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Social Studies

Market Day PBL

Social Studies June 10, 2019

Blog heading for Market Day post. Pictures of bookmark and paper airplane store.

At my school each grade level completes two PBLs (project based learning) a year. In the fall, first grade did a PBL on light and sound which covered some of our science standards. This spring we did a PBL on goods and services covering social studies standards and more. For our final presentation of learning, students put on a Market Day and sold their own goods and services. Keep reading to see how we set this up…

Driving Question

Every PBL starts with a driving question. The driving question is the problem or question you’re trying to solve throughout this project. The end goal is to have an answer to this question. Our Driving Question for our Market Day PBL was – How can we buy and sell a good or service that we have created to our school community? Our goal with this was for kids to create their own business (selling goods or services) and run their business during our Market Day.

Frontloading

Before introducing the driving question and the project, we studied the background information that the kids would need to know to be able to complete this project.

For this project students would need to understand:

Wants and needs
Consumers and producers
Goods and services
Spending and saving

To learn about these standards we used a variety of resources including:

PBL Launch

After completing our research it was time to launch our PBL. One of the parents in my class happens to be a franchise business owner of cookie companies and Subway. He was kind enough to come in and talk with the students about what it takes to be a business owner and go over what an owner does day-to-day. He even brought cookies! The kids loved this and would often refer back to things the dad had said during our project.

Business Plan

Next students came up with a business plan. We brainstormed ideas together of different goods and services they could sell.

Here are a few ideas:

bracelets
dice
paper airplanes
bookmarks
gymnastics lesson
foreign language lessons
math tutoring
dance lessons
soccer lessons
slime
Origami
pictures
books

After brainstorming students picked either a good or service that they would be selling. Students were allowed to choose to work with a group or work on their own (I love the choice component of PBL). They then filled out their business packet detailing what they would be selling, items needed, business name, and cost of their item.

Creation

Next it was time to create their items that they would be selling or practice their service. This was a chaotic activity, but overall went well (organized chaos if you will). I highly recommend setting aside a huge block of time to do this. This way they only make the mess one time. It’s important too to have this day scheduled in advance. Students needed to bring in items from home so having it scheduled helped for planning purposes.

The ads were so fun to do! First, students created a sign for their store. Then, they created a paper advertisement. Before creating, we looked at multiple advertisements from familiar businesses and talked about things we would want to include in our ads. We also create commercials on the iPads. Again we researched by watching familiar commercials and discussed things that we noticed in them. Then students created a story board outlining their commercial, practiced, and filmed!

Market Day Presentation

Last but not least it was time for our presentation. Students set up their stores with their sign, item, and iPad to watch the commercial. Students were able to shop in each others classrooms for items and parents were also invited at a specific time to shop. The kids did an amazing job setting up their stores and selling their items.

Market Day PBL Reflection

Overall this PBL went extremely well and I would definitely do it again. The kids really grasped the business concept and had so much fun creating their own businesses with their friends. I think we might even have some future business owners on our hands!

Friday Favorites – PBL Activities

Social Studies July 28, 2017

Every Friday this summer I am sharing some of my favorite things with you! The month of July is focused on technology and academic areas.

Check out past Friday Favorites…
PD Books
Read Alouds
Kids’ Favorite Series
Book Studies
Tech Apps

Math Activities

Reading Activities

Today I’m sharing with you my favorite PBL or social studies activities. PBL stands for Project Based Learning. It incorporates multiple subject areas into a unit and is very student-led. I now teach social studies this way and have also been able to incorporate reading, writing, math, public speaking, and more into my projects.

Here are my favorites from this year…

Johnson Elementary – I start the year off with Johnson Elementary. Basically my class starts our own elementary school. I am the principal and they are the teachers. They get to decide what class they’re going to teach, what they will focus on, what their classroom will look like, and what the rules/expectations they will have in their classroom. The teachers (my students) also get together to come up with expectations for the main areas (hallway, lunch room, etc). The goal of this PBL is to get kids interested in PBL, start working in teams, and understand the need for rules/expectations in a school. For more info – check out my detailed blog post on it – here.

Statue of Liberty – The Statue of Liberty was a new PBL that I started this year. The goal was for this to be a little more guided than the rest of the PBLs, but it is the first research PBL. I knew that some of my kids hadn’t researched before and some didn’t have much experience with report writing so I wanted to guide them through this one a bit so they’d be better prepared for our research PBLs later in the year. We talked about American Symbols and also brainstormed questions that we would want to find answers to when learning about the Statue of Liberty. I created a website on Weebly with links to safe, kid websites for the Statue of Liberty. Students researched and took notes and we also wrote our first report.

International Week – Holland Presentation – This week our school had an International Week. Each class had a country to research. My class researched Holland. I broke my class up into partners and the students focused on researching a certain topic – culture, food, kid’s lives, etc. Then, they created a little presentation and presented it to our visitors to teach them about Holland. For more info – I wrote an entire blog post on our school’s International Week – check it out – here.

Famous Historic Figures- One of our social studies standards has us focusing on important leaders in US history. We focus on Rosa Parks, MLK Jr, George Washington, and Abe Lincoln. Students can request certain figures and they work in groups to conduct their research. Then, like the others they create a report and come up with a way as a group to present their information about their person to the rest of the class.

Country Presentation – We did this PBL prior to our school taking on International Week. The kids were split into groups and each group took one of the six countries. It was very similar to our report on Holland – each group focused on their country’s culture, food, geography, schools, etc. After they researched, they wrote a report about their country and then came up with a presentation to share with the class. Some students created books to share their information, some created posters, and some a KeyNote.

Thanks for stopping by! Next week I’ll share some of my favorite teacher supplies for the classroom!

Five for Friday – April 21

Math, Social Studies, Writing April 21, 2017

The week after Spring Break is always tough. Hard to get back into the routine after an amazing week off! But, we did it and I’m back linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here’s what we were up to this week….

My school does a large Earth Day celebration every year! It’s a lot of fun and the kids get to go to different rooms and learn about all kinds of things surrounding the topic of Earth Day! I decided this year to also have my students do some writing about Earth Day and ways they can help make the Earth a better place. Their answers were pretty cute! I especially like the above one – “if you ride in a car… you can pollute the air…and it’s your fault.” Too funny! This writing prompt and five more can be found in my TPT Store – Earth Day Writing Prompts.

We learned all about coordinate grids in math this week. We started by watching a Brainpop video and then created the above anchor chart. To practice plotting points, the kids played this fun game called Gridlock from MathWire – it can be found here…

We finally finished our Map PBL this week. The final part of the project had students creating their island using some of the landforms we discussed. They also buried treasure on it and had to write directions for how to find it. Their maps turned out amazing!!!

Where have I been? I’ve seen many people posting and writing about Epic books, but I never looked into it. I remembered yesterday trying to find something for my Earth Day class and it is wonderful! It’s full of so much information and fun books – I can’t wait to dive into it more!

On Monday, I presented to some of the teachers at my school about Differentiation in Writing Workshop. It went well and we had some great discussions. Stay tuned because I’ll be doing a blog post soon on some of the ideas for differentiation in writing!

Have a great weekend!

International Week Recap

Project Based Learning, Social Studies January 29, 2017

Our school had our very first International Week last week and I’m going to share with you some of the events and things my kids were a part of. It was a wonderful week and full of many cultural experiences!

Class Presentations:

Each class in the lower school (K-4) had a different country. The class researched the country and came up with a presentation for the other classes to see during International Week. Some classes did group or partnership presentations and the younger guys did whole class presentations. It was amazing! Everyone worked really hard and the kids learned a lot and had fun while doing it!

Below is our passport. As kids went to the different classes, they received a sticker for their passport and filled out the page inside for each country. Things on the page included – capital, currency, culture, language, etc.

Passport to Dance:

I unfortunately can’t post any pictures of this, but it was super cute! Each class got to learn dances from a different culture. My kids got to learn South American dances. They had the cutest ponchos and skirts to wear. They learned 3-4 dances and did a great job!

Holland Presentation:

Our country to share with the school was Holland. A few weeks ago I posted a picture of my class interviewing my dad via Facetime. My dad was born in Holland and immigrated to the US when he was 8. The kids had a great time interviewing him and learning more about the country. We also picked Holland because one of our students (she moved over Christmas break) had been to Holland and her parents were from Holland.

We spent many, many days researching and many, many, many, many days preparing our presentations. I cannot tell you how proud I was! The kids knew their stuff and were so excited to share their presentations. It was quite a long day. They had 4 different 40 minute blocks of presentations. Each block was then split in two where each class (we have 2 classes per grade) would come in and visit the kid’s stations. They were exhausted by the end of the day!

Below are some of our posters and presentation materials…

To hear a few of the presentations – check out the videos I posted on my Facebook page…here.

Here’s a Holland poster that some of the older art students made for our class.

Holland Government and History

Kid’s Lives in Holland

Dutch Food – they even had stroopwafel at this station for people to sample!

Famous Residents of Holland

A book about Holland’s Famous Landmarks and Symbols

Holland’s Currency and Language

Holland’s Culture- the cow clogs were a hit!

A Keynote on Holland’s Geography

As you can see from the presentations, my kids had different ways of sharing the information they learned. That was totally up to them. Once they had researched their topic, they got to pick how they wanted to present it with their partner. We did have a lot of posters, but I loved the addition of Keynote and student-made book.

Parent Presentations:

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this, but the culminating event of the week, was parent presentations on Friday. We have many parents who are from many different countries. They came in to share their culture and food (the kids favorite part) with us in stations set-up in the cafeteria. Sweden, Syria, Germany, Italy, and Mexico were just a few of the countries represented.

All in all it was an amazing week -but, boy were the kids and I tired by the end!

Comment below – does your school do a week like this? What all does it include?

Five for Friday – January 20

Math, Reading, Social Studies January 20, 2017

It was a short week, but a long week all at the same time! I enjoyed having Monday off, but could’ve used one more day. I’m linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday. See what we’ve been up to below….

I love the book Martin’s Big Words. With MLK Jr Day on Monday, we studied him a bit (we’ll study him more later in our historic people PBL project) and I showed them the video of the book. It has James Earl Jones reading the text and beautiful music in the background. One of my favorites to use every year! I highly recommend you check it out on YouTube.

We’ve been working on multiplication for three weeks now and this week students started spending more time working on story problems. See how I use differentiated multiplication story problems in my classroom… here….

We started our second whole class book study – The Chocolate Touch this week! I love this book and so do the kids! They find it hilarious and I love the break from our traditional Journey’s reading series! Can’t wait to finish it next week with them. What book studies do you do with your whole class? Write them below in the comments! I’m always looking for new ideas!

Last week, a student asked if he could clean up my Morning Message board. I said sure. He asked if he could erase it. I said sure. He asked if he could get rid of the “posty sticks.” I said…what??? Apparently he thought post its/sticky notes were called posty sticks. We all got a good laugh out of that one!

I’m trying to become more active in the New Year. If you’d like to join me, check out my Instagram that I’m using to keep me accountable with my fitness journey – instagram.com/jjohnsongetsfit and also add me on FitBit! My email with the account is sunsfan328@gmail.com. I love having new friends on there and participating in Work Week Challenges.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Five for Friday – November 18

Reading, Social Studies November 18, 2016

At noon today we begin Thanskgiving Break! We have the whole week off and I could not be more ready for a whole week break. For those of you that do not have a whole week off, I am sorry. I know how hard it is to try to teach the 2.5 days before Thanksgiving and keep the little ones on track. Since it was a full week, I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

On Monday, we had a treasure hunt to find out what our next PBL project would be about. We are going to start learning about maps. After researching maps, students will be creating their own island and then burying their own pirate treasure on it (with directions). The kids had fun on our treasure hunt and got some little goodies at the end!

I love Kahoot. And my kids love Kahoot. This was our first time trying Kahoot with partners. We’ve only done it as a whole class before. They did great! We worked on a geometry Kahoot that someone else had made.

Today is Grandparent’s Day at our school and my class will be doing a Charlotte’s Web Reader’s Theater. We got the scripts yesterday and students highlighted their parts before practicing. This will be quite a hoot. I have some very fun, dramatic personalities in my room who have been waiting for their acting debut.

Speaking of Charlotte’s Web here are two funny things from it this week. This first picture is from a student’s answer to our morning meeting question “What was your favorite part of Charlotte’s Web?” One – I really hope he didn’t lick the book. 2 – Apparently we still need to work on our silent e, long vowel type words.

My second student has made up a very interesting name for Henry Fussy. Have no idea where he got Gribe Grumpson from but it made me laugh.

I have a new post up from this week about teaching elapsed time. Check it out for some ideas and elapsed time story problems.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! This weekend I’ll be decorating for Christmas! Can’t wait!!!!

Johnson Elementary – Back to School PBL

Reading, Social Studies, Writing October 12, 2016

This is one of my favorite school projects. Last year, I wanted to move into Project Based Learning as a way to teach our Social Studies standards while also incorporating Reading and Writing. My teacher friend, Katie helped me out with some great ideas for how to get started. See how I teach my first PBL of the year….

Introduction:

Going over rules is an important part of any classroom. And, it’s something that has to be done in every class at the beginning of the year. The first few standards we typically tackle in Social Studies had to do with community, rules, etc. So, instead of the same old boring here are the rules, here is why we follow them…Johnson Elementary was born.

The kids are introduced to this project by finding out that they will be teachers at Johnson Elementary. I am the principal – Principal Johnson and they quickly become Miss ____, Mr. ____, etc. The excitement that builds just from this announcement is amazing! Buy in happens instantly!

Next, we talk about the school we’re opening and what classes our school will have. The teachers (students) get to pick what class they are teaching. We’ve had math, kindergarten, roller blading, ballet, science, cooking, Legos, Minecraft, etc. I’m pretty flexible on what they can teach. I want them to have fun and pick something they like.

Here’s the cover page of our PBL Packet. The Essential Question we focus on is – How do rules help people function in a community and school?

Teacher Info:

On the next page, “teachers” give more information on the class they teaching. They tell me what they picked and why. They also create a list of a few things they will be teaching in their class.

Class Set-Up and Map:
Before starting this we look at a few pictures/maps of classroom online. We talk about making sure you have things you need to teach and things your students will need to learn. “Teachers” start by brainstorming a list of things they will need to have in their classroom. Once they have finished brainstorming, they draw their classroom map on the next page.

Classroom Rules:
Before the “teachers” write their rules for their classroom, we research class rules. We read Officer Buckle and Gloria, read an article from ReadWorks on rules, and look at multiple examples online from many different types of classrooms. We even brainstormed a ton of rules on our circle map below. We talked too about a good number of rules. We thought 40 would be too many for kids to remember and 1 rule was not enough. So, we decided to keep the rules between 4-10.

Group Project – Expectations:

In addition to rules in the classroom, we talked about other places that needed rules and expectations. We decided to focus on the bathroom, hallway, playground, and lunch room. The students broke into groups of 4-5 and worked with their group on expectations for their area. They first brainstormed some ideas. Then, they came up with again 4-10 and explained why they picked them. The last piece was presenting. Each group presented their expectations to the class. They did awesome! Great first presentation to the class.

Essential Question:

After completing the project, students then went back to the Essential Question and explained why rules are necessary in schools and communities.

PBL Rubric:

I created the rubric below as a way to score this project. This is our first PBL so it includes less pieces than some of our later ones, but I wanted to be able to identify how they did on each area – especially the Essential Question. Most kiddos did great! They really understood why we had rules – safety, keep things fair, etc and really enjoyed this project.

Do you use PBL at your school? What’s the first project you do with your students?

10 Pin Linky Party – Social Studies and Science Ideas

Pinterest, Science, Social Studies July 11, 2013

I’ve linked up with Ashley Reed over at Just Reed and joined in on her 10 Pin Linky Party. Check out her site for more info.

Below are my Ten Favorite Science and Social Studies Pinterest Pins:

1. I love The Cloud Book as a way to talk about different clouds and Fun in First Grade has wonderful activities and ideas for teaching weather.

Source: http://fun-in-first.blogspot.com/search/label/Weather

2. Rain Experiment – using a clear cup, water, shaving cream, and food coloring. First, fill the cup with water and put shaving cream on the top. Then, squirt some drops of food coloring in and see how it moves through the cloud and as it gets heavier it looks like rain.

Source: http://mrskarensclass.blogspot.com/search/label/Squishy%20Art

3. Love this flip book to show the phases of the moon.

Source: http://mrsschmelzer.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-04-30T10:04:00-05:00&max-results=7

4. Love the science book lists on this site. Great way to tie in informational text with science experiments and lessons.

Source: http://gingersnapstreatsforteachers.blogspot.com/2011/09/favorite-science-books-science-week.html

5. Science Notebook – Love that kids can record thoughts and predictions while working on experiments.

Source: http://rockinteachermaterials.blogspot.com/search/label/science

6. Cute social studies book to talk about geography and the United States.

Source: http://misskingsechantedkingdom.blogspot.com/2013/06/mentor-text-linky-social-studies.html

7. I use this page every President’s Day. I love seeing the different answers the kiddos give for what they would do if they were President of the United States.

Source: http://growingkinders.blogspot.com/2011/02/presidents-day.html

8. Cute voting activities at this site. Great books and activities to introduce and explain Election Day.

Source: http://mrswilliamsonskinders.blogspot.com/2011/11/election-day.html

9. Constitution Day Lessons at kid level.

Source: http://kreativeinkinder.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-10-05T06:40:00-05:00&max-results=4

10. Me on the Map – I love using this book to introduce maps and Clutter-Free Classroom has great ideas and activities that go with the book.

Source: http://clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com/2011/09/take-peek-at-my-weekin-review.html

Hope you enjoy these links and great ideas from Pinterest!

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Hi everyone! My name is Jordan and I'm a 1st grade teacher in Houston, TX. I've also taught second and third grade. This is my 12th year teaching and I'm excited to use my blog to share activities, ideas, tips, and more with you!