How do you know what to teach as a social studies teacher? Without grade level specific CCSS for this subject, planning your curriculum can really be a challenge. Many districts have their curriculum mapped out by grade. To get an idea about what this may look like, explore some of the following links. It may be helpful to familiarize yourself with what they are and how they are used in the schools around the area.
Appleton
Shell Lake
Bonduel
Rice Lake
Wittenberg-Birnamwood
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
CCSS Shifts
In my last post, I talked about the CCSS Literacy Standards for all subjects. There are six shifts
that the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) in ELA & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects require
of
us if we are to be
truly aligned with
the CCSS in terms of curricular materials
and classroom instruction. They include the following shifts in curriculum and teaching:
- Increase reading of informational text: to prepare students for reading in college and career-ready texts
- Text complexity: growth in text complexity of reading in the classroom through methods such as close reading more challenging material
- Academic vocabulary: helping students to understand the vocabulary knowledge that is required to be able to read and comprehend complex texts
- Text-based answers: teachers will need to expect answers that are supported by evidence in the text instead of solely on experience
- Increase writing from sources: using evidence to inform or make an argument that is a skill necessary for college
- Literacy instruction in all content areas: using domain-specific texts to support the literacy development of students
Literacy in All Subjects
Hello again! Did you know that there are CCSS specifically designed to integrate literacy across all school subjects? A huge shift in the CCSS is the push to increase literacy skills and activities, such as writing, reading, speaking, and listening, into subjects besides reading and language arts themselves. This will improve students' abilities and help them become better rounded students that are prepared for the literacy demands outside of school. There are literacy standards created for all grades throughout school. It is vital as an educator that we put these standards into our lesson plans and teach accordingly. To find out more visit the handbook for the CCSS- Literacy in All Subjects.
Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Social Studies
Hey there! Last week in class we took a look at the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Social Studies. So far there has not been a published Common Core set of standards for this subject, so as teachers we must still rely on the older Wisconsin standards. Unlike the CCSS, the Wisconsin standards are for what needs to be accomplished by 4th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade. Each grade has a topic of standards concerning geography, history, political science and citizenship, economics, and behavioral sciences. Here is some introduction about the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Social Studies from the DPI's website. Feel free to check out the website to take a look at the standards themselves!
Definition of Social Studies"Social studies" is the title used to describe the study of the social sciences and humanities. Within the curriculum, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study of information, skills, and concepts from the disciplines of history, geography, political science, economics, anthropology, psychology, law, archaeology, and sociology with attention also given to connections among the peoples and nations of the world, the effect of science and technology on society (and vice versa), and the ways to practice good citizenship. Social studies helps young people develop the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed and reasoned decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.
Knowledge and SkillsStudents at all levels should develop skills and understandings in all five strands found in the Wisconsin content standards for social studies. These skills and understandings are embedded in the performance standards. The curriculum in elementary and middle schools establishes the foundation for the entire social studies program. Without this foundation, students cannot develop the attitudes nor acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in a democratic society and understand an increasingly complex world. It is also important to recognize that the designated levels, by grade four, by grade eight, and by grade twelve, lead students to higher and deeper levels of knowledge and skills as they progress through school.
Connections in Social StudiesThe organization of these standards allows the social studies curriculum to be developed as separate disciplines or in an integrated course. In elementary, and middle and junior high schools, the five strands of social studies are usually integrated in a time during the day called "social studies." In high schools, the social studies courses are given names such as United States History, Geography, Global Studies, World History, Economics, Civics, Social Studies, Current Events, Sociology, Psychology, and so on. Courses with these names might include performance standards from one, several, or all of the social studies strands.
In order to ensure our survival as a free nation, students at all grade levels in Wisconsin are required to learn about the principles and ideals upon which the United States is founded and understand the world in which they live.
Definition of Social Studies"Social studies" is the title used to describe the study of the social sciences and humanities. Within the curriculum, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study of information, skills, and concepts from the disciplines of history, geography, political science, economics, anthropology, psychology, law, archaeology, and sociology with attention also given to connections among the peoples and nations of the world, the effect of science and technology on society (and vice versa), and the ways to practice good citizenship. Social studies helps young people develop the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed and reasoned decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.
Knowledge and SkillsStudents at all levels should develop skills and understandings in all five strands found in the Wisconsin content standards for social studies. These skills and understandings are embedded in the performance standards. The curriculum in elementary and middle schools establishes the foundation for the entire social studies program. Without this foundation, students cannot develop the attitudes nor acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in a democratic society and understand an increasingly complex world. It is also important to recognize that the designated levels, by grade four, by grade eight, and by grade twelve, lead students to higher and deeper levels of knowledge and skills as they progress through school.
Connections in Social StudiesThe organization of these standards allows the social studies curriculum to be developed as separate disciplines or in an integrated course. In elementary, and middle and junior high schools, the five strands of social studies are usually integrated in a time during the day called "social studies." In high schools, the social studies courses are given names such as United States History, Geography, Global Studies, World History, Economics, Civics, Social Studies, Current Events, Sociology, Psychology, and so on. Courses with these names might include performance standards from one, several, or all of the social studies strands.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Lesson Plan!
Great news! I just finished my lesson plan that corresponds with my social studies webquest that I posted earlier in March. Take a look to get a better understanding of how I would use my webquest in the classroom. Also, besides using Weebly to create the webquest itself, I also used Google docs to type up the lesson plan! Just another example of how web tools are great resources in education!
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Museum Box
Hello! This week I sharing a resource with you called Museum Box. This site provides the
tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or
historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example,
would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or
Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? What if you
lived during the English Civil War, what items would you include to make a case
for, or against, the parliamentarians? And what if you were an abolitionist and
wanted to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary, how would you create
your evidence? Museum box provides the tools for you to do just this. It allows
you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical
period by placing items in a virtual box. You can display anything from a text
file to a movie. You can also view the museum boxes submitted by other people
and comment on the contents. This resource could be used to have students in a social studies classroom research a person during history and create a museum box to show what they learned. It would be a fun way for students to display their knowledge about a topic and allows them to view and comment on their classmates' projects as well.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
iPad Apps for the Classroom
Hey there! This week I spent time researching different iPad apps that can be used in the social studies classroom! Technology is a an awesome way to get students involved and excited in social studies. I came across some fun, interactive, and educational apps that can be applied in the classroom in great ways. Here are a few of them that I really like! If you want to see more that I found, feel free to visit my wiki page!
2014 World Factbook
The complete CIA World Factbook at your fingertips, including extensive information on more than 250 countries and locations throughout the world. Whether you're an avid traveler, a busy student, or someone who just likes to stay informed, this is the app for you!
Stack The State Lite
Stack the States™ makes learning about the 50 states fun! Watch the states actually come to life in this colorful and dynamic game! As you learn state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, flags and more, you can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen. Carefully build a stack of states that reaches the checkered line to win each level.You earn a random state for every successfully completed level. All of your states appear on your own personalized map of the United States.
United States Puzzle Maps
Do you know USA map?Do you want to challenge the puzzle map with fun game?How about your kid?United States puzzle map game will help you to learn the map’s shape and name of every state. In main game, touch state map you can see the full name; You need to drag the state map to the correct position, when you drag all state maps to its position, you win. Trivia game is designed for you to memorize better the states’ map name and shape.
My Congress
MyCongress is a portal to detailed information about your elected U.S. Congressional officials. Track their news, video and Twitter feeds. Look up their official Open Congress profile or contact them directly. MyCongress helps you get in touch with your government.
Constitution for iPad
Senator Sam Ervin pulled one out of his pocket during the Watergate Hearings... Now prepare to own any legal debate with a copy of the US Constitution on your iPad!
Civil War America's Epic Struggle
CIVIL WAR: AMERICA'S EPIC STRUGGLE features over 1,000 high-resolution photos, more than an hour of multimedia presentations, in excess of 100 authentic maps, dozens of first-hand accounts, and numerous text articles and biographies. The program provides instantaneous access to information on every aspect of the Civil War. The app automatically optimizes images and text depending upon the display: iPad, Retina, or iPhone; portrait or landscape orientation. With 18 different easily navigable categories, CIVIL WAR: AMERICA'S EPIC STRUGGLE provides a moving experience of the history of the Civil War for both the casual browser and serious history buff. The zoomable black and white photographs are very high resolution and bring the text and narration to life. This reference work includes most of the notable photographs in the "Matthew Brady Collection." In addition, over 100 period maps illustrate the progress of various campaigns geographically.
2014 World Factbook
The complete CIA World Factbook at your fingertips, including extensive information on more than 250 countries and locations throughout the world. Whether you're an avid traveler, a busy student, or someone who just likes to stay informed, this is the app for you!Stack The State Lite
Stack the States™ makes learning about the 50 states fun! Watch the states actually come to life in this colorful and dynamic game! As you learn state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, flags and more, you can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen. Carefully build a stack of states that reaches the checkered line to win each level.You earn a random state for every successfully completed level. All of your states appear on your own personalized map of the United States.United States Puzzle Maps
Do you know USA map?Do you want to challenge the puzzle map with fun game?How about your kid?United States puzzle map game will help you to learn the map’s shape and name of every state. In main game, touch state map you can see the full name; You need to drag the state map to the correct position, when you drag all state maps to its position, you win. Trivia game is designed for you to memorize better the states’ map name and shape.
My Congress
MyCongress is a portal to detailed information about your elected U.S. Congressional officials. Track their news, video and Twitter feeds. Look up their official Open Congress profile or contact them directly. MyCongress helps you get in touch with your government.Constitution for iPad
Senator Sam Ervin pulled one out of his pocket during the Watergate Hearings... Now prepare to own any legal debate with a copy of the US Constitution on your iPad!
Civil War America's Epic Struggle
CIVIL WAR: AMERICA'S EPIC STRUGGLE features over 1,000 high-resolution photos, more than an hour of multimedia presentations, in excess of 100 authentic maps, dozens of first-hand accounts, and numerous text articles and biographies. The program provides instantaneous access to information on every aspect of the Civil War. The app automatically optimizes images and text depending upon the display: iPad, Retina, or iPhone; portrait or landscape orientation. With 18 different easily navigable categories, CIVIL WAR: AMERICA'S EPIC STRUGGLE provides a moving experience of the history of the Civil War for both the casual browser and serious history buff. The zoomable black and white photographs are very high resolution and bring the text and narration to life. This reference work includes most of the notable photographs in the "Matthew Brady Collection." In addition, over 100 period maps illustrate the progress of various campaigns geographically.
Monday, April 7, 2014
National Geographic for Kids
Hello! This week a great resource that I found was National Geographic for Kids online. There is a variety of resources on this website including educational games, videos, photos, information on animals and pets, news, and other fun topics. The resource that I love the most is the one about countries. Once you click on the countries tab you are able to pick which country you would like to learn more about. When you decide on which one to research, it provides you with a variety of kid friendly information referring to the geography, climate, history, people and culture, and government government of that country. All of this information is found under the facts and photos section of the country. Each country also has a video, map, e-card, and a print feature. I love the organization and language of National Geographic. It is informational while also being interesting. The print feature allows you to print off a kid-friendly version of the information if not all of your students have access to a computer in school or at home. It would be an awesome site for kids to use during a webquest or any project concerning a country!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Graphic Organizers
Hello everyone! This Monday I taught my lesson to the 6th graders at Sabish Middle School! Although I was nervous, it went perfect. I feel so relieved to have gotten that out of the way. My lesson focused on teaching sensory language and imagery through poetry. A large portion of it the students were using graphic organizers to put down their ideas in an orderly fashion. I found that these tools worked perfect in my lesson. They guided the students' writing and ideas and supported them as learners. So this week I am sharing the three graphic organizers that I used during my poetry and sensory language lesson. I also have found a ton of websites that have great graphic organizers that I may have never seen or used before. Some of them are even interactive because you can type on the organizer right on the website. Super cool! Graphic organizers can work great to guide learning in any subject!
Graphic Organizer 1: Students sorted the poem lines into the corresponding sensory boxes
Graphic Organizer 2: Students wrote down a line from the poem and then drew what they pictured when they read it
Graphic Organizer 3: Students created their own imagery, had a friend draw it using their description, and then they had the opportunity to revise it if needed to help their reader
Websites:
Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers
Houghton Miffliln Harcourt Education Place
Edhelper
TeacherVision
Graphic Organizer 1: Students sorted the poem lines into the corresponding sensory boxes
Graphic Organizer 2: Students wrote down a line from the poem and then drew what they pictured when they read it
Graphic Organizer 3: Students created their own imagery, had a friend draw it using their description, and then they had the opportunity to revise it if needed to help their reader
Websites:
Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers
Houghton Miffliln Harcourt Education Place
Edhelper
TeacherVision
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Web Tools
Hello! This past week I focused a lot on web tools to use in the classroom. I am sharing with you some of my favorite web tools that are easily applicable to many grades and subjects. These are all fairly easy to use and are extremely helpful. Go explore!
Glogster can be accessed on the web and can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. I have used it before to make an advertisement, a biography, picture collage, and an end of the unit project. Glogs are can be very helpful as you can add Youtube videos, sound, animations, pictures, text, and more to personalize it. They are fairly easy to use and are tons of fun to play around with. I will definitely consider asking my students to use Glogster for assignments similar to what I have done in the past.
Prezi is another free resource that is available on the web. This is a unique and creative way to present information for any subject as a summative project. Alike Glogster, you can also add Youtube videos, text, and photos to your Prezi. I personally never used this before college, but have since found it a valuable resource. I find it fun to personalize and entertaining to watch.
Educreations can be used to record someone writing and talking during a lesson. There is an iPad app available for this tool, or there is a website which has the same capabilities. Tools such as markers, backgrounds, and photos can be used to construct a lesson. The record button will record all activity on the app and one's voice. Once a lesson is completed it can be shared with students through the website, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, uploaded to Youtube or a web link. There is also access to lessons created by other teachers. These lessons can be downloaded and used in the classroom. It can also be helpful to record parts of a lesson for a student who may be absent.
Glogster can be accessed on the web and can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. I have used it before to make an advertisement, a biography, picture collage, and an end of the unit project. Glogs are can be very helpful as you can add Youtube videos, sound, animations, pictures, text, and more to personalize it. They are fairly easy to use and are tons of fun to play around with. I will definitely consider asking my students to use Glogster for assignments similar to what I have done in the past.
Prezi is another free resource that is available on the web. This is a unique and creative way to present information for any subject as a summative project. Alike Glogster, you can also add Youtube videos, text, and photos to your Prezi. I personally never used this before college, but have since found it a valuable resource. I find it fun to personalize and entertaining to watch.
Educreations can be used to record someone writing and talking during a lesson. There is an iPad app available for this tool, or there is a website which has the same capabilities. Tools such as markers, backgrounds, and photos can be used to construct a lesson. The record button will record all activity on the app and one's voice. Once a lesson is completed it can be shared with students through the website, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, uploaded to Youtube or a web link. There is also access to lessons created by other teachers. These lessons can be downloaded and used in the classroom. It can also be helpful to record parts of a lesson for a student who may be absent.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
My WebQuest
This past week I completed my social studies webquest. The purpose of the webquest is for students to research a state that they would want to convince their parents to take them to on a family vacation. They must learn about the capital, state bird, state flower, climate, tourist destinations, etc. The end project is to create a brochure that presents the information that they have found and entices their parents to the destination. For my website I used Weebly, which is an incredibly easy web tool to create your own websites. I highly recommend it! Explore both links!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
New Resources & Findings
While we were off of class this week, I spent some time looking for social studies resources that pertain to what I may be teaching in the future. I looked for where I can find lesson plan ideas, hands on projects, teaching materials, historical archives, and other teacher resources. Some of my past favorite websites with compiled subject ideas are Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. I also found a new great resource called Classroom Aid.
Pinterest is a popular form of social media which is comprised of "pinning" ideas to save to use that may interest you for future use. On this site you can search specifically for ideas/pins or even follow others who pin similar ideas that you like. There are endless ideas!
Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where teachers upload various teaching tools they have created for others to download. They are sorted according to price, grade, and subject. There are plenty of free social studies mini-lessons, projects, units, etc. It is great to find resources made by real teachers since it can give you new perspectives and ideas, and it may be more effective if it has been used in the classroom before.
A new website that I found is called Classroom Aid . This website has links to many other websites that have library archives, interactive maps, documentaries, teacher blogs, and social studies games. Check it out!
Pinterest is a popular form of social media which is comprised of "pinning" ideas to save to use that may interest you for future use. On this site you can search specifically for ideas/pins or even follow others who pin similar ideas that you like. There are endless ideas!
Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where teachers upload various teaching tools they have created for others to download. They are sorted according to price, grade, and subject. There are plenty of free social studies mini-lessons, projects, units, etc. It is great to find resources made by real teachers since it can give you new perspectives and ideas, and it may be more effective if it has been used in the classroom before.
A new website that I found is called Classroom Aid . This website has links to many other websites that have library archives, interactive maps, documentaries, teacher blogs, and social studies games. Check it out!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
WebQuests
Hello! This week I am working on researching about webquests to use in the classroom! A webquest is a form of project-learning. Teachers create a webquest for their students to work on independently during class at their own pace. They are hosted on a website for students to access. Each webquest includes an introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, and conclusion. The students read through the assignment and do their research using preapproved websites. They then create a project to show what they learned at the end. The more I learn about webquests, the more versatile I realize they are. Webquests can be a fun way for students to learn just about any subject! Keep an eye out for my webquest in the next couple weeks!
Want to learn more? Click here for an article that further explains webquests.
Here are some helpful resources that have sample webquests...
Want to learn more? Click here for an article that further explains webquests.
Here are some helpful resources that have sample webquests...
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Symbaloo
This week we learned about a new web tool called Symbaloo! Symbaloo is an easy way to save, organize, and access important bookmarks on the web. It is easy to add new icons for websites that are helpful and commonly used. An account comes with a "home mix" of your top picks and then you can follow other mixes that may be useful as well. My Symbaloo includes various education tools as well as specific Social Studies links to use in the future! Check it out!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
The Benefits of Blogging in the Classroom
Blogs can be used in a variety of ways in a school setting including...
~ for discussion between students and teachers
~ present projects to others
~ embed photos, videos, presentations, etc. to share resources
~ as a newsletter to update parents about what is going on in the classroom
Blogs fit into the curriculum of many subjects because they are a great use of technology and can be used to publish a variety of projects for students to share between each other to enhance learning. One example of the use of a blog would be if students were studying different countries in Social Studies. I would have my students each create a blog to have a journal to share with their classmates. The students could journal as if they were in their assigned country and say what foods they eat, what hobbies they have, where they go, activities they do, and more to share the culture of their country in a unique way. They could also embed pictures from the country, short videos, or songs from their country.
The purposes of blogging include publishing works and sharing resources with others in a new way that is accessible to students wherever there is a computer, inside or out of the classroom. Students are able to save their work as it is in progress in the cloud and then share it with everyone when they are finished.
~ for discussion between students and teachers
~ present projects to others
~ embed photos, videos, presentations, etc. to share resources
~ as a newsletter to update parents about what is going on in the classroom
Blogs fit into the curriculum of many subjects because they are a great use of technology and can be used to publish a variety of projects for students to share between each other to enhance learning. One example of the use of a blog would be if students were studying different countries in Social Studies. I would have my students each create a blog to have a journal to share with their classmates. The students could journal as if they were in their assigned country and say what foods they eat, what hobbies they have, where they go, activities they do, and more to share the culture of their country in a unique way. They could also embed pictures from the country, short videos, or songs from their country.
The purposes of blogging include publishing works and sharing resources with others in a new way that is accessible to students wherever there is a computer, inside or out of the classroom. Students are able to save their work as it is in progress in the cloud and then share it with everyone when they are finished.
New Beginnings
Welcome to my blog! I am currently going to college to become a teacher. For this class I am learning about and discovering new methods to teach Social Studies in the classroom. I will use this blog to post my new discoveries that I think will be helpful in my future teaching career! I am excited to learn different ways to incorporate technology into teaching Social Studies someday.
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