Hey, it’s time for the Historical Happenings of the week for October 22nd-27th! I’m coming to you every Sunday/Mondayish with three historical events that occurred this week so that you can plan ahead. I’ll feature helpful ideas for integrating literacy, technology, and supporting all learners! These fun facts can be your saving grace in those transition moments, great lesson hooks, or the makings of morning work. I’ll be including significant events from across the spectrum to spark your attention and maybe even your students! Turn those history haters into engaged enthusiasts with tidbits that relate to areas of interest like sports, pop culture, and even literature!

You can find all previous IGTV episodes in my Instagram profile and a link to all of the blog posts at the bottom of each new post!  And also many of my links below are to history.com. I love this site. Mostly. What I don’t love is that the videos auto-play. Right click on the browser tab and opt to “mute site” or “mute tab.” That tech tip comes straight to you from my 16 year old son! Let’s get started with this week in history!

Monday 10/22

TOP HIT 1 from the show happened on October 22, 1962. It was the official beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. On this day President Kennedy gave a televised speech declaring that Soviet missile sites had been discovered in Cuba. They had been discovered the previous week by American spy planes. Why was this a concern? Because Cuba is only 90 miles away from Florida! Kennedy demanded the missiles be removed which didn’t go over well at all obviously. Things were extremely tense between the two superpowers for about a week until the Soviets decided to remove the weapons. Kennedy agreed that the US would not invade Cuba but the relationship between the two countries remained strained until 2015! There are so many great political cartoons from this era to utilize with students. This one of Kennedy and Khrushchev is one of my favorites. Have students interpret it as a lesson hook and find similar ones. An extension would be creating their own!

I have several other suggestions! Do you use Flocabulary.com? I love it so much I became a Flocab MC Educator which means I am a brand ambassador.  Try out the Cold War Flocabulary clip! They offer a free trial! Click the picture to check it out!

Do you use DocsTeach? It’s a separate database of primary sources and lesson plan ideas for teachers and students from the National Archives! Here is a link to a Cuban Missile Crisis primary source activity I found: https://www.docsteach.org/activities/teacher/1-cuban-missile-crisis. Make sure and check out the resources for this era on the JFK Presidential Library site, too! 

Also, are you following me on Pinterest? Check my Post WWII Era Board out! I also have several Cold War era resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Click the picture to shop the collection!

Another notable event of October 22nd is the moment when beloved cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France medals back in 2012.This opens up quite a can of worms and is the fodder for great debate material or a persuasive writing prompt. Have students research baseball powerhouses Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and their stories and compare them to that of Armstrong.

Tuesday 10/23

TOP HIT 3 this week was a mash-up of birthdays (TOP HIT 2 is coming up on Wednesday). Born on this day was author Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame and talk show host Johnny Carson! 

Wednesday 10/24

On October 24th, 1901 a 63 year old teacher became the first person to ride in a barrel over/down Niagara Falls. Y’all this joke just writes itself. Read more about it here: Barrel ride

Also on this date in 1951 Truman officially declares the war with Germany over. What’s strange is that everybody else assumed it had been over since 1945. Read more about that here: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-declares-war-with-germany-officially-over

Speaking of the end of WWII, more important on October 24th is TOP HIT 2. That was the establishment of the United Nations in 1945! This happened less than 2 months after the end of WWII in 1945. Its headquarters is in New York! I actually got to visit there in high school! Also back in my high school days being the history nerd I am I participated in Model UN in downtown Atlanta. I asked my son if he had heard of Model UN and he said he thinks it’s still around! Hopefully it is! Have students compare and contrast the League of Nations vs the United Nations. Discuss why the UN succeeded and why the League of Nations failed! I mentioned Flocabulary for the Cold War and guess what? There is also a United Nations unit! Did you know with each video there are also teacher resources and a super fun vocab game? And once again I don’t work for Flocab although I wouldn’t mind it haha.

Check out these links for more info about the United Nations!

Thursday 10/25

Another birthday I mentioned in the IGTV show episode was artist Pablo Picasso who was born on this day in 1881. Also on this day in 1972, President Nixon decided to suspend bombing in North Vietnam. 

Friday 10/26

October 26th brings us the signing of the Patriot Act in 2001 just shy of 2 months after the 9/11 attack. Farther back in history you can find the opening of the Erie Canal and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. I love the movie Tombstone! Click the pictures to learn more about those 2 events!

Saturday 10/27

The subway in New York is rather legendary in tv and movies. On this day in 1904 it opened! The other two birthdays that were part of TOP HIT 3 also happened on this day! President Teddy Roosevelt was born on this day in 1858 as was Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in 1914! 

This wraps up the TOP HITS of October 22-27th! Don’t forget to check the link in the description to read the blog post and sign up for a weekly reminder at http://bit.ly/SShooks! You’ll get my free lesson hooks cheat sheet, too! But wait, there’s more! Are you in my Facebook group for teachers called Social Studies Salute? I’d love to have you!

SocialStudiesTeacherFacebookGroupSSW

Thanks for watching and be sure to let me know if you used any of these TOP HITS! See ya next week for Episode 10!

Links to Previous Episodes: