How This Interactive Game Can Teach Your Students US History

Instructomania has made it our goal to collect resources on our Pinterest boards as well as create curriculum to help teachers present history in the best way possible. (Feel free to check out all our Pinterest Boards and follow your favorites here.) One of the resources we’ve recently discovered is Mission US. More than anything else, teachers often comment on how hard it is to get their students to engage with history. The creators of Mission US stepped up to the task with interactive “serious games” for middle grade students to be emerged into critical parts of American history.

There are currently four missions available with a fifth based on the Great Depression due to be released later this year. Here’s an excerpt from www.mission-us.org about each of the missions available:

“Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?” puts players in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. They encounter both Patriots and Loyalists, and when rising tensions result in the Boston Massacre, they must choose where their loyalties lie.  

In Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom,” players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old enslaved in Kentucky.  As they navigate her escape and journey to Ohio, they discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act threatens all African Americans in the North and brings new urgency to the anti-slavery movement.

In Mission 3: “A Cheyenne Odyssey,” players become Little Fox, a Northern Cheyenne boy whose life is changed by the encroachment of white settlers, railroads, and U.S. military expeditions.  As buffalo diminish and the U.S. expands westward, players experience the Cheyenne's persistence through conflict and national transformation.

In Mission 4: “City of Immigrants,” players navigate New York’s Lower East Side as Lena, a young Jewish immigrant from Russia. Trying to save money to bring her parents to America, she works long hours in a factory for little money and gets caught up in the growing labor movement.”

Our initial play led us into the American Revolution as an apprentice. It was easy to navigate and gave options that were realistic to the character. In addition, vocabulary for the era is presented in context and allows students to ask more about it within the game. Time period setting and objects are also part of the play, offering learning in a very simple and ingrained kind of way. All of this is the result of countless studies and testing by multiple universities, as well as input from teachers, parents, and students themselves.

We highly recommend pairing this interactive learning option with some of our products. Mission 1 will emerge students into the world covered in either of our American Revolution bundles or beside this power point about the events that lead to it.

For 6, 7, & 8 grades.

For 4 & 5 grades.

Mission 2 is a great peep into the unrest that eventually lead to the civil war and builds empathy for the slaves and how they were unfairly treated, so we recommend using this mission to teach with our Civil War Bundle or Worlds of North and South Pre-Civil War Bundle. 

Mission 3 offers a unique, Native American boy's perspective of the railroad and "white man's takeover" of the United States and would connect with our Westward Expansion Bundle and Indian Removal Investigative Activity.

Even if you don’t pair them up, consider adding Mission US to your classroom plan. The website offers educator guides to help spark discussion and learning post-play. Be sure to create a list of your student’s usernames and passwords so you can monitor their completion of the levels for grading.

Have you used www.mission-us.org in your classroom and had success? Would you be interested in adding this type of serious play into your class periods? Please comment below and be sure to check out their website and our offerings on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking the button in the top right corner!

Ingenious Ideas for the Classroom: A Guide to Making it Work for the Rest of the Year

Now that teachers have settled into the school year and got a feel for their students, they may have realized that some things need tweaked to help make the day run smoother or your students to focus more. We love making our classrooms more user friendly and thought this time of year might be just right to give you some ideas on how to do just that. (And bonus, Black Friday might be able to help you get it done cheaply!)

Avert the Clock Watchers

This might be for teachers in higher grades, but it’s the perfect way to get those clock watchers back on task. Around your classroom clock, put this message: “Time will pass. Will you?” Make the letters as colorful or sparkly as you want, so long as the students get the message.

Clear their Desks

A big problem, especially in the middle grade classrooms or any classrooms where students have limited desk space, share a table with others, or don’t have a cubby, is that they have personal items that take up too much. These sort of items may include purses, water bottles, cell phones, or baseball caps. You can combat this space problem by connecting a bike water bottle holder (water bottles) or hooks (purses and caps) to the leg of each chair. As for the cell phones, use black tape to create strips on a large glass cookie jar and add letters that read “Phone Prison.” Then encourage students to keep their talkers in there until the bell rings.

Make it Pretty

Did you know that color has been linked to better focus, critical thinking, and creativity? (See more here.) This is a good enough excuse to decorate your teaching space based on you and your students’ needs. There are loads of ways to make your classroom more colorful. One of our favorites is using contact paper to beautify the front of boring filing cabinet drawers.

Including students’ pictures in decorating can boost the confidence and morale in the room. This can be done on homework or mail boxes, or around cubby areas.

We also love the idea of running ribbon through milk crates if you use them, creating bunting with book covers to hang over reading areas, and covering an unsightly metal 70s special desk with boisterous wrapping paper.

Better Communication with Chalkboard Paint

Is there an area of your classroom you find yourself posting or swapping information, wasting sticky notes or taping papers up? Chalkboard paint is a great way to make data dumping easier. Painting a door or wall border will create a great place to write daily announcements or reminders.

Click the button in the upper left of this page or click here to check out our Pinterest board for these and more fun and clever ideas for any classroom!

How do you make your classroom more practical and fun for you and your students? Please share with us in the comments below!