Nystrom Education's Social Studies Every Day


Activities Quick activities you can use while students are lining up or when you have a few free minutes before the bell rings. Story Starters Brief writing prompts to help students develop their social studies and language arts skills.

	Activities
	Identifying Cultural and Natural Features
	Show students photos, illustrations, or maps of a variety of places. Then have each student name one cultural feature that they see. Also have them name one natural feature.
	Choosing Favorite Holidays
	Have students name a favorite holiday. Help students line up in the order their choices appear on the calendar.
	Finding Continents and Oceans
	List 5 continents and 2 oceans on the board. Have students use their atlases or their globes to find the missing continents and oceans.
	Sequencing Months and Days
	To start this activity, identify yourself as a month or day of the week. For example, say, "I am the month of September." Then ask students, "Who comes after me?" Have a student answer the question by identifying him or herself as the month or day of the week that comes after you. If the student answers correctly, have him or her ask another student, "What (month or day) would you be if you followed me?" Continue until the class has identified all the months of the year or days of the week.
	Making Combinations
	Write a dollar amount on the board. Have students come up with different combinations of coins to equal that amount. Ask them: "How many different combinations can you think of to make the same amount?"
	Locating Placing
	Play "I Spy" with the EWW desk maps or globes. Tell students, "I'm thinking of a _________. It's on the continent of _________." In the first blank, provide a kind of place, such as "city" or "natural feature." Give students clues that will help them locate the place on the map or globe. For example: "I'm near the Equator" or "I'm in the country of X" or "My name begins with the letter T." Have the first student who comes up with the correct answer choose the next place and provide the clues.
	Reflecting on the Past
	Ask students: "What was one way our (school, community, country) was different _____ year(s) ago?" Begin with short lengths of time, such as last year, (suggest answers such as, "I was in a different class") and gradually lengthen the time as students learn more about the past.
	Buying Needs and Wants
	Tell students to imagine that they have a certain amount of money to spend. Then give them a list of items they could buy, including the price of each item (make sure they can't buy all of the items on your list). Ask a few volunteers to describe which items they would buy and why. Also have them determine if each item is something they need to live or something they don't need but want.
	Identifying Places in Hemispheres
	Divide the classroom in half. Explain that each half of the room represents a different hemisphere of the earth, either north and south or east and west. Have students sitting in each half of the room name the continents and oceans in their hemisphere, reminding them that some continents and oceans are in both. For a more advanced challenge, have students name major natural and cultural features (mountains, rivers, countries, cities, and so forth) in each hemisphere.
	Naming Rules and Laws
	Ask students, "What is a rule we follow at school ?" The first person to answer the question then asks a new question changing the location (to home, community, playground, and so on) and has the respondent identify whether it is a rule or law.
	Describing a World Address
	Draw a star on a place on an activity globe or world wall map. Have students try to describe its location as specifically as possible using its world address. For example: Hemisphere- Northern, Western Continent- North America Country- Canada City- Ottawa Longitude- about 76°W Latitude- about 45°N
	Finding Places
	As each student is lining up, ask him or her "What is a place in our neighborhood (or on the community map) where people work ?" Continue playing by changing the last word to another activity common to all neighborhoods, such as live, buy and sell, learn, and play.
	Using Money
	Have students complete the following sentence: I use money to _____________________. Encourage students to be specific about the kinds of things they do with their money.
	Describing Communities
	Write the following sentence on the board: Yesterday I visited a city and saw _____________. Have students complete the sentence with something they might see in a city. On other days change the type of community. Challenge students to come up with places that would only be in that type of community.
	Looking at Children Around the World
	Bring in photos of children from around the world. Tell students where each child lives and have them identify the locations on a world map or globe (you can use continents or countries). Then ask students to complete the following sentence. "Children in (the location) are like me because__________." Also, challenge students to think of a way that children in these places might be different.
	Grouping Goods and Services
	Write four things people pay for on the board, such as: Car Red pencil Doctor visit Pepperoni pizza Have the students write down which of these things is not like the others and one sentence explaining why.
	Showing Directions
	Label the north wall or corner of the classroom "N." Call out cardinal directions and, if appropriate, intermediate directions. Have students point in each direction as it is called out.
	Classifying Workers
	Have students write G for goods on a sheet of paper and S for services on another sheet. Ask students to name some workers in their community. List them on the board. As you point to each type of worker, have students hold up the G if the worker produces or sells goods or the S if the worker provides a service.
	Describing Workers
	Divide the class into three groups. Have students in one group name workers in your school. Then have another group name workers they would like to be when they grow up. Have the third group name workers they see when they go shopping. Have the groups describe what each worker does. If students need help, have them check their atlas for examples of workers.
	Grouping Natural Features
	Write the names of features, such as the following, on the board. mountains city river lake or Erie Huron Superior Mississippi Have students find the feature that does not belong. Then have a volunteer explain why it does not belong with the others in the list. For more difficult lists, have students use their atlases to figure out which feature doesn't belong.
	Identifying Resources
	Help students think of different businesses, such as running a lemonade stand, making their own athletic shoes, or selling an unusual invention. As a class, make a list of some natural, human, and capital resources needed for these businesses.
	Making Choices
	Have students choose between similar items they wish to buy. For example, bring in advertisements for athletic shoes that vary slightly in style, price, and buyer convenience. Perhaps one item is on sale, one is more stylish but expensive, and one is well priced but at a more distant store. Have each student choose a pair of shoes and write a sentence or two explaining their decision. Tally the results. Ask students if any of them would change their answer after seeing how other people chose.
	Comparing Then and Now
	Help students reflect on how life in the past was different from life today. Use the following sentence: "Today we have ________, but in the past, there were no ____________." Then ask students how their lives would be different if they lived in the past. For example, say, "Today we have telephones, but in the past, there were no telephones." Ask students what they would do without a phone and how they would communicate with people far away.
	Using Natural Resources
	Remind students that natural resources are things found in nature that are used by people. Show students objects that people have made from natural resources (such paper or glass) and have students name the natural resources used to make them. For more advanced students, bring in manufactured items and have them identify the natural, human, and capital resources used to make them.

	Story Starters
	Summer vacation is here! This summer, Dad is taking my sister and me on a great adventure. He says that we'll get to ride a plane, a boat, and a train. So I packed my bags and... Tonight I watched the President speak on television. If I were President of the United States I would... Mom told me that this birthday would be special. She said, "You'll be in charge of planning your party." So the first thing I did was... I invited the new kid at school to my house to play. "I don't know where you live," my new friend said. When I told him the address, he said he didn't know the neighborhood well enough to find his way. So I explained, "It isn't hard to find my house. All you need to do is... My parents and I went to visit my grandma who lives far away. We had to drive for several days. While I was in the car, I noticed that people in different places use the land in many different ways. For example, some people... As the taxi drove through the city, my mother and I noticed that the meter was flashing today's date. Right before our eyes, the days, months, then years started to spin backwards! When the car stopped we had gone back 200 years. We stepped out of the taxi and... The new girl was so scared. It was her first day at our school. The teacher asked me to sit next to her and help her throughout the day. So, first I told her all about our school, including... The old bus coughed, crawled a few feet, and died. There I was in the middle of... My friend says that all she wants to do when she grows up is travel the world. If I could travel, I would go to so many places. First I would travel to... Today at school, we talked about rules. I started to think that if there could only be five rules in the world, the rules should be... We are going to move soon. My parents have started to look for a new place for us to live. If I could design my dream house it would... I have lots of friends, but I only have one best friend. I don't need any more than that because I have the best best friend in the whole world. My best friend is better than anyone else when it comes to... When I arrived at the farm, my aunt and uncle were waiting for me. I looked around. Everything was so different from the city! I knew this summer on their farm was going to be an adventure. My aunt turned to me and said, "The first thing we're going to do is... I held up a piece of paper. I just learned that paper comes from trees. I started to think about all the paper we use, and sometimes waste, and it made me... I sat back and started daydreaming. If I could spend a whole day any way I wanted, I would... One hundred dollars!! My mom just gave me $100! I never had $100 in my whole life. She said, "Buy whatever you want." What should I buy? I could be sensible and spend it on...