Your students (and you) have worked hard all year… Now it’s time to think about your Social Studies End-of-the-Year Awards!

For years and years, I handed out generic “Star Student” or “Best Handwriting” awards at the end of the school year.

But then I thought, “Why not integrate historical individuals and concepts into my end-of-the-year awards?”

I spent a lot of time thinking about and researching the best possible award titles and descriptions, and I’d love to share a sample set of certificates with you. Simply enter your first name and email address to have the sample set sent to you:

Relate Awards to Content Studied During the School Year

Choosing awards for students is always a happiness-inducing task for me.

We’ve studied, debated, and discussed the events and people that led to the formation of the United States all year long.

So, why not make these important individuals and topics part of students’ end-of-the-year awards?

Basing awards on the people and concepts students have learned about is a fun way to look back at the year and what students have achieved.

Because my social studies awards are unique, they provide meaningful closure to the school year and make students quite proud of what they’ve learned.

Parents love the specialized social studies awards, as well, because they emphasize good character, essential skills, and valuable personal attributes.

Be Cautious and Thoughtful When Choosing Awards

As with everything we do in the classroom, we must be careful to choose awards for our students that are fair, kind, and appropriate.

Be mindful when choosing your awards. Give awards based on character traits or students’ actions.

As a teacher of upper elementary social studies, my curriculum includes multiple individuals who participated in the tragic system of enslavement.

I do not think it is appropriate to give students awards named after individuals who enslaved others. Yes, this includes James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and even George Washington.

Sure, many founding fathers (and founding mothers) who consciously participated in the slave trade did great things for our country in its early years. Still, I can’t, in good conscience, give a student an award named after a slaveholder.

With that being said, however, there are some gray areas.

For example, the Marquis de Lafayette, according to the Lafayette Society, was a staunch abolitionist, but purchased a plantation with the goal of freeing the enslaved people living on the plantation.

A second example is Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. She grew up in a slaveholding family, but she was an abolitionist and never owned enslaved individuals on her own.

Collaborate with Colleagues

Let me tell you a story that still makes me cringe after 15 years.

I’ve primarily taught in departmentalized situations, and early on, I didn’t really understand the need to collaborate with my teaching partners about the awards that were being given out at the end-of-year assembly. We all just kinda did our own thing with awards.

Around December of one year, we had a new student move in; we’ll call him Chuck.

Chuck was this one-of-a-kind, charismatic, completely brilliant 5th grader. He had top scores in literally everything, could charm the socks off anyone, such an amazing kid.

When it came time for the last day of school awards assembly, my teaching partners and I gave Chuck award after award after award. Of course, each student received at least one award, but Chuck got sooooo many.

We’d never collaborated on the awards being given or made an effort to ensure they were spaced and distributed widely among students. #teacherfail

I’ll never forget that awards assembly. As Chuck was called to the stage over and over, he grew embarrassed, his parents became uncomfortable, other parents were annoyed, and my teacher friends and I wanted to melt into the floor.

Please learn from my cringeworthy moment and share your awards widely… Coordinate with your colleagues to ensure that you share the love with all of your students!

Social Studies End-of-the-Year Award Ideas

When choosing end-of-the-year awards to give to your wonderful students, think about more than just their academic abilities and successes. Character awards are just as valuable!

How can you relate students’ achievements and attributes to people/concepts you’ve studied throughout the year?

Here are a few examples:

• A student who often creates inventions might be a good candidate for a Benjamin Franklin Inventor Award.
• A student who is always up to date on current events might deserve a Future Journalist Award.
• A student who composes thoughtful, eloquent written responses may deserve the Abigail Adams Prolific Writer Award.

If you are looking for ready-to-print and/or editable Social Studies Award Certificates, I’ve got just what you need: