Smart and Simple Social Studies Membership Q&A

Kirsten 0:07

Hi, there, I'm hoping that you're having a wonderful day. And you've been enjoying your July so far. I know, it's crazy to think that it is almost August, it's coming up. This is the last week before August is here. So in a kind of it's kind of bittersweet, because we've been having so much fun. All three of my kids at home doing fun things splashpad, and Chick fil A, of course, gotta go there, and just hanging out with some family and friends. So it is kind of bittersweet to know that very soon, in just a couple of weeks, my oldest will be off to kindergarten, and my other two will be all in their little preschool classes. So it's just kind of, you know, a lot happening. Hopefully, you're having a great summer, though, and you're enjoying it getting some rest, relaxation, whatever it might be.

Kirsten 1:46

Today, I wanted to share that my social studies membership is open right now and it is closing later this week. But what I wanted to do was have this podcast episode out in the wild, so that we can talk about some frequently asked questions or common questions you might be thinking but maybe afraid to ask to see if the social studies membership is right for you. Now, I'll be going into questions such as if I'm not a Texas Teacher, can I still join the membership? If I am not a third, fourth or fifth grade teacher? Can I still join the membership? Would it be beneficial to me, I'll give you my honest answers. And you can also just listen in about just to see what this membership is about. I've changed a couple of things since I launched this membership last year. And I'm so excited for the new changes. But it is something that I wanted to make it known. So everybody is all on the same page. We're all good. We're all gravy.

Kirsten 2:48

The first question I wanted to start with is what is the Smart and Simple Social Studies membership. So this is something I created last summer. And my vision for this membership is to provide a teacher hub for upper elementary social studies. And so this is grades three, four, and five, could be grade six, depending on you know what upper elementary is defined as in your state. But my goal is to provide engaging and comprehensive and standards based resources. And this would be intended for your third through fifth grade students. There are a lot of great resources and different things included in this membership and I can share a little bit about what you get in the actual membership. There is the supplemental resource library, you have different lessons activities, such as passages, projects, guided notes, mini lessons, task cards, web quests. And I just recently, like within the last few days of as I'm recording this, I just added a ton more different guided notes for a variety of topics. Like I was just going left and right and center, trying to come up with different guided notes to create because I started with 15. And now my current total is 52. And so I'm really excited to share that with the members. And this is not all available anywhere else, which I'll talk about a little bit later in another question. Then the other type of activity that I recently added are audio mini lessons. And they're basically bite sized one to three minute podcast episodes for kids and teaches a topic. Maybe one will talk about the types of communities, one will talk about the southwest region of the United States, one might talk about theories of the Colony of Roanoke that is one that I wanted to make and I loved how it turned out. So And it's actually called bite sized social studies. So that is a resource type that's included in the membership, but just basically a variety of supplemental resources that can be accompanied with any curriculum, whether you use my curriculum, the Smart and Simple Social Studies guided curriculum. Or you might have a curriculum with your district or with your school that was already purchased. This is a great hub of extra resources to supplement and utilize with your students. Another thing that's included are pacing guides and lesson plans. I have this available for any members who may not have a set curriculum, and just kind of like as a guide of like, what should I teach during this time of year. So it has suggested guides for those who might need it. And there's also daily passage pacing guides of utilizing those daily passages that are included in the membership. There's also Teacher Guides for every activity in the membership that is either printable or digital. There's trainings workshops that are pre recorded, and also any type of other prior training I might have done at some type of conference or Summit. I have those hosted there as well with PD certificates attached. There's every month a monthly social studies surprise. So it's just really fun activities that are just great for the classroom, and just kind of maybe social studies, maybe a little bit ELA aligned. And there's classroom posters. This month's fun bonus is social study surprise, because I recently launched the bite sized social studies, mini audio lessons, I did decide to add an audio mini lesson companion. So anytime they're listening to one of the topics, one of the 20 topics that's included so far, they can't write, you know, two to three or two to four interesting facts about that particular topic. And then I always have a question at the end that they can answer. Then, of course, there's a lot of tutorials support videos for the membership, how to access the content, and just giving you best ways to implement the resources effectively. There's also a search matrix, if you're looking for a specific grade level or topic or type of resource. It's an airtable base. So it's super techy. I'm saying that in quotation marks. But it is something that could be helpful if you're trying to look for something until the platform that we're utilizing has its own built in search function. So that is just like a very comprehensive overview of what is actually in the membership. And you can purchase the membership as a month to month plan. So you can just purchase every month. And you can just subscribe every month, or you can purchase the annual plan. And this comes with a two month discount. So instead of paying $144 a year, each month, it's going to be $12 a month. So with the $120 a year discount, you're essentially paying for those 10 months upfront, and you get the extra two for free. So think of it as like, you know, we're not in school for the most part in June and July. And so you're paying for those 10 months, that you are teaching in school upfront, and you don't have to pay anything else until the following year. And of course, for both of those options, you can cancel your subscription.

Kirsten 8:53

Another question I have is if the resources are standards based, and they are definitely standards based in the supplemental resource library, the resources are organized by domain and topic so that it is easy to find and align to a variety of states. Even though I am based in Texas and it is primarily TEKS aligned so if you're in Texas, you're good with knowing that it is TEKS aligned. I did rearrange it and put it in the membership hubs so that it's organized by specific common domains and common topics who anybody that is not in Texas or if you're in another state like California or New York or Illinois, it can align to whatever you might be teaching.

Kirsten 9:40

Alright, so this is another question you might be asking is okay, so you're primarily TEKS aligned, who can join Smart and Simple Social Studies? And I have broadened out this membership so that it is open to upper elementary social studies teachers, not just teachers into Texas. I think it is important that if you can utilize it, you know, anything related to US history, we're all going to teach it in the United States. So if you need more supplemental US History resources, I've got it here for you, I plan to add more, I have been adding more. And so if you're a new teacher or a seasoned teacher, this can really benefit you as far as getting really fun and engaging access to my bank of resources. Now, I wanted to mention that when you do check out, you'll see that for both options, you can select a TEKS or Texas membership option. And I wanted to specify that because I do recognize that we are just one of 50 states and there are plenty of members currently who are in my membership who are not in Texas, some are some aren't. And I wanted to make it a little bit more efficient as far as making sure those people who are in Texas are getting what they need. And the people who are not in Texas, if they don't need Texas stuff, they don't need it. So what I've done is essentially made two versions of the same exact membership. So depending on if you live in Texas, you just make sure you select the TEKS, Texas membership option so that you can receive any additional Texas specific history resources. So for example, if you're a Texas history teacher, you teach fourth grade, that I definitely recommend you make sure you select that so that you'll see those specific categories included with those resources, I have maybe about 20 to 25 resources so far in there. And then of course, there is my full curriculum that is not included in this particular membership, since it is just the supplemental resource library, which you can always purchase separately, it's a really great complement to this membership in general. But either way, if you don't live in Texas, no worries, you won't see anything related to Texas. So you can always just select the default option upon checkout. So just to sum that up, the only difference between if you're on the checkout page, and you're choosing between the two options, one has added Texas resources and the other does not. So you would just want to make sure you select whatever you need to accordingly.

Another question that I wanted to speak on is if the resources can be used for students who are not in third through fifth grade. So I will say that this was designed for specifically upper elementary students. So of course, I'm going to definitely recommend this membership for educators who teach social studies to students in third, fourth and fifth grade. However, if you are not a teacher, and third through fifth grade, I'm not going to turn you down, you can still join if you would like to, but you would have to make sure you're making the necessary modifications to make the resources work for your students.

If you're listening, and you're a parent, or you might know of somebody who might be interested for their child, and they want to use these resources at home, maybe they're homeschooling, would this membership work? And I would say yes, absolutely. This can grant you a license for personal use in the classroom or at home. So you can use this as part of your homeschooling curriculum, or as a supplement to what your child is learning at school if you would like to do so. This is something completely kind of off topic that I do with my son I purchase different resources for my own son who's a rising kindergartener just to kind of help with reading and math and science. So I do not turn down any parents who would want to do the same for social studies.

All right. So this is another question. I just wanted to make sure it was out there is smart and simple social studies, a professional and research based company. So I run Smart and Simple Social Studies, and I am part of the Southern teach. I'm the founder of southern teach. So I do definitely pride myself on being professional research based innovative as a company as a whole. I have over a decade of experience teaching in the classroom. I also hold an M Ed in elementary education. So my master's degree there, I always make sure that my curricula and resources that I create are of the highest quality and are based on the latest research in social studies, education and just best practices on important keywords and concepts.

Another question I wanted to touch on is what you do to access the membership if you've purchased the membership, so I make it really easy. Once you check out you're going to receive an email confirmation email welcoming you into the membership as well your receipt and you'll also get a email from the membership platform, which is called Thrive cart learn. So you will receive all those login credentials. And from there, you can access the videos and the resources and other features that are included in that membership.

A couple more questions I wanted to speak on is whether if you might have a curriculum that you might be required to use, maybe your school adopted a curriculum? Will you benefit from this membership? This could be a really great question to think about, I would definitely say yes, you can easily access and download the supplemental resources you need, and utilize any on demand trainings and workshops that are available throughout the year, as long as you're a member. So if you happen to have some type of some type of curriculum, you know, you have it, you're supposed to use it, use it with fidelity, of course, as needed. And then if you have any other want to utilize any of these extra resources to kind of supplement what your students are learning in the curriculum, then that's awesome. And I would definitely say go ahead, go and get it. And you can try it out, of course. So if you want to try it that first month, it may not work for you. That's okay, cancel at any time.

And then the other question might be related to if you already have purchased resources in my TPT store, I know there are members who might have already purchased on TPT. But I did want to just kind of go into if this membership still will be useful for you? And the answer is yes, I still think that even if you have some of the social studies resources in my store, I do think that you would benefit from this membership, because I do have a host of resources that are not sold or found anywhere else except in this particular membership. So there are a variety of social studies resources in my TPT store. But there's also a variety of resources that are not sold in my TPT store or in my website. So this could be really great because you have access to all of the above. And you'll also have access to them. As long as you're a part of the membership. That's another really great thing about it. What I've mentioned earlier with the audio mini lessons and the new guided notes they've added, they're primarily for the membership, I don't sell the audio podcast episode mini lessons in my TPT store, and I don't plan on it, I just want to make it kind of more a little exclusive, so that you can just see the value and have that value as a member like you get access to a lot of resources that you may not find anywhere else in my TPT store or in other people's TPT stores for social studies anyway. So that is kind of something that I wanted to touch on.

Something that you won't find in this membership itself are my Smart and Simple Social Studies, guided curriculum. So this the units that are there, they are not available, except if you purchase as a bundle. And that is always just a one time payment. So you don't have to worry about any type of overlap. So maybe you have purchased maybe fifth grade US history in my guided curriculum that wouldn't overlap. As far as like the units or the resources, it would not overlap with anything in the membership because it is not a part of the membership. So you can always purchase that separately. I will say that I do currently have my Black History Month unit in the membership. And I do also have the history of chocolate unit in my membership. So those are some units not really aligned with the guided curriculum, but they are really fun for students. And important I think, definitely very important. So I did add it in there for the membership. But as far as the actual guided curriculum, third, fourth and fifth grade, those are not currently here.

All right, last one isn't as fun. It's kind of like, but we got to talk about it. What is the refund and cancellation policy. So we're ending on this note, I should have thought about that. It's okay. Due to the digital nature of the content and the resources, I do not offer refunds. If you join a membership and decide that it is not the right fit for you. You can cancel before your next subscription charge date and you will not be charged again. And one thing to note is that if you do choose to cancel the membership at any time, whether that's annual and you are going to end your subscription later on at the end of the year or at the end of whenever you purchase it. Or you might have done month to month whichever When it is, you do revoke your personal license in the membership and the ability to use any of the resources associated with a license. So, if you do choose to cancel the membership, the license that is attached with that membership for you, when when you purchase it is no longer valid. So that means you would not be able to use any of the resources, and even the curriculum.

So, that is one of the downsides if you choose to go the route of being a member, but there are so many other upsides, there's just really great variety of resources that you can utilize. It's really just especially so beneficial. If you are a social studies teacher, in Texas, you teach third, fourth or fifth grade or you are homeschooling, cohort, whatever it might be, that is something that is there for you as a tool as a resource so that you can intentionally take the time to teach social studies purposefully teach social studies and have fun with it. That's the main part. It's fun, it's engaging. It's not your average social studies, textbook type of stuff. It's just a lot of really fun activities. So that's what I truly believe in for Smart and Simple Social Studies. So that's kind of like ending on the upside.

And if you happen to be listening, and you're like, I need my grade level on this, like we need, I need my school on this, everybody in third, fourth and fifth grade at my school needs to be a member. If you're listening, I do have teacher licensed discounts available. So you can contact me at Smart and Simple Social studies.com forward slash contact and just request a quote. And I can hook you up with a multiple teacher license discount if you want to get your grade level team in or your school and for third, fourth and fifth grade. Let's chat about it.

So with that being said, I do have the Smart and Simple Social Studies membership open for a limited time. And if you happen to be listening to this and it is not open right now, the good news is that you can go to smart and simple social studies.com and sign up for the waitlist, you can fill out that form and you'll be notified the next time this membership is open. But in the meantime, it is open as this episode is released. I am so excited. I've loved seeing all the new members joining and really, really excited about having really great resources for the upcoming school year. So I'm excited to support them. And I'm excited to support current members and new members and future members if you're listening to this. Alright, thanks again for a wonderful month in the social studies teacher podcast I'll see in August.