How Can We Motivate Our 5th Grade Students in History?
Getting children interested in a specific topic at a young age is important because it helps keep them interested in the subject later. Fifth grade students studying history need to realize that in addition to being educational, history also has a lighter and even fun side. Motivating 5th grade history students is a process that requires teachers show the importance of history, how it relates to the lives of students and how it's more than just a collection of facts.
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Archival Projects
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An archival project is a hands-on method that gets kids interested in history and motivated about the subject. One type of archival project is to have the students write their own biography, complete with photographs of their life. Students have the option of writing a book-style biography, drawing a timeline of their life or making a collage that shows important events from their past. Encourage students to document their life at the current moment. Create a time capsule to show future children what children of that era were like.
Make it Fun
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Turn the history classroom into a game room for the 5th grade students. Take the current topic you're studying and make a game around it. If you're studying the lords and feudal system of the Medieval era, then assign the students different roles under that system. While some students assume lords and higher roles, other students become serfs and work in the fields. It makes learning a more three-dimensional experience and shows children what the era was like.
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Response Questions
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Ask your students questions designed to start a discussion in the classroom. Divide the students into smaller groups and present the groups with a specific question. For example, as you study World War II, ask the students how they would react when war broke out or what they would have done, had they lived in Nazi Germany. Instead of just learning what happened, the students have to put themselves in the role of those who experienced history.
Use Visual Aids
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Add visual aids to the history classroom, showing students exactly what objects looked like. When you teach a course on pioneer times, bring in actual farming tools, clothing and toys from that era. Pass the items around the classroom, showing the children what previous generations used. If you discuss specific battles in the classroom, set up recreations of the battles in the center of the room to give the children an idea of what happened. You can also bring in replicas of the Declaration of Independence and other important historical documents.
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