(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
Seeking a way to have your upper elementary students practice current events? This blog post shares a freebie and a strategy for exploring current events.
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
Today I thought I’d share a strategy I use to help my students communicate their thinking during the inquiry process. See, Think, Wonder is a thinking routine I use with my students to help t…
Grab our free social studies curriculum planner! This will help you determine when to teach a new concept and topic throughout the year.
A few years ago (when I was teaching third grade) our state standards for Science and Social Studies both included landforms. It didn't take long for me to have tons of landform activities since we had to hit those standards with two subjects. At that time we also had a basal reading series that
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
One of the largest problems that I have to solve each year in my classroom is how to teach social studies. We are given very little resources for social studies and no time in our schedule!!!! How about you? Last year I decided to really focus on how to integrate social studies into our day, teach the students the best lessons available and appease the powers that be as best I could. The first task was to find books that I could build a social studies library with. While I can't afford every book in this post, I tried to focus on a few key ones and check the rest out from the library when needed. If one can be addicted to books then I'm certainly addicted to True Books. They are perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade. The students are drawn to the vivid photographs making them a hit for everyone. I purchased one from every native American region for my students to read. If you are interested, try to purchase them used on Amazon. Prime members get some used books shipped for free. Each book ran around $4 with library binding. That's right library binding. They are sure to last a long time. Most of them look brand new. If they didn't look brand new they had just a bit of wear. Only having one book for students is an issue. To overcome this we split the class into groups and have each one study a tribe. We then came together and debrief with classroom conversation and show projects that we have worked on. Samuel Eaton and Sarah Morton are always a hit with students. The vivid photographs capture their attention. "The Thirteen Colonies"s is a great book, but not as captivating as Samuel and Sarah. I haven't purchased "Land of the Pilgrims' Pride" with Ellis the elephant, but it's next on my list. If you have it would you please leave a comment on how you like it? "The Name Jar" and "Grandfather's Journey" are both great books that tell stories of immigration. I have a feeling I'll be collecting the entire collection of Ellis the Elephant books this year. "How to Behave and Why" is a fabulous book that explains why we follow rules. It's not fancy, but it does a great job of explaining the content. The biography books by Meltzer do a nice job of showing contributions by exceptional citizens. There is a whole series so you could pick one near and dear to you. Finding the perfect book on economics for children is an arduous task!!!! The books on the bottom row have the exact content to teach students. They are written on a lower level, but sometimes it's nice to have a quick read that does the job. Have you found a book on mapping that you can't live without? This is a tough subject to write on. I used "Mapping Penny's World" and "Follow That Map!" last year. They got the job done. If I had to have one book with symbols, "America" is a good one. It has a lot of nice illustrations that show symbols. It's hard to suggest culture books when there are so many. I try to focus on informational text that engages students and explains the basics of the culture. We didn't have enough time in our school year to study a meaningful amount of cultures last year so we came up with a plan. My grade level held a culture fair. Each class studied a different country. The students then got to rotate through the classes to learn about different ones. It was a great way to increase learning and engagement within a short time span. Aside from finding books to use I also had to write lessons that ran about 20 minutes each. We needed to have materials that were hands-on, engaging and explicit. I worked all year to develop lesson suggestions and materials that fit my student's needs and helped them to master the content. If you don't have time to do this, you can click on the link below to visit my store and materials.
Get this activity HERE! CHECK OUT MY ENTIRE INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK HERE!!! This interactive notebook activity gave me some heartache trying to figure out the exact sizes the continents need to be, the best order to glue everything down, what kind of glue to use.... it has been a mess. BUT! I finally figured it out to make a 3 day or 3 part interactive notebook activity of the world and different features! WORLD ACTIVITY HAS: the continents, the prime meridian, equator, tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and circles of Antarctica and Arctic. ALONG WITH: making a key, a compass rose, longitude and latitude, and hemispheres. ALSO INCLUDES: a flip book of definitions the students create to go along with their world inside their interactive notebook. Supplies you will need: Each student gets 1 piece of blue construction paper They will also need a copy of the continents, key and flip book found HERE! You will also need 6 (SIX) different colors of yarn or curling ribbon. (I found that the ribbon works much better than the yarn because it is thick and can be glued down easier) Each student will also need map pencils, scissors and glue. For me, this will be a 3-4 day activity. I only have 45 minutes with each class so I need to break it up, but it can be done in one day, with drying time allowed. **note** I will be teaching each section in some format before it is done in their interactive notebooks. I will introduce and explain each map term using prezi, brainpop, flipcharts or videos, then the students will fill in their flip book and world accordingly. --------------------------- DAY /PART ONE: First they cut out their flip book. I tell them it is creates a "hula skirt". They apply glue behind where it says "parts of a map" so that the hula skirt strips can still be lifted up. Then give each student a piece of blue construction paper. They should fold this in half, longitude way (hamburger, not hot dog) Then using the scissors they need to round off the corners so that you get this: The edges should be nice and rounded. Have students fold this back up in half twice. When opened it should make a + going longitude and latitude in the middle. Thirdly After teaching to the students what longitude and latitude is, and the main named lines on the globe (equator, prime meridian, tropic of Cancer, tropic of Capricorn, Antarctic circle, and Arctic circle) Students will fill out the definitions of the first 8 flaps in their flap book independently, with partners, or as a whole class. You can fill out all the definitions at once, but I am breaking it up with the world map and doing just the first longitude and latitude map lines. Next you will pass out 6 different colors of curling ribbon or yarn. I will precut mine but the kids can cut them themselves. (I am on a time crunch and every minute is needed!) The students will glue down the ribbons/yarn to make the longitude and latitude lines they just learned about. I did the longitude and latitude lines first since they are dead center. Followed by the tropics lines about 3 thumb widths away from the equator line. Then lastly the arctic circle lines about 2 thumb widths down from the top and bottom. LET DRY. This will end my day one, but if you are self contained or have longer than 45 minutes, you can set this aside and move onto the next part. why am I not starting with the continents first? These longitude and latitude lines create a grid for us to use to guide us where exactly to glue down the continents in the next part. For example, the Tropic of Capricorn cuts Australia in half and the top of Africa is above the Tropic of Cancer. This is an example of the activity when I put the continents down first, then the longitude and latitude lines. The lines in my activity don't fall where they are suppose to. It is easier and more accurate to do the longitude and latitude lines first. DAY/PART TWO: First After teaching the students about what continents and the oceans are, have them fill out the definitions in their flip book. Secondly Give each student a copy of the continents and labels page found HERE! Have students use the map pencils to color each continent and the label, matching them correctly. Next cut out all the parts. Using the longitude and latitude lines we glued down earlier, students will glue the continents down where they are suppose to go. Also glue down the ocean labels. This can be guided or independent. I am going to have my students use an atlas to determine where each continent is suppose to be glued down at. LET DRY. After it is dry, students fold it in half, and glue the back of one side down into their interactive notebook. The key and compass rose is glued down on the other folded side. **I wait until this part to glue it down and not at the beginning just in case a student makes a mistake and needs to start over they can without tearing the page out** DAY/PART THREE: First After teaching about what a map key, the world hemispheres and compass rose are, have students fill out the last 3 definitions in their flip book. Then give students the final page with the hemispheres, map key and compass rose. Pass out strips of the color ribbons for them to create their key. They shade in the 4 examples of the hemispheres and glue down the compass rose in the corner. AND WAH-LA! You have an AMAZING world map along with the definitions of all the map parts!! Here it is with the map closed. What it looks like with the map opened. HAPPY TEACHING FRIENDS!! get your curling ribbon at AMAZON!
I posted about how I use themes in my classroom a few years back and I thought I'd share here, because I still get questions about how I could possibly use themes and still hit the Common Core. I'm here to tell you, it's very possible! The pictures below will show our two week theme of Pirates! I often use whatever I need to cover in our Science or Social Studies standards to help me choose my themes. In this case we had to cover map skills and I knew treasure maps would be the best way to engage my students in this standard. Most of our days were filled with pirates and we hit a more Common Core standards than I can count. Themes help me make the standards exciting and also make everything flow and make sense to my little people. So I thought I'd show you how a little of what we covered during our pirate through our theme. Every week we start our morning with our morning message. As you may know from reading my blog, I use the same message all week. We change the date each day and work on different skills. On Mondays we fix mistakes and fill in blanks, we also do things like finding words with long and short vowels, inflectional endings, multiple meaning words and parts of speech. I also talk about contractions, lots of language and writing standards as well. After morning message we move on to our poem. I wrote a poem about being a pirate. On day one we just read the new poem and discuss its meaning. Other days we use our pocket chart highlighters to work on language and phonics skills. We might find parts of speech, look for words with short or long vowels, find digraphs, rhyming words, sight words...the possibilities are endless. Again, our poem always matches our theme for the week. Each week I choose a book that matches our theme. I love the book How I Became a Pirate so I knew it would be perfect for covering lots of first grade reading literature and language standards. During this week we covered questioning, retelling with details from the story, character traits and details that support those traits, point of view, and main idea. In writing we were working on opinion. I don't usually theme my writing, as we use Writer's Workshop, but because we are currently working on opinion writing and because using literature to respond with an opinion is important, I thought we'd begin with their opinion of being a pirate. On day one we just talked about facts and opinions. I gave my kiddos all sorts of choices and they worked with a parter to state their opinion and reasons why the preferred on thing to another. On day two we created a Pros and Cons list of being a pirate. Then my students used their lists of pros and cons to fill in a graphic organizer. Finally they used that organizer to write their final piece. During Social Studies we were coving map skills. During this time students made compasses, read maps, and even created their own. My Centers at the end of the day also follow our theme for the week. Here are a few pictures of our centers. Of course, while my kiddos are reviewing Common Core standards through centers, I am meeting with guided reading groups. Below is a picture of one of my sweeties with their poetry center. Another student is working on verb tenses in a little pirate sort. We were also working on adding three numbers with sums to 25 and a pirate book centers where students practiced vocabulary by inserting the proper synonym for the bold word. In addition, on Fridays I try to fit in a fun writing activity with craft. I hope it gave you a little peek at what goes on in our room and proved that themes aren't just fluff. They make sense to kids, they're fun and they get the job done. PS. Lots of people have asked if I would create a list of my themes. Here are list of my themes for the year. I have also made the pink titles clickable and they link to the resource I use for each unit. Thanks for reading friends! Michelle Oakes
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
Take a look at all the great activities happening in my classroom this week. The kids are having so much fun!
Hi, it's Cathy from Cathy Collier's The W.I.S.E. Owl. I've told you in the past I am a Reading Specialist from a K-2 school AND my school has half-day kindergarten. That's right...3 hours to get it all done. "How?" you might ask. Well, we can never teach 1 thing at a time in isolation. It all has to integrated. I've told you in the past I am a Reading Specialist from a K-2 school. At my previous K-2 school, we had half-day kindergarten. That's right...3 hours to get it all done. "How?" you might ask. Well, we never taught one thing at a time, in isolation. It all had to be integrated. Here are eight examples of how we integrated the social studies standard of Maps and Globes into our day. 1. Integrating Maps and Globes into Read Alouds I am not going to lie...I love this activity. To take them around the world in through books was really fun. We had a map of all seven continents on the bulletin board and each day we read a book set in a different continent. We can look at the different environments through the books making special notice of the clothes, the weather, the animals, you get the idea. Here are my list of favorites North America - Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse South America - "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth by Eric Carle Europe - Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola Africa - Where Are You Going, Manyoni, by Catherine Stock Asia - Daisy Comes Home, by Jan Brett Oceania - Koala Lou, by Mem Fox Antartica - Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice, by Steve Metzger 2. Poem of the Week about Maps First, the Shared Reading poem of the week is called Maps. The poem is read each day with a different emphasis. Students begin by echoing one line at a time, then by the end of the week they are choral reading. Lessons throughout the week include: 1-to-1 voice to word match, rhyming words, word families, vocabulary, punctuation, fluency, and comprehension. Most poems can also answer most of the questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how questions. 3. Integrating Math with Globes Before telling your students there is more water than land on the earth...throw a ball at them. (HEHE) When my oldest was born a friend gave me a stuffed model of the earth. I kept it in his room for years then I moved it to my classroom. I explain to students that I will throw the ball at them, and when they catch it they need to look at their thumbs. Are their thumbs on water or land? We tally their thumbs. This tally chart becomes an anchor chart in the room. Typically, the ratio of water to land will come through in their catch. After we catch the ball and tally, we analyze the data. We come to the conclusion there is more water than land on the earth. Learning by discovery is powerful. To get an earth ball, click the link. (This is not an affiliate link, I just like the activity.) 4. Maps and Globes While Using Pre-Writes Another anchor chart which distinguishes map features is a sorting map, specifically land features v. water features. AFTER making the anchor chart, make them use it. The following week, add the anchor chart and a student chart to the Social Studies Center and have them recreate the sort. Add the anchor chart to a Writing Center and ask students to write a sentence with one land feature and one sentence with a water feature. Add the Anchor Chart to a Book Making Center and ask students to choose either column to write a book with one detail on each page. 5. Integrate Maps and Globes into Independent Writing Ask students to use the 4 squares about maps and globes to write 4 sentences on a topic. The topic is always in the center of the map, with four details relating to the topic in each box. Early writers can write four sentences with a predictable text (I like the, I see the, Look at the, etc). For more advanced writers, several sentences can be written about each square on the pre-write grid. For a complete blog post about 4 squares, check out Four Square, The Right Way. 6. Reading Strategies with Maps and Globes Students can easily be asked to compare and contrast items on and about maps and globes. Once students sort for individual assets and common assets, they can write about the sort. Students can distinguish between a map and a globe. This is a perfect hands-on exploration activity. Give the students maps (you can get some from AAA for free) and a variety of globes (I love looking for these at thrift shops). Oriental Trading offers a dozen blow-up globes for $13.99. They can see the differences. Making a T-chart is a natural progression. I have also cut a blow-up globe to show students how they can lay flat and show the whole earth. 7. Poetry Center with Map Poem The week AFTER the poem is introduced to the class, the poem is moved to the poetry center. This is a process center, meaning the product might change each week (poem), but the process remains the same. A process center creates independent success. During the first semester, students are asked to circle the word wall words and color the circles with a "light" color, like yellow. The second semester, they are asked to complete the poem with word wall words. Every week, students are also asked to illustrate the poems. 8. Making Maps and Globes in the Art Center Like the Poetry Center, the poem is put in the Art Center, the week AFTER the it's taught. Giving them 4 strips of black construction paper, a piece of chalk, and a map key, students can make a map drawing dotted lines on the black strips for roads. They can also be given a paper plate, a black triangle, and a black outline of the earth to make a globe. Coloring the outline of the paper plate, coloring and glueing the copy of the earth, and adding the triangle as a base creates a great globe. Anyone who teaches half-day kindergarten can tell you, keeping all our skills separate isn't the way to get it all done. Integration is the only way to expose students to all the standards. If you would like a small sample of the activities listed here, click the Integrating Maps and Globes FREEBIE here. You may also be interested in these other posts: The CENTER of the Literacy Block, all about centers in Kindergarten Integrating Math into Writing Adds Up to Student Success, for integrating ideas. This site contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links.
This map activities pack includes 28 thoughtfully designed printables to engage your students while they learn basic map concepts, including types of maps, cardinal directions, intermediate directions, using scale, and using grid maps. You’ll find these ready-to-use pages to be easy to implement and thorough in scope. This resource includes opportunities for your students to acquire information from a variety of maps, to use map elements including the compass rose and scale, and to create their own maps within a defined, simple set of directions. There’s just enough room for creativity and active engagement to make map skills fun! Included in this pack: • Different Types of Maps - Reading Passage: Different Kinds of Maps - Using Political, Physical, Resource, Climate, and Road Maps - Cut & Paste: Different Kinds of Maps (2 sorts) • Using Cardinal Directions - using cardinal directions on a variety of map types • Using Intermediate Directions - - using intermediate directions on a variety of map types • Using Grid Maps - using a letter/number grid system to determine location • Using Scale - using inch-to-feet and inch-to-miles scales to determine distances on a variety of maps Please see the PREVIEW above for a closer look! •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• You may also be interested in these science and social studies resources: Human Body: Life-Size Model & Lapbook Bundle Ellis Island and Immigration Unit: Coming to America in the Early 1900's Biography Lapbook U.S. Presidential Elections ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
FREE geography matching activity with the 7 continents of the world. Perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten to introduce the continents.
Students can travel across the globe without leaving the classroom. Check out these fun geography lessons for any grade and curriculum.
Orient young students to the world around them with this Beginning Geography workbook designed for grades K-2. Workbook pages teach children about map skills, directions, map keys, landforms, bodies of water, oceans, lakes, parts of a river, oceans, continents, and other types of maps. Map work, cut-out puzzles, mini-books, worksheets, and review-assessments provide a variety of engaging activities. Two full-color, glossy, fold-out posters included. Answer key provided with reduced student pages and overlaid answers. 112 reproducible pages, softcover. Grades K-2.
Check out these amazing treasure maps! If the mermaid doesn't get you the sea monster will! For more action, adventure, danger, and of course riches. Click read more below. We got a little confused with the Compass rose but the three headed monster is rad! Welcome to "Twirly Whirly Island". Great details, I love the map key! "Thunder Kingdom" And finally the most dangerous Island of them all the "Island of Lost Dreams"
Social Studies Interactive Notebook - 3-5 Bundle Teach students about standards Grade 3-5 including Parthenon and the Supreme Court, Branches of Government, Indians, Constitution, Major Events Leading to the War, Gettysburg, Fort Sumter, and so much more. Dive right into social studies with these fu...
At the beginning of the school year, the first unit that I always teach in social studies is civics (since it goes hand-in-hand with discussing how to be a respectful classroom member), then map skills. My students LOVE map skills, and I can see why. It is pretty great as a kid to suddenly see […]
