Barb's Third Grade Class at Woodstock School

When you have students from India, U.S., South Africa, and Nepal in one Third Grade class, you constantly try to find things that we all have in common. Our social studies unit on the History of Toys and Games was something that everyone wanted to learn and share about. We started the unit by bringing in our favorite toys and discovered that stuffed animals and plastic action figures are universal. Next we researched toys and found out that many of our favorites originated in some form in ancient civilizations - the Beyblades that are all the rage today were introduced as clay tops about 1200 BC in Egypt! We then had some Woodstock long-term volunteers, Jack and Shirley Dyer, share with the class about their favorite toys and games when they were in the Third Grade, back in the 1930's. The most memorable were a cast iron cannon that really exploded, and a backyard rope swing. Next the students learned how to write clear directions for their favorite games, which they shared before Game Day - a full day of Sorry!, Mindscape, Checkers, UNO, MasterMind, Mancala, Star Warsand even Mario the video game. We'll end our study by playing games from our home countries in Physical Education class, and making a timeline of our research findings about toys and games. Hey, why wasn't Social Studies this fun when WE were in school?