But what is a History Lab? It is exactly what it sounds like…students examine artifacts and not only infer information from the artifact, but also draw conclusions from a multitude of examples.

Let’s take a look at a History Lab in action.  In this lesson, students are learning about the battles and key individuals involved in the Civil War.  After learning the content, they will examine artifacts in Battle Stations that consist of primary source images and quotes. Once your students examine the images and quotes, they will draw a conclusion – What is all of this information telling me? What battle are these artifacts referencing?

Once your students have analyzed the artifacts, they will write their conclusions citing their evidence.  Model your expectations for how to cite evidence. You can use a piece of evidence that is not in one of your Battle Stations for a model.  Demonstrate how to pull out key information from a source, and then use that source, as well as multiple others, to draw a conclusion.

The beauty of the History Labs comes with the opportunity to expose your students to a variety of primary sources in an engaging format – they will want to read to figure out the clues to support their answer.

Once your students have analyzed the evidence for a Battle Station, allow them to move to another to analyze new artifacts.  Also, add tangible artifacts to your History Labs if you can! A pair of army boots, a feather and an ink pot, blue and gray fabric, can all add interest to a station.

This History Lab is a part of the socialstudies+ membership with lead4ward, but look for other examples soon!

The post History Labs appeared first on Social Studies Success.

• Ask 3 or Tell 2 – Break up a lecture with a quick task card activity. Choose task cards that are relevant to certain topics in your lecture. Pass out the task cards to your students.  Allow your students to stand up and ask 3 different students the question on their task card – or – tell 2 different students the answer to their question on their task card.  After a certain amount of time, have your students sit back down and continue the lecture.

• Early Finishers – With a little bit of prep, you have activities that can keep your students from losing valuable instructional time. Print off several sets of the task cards and cut them out.  Place them in a baggie with the answer key. Designate a location in your room (like a bookshelf) where you will always keep them.  When students finish an assignment, they can grab a partner and a set of task cards.  Your students can quiz each other over the questions on the task cards, competing for points.

• Scoot – Do your kids need to get up and moving to get blood flowing back to their brain? Play a quick game of scoot with task cards. Place the cards in order around the room on your walls or in the hallway.  Give every student an answer sheet and a corresponding number to start (Example: Maria start on 10, John start on 11, etc.).  Challenge your students to answer the questions as they “scoot” from one question to the next.

• Beat the Clock – Place students in small groups of 3 or 4. Give each group a stack of task cards and an answer sheet.  Challenge the students to answer as many questions as they can in a certain time period. The group or individual who gets the most correct wins a small prize.

• War – Use toy soldiers to add an element of fun to a set of task cards. Partner up your students. Each player needs an equal number of soldiers.  Place the task cards face down. Take turns answering the questions.  If you get a question correct, take your opponent’s soldier, if you get the answer incorrect, place a soldier on the “Reserve” card. If you answer a question with a star correctly, you will win all of the soldiers in the “Reserve”. If there is a dispute over the correct answer, check the answer key. The player with the most soldiers at the end of the game wins!

• Flip the Frog – This is a reverse version of Hot Potato. Buy plastic frogs at a dollar store.  Put your students into groups of 3-4 and give each group 1 plastic frog.  Place the task cards face down in a stack.  Students take turns answering the task card questions.  If they get the question correct, they get to hold the frog.  After a certain amount of time, stop the game. The student holding the plastic frog wins.

• Scavenger Hunt – This is another game that will get your students up and out of their seats for a quick brain break. “Hide” the task cards around your room (like on the side of a bookshelf, taped to the side of a desk, etc.). Partner your students and give them an answer sheet. Challenge them to find and answer as many questions as they can in a certain amount of time.  The students with the most correct answers win.

• Focus on a Skill – Do your students need to practice a certain skill like cause and effect or inferencing? Use the task cards that focus on those certain skills for extra practice.

• Exit Tickets – Write a list of numbers on your board. Pass out a task card to each student. Before a student can leave your class, they have to write their answer on the board. This also works great if a student wants to leave the room to get a drink of water, etc. Before they leave, they need to answer a task card question correctly.

• Card Pocking – This is a version of “Egg Pocking” played during Easter – your students will play against each other to stump each other with task card questions. Give each student a task card at random.  Students will find a partner and ask their partner a question.  If they both get it correct, they each go to another student to ask them the question. If one of them gets it incorrect, they sit down.  Once several students have been eliminated, discuss the harder questions whole group.

• Kaboom – Create a quick “Uno” type game with Kaboom! action cards. Place the students into small groups and give them a set of task cards face down.  Include the Kaboom! action cards within each set.  Students will take turns choosing questions and answering them. If they get the question correct, they get to keep the card. If they pull an action card like “Reverse”, they complete the action. If you choose a Kaboom! card, all of the questions they answered correctly go back in the stack. The student with the most correct questions at the end of the game – wins!

• Folder Games – glue several questions into a folder. Students can answer the task card question in each folder and then pass it to another student.

You can find my many task cards sets for Texas History, 8^th Grade US History and High School History in my TPT store or as part of my year long bundles on my website.

The post Playing Games with Task Cards appeared first on Social Studies Success.

Here are the steps I follow when I am creating a lesson using QR Codes.

Step One: Download a QR Code Reader – these are found quickly in the App store and should be downloaded before class.

Step Two: Identify your source – are your students reading additional information? Listening to a song from the Civil War? Watching a video clip?

Step Three: Copy and paste your link into a QR Code Converter.  There are many different options – I always choose the free one!

Step Four: Embed the QR Code into your lesson.  Think through how your students are going to access it – are they scanning it from a worksheet? A station activity? Do they need headsets? I love QR Codes because it allows you to be as creative as you want. You can create stations for students to learn about specific events, people, etc.; create a hot spot that will take students directly to a video clip that will relate to the lesson; have a QR Scavenger Hunt, giving students tidbits of information regarding a specific person or event and have them attempt to hunt down the next clue to determine who/what they are hunting; and you can create QR Code Worksheets, allowing students to complete quizzes, group work, and/or homework online instead of having to handout stacks of paper.

Some examples of QR Codes in action:

How do you use QR codes in your classroom?

The post QR Codes in Social Studies appeared first on Social Studies Success.