Economics Today: PIGS, PIIGS, and PIIGGS - International Monetary Crisis

We are watching the news today following the economic crisis on Wall Street and rioting in Greece. There are a lot of terms being thrown around that should be explained and discussed with students by teachers covering these important current events.

PIGS: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.
PIIGS: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain.
PIIGGS: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Great Britain, and Spain.
[The acronym has changed as more countries have been added to the group.]

Why are these countries "piiggs"? While not all of their economies are hurting like the economy of Greece, they are heavily in debt. A decrease in buying from Greece, the United States, or one another may cause severe recessions (or even depressions) in these countries. Because the world trading economy is so heavily linked, decreased spending by these countries can easily hurt the United States.

Example students can understand: Thousands (or more) American tourists visit Europe each year. These tourists buy necessities (food) and buy souvenirs (goods) when in Europe. Because of the recession in the United States, fewer American tourists have visited Europe. Debt-heavy European countries rely on tourism to support their economies. If American tourists do not visit Europe, the European economy suffers. [For older students, describe the trade goods of Europe and the United States.]

PIIGS from Marketplace on Vimeo.

The Story of Mothers Day: Story Word Search Puzzle

Can word searches be educative? We think so. In fact, as far as we know, we invented the concept of the "story word search." This is a word search puzzle that tells a story. Essentially, there is a block of text. Certain terms within the text are capitalized and bolded; these terms are hidden in the puzzle. Instead of looking for random terms in the puzzle, students are looking for terms they understand on some level (having read them in the text).



Here is a free, printable, story word search puzzle on the history of Mother's Day in the United States.

World War I: Remember the MAIN!

Mnemonic devices are a great way of remember lists of information. Acronyms do this job very well.


What were the MAIN causes of World War I?


Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism


Conceivably, after teaching this acronym (and explaining/discussing the causes of the war in detail), a teacher could assign an essay test question such as: "Explain the main causes of World War I," knowing that students should have no trouble recalling what the main causes were.

Abigail Adams - Free Printable Quotation

Abigail Adams:

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence."

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Teacher Resources

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has online resources for teachers.

Today in History

A fun way to review historical events on a daily basis is by looking at today in history--the interesting and important events that occurred on this day in the past.

Today in History for the Month of April

Today in History by Month


Let's also not forget to start planning for next school year!

Our Graphic Organizers page has a printable weekly planner for the 2010-2011 school year.








Student Handouts

News for April, 2010

Spring break! This means enjoying a much needed rest. Unfortunately, it also means trying to get kids' minds back on school after they've enjoyed a taste of summer freedom.

The end of the year also means that Social Studies classes are slowly but surely catching up to current events. Thanks to the United States government's foreign outreach programs, we have a ton of printable readings with questions that can be used in American/U.S. History courses (or World History courses).

The complete list of American History readings can be found here (listed chronologically and divided into sections).

Here's a sampling:

The Native American Movement

Environmentalism

Nixon, Vietnam, and the Cold War

Conservatism and the Rise of Ronald Reagan

Panama and NAFTA

American Foreign Relations in the Clinton Years

The Presidential Election of 2000 and the War on Terror

Enjoy!