Social studies has a way of getting pushed to the side. In some of the schools where I worked, it was the subject teachers squeezed in after reading, or didn’t get to at all. That’s always bothered me. I do remember teaching sixth grade Social Studies, and, I remember learning it as a student. There’s a lot students miss when history gets reduced to names, dates, and the occasional poster hanging on a classroom wall.
That may explain why I’ve spent so much time lately working on social studies resources. I’ve even found myself exploring historical paintings, which would have surprised the younger me who walked right past them in museums. Along the way, I’ve put together printable event maps, over 130 entry and exit tickets, and Problem-Solving Teaching units. All of these have something in common: helping students make sense of history, examine evidence, and think about the decisions people made without knowing how things would turn out.
I am enjoying my reading of The Visible Learning for Social Studies book. In it, the authors ask a question we would all do well to consider:
“How do we maximize precious time to ensure students grasp enough to prepare them for informed civic life?”
I’ve written about these resources in separate blog entries, but thought it might be helpful to gather them in one place. Here are four worth revisiting, along with two bonus collections you may find useful. Let’s jump in.
1. Check What Students Know with 130+ Entry and Exit Tickets
Sharing 130+ Social Studies Entry and Exit Tickets
Sometimes you need a quick way to find out what students remember before moving into new material. That’s where entry and exit tickets come in.
The PST Arcade includes more than 130 game-style activities aligned to Social Studies TEKS for grades three through eleven. Each takes about one to two minutes and offers a quick retrieval practice opportunity.
The tickets connect to larger Problem-Solving Teaching units, but you can use them for brief checks of prior knowledge and understanding.
Try this: Before beginning a lesson on the Texas Revolution, give students an entry ticket. Review the responses to identify what they remember and what needs clarification. Return to the topic after instruction with an exit ticket to see what has changed.
These activities provide a quick look at student understanding without adding another lengthy assessment to your day.
2. Read Paintings Like Historical Evidence
ACE Image Inquiry: Reading Paintings Like Historical Evidence
Anyone who knows me is aware that art museums weren’t my favorite places when I was younger. Give me a book or a science exhibit, and I was happy. Paintings? Not so much.
I’ve changed my mind. Historical paintings offer opportunities to examine evidence, investigate perspectives, and ask questions that a textbook paragraph might never raise. I’ve taken to following an Instagram account that explains historical paintings. I realize now that the backstory was what I was missing when I strolled the museum halls.
This resource features eleven American history paintings and a classroom inquiry routine built around ACE:
- Articulate: Describe what you actually see
- Connect: Connect those observations to historical context and evidence
- Extend: Identify what’s missing and what other sources might help
Students might examine Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With or Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware. In both cases, they begin by examining visual details before learning more about the events and the artist’s choices.
Try this: Display a painting without revealing its title. Give students two minutes to identify eight visible details. After sharing observations, reveal the historical context. Ask what the painting might leave out and what other evidence a historian would need.
You can complete this activity in about 10–15 minutes. It also works with photographs, political cartoons, and other visual sources.
3. Organize Events with Printable History Event Maps
Organize Historical Events with Printable Event Maps
Students often collect historical facts without knowing what to do with them. A good graphic organizer can help, provided it asks students to think rather than merely copy information.
The History Event Maps collection provides 24 reusable organizers, with eight for each grade band: three through five, six through eight, and nine through twelve.
The maps support skills such as cause and effect, sequencing, and analyzing changes over time. They are available in seven languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu.
You can download printable PDFs or use editable PowerPoint and Google Slides versions.
Try this: Give students two or three reliable sources about an event. Ask them to complete a cause-and-effect or event snapshot map. Have partners compare their answers, identify supporting evidence, and discuss any remaining questions.
I like that these organizers leave the content choice to the teacher. You can use them with an upcoming lesson instead of rebuilding the lesson around a new resource.
4. Move from Historical Facts to Problem-Solving
Problem-Solving Teaching: PBL Units for Texas Social Studies
History looks predictable when you already know what happened. But people living through historical events rarely knew how things would turn out.
That’s the idea behind Problem-Solving Teaching (PST).
The PST collection includes eighteen TEKS-aligned units for grades three through eight, three per grade. Students work through problems from the perspective of people facing difficult decisions.
Consider some examples:
- Grade four: How should a Texas family respond to growing conflict in 1835?
- Grade six: How should nations share a river when there isn’t enough water for everyone?
- Grade eight: What compromises might create a lasting government in 1787?
Each unit follows a deliberate sequence. Students first build background knowledge through surface learning activities. They then connect ideas and examine evidence through deep learning before tackling a transfer problem.
This matters. Give students an unfamiliar problem before they understand the content, and you may get plenty of guesses dressed up as conclusions.
The units also include facilitator guides, assessment materials, and language-learning supports.
Try this: Choose a unit connected to your next TEKS topic. Use its surface and deep learning activities before introducing the final decision. Ask students to defend their recommendations using historical evidence.
Two Bonus Collections for History Teachers
The four resources above can stand alone, but there are two additional collections worth bookmarking.
History and Social Studies Resources
This K–12 planning collection brings together teaching routines, classroom examples, source collections, and guidance for connecting Social Studies TEKS with English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS).
It also addresses Texas social studies standards revisions and their implementation schedules, which is useful as teachers prepare for changes while continuing to teach their current standards.
The History Learning Center offers an expanding collection of activities for historical thinking. It includes 185 school-day openers, 49 inquiry activities, and 16 ready-to-print tools.
You’ll find five-minute challenges, maps, timelines, source comparisons, and printable response activities. Students can examine evidence and talk through a question without needing their own device.
It’s worth exploring when you want a short activity that connects to your existing history unit.
Which Resource Should You Use First?
Here’s a quick guide based on what your students need.
| Student need | Resource to try |
|---|---|
| Recall prior knowledge | 130+ Entry and Exit Tickets |
| Analyze historical evidence | ACE Image Inquiry |
| Organize events and relationships | History Event Maps |
| Apply learning to difficult decisions | Problem-Solving Teaching |
| Practice historical thinking regularly | History Learning Center |
| Plan standards-aligned lessons | History and Social Studies Resources |
Put These Resources Together
You could use all four featured resources during a single history unit without turning it into a completely new curriculum.
Imagine studying the Texas Revolution. Start with a retrieval-practice entry ticket to find out what students already know. Follow with a historical painting or another appropriate visual source, using ACE to separate observation from interpretation.
As students examine documents, have them organize important events and relationships with a History Event Map. Once they’ve built enough background knowledge and connected the evidence, introduce a problem from the PST collection that requires them to consider the choices people faced.
Use an exit ticket to check what students understood and what needs more attention.
You don’t have to squeeze all of this into one class period. The activities can fit into different parts of a unit, depending on your students’ needs.
What Will You Try Next?
One of my ongoing interests is finding ways to move students from recalling information to explaining relationships and applying what they learn. History and social studies offer plenty of opportunities for that kind of thinking.
You don’t need every resource in this roundup. Choose the one that addresses something your students are struggling with right now:
- Can’t recall basic information? Start with a ticket.
- Struggling with evidence? Try image inquiry.
- Know the facts but can’t explain relationships? Introduce an event map.
When they’re ready to apply their understanding, give them a historical problem worth solving.
Explore the History Learning Center and choose one activity to try with your students this week.
