The start of school is coming up (where did the summer go?) and it will be time to get students engaged in social studies. Back-to-school activities sometimes are glazed over so you can get to the “meat” of the subject. But, taking the time to introduce the subject is really a great way to keep students engaged all year long. When you are in a bind for finding activities to engage students as well as teach routines, be sure to refer back to this back-to-school activities list to freshen up your lessons each year!
Are you looking for planning resources that are easy to use, minimal prep, and ready at your fingertips? I have created a planning document for upper-elementary social studies teachers, and you are definitely going to want to go check it out! 👀 I have pacing, linked resource ideas, and essential questions ready to go for you. If you teach in the upper elementary classroom, there is something for you in that document. What are you waiting for? Go check it out HERE!
Where Are We
Pick a few places in the world and drop your class into Google Maps. Show them how to use clues about the area as they figure out where they are. Bonus if you are using places that will come up in your lessons. Think about state capitals, battle sites, and world geography. Make it more challenging by limiting how many questions they can ask to determine where they are.
History Mystery Activity
For this back-to-school activity, you will need to fill brown paper bags with a few items representing main units of study for the year. Select 3-5 items for each bag, label the bag with numbers, and distribute around the room. Your students can work in small groups or you can lead students through the mysteries as a class. Model questions you might ask as you look at the artifacts and try to make educated guesses about where they are from, who might own it, or where in the world it came from. Alternatively, you can use this as a “get to know you” activity where students each will fill a bag with a few items and then swap with a classmate. Students will still ask their “historian” questions to make determinations about the person whose bag they have.
“Why Study Social Studies?” Back to School Lessons
A great back-to-school activity is answering the question Why are we learning this “stuff”? I love structuring the beginning of the year with this focus. You can find this resource in my TPT store here. It’s set up to walk you and your students through what they can expect to learn during the year. You can cover questions like why study social studies, and what it means to study different areas of social studies like geography, history, economics, and political science.
Timeline Challenges
Challenge students to put events in chronological order. Select key moments from your curriculum and create a list or find photos to represent each. Students can work together in small groups or as a class to make their best guess. This could be combined with the history mystery where you teach students how to ask “historian” questions as they study the photos. There’s also a game called Timeline that has events and their dates on the back. Students play one card at a time, placing it in (they hope) chronological order. After they play, they’ll check the date to see if they are correct. The game gets harder as more events are added to the timeline. You can find the game on Amazon here, and use it as a way to check prior knowledge.
Games and Play for Back to School Activities
Play is the best way to learn. The first days of school can often be filled with information overload, so if you’re looking for a way to bring some fun back to studying, consider playing games related to social studies. There are a lot of digital and traditional options out there, but if you take a look at The Game Library, you can search games sorted by grade and content and find the best fit for your class.
We have just a short amount of time to set the tone for the school year with our students. Don’t let that be overwhelming! Taking a few days to focus on engagement over content is honestly the best way to hook students from the get-go, making the rest of the year smooth sailing. It will give you a chance to build routines, get to know students, and encourage a love for social studies. These back to school activities will surely set you up for a great school year!
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