Content can be a killer. 

It dominates everything in secondary social studies. But that doesn’t mean it has to be all drill and kill.

While PBL and thematic units are my jam, I also know the grind of being held tightly to the standards with a high-stakes test at the end. But having an end-of-course exam doesn’t mean you can’t still spark genuine intrigue and inquiry in your students. I firmly believe (and brain researchers confirm!) that real learning happens in the small daily challenges of an engaging lesson. 

I am sharing my top 12 favorite engaging activities with you. These are easily used across many subject areas, low-prep, and (best of all) re-usable throughout the year. That’s like the holy grail, am I right? They are grouped together into vocabulary, non-verbal, kinesthetic, and comprehension activities. 

All of these activities, plus a ton more, are available in a crazy cool and easy-to-use flip deck. I use this ALL THE TIME when I’m penciling in my weekly lessons. If I don’t, things seem to get repetitive and boring really quickly. 

Grow their Vocabulary

We all know vocabulary is central to learning growth. Everything we ask of students involves some aspect of writing, reading, or speaking the “right” words. Even math tests are part reading tests. If your students don’t have the words, they are bound to fail from the start. So let’s practice the words!

Activity 1: Describe A to Z

This one works perfectly at the start or the end of a unit (or both!), depending on how you use it. Regardless of the unit’s topic, there is some broad concept at its core: slavery, democracy, civil rights, war, etc.  On the first day, assign each student a letter of the alphabet, and have them think of a word that starts with that letter based on what they already know or think they know about the concept. It can be a great discussion starter as well as formative assessment of students’ mindsets. 

Alternatively, at the end of the unit assign (or reassign) all the letters and have students select a word based on what they have learned. If you recorded words at the start of the unit this is a great way to show them their growth. 

Activity 2: What’s the Password?

Display a pool of words on your wall. These could be either unit-specific content vocabulary or from a list of should-know academic words. Whenever a student needs a pencil or wants a bathroom pass or any other type of request, challenge them to use one of the words properly. If you choose academic words, challenge students to find ways to incorporate the words into their discussions and writings. Would you say he sounds pugnacious?

Activity 3: Roll the Dice

This could be a formal review game in small groups, or an on-the-fly bell ringer or exit activity with a couple selected student in front of the class. Designate each number of a die to a different task related to the concept you are covering. Then, challenge students to roll the dice. Here’s one option:

1 = define the concept 

2 = describe an example of the concept

3 = provide a synonym of the concept

4 = provide an anonym of the concept

5 = draw a picture of the concept

6 = act out the concept

Have the other students guess the term. This is a super easy and interactive way to get them talking about concepts from all sorts of angles. 

Maximize non-verbal strategies

This one is especially important in the high school setting as listening, talking, reading, and writing dominate the curriculum. If we want students to understand new and often-abstract ideas and concepts, then we need to be cognizant of including spatial, visual, and tactile strategies. 

In a study where participants were asked to memorize a series of words (dog, bike, lemon), those who were encouraged to visualize the words (a dog riding a bike while eating a lemon) could recall the words at a significantly higher rate. Not only are learning deeper and retrieval easier, but the time to learn a new concept is shortened when visuals are included. Talk about a win-win!

Activity 4: Shape the Learning

Stash a pack of pipe cleaners or tiny tubs of playdough in your cupboards. Challenge students in pairs or small groups to create something three-dimensional that represents what they have learned. For example, have students shape the one prized possession an Ellis Island immigrant may have packed in their suitcase. Or, an object that represents a right from the Bill of Rights. Endless possibilities!

A popular example of this shaping technique involves arranging gummies bears to learn different forms of governments. 

Activity 5: Color It

Find ways to color code reoccurring things through a whole unit or even the whole course, either through your use of colored paper or through students marking text with certain colors. For example, during your WWII unit, code anything about the Axis Powers in one color, Allied Powers in another. 

Or, have students read an extended passage, color-coding for different things, like statistical evidence and quotes, or push and pull factors. 

Or my favorite, copy the same worksheet in different colors, requiring students to get up and find a new partner with a different color for every step. 

Activity 6: Pick an Object

Stash a basket in your classroom with a random assortment of inanimate objects: a basketball, paper clip, lip gloss, sticky notes pad, measuring cup, whatever! Bring it out every once in a while, and have students connect what they have learned to one of the objects. Or ask students which object most represents their understanding at that moment of the lesson or unit, whether it is a mid-unit check-in, or the day before a big project is due. 

Occasionally change out the objects to keep things interesting.   

Get them moving

We know that different parts of the brain store different parts of our knowledge. And now brain researchers have confirmed that the brain reconstructs memories by tapping into those cross-brain connections. The more connections (like pairing physical movements with memorizing facts), the stronger the understanding and the easier it is to retrieve the stored information. Not only that, but movement has been found to increase students’ motivation and morale, too! 

Activity 7: This or That

This is as great bell ringer, exit ticket, or mid-class formative check. Pose a forced choice or a “yes” or “no” question and designate each side of the room as the answers. Students walk to the side of the room to express their answer. Once there, challenge students to collaborate and share out the strongest reason for their answer, ask a question of the other side, offer a rebuttal, etc. 

This is so powerful that I will find myself gesturing to the sides of the rooms for the whole rest of the unit when revisiting the topic.  

Questions can be as specific as asking about a certain primary source: “Do you agree or disagree with the political cartoonist’s message?”

Or questions can be central to your whole unit: “Was President Jackson a Common Man or an elitist?” This kind of question is great to revisit a couple of times throughout the unit to see if students’ most recent learning causes them to change their position. Very powerful! 

Activity 8: Walk the Line

This is the next level to “This or That,” yet still super easy to do. 

Head out to the hallway and throw string or masking tape on the floor. Mark one end 100% or Absolutely Yes, mark the other 0% or Absolutely No. Have students express their answer by heading to the spot along the continuum line that represents their feeling. The only difference from This or That is that now you are phrasing your questions so students can quantify their answers:

“How well did President Hoover address the problems of the Great Depression during his administration?”

“How democratic is the Electoral College?”

If students need help identifying amount qualifiers (and most do!), this continuum line word wall is a game changer! I couldn’t imagine teaching without up in my classroom.

Activity 9: Expand the Walls 

Think past your classroom walls for where students could complete the day’s lesson: the hallway, gym, sidewalk, commons area, field, or courtyard. How might those locations actually improve the impact of the lesson?  

Some ideas to get you thinking with common activity options:

Sidewalk or courtyard: completing chalk talk, concept mapping, or hashtags and six-word novels (see below!) in sidewalk chalk

Hallway: hosting silent learning stations or gallery walks

Auditorium seats: providing extended silent reading 

Gym or cafeteria: facilitating several simultaneous small-group discussions 

Check for student understanding 

No, this doesn’t mean a drill of questions with single answers. There are so many more open-ended, creative, yet no-prep-time-needed ways to gauge student understanding, while simultaneously expanding it in new ways. If you know Marzano, you know that summarizing is one of his 9 High Yield Strategies, but if you simply stop there you really aren’t engaging students. It’s in the making of new meaning that intrigue and deep learning truly happen.

Activity 10: Circle the One

This works great after students have finished reading a longer text or filling in a full-page graphic organizer of notes. Have students zoom out and look at the work as a whole. Then, challenge them to make a decision by selecting one paragraph, sentence, bullet point, piece of evidence, quote, etc. and either circle or highlight. Your challenge should pose a task that includes a decision-making evaluation word: best/worst, most/least, biggest/smallest, strongest/weakest.

This works so well because students’ answers will vary and sometimes demonstrate pretty out-of-the-box thinking when you ask them to explain.

I use this one all the time so that my students have their evidence and thinking already decided when we head into end-of-unit review and essay outlining.

Activity 11: Six-Word Novel

As the story goes, Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a six-word novel. He came up with: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

While this activity could be used in a variety of contexts, I like using it at the end of a unit. Particularly in my immigration unit, where we study how to examine history through storytelling.

I assign students to write a six-word novel for one of the immigrant groups we’ve studied and then for immigrant story as a whole. So, so powerful. 

Plus, these are fantastic to display on a bulletin board afterwards. 

Activity 12: #Hashtag

Not too different from the type of creative thinking required for a six-word novel and always a favorite of my students, especially the wittier ones. I like this one because it connects their learning to either something previously learned or to a current event or cultural reference. This activity can also be used as a quick bell ringer or exit ticket, or during a unit review. 

Show a few examples of real-life tweets that model the connection-making, but also the wit that make it a perfectly funny, ironic, or satirical hashtag. Or create some of your own examples using content from a previous unit. 

Have students jot their hashtags down at the top or end of an assignment or along the side of a written text. Now this is annotating!

Share the best ones the next day. Their thinking might even provide you some entertaining bulletin board material! 

I hope these activity ideas give you the starting point or reboot you need to be an awesome teacher! 

Click below to grab my complete 48-card Engaging Activities flip deck for more great ideas in one easy reference tool!

Image credit: Sarah Noltner