It always feels like you win the lottery whenever you successfully accomplish a cross-curricular unit. I think every ELA teacher is the MVP of all middle schools because we have the opportunity to make all other departments feel seen and heard.
Enter: Ideas for Social Studies Project.
Social studies is a subject area that lends itself so nicely to all things ELA. In my building, the 5th and 6th-grade teachers also taught Social Studies. It was a small portion of the day, but I loved brainstorming and creating social studies project ideas.
In this blog post, I am going to share three of my favorite ideas for social studies projects.
Project #1: Coat of Arms Project
This project is one of my favorites, but more importantly, one that my middle school students LOVE. Even my sweet friends who don’t exactly love writing seem to really love this project.
This activity allows students to design a coat of arms based on their family. All of the information they need – all kinds of symbols, shield templates, examples, and writing templates are included in my Coat of Arms Project.
They will use symbols of heraldry to design their coat of arms and then can write a short paragraph or longer writing piece describing how it represents their family. I also like to hit on some Speaking and Listening standards by having students share with the class before showcasing their hard work in the hallway or around the room.
Project #2: Current Events
Another of my favorite ideas for Social Studies projects is teaching current events. This ongoing practice helps to teach critical thinking skills that are imperative for students, especially middle school students, to put into practice.
I love cultivating thoughtful and respectful conversations inside the classroom to help students get to know how to kindly agree or disagree with their peers. When adding this project into your lesson plans, social studies teachers can be invited to share the topics they are currently teaching in their classes. That way, you can reinforce current topics inside your ELA classroom.
If you’re looking to pair a fun Today in History with your current events, this one was designed just for middle school!
Project #3: Designing a Website
This is one of the Social Studies projects ideas that I knew my students would absolutely love! Incorporating technology along with the cross-curricular aspect of this social studies project makes me feel like a million bucks!
Here is how I set up this project in my lesson plans. I plan to allow students to work on the project in ELA and Social Studies time, but it totally doesn’t have to work that way if your schedule doesn’t work that way! In my ELA classroom, I like to help the students brainstorm different attractions that would lend to interesting and fun websites.
From there, we do some prewriting to formulate an outline of everything that should be included. We spend time discussing the different types of writing (narrative, informative, and persuasive) and the areas of the website that would be best for each type.
This is a unit of study that could last up to a couple of weeks. To keep my kiddos on track, I like to break down the steps and create mini-due dates, but I’m sure you will find what works best for you!
Remember, I am rooting for you!
-Alisha- Mrs. A. Riley
