From the Classroom
When Fourth Graders Become Florida's First Peoples (And Discover What "Thanksgiving" Really Meant)
Day 3 of our First Peoples simulation: My students face a summer drought while managing tribal resources. Watch how fourth graders learn the real meaning of gratitude when survival depends on strategic planning, adaptation, and careful decision-making in pre-contact Florida.
How to Pause a Simulation Without Losing Momentum (When Reality Interrupts Your History Class)
Testing interrupts your Civil War unit. Constitution Day arrives mid-simulation. A Thanksgiving unit needs attention. Here's the framework that keeps students engaged when you have to pause a simulation—and how to make the interruption actually enhance learning instead of destroying it.