history teachers please come in.. especially 6th grade or middle school teachers

ok so after being excessed and brought back and changing subject three times over teh summer I a m now being told I am teaching Social Studies 6th grade. I am fine with it but heres the problem.. I taught ELA and SS this past year but the focus was soooooo much on ela that ss got pushed to the back burner. i basically had these worksheets that my old teaching partner made up that coincided with the text.We did a lot of reading together, talking about it and then they filled out these worksheets.... B-O-R-I-N-G!!! Now that this is the ONE subject I am teaching I really have to step up my game. Any ideas?

Message edited 8/13/2010 8:57:33 AM.

Re: history teachers please come in.. especially 5th grade or middle school teachers

5th grade or 6th grade? you mention both in your post/title

5th grade is New Nation, Westward Expansion (awesome new book out - Water Seeker - could be a Newbery contender - great Oregon Trail book), Civil War, Immigration, Canada/Latin America

6th grade is Eastern Hemisphere - prehistoric man, Ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, India, China, Medieval Times, Renaissance, Revolution, World at War. We do monthly research projects and webquests that work out really well for this year.

IMHO - textbooks should only be used for homework. Let me know which one and I can help you more specifically.

Re: history teachers please come in.. especially 5th grade or middle school teachers

Historical diaglogues are fun- you can have them act them out. Or depending on their level have them write and act out their own historical skits.

I did alot of vocab. We played BINGO with vocab words.

I also made a huge timeline that went all the way around the room.

Re: history teachers please come in.. especially 6th grade or middle school teachers

My first year I taught 6th SS. I'm trying to remember some stuff.
The kids LOVED making their own pyramids and a sarcophagus.
At the end of the year we were doing Greece and we had our own classroom Olympics
Plays..they love acting things out and really remember it!

Re: history teachers please come in.. especially 6th grade or middle school teachers

anyone else?

Re: history teachers please come in.. especially 6th grade or middle school teachers

For mesopotamia I had student make their own cuneiform. Theyhad to write a story, translate it into their own symbols and then put it onto a clay tablet. Integrating writing and SS.

Mrdonn.org has some great ideas, PPTS. so check out his site.