Government & Economics???

Apparently I'm going all out with this whole "online presence" thing! I worked on and added a few things to my TeachersPayTeachers' store last night.

First, I saw the cutest birthday treat labels over on Fourth Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It. She even has a template that you can download for free! I really really really like hers, but I just purchased some sweet little owls from Jessica Weible that I was dying to use. Plus, I'm going with a navy, apple green, & pink color theme next year, so I wanted to make them in those colors. Oh, and the main reason I made my own version--I wanted them to fit inside my circle puncher. Hey--it makes cutting out 120 circles MUCH easier. I'm lazy, what can I say? Here's how they turned out:

Nowhere near as good as Tara's, but they'll do! You can download mine here.

I also decided to make some things for two of the hardest concepts for my kiddos to grasp -- can you guess what they are?? Economics and Government...whoo hoo! I love teaching these units to brand-new, baby sixth graders now, but I remember several years ago when I first found out that we had to teach these concepts. It was scary. There's no telling what I taught that group of kids! (Sorry 10th grade government teachers...) The kids really struggled with these abstract concepts (I think because they don't have much in their own lives to relate it to??), but these are the tried and true things that have worked in my classroom for the last three years.

Citizen Participation in Government -- Autocracy, Oligarchy, & Democracy can be found here.

Economic Systems -- Traditional, Command, & Market can be found here.

Oh, and by the way--most of the things in both units came from ideas that I've picked up from various staff developments over the years. The best, BY FAR, staff developments that I've attended were put on by the Georgia Council for Economic Education (specifically, led Mr. Glen Blankenship). If you live in Georgia (or if you live far away but need a mini-vacation!)--you must attend one of their workshops. They are incredible--I learn SO much every time. I've probably attended at least 10 now, and they are all amazing.

Happy Weekend!
~Ansley