Secondary Social Studies Resources

“In this section of lessons, we’re interested in conversations about real lives that build relationships and start to challenge assumptions. Then, we have a lifetime of learning to pursue!”
Team Builders are organized by the following:

• Getting to know each other
• Exploring and Sharing Identities: Busting
• Stereotypes and Caring for Each Other
• Teaching about Controversial or Difficult Issues
• Contracts (a guide to norm building)

Thematic resources for community building in the classroom:

• Theme 1: Safe and Caring Classmates
• Theme 2: Peacemakers
• Theme 3: Helpers

A list of generalized team builders that can be catered to the social studies classroom with specific vocabulary integrated. Great for general team building and ‘getting to know you’ activities.

Strategies for ensuring that students in every grade feel like they’re part of the classroom community. Some of the activities take less than five minutes. They’re divided up among the grades, but many can apply across all of the years from kindergarten to 12th grade.

A list of generalized team builders that can be catered to the social studies classroom with specific vocabulary integrated. Great for general team building and ‘getting to know you’ activities.

In this resource team builders are organized into four parts specific to the social studies classroom:

• Building vocabulary
• Maximizing Non-verbal strategies
• Getting them moving
• Checking for student understanding

"The central questions raised here are the following: how are student–teacher relationships constructed in the classroom and how important are those relationships to those students and teachers? My focal teacher enacted a curriculum that was critical and relevant to students’ lives. He considered the curriculum as his primary way of building relationships with students."