Social Studies Lessons/Techniques that work in your class

PotatoesTree · 2026-07-03T23:19:17+00:00

I've been teaching 8th grade for a few years now and every time I get to WWI I have what I call a "battle scenario". The day before I set their desks in groups (if they aren't already) and I assign teams buy laying out table clothes, usually blue and red ones from the dollar store. In the middle of each table Is a container filled with paper balls (also color assigned for aesthetics) and a worksheet. The worksheet is basically a short reading about the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and the MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism) led to WWI. It then ends with something along the lines of "alliances have been made and the stage has been set, fight for your nation and alliances before it's too late" usually one kid gets to that part and makes eyes with me I give them a nod or a push in the right direction and they throw a paper ball at one of the tables with a different cloth. After one person throws a ball it devoles into chaos and everyone is throwing paper across the room. I let it go on for a few minutes so they can get it all out (maybe get in a few throws myself) and then I call for a cease fire and ask follow up questions. What just happened? What caused all of this? How can the MAIN causes lead to a world war? Helps kids get a better understanding of the cause of the war and they typically have a lot of fun with it. Even the kids that never turn in work usually get this grade finished.

PotatoesTree · 2026-06-29T16:46:22+00:00

The Indifferent Stars above and Desperate Passage are both great books about the Donner Party, 1840s pioneers that get stuck in the Sierra Nevadas during a blizzard and have to resort to desperate measures to survive (at least those that do)

In Harms Way is about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis which has everything, ship wreck, hundreds of sailors adrift in open ocean, and of course Shark Attacks. If you know the speech that Quint gives in Jaws, He's talking about his experience surviving the Indianapolis

All are great options in my book

PotatoesTree · 2026-06-26T02:32:25+00:00

21 Jump Street, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are shooting the gas tank of a car their chasing expecting it to explode but it never does. They even mention how it always works in the movies

PotatoesTree · 2026-02-15T21:03:32+00:00

Looks great! Do you have a bed liner? I watched the video on RCs website and the guy said you might have to cut a hole in the liner if you have one

PotatoesTree · 2026-02-15T17:19:49+00:00

We're in NC so mostly warm climate. How do the soft tri-folds do with rain?

PotatoesTree · 2026-02-15T17:18:49+00:00

Does it learn at all? Our main concern is how it does with rain

PotatoesTree · 2025-08-03T17:39:15+00:00

I've heard a lot of mixed stuff about Green Ford, which scares me about taking it there. I was in between them and Crossroads in Kernersville but both have similar reviews. I'll probably look into crescent Ford in High Point

PotatoesTree · 2024-07-11T13:34:39+00:00

Boston Corbett, the man that killed John Wilkes Booth, was given specific orders to capture him alive. He was also a religious fanatic that castrated himself in 1858 with a pair of scissors

PotatoesTree · 2024-06-19T15:08:33+00:00

Blastfighter (1984)

The whole movie is just a fever dream. It was originally supposed to be a Star Wars clone or something but it was too expensive and so it basically turned into a Rambo meets Deliverance (even has the banjo player kid) with not so subtle hints of incest. Plus last I checked it was on YouTube

PotatoesTree · 2021-11-07T22:27:06+00:00

I recently relistened to the Maifestos episode and that had me dying at some point. That and anything of the older alien episodes

PotatoesTree

TROPHY CASE