Social Studies Fast Facts

Social Studies Fast Facts is perfect for classroom social studies games! The entire book is made up of pages of reproducible fact cards, each about 2″X4″, with a question on one side and the answer on the other. Topics are US States & Capitals, US Presidents, American History, Famous Americans, and US Geography. There are a total of 600 cards in the entire book.

A simple classroom game is to line up the students in two teams, placing them so that each student is opposite another student who is on a similar academic level. The 2 at the head of the line get the first question, and the student who answers it right gets to keep the card. Then they go to the end of the line. If you have a round where neither of the students know the answer, use a different card and save the unanswered card for later in the game. When you are out of cards, have the teams group up and count their cards. I like to give the winning team Smarties–smart candy for smart kids!!

Another favorite classroom game is Jeopardy, although this takes a little more pre-class preparation. Organize your cards into categories, and assign them dollar values. Draw a Jeopardy Board on the blackboard, with the categories at the top and the dollar values in the squares–just like the TV version of the game. Divide your classroom into 3 or 4 teams, and play the game just like TV. (The teams can work together, or team members can take turns competing for each question.) When a question is used up, simply mark off that square on the blackboard, keeping score on another part of the board. If you play more than one round, it’s not hard to quickly redraw a Jeopardy board for the new round.