Sarah Miller Tech

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Holiday Group Project for Middle School Social Studies


Holiday projects like this are a great way to spend the last couple of weeks before Winter Break! Your students will be engaged, and you will have no stress because this has everything you need! You'll love that it's standards-aligned and fun for the holidays!

This group project is perfect for middle school classrooms! You can use this during the last two weeks of December - it’s a “set-it-and-forget-it” project!

This holiday social studies project covers economics standards and persuasive writing. Plus, it has everything you need from lesson plans to activity sheets to tips for running projects in your middle school classroom!

Skills and Standards Covered: 

Skills Covered in the Project: All aligned to Georgia Standards of Excellence.

  1. Specialization

  2. Mapping/Geography

  3. Investment in Human Capital and GDP per Capita

  4. Investment in Captial Goods and GDP per Capita

  5. Economic Continuum

  6. Trade Barriers

  7. Currency Exchange

  8. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasoning and relevant evidence


This holiday project is a great way to cover your repeated economic standards. Plus, you’re adding in writing. Social Studies and Literacy? It can’t get any better than that!

What are the students doing? Project Details: 

Students will create the “perfect” holiday product or event (from a list provided) and persuade people to purchase or visit.

6th Grade Projects include: Christmas Products (Germany) and Hannukah Products (UK)

7th Grade Projects include: Karamu (Kwanzaa/Kenya), Kadomatsu (Japanese New Year/Japan), Lantern Festival (China), Diwali (Hindu/India), and Hannukah (Israel)

Students will:

  • Research their nation and their holiday tradition

  • Plan their product or event

  • Overcome economic obstacles (Holiday Economic Digital Game)

  • Revise their plans (due to the obstacles)

  • Persuade in their Tab Booklet

What’s Included? Click here to view the full preview.

  • Teacher Unit Guide

  • Teacher Tips on Projects in Middle School

  • Lesson Plan with bell-ringer and summarizer ideas

  • Guided Research Pages (with answer keys)

  • Project Planning Sheets

  • Supply List Pages

  • Expenses Report

  • Digital Economics Game

  • Journal Entry

  • Updated Expenses Report

  • Illustration Activity

  • Persuasive Planning Pages with writing support

  • Persuasive Tab Booklet (Students' Final Product)

  • Scoring Rubric

My Holiday Project for Social Studies includes all the pages you see in the images above. I created this knowing you are super busy, so it is super LOW PREP. Click here to purchase the complete holiday project.

Looking for more map and geography ideas?

If you need more inspiration for teaching map skills and geography in your social studies classroom, you must check out these other posts.