Teaching Day-by-Day: Social Studies

1. Research reviews of dozens of books describing world cultures on the Reading Rainbow website at www.pbskids.org/readingrainbow
   

2. What's it like to be a kid in Kenya? Explore photo albums from students in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. Check out "My World" at www.pbskids.org/africa

3. The Supreme Court returns to work on the first Monday in October (this year, October 3). Explain how recent changes and retirements have made the Court a big current event. Visit www.supremecourtus.gov/about/about.html for official biographies to share with your students.

4. Try an interactive exploration of the symbols in Buddhist artwork, in "Deciphering Buddha Imagery" at www.pbs.org/nova/tibet
   

5. Interpret other symbols on Adinkra cloth for storytelling and ceremonies in Ghana: www.pbs.org/wonders/Kids/kids.htm

6. Help students understand world populations; how many people are on the planet? Try NOVA's "Global Trends Quiz" at www.pbs.org/nova/worldbalance to learn more.

7. Travel with journalists to Sri Lanka to assess the aftermath of the December 26, 2004 tsunami and a long civil war, at www.pbs.org/frontlineworld
   

8. Meet Lornah Kipligat, a world-class athlete who started a girls' running camp in her native Kenya. See www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kenya

9. Find out what happens to culture when television sets are introduced in Bhutan, a remote kingdom in the Himalayas. See www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bhutan

10. Try your hand at Chinese pictograms with these Sagwa interactive games: www.pbskids.org/sagwa

11. Ask students to imagine they have just arrived in a new land and need to establish a settlement there. What laws will be necessary? What kind of government would be best? Help them draw up a plan with a list of all peoples' rights.

12. The Pilgrims of Plymouth colony came to North America in search of religious freedom, but is that why all people came? Ask your students what other reasons brought 17th-century colonists to the New World. Search for more information on immigrants at www.pbs.org/historyofus

13. Ask your students how life in 17th-century New England would be different from life in 21st-century America. Learn more about life in colonial America at www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/history/panoramas.html How has your community changed in the past 250 years?

14. Show students a copy of the Declaration of Independence (go to www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_subject.html and click on "Defining Documents"). In teams, have them research the following: Who wrote the Declaration? Who signed it first? Do students recognize the names of any signers?

15. Ask students to brainstorm the character traits that made George Washington a good general. (Visit www.pbs.org/georgewashington for more information.) Discuss why these traits would also make him a great president. Have students make a list of things that honor Washington today.
    

16. Many U.S. Supreme Court decisions have shaped American life in the 20th century. Visit www.landmarkcases.org and read about other important cases. In teams, have your class research the story and key players of landmark cases. Vote to determine the most important U.S. Supreme Court decision.

17. Have students create a gallery with pictures and short biographies of unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Ask your students to give other examples of ordinary people outside the Civil Rights Movement whose actions have helped to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

18. Have students identify and list the ways immigrant cultures influence American culture by looking at popular elements, such as food, music, film and art. They can find more info at www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/culturalriches.html

19. Ask students to make a collage of all the things the United States means to them or all the things it might mean to an immigrant. Is the United States a place or is it a set of ideas? Is it a set of institutions? Or is it the people -- the many ethnic, racial, language and other groups?

20. Brainstorm a list of all the technologies people today use to make life easier and more fun. Assign pairs of students to study one or two items. Visit www.pbs.org/science for more information. They should find out who invented the item, why and its impact on society.

21. Political cartoons have played a role in United States politics and public affairs since the 1700s. Visit www.comics.com/editoons for today's editorial cartoons, and help students understand how they relate to national and international news by discussing parody and symbolism in the cartoons.

22. Sports bring the world together in peaceful, exciting competition. Visit www.kidsvillage.torino2006.org for activities for kids and lesson plans to get students involved in the Winter Olympics, coming in February 2006 to Torino, Italy.

23. Visit www.pbs.org/newshour/extra for lesson plans on current events and how to incorporate current events into your classroom. Topics include elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, NASA's new missions in space and more.

24. Teach your students about conflict resolution: Brainstorm with students on the causes of conflicts, and then role-play ways to resolve the situations. More about conflict resolution and United Nations peacekeepers can be found at www.pbs.org/un/classroom
    

25. Use the changing color of trees' leaves in fall to teach young students about change. Have students use fingerpaint to make different pictures of trees in summer, fall and winter.

26. Focus on one current event and ask students to compare how the issue is presented in a number of articles, TV broadcasts, etc. Use news websites like www.CNN.com and The Associated Press' site www.ap.org Talk to students about each source's intended audiences.

27. Learn more about education across the globe with Wide Angle's "Time for School" video and text resources at www.pbs.org/wideangle/shows/school

28. Today, technology is pushing the boundaries of both science and ethics. Visit www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/teachers and click on "bioethics" for a middle school lesson plan on where new advances in science will take us as humans.

29. Washington, D.C. is often at the center of worldwide current events. Tag along with Arthur and learn more about the sights, people, and parts of the government in D.C. at www.pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/index.html Younger students can make travel posters to share.

30. Longer nights and shorter days make for great time to share stories with friends and family. Visit the Boohbah website at www.pbskids.org/boohbah/parentsteachers for a lesson plan for kids to make up stories and create puppets to act out the story.
    

31. It's Halloween! Keep students around the country safe as they go trick-or-treating. Good safety advice can be found on the Caillou site at www.pbskids.org/caillou

PBS TeacherSource helps PreK-12 educators with 3,000+ free lesson plans and teachers' guides on hundreds of topics – all correlated to national and state curriculum standards. Visit www.pbs.org/teachersource to access these educational resources, professional development materials and to sign up for a free weekly newsletter for teachers.

October, 2005, Vol.36, No.2