As a Social Studies and Reading teacher(who also happens to be an AVID book lover), I am always on the hunt for picture books that I can use to help teach content topics, introduce important people and events, and bring some joy and excitement to learning. That is why I am so excited about the following 4 books. I learned about most of these titles while I was at Nerd Camp this past summer and knew that they would be valuable stories for me to share with my students. The first is Unspoken by Henry Cole. Three major things make this book a must have. 1) The book has no words. The story is told strictly through the remarkable black and white illustrations. This also means that the students are encouraged to really pay attention to the details of the pictures and the sequencing of the illustrations in order to piece together the storyline. 2) The story offers a unique twist on the Underground Railroad. Instead of telling the story through the eyes of a ...
social studies
Encouraging Students to Take Action of Their Learning
It is not always easy teaching ELA and Social Studies in an hour and thirty minutes. In fact, I have had to get REALLY creative in figuring out how to blend it all together. It is also not always easy to make things that aren't interesting..."interesting" but, that doesn't mean it is impossible! In fact, it CAN be done, and one of the keys to making your classroom learning environment successful and engaging is by encouraging students to take control of their own learning experiences. I started by taking a lot of the weight off of my shoulders and encouraging my students to "take action" of their own learning. I realized that I needed to make sure that I was bringing high energy, rigorous, and relevant tasks to my students every.single.day even when the topics were not always exciting for every student. For example--5th grade students in the state of TN are required to know about Brooks' attack on Sumner. In 1856, when tensions between the North and South were higher than ...
