5 Social Studies Activity Ideas for the Last Week of School

[00:01:10] why not keep students engaged with some fun and meaningful social studies activities? In this episode, I'm gonna be sharing with you five simple, interactive and low prep social studies activities that will help wrap up the school year with a nice little neat bow while reinforcing some key skills.

[00:01:56] This can help students solidify their understanding of geography. By having them identify their home address, their city that they live in, county, state, country, and the zip code. It's very surprising. You may or may not be surprised how many students don't fully know these details, even at the ages of nine through 11 or 12.

[00:02:53] Challenge them to find their location on a map, either using an Atlas, classroom wall map, or Google Maps. Take it even further by having them compare their locations to others in the class. Who lives in the same city or same county or has the same zip code or street, depending on where they might be living geographically.

[00:03:39] This is a reflective activity that also teaches historical preservation and even primary sources, if you wanna throw that in as well. Students are going to be documenting their school year, leaving behind a snapshot for future students or even their future selves. So here's how to do this activity. You can give students a worksheet or a journal page with prompts such as

[00:04:31] we did this really great fun school event. Have students add drawings and newspaper clippings or classroom photos if possible. Then you're placing everything in a sealed envelope or a container labeled. Do not open until blank. You could say, do not open until 2026. Or even if they are in elementary school and you have access to their fifth grade teachers, you can say, do not open until the year that they graduate from elementary school. And store it in a classroom cabinet,

[00:05:27] So they may or may not see it next year, but if you do this, if you continue doing this, the current class will look forward to seeing the previous class from last year that you had, as well as being to create a time capsule for the future class that you might have next year.

[00:06:08] So here's how to do this. It's super easy. You can write out, just literally get some sticky notes and write the names of famous historical figures on index cards. And you could even print out paper if you wanted, you know, print out photos of them, like online and kind of glue it on the sticky note or glue it on the index cards.

[00:06:50] But basically the other students are giving clues about the historical figure without saying their name. So one example is like they could say you were the first president of the United States, or you helped enslaved individuals escape to freedom. And the student with a card on their forehead tries to guess who they are based on the clues.

[00:07:31] They cannot see it and it's taped on their back. And they also are going around asking questions, and they have to figure out who they are. And while they're figuring out who they are, other people are asking questions as well. So it's a fun way to kind of mix and mingle and find out which historical figure they are.

[00:08:19] It's a great way for a low-key but meaningful review at the end of the year. Number four is a summer road trip plan. So this is another way to combine geography is planning a summer road trip.Even if students are not traveling this summer, this activity can help them apply map skills, budgeting, and geography knowledge in a fun and creative way.

[00:09:03] Estimate the total miles traveled, and also pick a fun landmark or attraction to visit along the way. And even challenge them to create a simple travel budget. How much would gas cost, how much for hotels or food? They can research on, a major airliner or expedia.com if you want them to do that

[00:09:44] they've got to plot their starting point, destination, where they would drive and where they would stop, estimate total miles traveled, how long it would take, what they would do there, and then challenging them. Give them a budget, maybe $5,000 or $3,000. Thinking about what would they pay for?

[00:10:29] You can go from there. This is a great way to combine math, geography, and research skills while also getting students excited about travel, even if they may not be going there for the summer. The last activity that I think would be really fun is to interview a classmate or family member. We want to bring social studies and storytelling together, and what better way to do that is with a fun interview with a family member or a classmate.

[00:11:23] Give them a set of guiding questions such as what was your favorite memory from this school year? What was school like for your parents or your grandparents? What important historical event do they remember? How has life changed from when they were a kid? To now? Have students record their responses in a journal or even on video, they could do a video interview

[00:12:18] So to wrap up these five fun and easy social studies activities to wrap up the school year, we've got number one, where do you live? Just a quick personal geography review, knowing their address, state, city, zip code, all the fun stuff. Number two, classroom time capsule. Preserving those memories and history and passing it along to the next grade level or to the next class that you have.

[00:13:04] And then number five, interview a classmate or a family member. This is a great storytelling and history connection project. That could be just in your class where you pair up students, or it could be expanded to family members that they may be able to interact with and talk to at home. All of these five activities will help keep your students engaged, reinforce key concepts, and make the last week of school meaningful without requiring a ton of prep on your end.

[00:13:50] Send me a message on social media at the Southern Teach, or you could even leave a comment on my blog under this same post that you're listening to here@thesouthernteach.com slash blog. So thank you for tuning in. As always, happy teaching. I will talk to you again next week.