Christmas Economy

Economics is rarely something eleven year olds think about - however, our state testing system believes strongly  in their young abilities  har har and has made it clear that they are to know quite a LOT about it. However, it is not a fifth grade social studies skill...

Solution: Create a mini-economics unit during the largest money making time of the year - CHRISTMAS. 

Have you ever heard of the Christmas Price Index Express? Well, it is just about the cutest, greatest thing for teaching economics during the Christmas season. This cute little train travels through a train set sharing the prices of the 12 days of Christmas items - what they cost and how much they went up or down from the previous year. 

Disclaimer: The site, unfortunately, has prices from 2011, however, it allows for a fun estimation activity at the end to figure out what it would be total today.

Using this site, I turned my classroom into the "Economy Express" and had each stop along the site around my room. I love how it utilizes the different terms and vocabulary! 

Each day before Christmas break, we made a stop at each junction - learning something new about economy. I made THIS booklet to go along with our travels. 

Stop #1: Inflation Station 

Stop #2: Percentage Peak 

Stop #3: Inflation Station 

Stop #4: Fluctuation Farm

At Fluctuation Farms, we worked as analysts to determine price data increases and decreases. I actually paid them a Santa Buck or two this day since they were "hired" by the tree farm to determine sales information for the following year. 

In reading, we are always learning about story elements around this time, so I incorporate that by having the students read a Christmas Tree story with a partner and determining the different plot elements. 

Previous story mountain work with our basel story. 

Partner work plotting the Christmas Tree Story. 

Final assessment later in the week with an additional story. 

In addition to the mini-unit, I also set up a 2 week classroom economy. Now, I choose not to utilize a classroom economy for a number of reasons, however, I do like to use it during this mini unit to help kids review key concepts of economy. Students earn "Santa Bucks" for various actions such as turning in homework, arriving on time, doing their jobs, etc. They have to pay tax out of each morning paycheck - I start with Sales tax, then income tax, then social security tax, etc. Students honestly don't believe me when I keep adding these so I show them one of my pay sheets with each tax taken out! ha. This usually begins a brief discussion on what happens if you don't pay taxes and what tax returns are...

Students can purchase items every day from the classroom store. They can purchase either goods (small toys and candy) or services (cards with things such as "sit with a friend" "eat lunch in the classroom" "Teacher's Chair" etc.). 

Of course, if you utilize classroom economy you know, this helps students understand prioritizing, saving, and price fluctuation based on supply and demand. 

The ever changing Santa Buck price board. 

As you can see, sitting in the teacher's chair was a hot service commodity and since there was such a demand, with limited supply, it went up in price! 

Additional Christmas Economy Resources:

• I purchased my Santa Bucks on TPT HERE
• Purchased this Awesome Supply and Demand Unit from the Reflective Educator that I was able to integrate. Comes with a fabulous supply and demand market power point that I printed and put around the room for students to utilize like task cards. 

Over all, this is a fun review unit that I believe helps my students revisit an important 4th grade standard in a quick, but fun and educational way! 

Introducing Colonial America

After our unit on early English settlements, I introduce the colonies through a Picture Comparison Walk. 

If you are interested in these pictures, you can download them for free at my TPT site. 

I print the comparisons of houses (interior/exterior), clothing, soldiers/militia, and other aspects of colonial vs. early settlement life and place them on large construction paper. Then the kids rotate around the room with their table groups, jotting down their thinking. Students do not talk during this activity, although, they can communicate through writing on the construction paper concerning someone else's thinking. 

 Nothing compares to a classroom of independently focused students *teacher heart happy*

 What I really like about this activity is that the students are able to make connections between the 1600 and 1700s on their own. For example, instead of saying to them, "life improved for the settlers as more and more people came and they began to make bigger cities, import more goods, and create a stronger economy." Students are able to see that for themselves. Their thinking demonstrates this when they say things like: 

I see that they have nicer clothes, more frills, etc. 

The girls still wear dresses, but they are made out of a nicer material. 

Their houses are made out of brick instead of wood and mud. 

Soldiers have uniforms. 

etc. 

I also really like that these pictures can be hung up and utilized throughout the unit for students to refer to, particularly when they are drawing pictures of colonial life.  

Candle Dipping an Colonial Research

Warning: Photos galore!!

I feel candle dipping is a colonial unit "must". I can still remember doing it on one of our historical field trips in the 4th grade. However, I have always struggled with the time management of it and educational justification. 
One container of wax to dip into + 53 students = TONS of wasted instructional time and a bit of A MESS!
Therefore, it has sadly never been done in my classroom. 

Until ... THIS YEAR!! 

SOLUTION: Get them working on their colonial research projects with a partner and pull them up to dip candles one group at a time. GENIUS.

What you will need: 

Candle Wick roll 

Wooden sticks 

Candle Wax (10 lb)

*Found all supplies at Michaels and was able to use my teacher discount - WIN! 

Hot plate or Old Crock Pot 

Container of Water

It was awesome, people! Not only did they really enjoy the activity, but it helped make the research process more enjoyable, since they had something to look forward to as they were working. Definitely an activity I will do with them again!

Research - Dip - Research - Dip - Research - Dip 

Our candle growth progress 

1

2

3

They were so stinkin proud of their candles - finished product

 And their colonial research papers turned out great as well! 

Grant it - these took a few more days than the candles ;)

 We also created resource maps of each colonial region.  

Colonial Village Simulation

I. Love. Character Simulations!!! 

I remember falling in love with the idea of simulations when I visited the Holocaust Museum and the Titanic Museum. At each, visitors are given a card with a real characters name and a mini biography about their life. They are written in the second person sharing what "Your" life was like. According to the Holocaust site, these are meant to "help personalize the historical events of the time" which I truly believe they do! While the content of each museum was humbling and heart breaking, the character simulation enhanced the experience so much that I knew, as a teacher, I would incorporate them as much as possible in my classroom!

So, during my colonial unit, I created character cards, similar to my Renaissance character cards that I share in THIS post. I decided to change things up a bit, however, and have them be more interactive. I created them so different characters "pair up". This does makes passing the cards out a bit trickier, since you have to make sure you have the right number of characters and that those characters all match up to someone else in the classroom - but it is a LOT of fun! If you don't have an even group of kiddos, join in the fun yourself! 


Once students receive their card and read their brief bio - they are to act out the final underlined action. Some of the actions require people to find someone performing an occupation, others require the student to simply stay put and act out their occupation. I always tell the kids that props are optional to help aid their character but that they have 10 seconds to "get into position".
For example: 
"... you are in need of some shoes for your youngest son, Timothy. Find the Shoemaker." 

"... Better get back to work, those shoes aren't going to make themselves!" 

 My kiddos have such a fun time meandering through out the room greeting and searching for their pair. 

We did this in ultra low lighting and the pictures turned out pretty bad so I went with sepia for effect :) 

When greeting each other, students are required to introduce themselves, ask the other person their name and profession, and shake hands. If they are not their match, they are to say, "It was very nice to meet you" and move on. 

This young man is performing his occupation of ship captain by acting out the use of his scope.  

 This girl was a servant so she quickly grabbed one of our brooms to help aid her occupation.  

This girl's character was pregnant and looking for a midwife - notice her sweatshirt under her shirt *bahaha*

 The other girl was the wife of the tavern owner in town so she jumped up and stood under our colonial tavern set up. 

Afterward, students share their character with the class. A couple of my kids give  their best British accent a try when sharing about themselves. *grin* 

If you are interested in my Colonial Character cards, they are available HERE on my TPT site. 

Native American Writing Activities

Integrating social studies into writing can be a lot of fun - whether it be creative, informational, or argumentative writing, kids never seem to get writer's block with Native American culture! 

Here are some we did: 

After studying the Northwest coastal tribes, students chose spirit animals to represent each person in their family. They then wrote a paragraph about why they chose which animal and what the animal represented, all wrapped up nicely between an introductory and conclusion statement. 

We also created totem poles using THIS template you can purchase from Rockin Resources on TPT. And a LOT of paper towel and toilet paper rolls! Pringles cans work well too, we discovered.  

Using a Scholastic Article, students argued whether the use of Native American mascots in sports was insulting or honoring. 

While studying American Indian legends, we recognized the symbolism of birds. Birds were often used as clan symbols by many native regions. Previously, in reading small groups, we had analyzed "How The Raven Stole the Sun" - free copy here. 

We also did a close read on Eagles and Owls, identifying compare and contrast signal words. Using this information, we wrote short paragraphs comparing and contrasting the two. 

Great FREE information from the US Army Corps of Engineers to go along with an Eagle study HERE (articles, activities, build an eagle wing, etc.)