Social Studies Songs

I have had much success incorporating music in my social studies classes throughout the past 20 years. For one, the element of surprise keeps the students engaged, especially since they expect to read the text and do a worksheet or the questions at the end of the chapter. Also, music livens up the atmosphere and speaks to emotions and physical senses. One of the highlights of my high school history experience was when the teacher played music from the particular time period in which we were studying. The resources available at http://www.loc.gov/ are simply amazing, since you can hear an actual recording of the song and a plethora of other information on the historical context of the piece.

The January archive shows two songs that I have used numerous times with my elementary students as well as college students. They are "The Body Globe" and "We're Democracy."