Interactive social studies lessons will bring history to life in your classroom. History Pockets are an easy way to incorporate fun, hands-on learning in your social studies curriculum.
As a classroom teacher, I loved units like History Pockets because they provided artistic and engaging lessons for my students—with minimal prep work for me. The construction paper pockets are simple to create with students and easy to store. The pocket projects also create instant displays for parent nights and open houses!
History Pockets include more information than the average classroom teacher has time to teach in detail. There are many different ways to utilize these resources in your classroom without getting overwhelmed:
- Introduce the topic to the class and then assign groups of students to study specific units. Each pocket unit includes facts and background information for teachers and students.
- Assign a unit or part of a unit for homework over a long break. Parent involvement is a wonderful method to get students excited about homework.
- Complete one or more pocket activities together as a class. Activities include arts and crafts, writing, maps and timelines, and more to give you many options.
For example, History Pockets: Ancient Egypt, for grades 4–6, includes 7 units covering: Introduction to Ancient Egypt, Daily Life, Government and Leaders, Religion, Architecture, Language, and Arts and Recreation. The units provide ample study materials that cover the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of ancient Egypt. Each unit includes background information in addition to interactive visuals and step-by-step projects, such as a menagerie of gods book, mummy art, pyramid construction, and pharaoh studies.
Free Hieroglyphics Activity
Students will love writing and decoding messages using hieroglyphics in this free activity from the language unit in History Pockets: Ancient Egypt!
We know that children learn more when they are actively involved, and providing hands-on report building is a great method to support learning.
Additional Resources
If you would like to replicate a true Egyptian experience for your students, create a clay cartouche with your lesson on hieroglyphics from How to Teach Art to Children.
For more ideas with History Pockets, visit Thanksgiving Holiday and Making Connections with History.
Check out these additional History Pockets titles: Ancient Civilizations, Life in Plymouth Colony, Native Americans, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Colonial America, Explorers of North America, Moving West, The American Civil War, The American Revolution
Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.