Just as there is a lid for every pot, there is a student activity for every popular Retro Report video. In the first half of 2025, thousands of teachers took advantage of our free student activities for social studies courses.  

Our activities are created and vetted by educators. They are available on Google Docs and are free to access with a Retro Report teacher account. Although the activities are ready to use, you can easily create a copy and make edits. 

Learn more about the five most-used student activities for social studies in the first half of 2025.

#5: The Berlin Airlift: Toast, Boast and Roast

The Toast, Boast and Roast section of this activity requires students to come up with a 60- to 90-second speech from the perspective of a historical figure or civilian who lived through the Berlin airlift. In addition, this activity prompts students to analyze primary sources and evaluate their knowledge of terms relating to Cold War history.

About the Author: Council of Educators member Chuck Taft is an American History teacher at the University School of Milwaukee. The Toast, Boast and Roast activity was inspired by Michael Matera and John Meehan, EMC2 Learning.

#4: The 1968 L.A. School Walkouts (Soc. St.)

This activity combines a K-W-L chart, Socratic seminar questions and primary source analysis to enable students to connect past and present, practice empathy and sharpen critical thinking skills. Use this resource when teaching about the Civil Rights movement or Hispanic Heritage Month.

About the Authors: David Morales is an award-winning educator from New Mexico. He was the 2015 Las Cruces Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year and the 2016 New Mexico Teacher of the Year. In 2017, he received the NEA-NM Award for Teaching Excellence.

Filiz Yargici is Retro Report’s Education Manager. Previously, she was a state education specialist in K-12 social studies education and taught high school social studies for nearly two decades.

#3: Examining Student Speech Rights

This activity helps students build knowledge about freedom of speech rights and complete a comprehensive analysis of selected Supreme Court cases. After watching the video and analyzing resources from the Freedom Forum, students are prompted to reflect on SCOTUS rulings and their own experiences in school. This is an excellent activity for any class looking at the First Amendment or the Civil Rights movement. 

About the Author: Ron DeGregorio is a Social Studies educator from Toledo, Ohio. He teaches 9th-grade American Government and 11th-12th-grade Law.

#2: Government and Politics FRQs 

These 21 Free Response Questions are being used in AP U.S. Government and Politics to give students practice for the AP exam. We offer FRQs across all four question types, including eight Concept Application questions and seven SCOTUS Comparison FRQs. They are each connected to a video in our AP. Gov collection. 

#1: Dictators and Civil Wars

This activity prompts students to analyze the revolutions, coups, and uprisings in Latin America during the Cold War that are discussed in the video, and correlate them with U.S. foreign policy. Students are asked to analyze an interactive map and identify parallels between Cold War events. This activity challenges the common misconception that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the only Cold War event of historical significance in Latin America.

About the Author: David Olson is the Director of Education for Retro Report. Prior to joining Retro Report, David was an award-winning teacher of U.S. History, A.P. U.S. Government and Politics and Criminal Justice at a public high school in Madison, Wisc.

Explore Retro Report’s library and find hundreds of social studies activities and resources that will bring history to life in your class. Create your free teacher account and join thousands of educators from across the country who are already using our videos and activities to increase engagement, spark discussion and foster critical thinking skills in the classroom.

ISADORA VAREJÃO is an engagement producer.

RELATED ARTICLES: