Science is tough. It's tough to teach, it's tough to get across to my kiddos, BUT it's sooooo much fun! While Science is great, I think Social Studies is in the same boat. It can be a BLAST and can include plenty of hands-on activities just like science.
My favorite thing to teach in the Social Studies curriculum is landforms! In my second grade internship, we spent quite a bit of time teaching landforms and I fell in love. My students were so engaged, excited, and learned quite a bit from the activities we completed.
One of the activities we completed was my absolute FAVORITE activity and I would repeat it every year if possible. My 2nd grade kiddos LOVED making landform projects. The following pictures are examples I've found with their projects linked back to the websites. These are my favorite things to make because the students get so involved in trying to make the projects look perfect and just like real, true landforms.
These landforms allow students to put their knowledge to use - to show what they've learned in the entire unit. This could be a great culminating activity to see what your students have learned. The options are nearly endless - you can have students complete this project as a home project, complete it individually in class, or complete it as a group in class.
I created a pack called "Landform Poster Pack & Activities Unit." In this pack, I've included quite a variety of activities… color posters, black/white posters, matching game, fact or opinion game, flash cards, fill-in-the-blank sheets, matching sheets, I Have, Who Has? game, coloring book, dictionary of landform terms, writing assessments, word searches, graphic organizers, and final written assessments. At the end of the pack, you'll find several pages of resources - books, websites, and videos that all support the landform activities.
That brings me back to the landform unit we completed in my 2nd grade internship - I wish SO bad there had been a writing piece to allow students to reflect on the different landforms themselves. In my pack, I made sure to include a written piece to allow students to work on writing skills AND social studies skills at the same time. Some prompts are serious while others may be serious - but the awesome thing is making the connection between THREE subjects in ONE response - social studies, science, AND language arts!! Check out the example below.
I love the interactiveness that you can gain from this unit, but not only that, there are MANY other topics in Social Studies that can be interactive, fun, and engaging!
As I'm sure you know by my enthusiasm for the landforms unit (in both Social Studies and Science), I truly love teaching US history and geography. SO, I have teamed up with some friends for this amazing bundle with Educents! It has 21 instant downloads with over 1,000 pages of materials for your learners for a variety of Social Studies topics!
My product included (the "Landform Poster Pack & Activities Unit") will surely be loved by your students! Again, refer to a few paragraphs above about my pack and all that is included - PLENTY of activities to make your landform unit last 20+ days, or roughly a month of school days - how awesome!
For a limited time, this bundle is $30.00 from Educents, which is over 77% off! Where else would you EVER get that big of a discount on the best activities by some great teacher-authors?!
It also includes these other great products below, so there is sure to be things you love! (Currently, Educents even has $10 off for first time customers… so it can be even cheaper if you have never bought anything from Educents!)
Okay, now you've seen the bundle and wonder what ELSE can you do with landforms besides all that's included in the pack offered by myself!? Well, what child does NOT enjoy being read to?? I know my kiddos this year LOVE being read to… they ask for me to read to them every day and we are currently reading The BFG by Roald Dahl.
But, in order to make the landform unit more REAL and to make that real-world connection with your students, pick up the following books:
{Introducing Landforms from Amazon}
What a better way to make TRUE real-world connections than read books about OUR landforms here in our own backyards? Students will enjoy the full color pictures and the true facts that accompany each page. These two books are just a SMALL glimpse into the different resources available out there to accompany your landform unit. But, that's not it - there are TONS of other activities to make your landform unit exceptional so that your students NEVER forget it - my goal is to hope my students don't and I'm positive that those involved in the bundle above… they have the same goal!
Learning & teaching is meant to be fun, inspiring, and engaging! Let's all work together to make sure this happens :)
Have a good day, y'all!
Those landforms dioramas are adorable! What creative kiddos you've got! :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I read BFG to my class every year. So many great lessons. And something to capture their interest on every page!
Hi sara what ingredients did you use to make that box can you please tell me or make a list and tell on on the comment.
ReplyDelete