Teaching Strategies

• Social Studies Interactive Notebooks: I think one of the best ways to teach students about social studies is in an interactive notebook. Having students great something, or giving them something to put in their notebook that explains the topic that you are covering, not just the standard writing of notes, teaches students deeper. Not to mention kids will want to go back into their notebooks to review because it is something interesting to look at. 
• Using Art to Teach Social Studies: one way that I had never thought of teaching social studies before was by incorporating art. There are a few ways you can do this. One way is you can have the students create a piece of art that is a representative of the culture or area that you are studying. Another is you can make a mural that represents what you are learning about. 
• Concept Maps: concept maps are great for everything. One way to get students to connect everything that they are learning. Doing so in a visual way is an aid to help their comprehension of a topic. Concept maps are super easy to make and it is a great study tool especially for upper elementary.
• Inquiry Circles: inquiry circles are great for older elementary students. Usually near the end of the unit ask students to come up with questions that they still have that have not be answered in the unit. Students are put into groups of 2-3 based on the similarity of their questions. Students then go off and research the answer to what they still want to know. Students then create a presentation on what they found and share it with the class. 
• Centers: centers are a great idea when teaching social studies because at each station they can be doing something different but it all relates back to what the main concept is. Centers are great for students because they get up and move around and it helps students to stay focused on the task at hand.  
• Word Walls: word walls are great when learning social studies because a lot of the vocabulary that students need to know for a unit is not vocabulary that they know. When starting a unit in social studies you as a class and make a word wall. Once you have taught a new word or concept that they did not know you can make a list on the board and later on you can put those words on the bulletin board. Students will love this because they are a part of creating that word wall.