If you are looking for meaningful end-of-year social studies activities to keep your students engaged until the final bell, I've got some great ideas for you!
Virtual Field Trips:
The end of the year is a great time to take your students on a virtual field trip! Skip all the forms, bus reservations, and permission slips with ready-to-go virtual field trips! I've got an entire line of virtual field trips all over the world and on a variety of topics to keep your students engaged and learning!
These interactive activities are set up in Google slides with clickable links to Google Earth 360-degree views. All of the background information, informational text, video, Google Earth links, and response questions are done for you. One of my goals is to make your prep easier--especially at the busy end of the year. These trips are comprehensive and meant to provide your students with meaningful, interactive learning experiences which spark curiosity, all the while making your life a little easier. I've got you covered.
Virtual travel is a great option if you are looking for thematic learning days. Take your students to the Caribbean, visit all of the Seven Wonders of the World, learn about Pirate Ships, or take a trip to NASA Space Centers!
Virtual field trips are also a great option if you are in need of easy sub plans. Maybe you are pulling students for testing or have to be out of the building, the great thing is you can easily leave a virtual field trip. These activities can be left in a pinch. The virtual field trips can be done with partners, independently, or even conducted whole-group using your projector. The versatility makes it suitable for many different class settings. These trips have been successfully implemented in over 85K classrooms.
Here's what teachers are saying about virtual field trips:
"Perfect assignment for sub days as students can do this without needing too much teacher guidance. I love how it is organized and think it is great at getting students to see different place on the earth." -Katlyn L.
"My students loved this virtual field trip! It kept them engaged during what is a hard time to usually do so!" -C.C.C.
One Pager Project:
Switch up from a paper-pencil assessment and have your students show what they know with a one-pager project. If you are wrapping up a unit or even want your students to showcase what they learned about a particular topic, a one-pager project gets students thinking about what they learned. This project is a great way to take the "boring" out of social studies.
The one-pager project is an AVID strategy that allows students the opportunity to make connections to what they have learned. Our students learn, see, and read about things differently, so this project lets all students show what they know.
You can learn more about this project and download a free PDF which includes templates, instructions, and grading rubrics in this blog post.
Collaborative Posters:
If you are looking for an end-of-unit project, or just an extension learning activity when you have time to fill, collaborative posters are a fun and meaningful activity. Similar to a quilt project or puzzle, each student colors one piece of the poster.
If you teach World History, you could have each class section complete a different collaborative poster. Maybe one of your groups complete the Great Wall of China poster, while your other period works on the Ancient Greece Parthenon or Roman Colosseum posters, and another group creates the Ancient Egypt poster.
In each collaborative poster kit, I've included three different size options. Whether you teach a small or large class, the poster kits include 18, 24, and 36-piece posters. All of the posters have an extension learning activity such as a reading passage or quote analysis and reflection.
Here's what teachers are saying about collaborative posters:
"My class culminated the study of China with this activity. Perfect way to end it." - Alicia I.
"This was a perfect addition to my Ancient Rome Unit for 6th grade!" -Kate. F.
Meaningful Short Movies:
I'm not a huge fan of showing full-length movies in the classroom. Instead, I tend to use short clips as a way to enhance learning. Sometimes a short video provides an easy-to-understand explanation of a topic that might take me much longer to explain.
I've prepared two movie guides for National Geographic Mini Series. These are short films found on YouTube. Each mini series from National Geographic focuses on pollution and in particular, the impact of plastic. The Story of Plastic will help your students understand the impact of plastic toothbrushes, the social norm of cigarette butt littering, and the reason why shoes cannot be recycled. The mini series called Plastic on the Ganges, focuses on plastic and the challenges for those living along the Ganges River.
Instead of just having students answer questions, I've provided background information to discuss before watching the series, as well as take-action pages to complete after watching the series. The movie questions provided are meant to keep your students accountable during the series. Answer keys are included.
Here's what teachers are saying about this movie series:
"This was an eye-opening film for me and my students. This resource opened a lot of great conversations in class, not only about the environment but also the living conditions of other children in other countries. Overall great!" -Kony A.
Looking for More Ideas and Activities? Check out these links.
