Social Studies Skills Handbook - 6 strategies with handouts and rubrics

Teaching social studies is so much more than teaching names, places, and dates. This social studies skills handbook dives into 6 inquiry based and student driven strategies that will help you teach students so much more than some facts to memorize for a history test.  

This resource is perfect for new middle school or upper elementary teachers or teachers who are new to teaching social studies. It is the resource I wish I had when I was first starting out!

Each strategy includes a teacher guide that gives a description of how it can be used in the classroom and why it is effective. Each strategy also includes student handouts so that teachers can easily implement each idea in their own classroom with little prep.

Strategies included:

• Menu Projects
  • Students are given a choice board of several different projects that they can complete to demonstrate their knowledge about a topic. This is great for students of different ability levels and learning styles

• • Includes menu project planner, menu choice boards, and rubric.

• Q&A Research 
  • Practice research and writing skills to help students learn how to investigate the answer to a historical question of their choosing

• • Includes research graphic organizers, "How Do I Start My Research?" infographic, and rubric

• Socratic Seminars
  • Have students practice critical thinking, listening, and speaking skills while asking and answering questions in a formal discussion

• • Includes procedures, question sentence starters, samples questions, and rubric

• Historical Essays
  • Students gather evidence to create a thesis that answers a historical question

• • Includes essay map, sample essay questions, and rubric

• Mini-lesson presentations
  • Students will practice researching and public speaking skills with mini-lesson presentations

• • Includes sample templates and rubric

• Document Analysis
  • Let students act like a historian as they dive into historical documents to analyze the purpose of primary sources and what they reveal about history

• • Includes graphic organizer and rubric

What is included in this handbook:

• An explanation of six strategies to help students practice skills in a history class

• Examples of topics, questions, and templates to help teachers implement these strategies in their classrooms

• Student handout graphic organizers to help students plan and improve on each skill

• Rubrics to help teachers assess each skill

Student Handouts included:

• Sample Menu Project
• Menu Planner
• Thick v. Thin Question Infographic
• Pre-writing Information Checklist
• Research Resources Record
• Socratic Seminar Question Starters
• Essay Map
• Mini-lesson templates
• Document Analysis Graphic Organizer