead, you captured students’ attention like this…
“Welcome, historians! As soon as you are seated and quiet, I am going to tell you a story involving an icy river and a surprise attack on Christmas night, 1776.” (Battle of Trenton)
I think everyone would agree that the promise of a fascinating, relevant story will help students dive quickly into the social studies lesson.
After all, our brains are wired to enjoy stories. You can always rely on interesting stories to grab your students’ attention, guaranteed!
If you need ready-to-use, lesser-known history stories to use with your students, please check out my History Snip-Its Series.
Idea 3: Start with a quick, relevant primary source!
Primary sources provide an engaging, quick way to kick off your social studies lessons.
Primary sources run the gamut from objects to texts to photographs to journal entries.
Displaying a primary source object, photograph, or painting on the technology board is a fantastic way to quickly pull students into your lessons.
One example of this is the silver spoon shown below. I might put the image of this spoon on my technology board and ask students, “How do you think this object relates to an 18th Century trade?”
Students will come up with many answers, and most of them will be incorrect… but that’s ok! All answers are completely valid and valuable because they are thinking critically about the use, purpose, and creation of the object.
When you explain that this object is a silver spoon created around 1787 by Paul Revere, you’ll have piqued their curiosity and grabbed their attention.
🤔 Wait a second, the guy who ‘warned the countryside that the Regulars were out’ made a silver spoon? Yes, actually, he made lots of them because he was a silversmith! How cool 🤩
Presto! Now your students are ready for their lesson on 18th Century trades.
If you need a little more help making your social studies lessons sparkle through the use of primary sources, this is the video for you:
If you’d like to grab 15 print ‘n go primary source activities for your 5th graders, this is the resource for you: 15 Quick Primary Source Activities for Upper Elementary
