1. 7 Social Studies Strands
Debbie Haney
Joanne Gilley
Kristin Smith
Beth Stasiak

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Grade Level: 6
Slide 1- American Heritage Activities
Slide 2- Websites for American Heritage Activities
Slide 3- People in Societies
Slide 4- People in Societies Websites
Slides 5 & 6- Economics Activities
Slide 7- Economics Websites
Slides 8, 9, 10- Skills and Methods
Slide 11- Websites for Skills and Methods
Slides Government Activities
Slide 18- Government Websites
Slides Citizenship Activities
Slide 27- Citizenship Websites
Slide 28, 29, 30– Geography
Slide 31 – Geography Websites

3. AMERICAN HERITAGE ACTIVITIES
Using Venn diagrams, the student will compare the agriculture of Indus valley & Mesopotamia river civilizations.
The students will study the symbolism of the Maya sacred textile designs and design their own textile (on paper) using these symbols.
The student will find 5 BC events and 5 AD events and place them on a time line in chronological order.
The students will take a map of the United States and color the states in which the Mississippian civilization were located.
The students will learn about the Mayan number system. The students will then compare their phone number written in base 10 and the Mayan number system.

4. AMERICAN HERITAGE WEBSITES
Indus Valley
Mayan textile art
List of B.C. and A.D. battles
Maps of civilizations of America
Mayan mathematics

5. PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES ACTIVITIES
Students will compare Buddhism to Christianity, noting the founding leaders, and basic premise of each religion. Students will write a one page paper on their findings.
The students will learn the 4 types of governments. The student will then find a country in which each type of government is practiced (or has been practiced). Information will be shared in class.
The student will research two countries in Europe or Asia and find the language, major religion and type of government found in each country. Students will share the info they find on a poster.
Students will pick an Indian tribe and compare their cultural practices with Americans. The student will put the information into a table labeled “alike” and “different”.
Have the students compare themselves to students in another country, specifically learning about the different holidays they celebrate. Pick one holiday to celebrate together as a class.

6. PEOPLE IN SOCIETIES WEBSITES
4 types of government
Official government web pages by country
World religions
Holidays and celebrations around the world
Native American culture

7. ECONOMICS Activities Trade Restrictions Supply and Demand
The class will be divided into two groups and each group needs to read the article “Trade Restrictions and Their Effects”
The two groups will then debate the question – Should a tariff be imposed on shoes?
Supply and Demand
1. Go to the following web site and read about supply and demand. You can also play the game if you choose to
2. Write a short essay drawing connections between the demand for an item which was a fad and its price. When the fad was no longer a fad, what happened to the demand and the price? Examples of fads are: Game Boy, Beanie Babies, or something which is popular for only a short time.

8. ECONOMICS Activities
After the unit on Early Greece, create a map showing the trade routes which were used to and from Greece. On the back of your map list the main exports and imports of Greece during this time period.
The US government plays many roles in the industries within our country; one such way is through the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Working in groups of 3-4 tell me what this commission does, and do you think it is beneficial to have it? Why or why not?
Compare the gas shortages of the 1970’s to the gas situation now. What are the similarities and the differences? What is causing the increased in gas prices today? What are some of the trade-offs of the United States being so reliant on other countries for their gas supply?

9. ECONOMICS Web Sites Ancient Greece
US Consumer Product Safety Commission
The Importance of Trade
Gas Shortage
Supply and Demand
Money and The Future

10. SKILLS AND METHODS Activities
Ancient Greece- -The class will be divided into two groups, one will be the commoner and the other the slaves. Each group must research their given role and then they will present their views and feelings to each other. At the end of the presentations each person will need to write a three paragraph essay on the views of the people in the opposite group. Hearing their views, how did it make you feel?
Pick any famous person from US History. You will need to research their life; using at least four different resources. A picture of this person will also need to be included with your report; you may draw this picture or download it from the internet. Make sure you include a bibliography with your report.

11. SKILLS AND METHODS Activities
As the Presidential Election of 2004 approaches it has been decided that all 6th graders will have a vote. You will need to research the candidates and decide who you will vote for. There is no right or wrong decision as long as you support your decision with your research. Create two tables showing what you feel are the pros and cons for each candidate. Write at least one paragraph to me explaining the basis of your choice.

12. SKILLS AND METHODS Activities
After studying the various forms of government each group will need to make a skit and act out the type of government assigned to them. Each member of the group MUST have a part and participate. Make sure the essential elements of the government type are portrayed in your skit.
Create a pictograph which could have been used by someone during the Colonial Period. It could either be for a Colonists or a Native American. You will be sharing your pictographs in class and explaining why you chose to make it as you did.

13. SKILLS AND METHODS Web Sites
Slaves in Ancient Greece
People of Ancient Greece
Famous People in US History
Bibliography Guide
Presidential Coverage
Types of Government
Examples of Pictographs

14. Government Activities
Why Do We Need Authority?
Why Do We Need a Government?
How Does Government Affect Me?
What am I?
Lessons from the Roman Republic

15. Why Do We Need Authority?
Tell students to imagine that they wake up one morning and find that all rules, laws, police, courts, teachers, principals, and governments have disappeared. Brainstorm as a class the following questions: (1) What problems might arise? (2) How would you protect your rights? (3) Would you even have any rights?
Students read an excerpt from Mark Twain’s Roughing It, a story about the Old West.
Students work in pairs to answer the following questions: (1) What problems arose in the town because there was no effective authority? (2) How might authority be used to deal with these problems? (3) Are there similar problems in our society owing to a lack of authority? (4) What might be done to solve them?

16. Why Do We Need A Government?
Students brainstorm as a class to come up with a list of rights they think all people should have.
Students read a handout on the natural rights philosophy and John Locke’s concept of the purpose of government.
Students work in small groups to write down advantages and disadvantages to living in a “state of nature.”
Students then compare their answers to John Locke’s.

17. How Does Government Affect Me?
Students will go to the computer lab and work with an online game to explore a virtual town in order to learn about levels of government and the types of services that local, state, and federal governments provide.

18. What Am I?
One index card will be passed out to each student at the beginning of class. Each index card states a characteristic of one of the systems of government or lists a leader that heads one of the systems of government.
The students must work together to group themselves into the correct system of government.
Each group will designate a leader to read the index cards to the class and the class will vote as to whether each card is in the correct group.

19. Lessons from the Roman Republic
Students read an article about Rome being a republican government and work in pairs to complete a worksheet.
Students bring in advertisements from magazines and newspapers and post them around the room. The students take notes on the techniques the ads use to persuade.
Students create ads to persuade someone who does not have a republican government why it is better. The ads must refer to the Romans in some way.

20. Government Websites Why We Need Authority Why We Need a Government
How Government Affects People
Types of Government
The Roman Republic

21. Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities Activities
Is Citizenship Participation Important?
How Can Citizens Participate?
Participation in Different Types of Government
Citizenship Video

22. Is Citizenship Participation Important?
Divide the class into small groups to discuss the following questions:
(1) Did you participate in the last school election?
(2) If so, why? If not, why not?
(3) What effect did participation have on you if you worked for a candidate? If you voted? If you did not vote?
(4) Would the outcome be different if the nonparticipants had voted?
(5) Should citizens be forced to vote?
Come back together as a class to for a group discussion of the questions. Have the students answer the following to turn in:
(1) Based on this discussion, will you participate any differently in the next school election? Why?
(2) Do you expect that your role in school elections is similar or different from the role you will take in governmental elections when you turn 18? (Explain that citizens aged 18 to 24 are among the least likely to vote.)
(3) How does low voter turnout affect the political power of young people?

23. How Can Citizens Participate?
Direct teach a general overview of citizenship and explain the difference between the rights of a citizen versus an alien
Distribute a handout for the students to read that lists ways citizens can participate
Break the class into small groups and have the students go through newspapers and magazines and cut out pictures of citizen participation
The pictures will be used to make a class bulletin board on participation

24. Participation in Different Types of Government
Divide the class into groups of 3 – 4 students. Each group will be assigned a type of government – either democracy, dictatorship or monarchy.
Each group will do research to choose a country that has its assigned type of government. A good website to give the students is the following:
Each group will research and write a report explaining the opportunities the citizens of their country have to participate in and influence the political process. Each group will present its findings to the class.

25. Citizenship Video
Students will watch the video Citizenship from the video series In Search of Character.
Have a class discussion after viewing the video.
Each student will find an act of poor citizenship displayed by an adult who should know better from a newspaper, magazine, TV show, or movie. Each student will write a letter of criticism to this person with the intention of trying to convince him or her to shape up. Students will provide specific ways in which this person can improve his/her behavior.

26. To Vote or Not To Vote
Students will go to the computer lab and play the online game, “Inside the Voting Booth.”
Students will examine voter turnout in presidential elections from 1960 – Students will work in small groups to write down three reasons why voter turnout is so low and three suggestions for increasing voter turnout.

27. Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities Websites
Citizenship Participation
Types of Government
World Governments
Citizenship Video
To Vote or Not To Vote
Federal Election Commission

28. GEOGRAPHY Activities
Students will study maps and how they are drawn. Students will then make a map of their classroom showing where the chairs and tables are. They will then compare their map to the other students.
Students will pretend they are building a new shopping center in their town. They will be given maps of the outlying area and pick the best location based on location, land, acreage, etc. They will then decide on what they can build in the given space (how many stores, how much parking etc.) They will draw a sketch to scale of their ideas and see if it will work in the proposed area.

29. GEOGRAPHY Activities
Have students create an ABC book of the neighborhood in which they live. Should tell other students what it is like to live there by using weather, a unique description or traditions of people who live there. Other students should be able to imagine life in this neighborhood.
Students will play the games on the Quia website in pairs. Quia Geography. They will then discuss the questions they got correct as well as those they missed.

30. GEOGRAPHY Activities
Have the students watch weather reports on television or read the paper and monitor the weather for a certain amount of time.Then compare the weather, wherever it may be, to the weather in their immediate neighborhood. Discuss how the weather there and in other parts of the country will affect them.

31. WEBSITES Miscellaneous Geography Activities Development of Mall
ABC Book of my Neighborhood
Quia - Geography
Weather Information
World Geography Games