Our class was instructed to create an artifact bag to present in class to our groups. An artifact bag is a mystery bag of items (artifacts) which student examine using their senses, analyze, and come to a conclusion about. It is common for students to be required to fill out a chart about the who, what, where, when , and why of each artifact during their examination to help them analyze the items.
My artifact bag related to the topic of my fieldwork lessons which was "The Battle That Changed History." My artifacts included a picture of where the battle took place (senlac hill), a picture of the normans and anglo-saxons battling each other, a crown, and a bow and arrow. These items all relate to the battle of hastings so the students after examining and analyzing them would come to the conclusion that all of these artifacts help understand how the battle changed history. Our class split into groups and we each presented our artifact bag project. As I was presenting, I had a google slides presentation up on the computer to guide me through the lesson. If I was teaching this in real life to a class, I would have the google slides follow through my teaching of this activity for a fifth grade class.
If I was going to actually teach this lesson, it would be taught through the inquiry process. The lesson would
begin with a review of the vocabulary words and then continue by going over the definition of an artifact if the students do not have background knowledge of the word. The scientific method would be reviewed, as in all Inquiry lessons. Then I would explain the chart that the students would be filling out. After all of the explanation is finished I will distribute the artifact bags and the students would begin their examination process. When the students have analyzed the items in their bags and completed their charts to come to a conclusion, they would be given the opportunity to present their findings. Each group would present their bags and their conclusion to the class.
Artifact bags are a great way to have students working hands on with manipulatives and discovering Social Studies ideas on their own with guidance from the teacher.
I will definitely utilize them in my own classroom when teaching Social Studies!
For the Native American Tribe project, our class used a jigsaw method to complete this project. We first met in our field work groups and then we each picked a Native American Tribe we wanted to study. I picked the Dine` tribe. We then got into new groups and I found the Dine` group and got right to work. We each divided up the slides equally. I focused on the food, clothing, and habitats. It was very interesting studying this tribe because I honestly had never heard of it and I learned a lot about them. It’s interesting that clothes we wear today are navajo inspired and I’m pretty sure I own something or have definitely shopped somewhere where these patterns are designed. Its incredible how we can connect these tribes to our society today. After we were done creating a powerpoint, we presented. We each presented the slides we worked on. Then our class was able to give us feedback and see how we can improve. Our group worked very well together and I enjoyed working with them. They were all very helpful and hard working. 
This project was really helpful because prior to it, I had only heard about one of the tribes and did not know much about it. I learned about five different tribes through this project and learned ways to teach my future students about them. I got great ideas how to start off lessons and pre-ass, and use different tools to have a fun, interactive review. Most groups used kahoot for a review and one group used quiziz. These tools are excellent for a review because they are so fun and engaging, and students love it as they are actually learning. You have the opportunity to be in competition with your classmates too which is also really cool. There is always a winner as well which is encouraging for who ever was paying attention and focused during the presentations!
