Discuss effective strategies for the integration of social studies that you have observed in your field placement classroom. How might you employ these curriculum strategies in your own classroom?
Today my co-op did a review of the continents using a powerpoint and the smart board. He had the students come up and touch ___________ continent. If they got it right their was a screen that said GREAT JOB. It was a great way to keep the kids physically and mentally engaged. My co-op also talks about the ideas of respect and good citizenship throughout the day as an opportunity presents itself. I like how my co-op uses technology in his teaching especially the interactive smart board. I also appreciate that citizenship is never taught as a "lesson/topic" per se but is integrated into everyday functioning in the classroom.
Day 2 Seeing as my class gets a Social Studies lesson all to itself, I do not see much integration of the subject into math or reading. In my own classroom I may not be as lucky to have a social studies time slot, so I would use strategies such as writing a research paper as a class about a SS topic, looking at how other civilizations did math, present culture by learning other languages, talk about economics while we learn money, and make as many of these as possible authentic activities.
Today the students learned the cardinal points as they were working on maps. My co-op had each word (North, South, East, and West) written on an index card that was taped onto a popsicle stick. After reviewing these terms she passed out the cards randomly and asked the student who received North to go pick a spot in the room. The children with the other index cards had to then arrange themselves around the room in the correct order. Then they gave the cards to the students who were sitting down and the new student with North had to start from a different side of the room. This continued until each student had an opportunity. I thought this was a great way to engage the students and get them active in their learning. There has not been a lot of social studies incorporated throughout the day because most of their other subjects are scripted in lesson books. The only integration that I have seen so far is writing. In my own classroom I will attempt to incorporate social studies into other activities by possibly reading books that deal with history. My co-op has assigned each student a date to be the student of the day and bring in a current event and answer questions to prepare a summary for the class. I think this is a great way for students to get involved with what is happening in the world around them and can also be a great way to incorporate other subjects into the lessons.
Unlike Kyra and Lorin's placement, my fourth graders did not have any particular lesson on social studies today. During today's writing, however, my co-op wrote her "setting" summary about her trip back home to Puerto Rico. She used information this trip to scaffold brainstorming techniques, and used details to describe to the kids what she saw (beaches, palm trees, blue water) and how it felt (the ocean's breeze, sand). In addition, she described the unique look and sound of a particular type of frog that is native to Puerto Rico, known as the coqui. I thought this was an intersting way to integrate culture. All of the kids were very interested in hearing about the frog.
In my own classroom, I would probably try to employ a lot of writing and social studies integration lessons. I like how writing naturally encourages children to open up about their thoughts and background. I would like my class to not only learn about the topics we discuss, but also reflect put themselves into the shoes of the individuals we study. On a different note, I also agree with what was said earlier about integrating concepts such as citizenship on a daily basis. I plan to have qualities of being a good citizenship embedded into my classroom management, and promote respect, responsibility, and justice.
Today, I did not have the pleasure of seeing social studies because a guidance lesson was in place of that. This is the second time that social studies has been replaced due to testing and guidance. However, I did ask Mrs. Robinson about social studies and she said that it is not integrated through anything, but she incorporates writing into it. Lately, she has been teaching her students about the constitution. She had them write about about "We the People", the book she read to them. Besides asking about that I do not have much else to say because I have not seen it. When I am teaching social studies, I hope to have it as its own subject. I want to get the students involved in wanting to learn about social studies. I would incorporate every aspect of curriculum strategies into my classroom to mix around the activity or lesson for what may be taught. I agree with Lauren about having the students "put themselves into the shoes of the individuals we study" that is exactly how I want my students to learn.
I have not seen much integration of social studies in my first grade class. Last week, I did not see any but luckily this week I saw one lesson on it. During the stations, students read a book with me called "What is a Pal" by Nina Crews. This book discusses social skills such as friendliness to pals. This teaches students how to be good citizens. It also teaches them on how to be respectful towards others. There were no other integration lessons on social studies today, but I asked my co-op other lessons that she teaches based on integration. She told me that the lessons focus on firefighters, different jobs, how to act in a community, and holidays.
In my own first grade classroom, I would choose books on how to be respectful, kind, and how to be a good citizen. After reading the books, students could draw ways to be a good citizen. I would also introduce books on holidays such as Labor Day. During this activity, I would read a book and then divide students into different jobs. The students would be expected to role play their jobs with their partners in order to learn about how to be a good citizen and understand how much sacrifice people have to do to earn a living.
My field placement portrays to Lorin's in a way because my co-op focuses books on how to be respectful and how to be a good citizen.
Day 2 in 4th grade- Today I did not observe any social studies. I spoke to my co-op about this and she explained that the 4th grade teachers are working on a 9 week schedule. This means that they teach science for nine weeks and then social studies for another nine weeks. The nine weeks i am there they will be teaching science. So sadly, I will not be able to see any social studies taught on its own. Last week I did see the students do (if it even counts) social studies during english. The students had to answer questions on a worksheet about Flordia, highways and city locations. I do not believe that this was honest social studies because students really just had to look at a map and answer questions. Not much was taught and the questions were very very easy. I am hoping that in my own classroom, I will be able to incorporate atleast basic social studies into everyday lessons (examples: what it takes to be a good citizen, what it means to live in America, and other facts that all students should know)
My co-op has not implemented a lot of social studies into the lessons yet. She does emphasize to the students though that it is very important to be good citizens and respect one another. Today she read a book about not interrupting other when they are speaking, especially adults. Recently there has been a lot of emphasis on respecting authority. Also, in the classroom, she does have the cardinal directions on the lights hung in the middle of the classroom. Therefore, the students can see north, south, east and west in relationship to their classroom. My co-op said that she does try her hardest to include social studies in her lessons when it is applicable. There are no standards for social studies for 2nd grade, so the whole second grade does not get a special spot in the schedule. Hopefully though, during the course of the semester I will see more integration of social studies.
In my classroom, I want to be teaching at a higher grade, therefore I hope that integrating social studies into my lessons will be more prevalent and not pushed to the side because social studies is important for students to learn too. I want to be able to take advantage of teachable moments of social studies throughout the day like my co-op does do. My co-op did say that some of the students writing will be related to social studies, which is also what I hope to do in my own classroom one day. I want to be able to integrate it with other subject areas as well.
Social studies was very brief today due to DIBLES testing that the students had to participate in. With all of the assessments and testing that the students have to do the first few weeks of school a lot of the subject areas have to get shortened to make room for them. I was happy to see though that my co-op was able to get a little bit of social studies curriculum in to today's class.
During social studies the students were making American flags to go with their letters that they were writing for the soldiers in Iraq. This activity was part of the unit on war that the students have been working on for the last two weeks. The flags were made out of tissue paper that was stuck on laminated paper. While the students were working on their flags my co-op explained what the strips and stars stood for on the flags. I thought this was a great way to integrate social studies with art. Having the students learn about the parts of the flags and their meanings made this activity more than just a simple art project with really no social studies content integrated into it. Also writing letters to the soldiers is a great way to integrate writing with social studies. I think it is extremely important to inform the students on the war, since it is currently taking place.
In my classroom I am hoping to give equal attention to all of the major subject areas, as well as using integration as a useful strategy. I am hoping to integrate several subjects with social studies, but not limiting it to just writing and art. I am hoping to integrate social studies with science and math as much as I can into my classroom. Economics is a great opportunity for me to integrate social studies with math. The art project that my co-op did was something that I might definitely use in my classroom to integrate social studies with art. Students usually really enjoy art, so I am hoping to integrate art with all subject areas in my classroom.
Overall, I really enjoyed my field placement this week. My co-op let me know that when assessments and testing are over she will let me teach part of a social studies unit. I am looking forward to teaching social studies, as well as learning more strategies for integrating social studies with other subject areas.
Today I saw a couple ways Mrs. Curtin integrated social studies into the rest of the school day. Since tomorrow is constitution day, Mrs. Curtin gave the students a constitution packet with activities earlier this week. The students used this packet for a writing and spelling lesson. There was also a worksheet that integrated social studies into math. It was a math worksheet where the answers went along with the information about the constitution. Also Mrs. Curtin made the question of the day a social studies question. She asked the students what country is to the north of the United States. I thought this was a good question because it included the cardinal directions, as well as geography. I think tomorrow's question is what country is to the south of the United States. The students also have a class period of social studies every other day. I like Mrs. Curtin's question of the day idea, and I think that it is a good way to integrate other curriculum that the students might not see otherwise. I realize this isn't very much, but its better then nothing. I also liked the constitution day packet because it is something they celebrate throughout the school and it is information they should know.
Today Mrs. Pericci was absent so social studies (as well as the rest of the day) was a little different than usual. The substitute did teach social studies, however it was not integrated into other subjects and other subjects were not integrated integrated into it. The class had finished the chapter yesterday, so today the substitute had a discussion with the class asking them the major comprehension questions at the end of each section. I thought it was important to discuss these questions because they did provide a great overview of the topics learned, however the students were not involved enough in the discussion and were not particularly paying attention. After the discussion we played a game, sort of like tic-tac-toe, with vocabulary words from the chapter. The class was really into the game and excited to be playing but I don't think the game was really testing their knowledge to see what definitions and concepts they actually remembered. The class took it as more of a race, and just looked up the definitions in the chapter to make sure they got the right one, and quickly.
I recognize that the substitute was doing the best she could, with the materials she had, but I feel I would have ran this lesson a little differently. The unit was on the community: including the mayor, tax, voting, law, etc. I think that I would have had the students do some type of simple creative writing activity such as writing a letter to the mayor involving something about the community. This also could have been explored more by connecting it to the students' actually communities which would have really helped them to understand the concepts and keep them involved in the lesson.
I hope that next time I am there I will see a better representation of social studies in the classroom along with integration into other subjects such as language arts.
Day 2 in Mrs. Rights' 3rd Grade Class: I feel I have been placed with a co-op that uses every moment as a teachable moment. On this particular day I saw Social Studies taught through both integration and as a subject all its own. Since the beginning, I have observed that Mrs. Rights has treated her classroom as a community, thus providing her students with techniques on how to be a good "citizen" everyday in this school community. She has developed a classroom based around respect, responsibility, and safety (the students even have a "Falcon Book" in which they receive check marks when they demonstrate these characteristics in the classroom). Although, Mrs. Rights is moving towards a "formal" community lesson she has exposed the characteristics of a good citizen since the beginning of the school year. I also saw Social Studies integrated in the writing lesson when the students where learning how to write descriptive sentences. Mrs. Rights demonstrated the use of descriptive words through an explanation about her summer vacation; which included her pulling down a big map of the US and tracing her route through various states Through this writing lesson, students were exposed to geography concepts including the cardinal points (north, east, west, and south), and the placement of states on the US map. I also saw Social Studies integrated into the reading lesson. The students have been reading a historical fiction story; therefore they discussed past lifestyles that were different then their lifestyles today. Finally, during the social studies timeslot the students did an activity that allowed them to visualize the relationship of their school to the whole world. They went from looking at the galaxy as a whole to zeroing in on their individual school.
On this particular day I observed multiple strategies that I want to use in my future classroom. I completely agree with Leigh that I want "to be able to take advantage of teachable moments of Social Studies throughout the day". I feel that using visuals and engaging activities (such as songs, globes, maps, interactive worksheets) will keep students attention and thus prevent straight memorization of facts. Also, relating the lesson to real life situations (such as describing a vacation and geography when teaching descriptive words) and developing general/ daily classroom rules and standards are valuable strategies. Finally, like Audra I want to take advantage of school celebrations (such as Constitution Day) that relate to Social Studies.
My main goal is to teach students Social Studies throughout various subjects; I want to integrate Social Studies concepts in way that makes learning Social Studies concepts less intimidating.
Today, my class had a social studies lesson on the seven continents and where they were located. They also cut apart a worksheet and had to glue it back together which integrated some art. I did not see any other social studies integration in any other subject areas because social studies had its designated time slot and the rest of the day was packed with other lessons. Social studies and science are always the subjects that have a time slot, but get pushed to the way side first because my co-op told me they were never given materials to teach with. She said they have to find their own activities that go along with the standards and so the lessons are always shorter. I didn't think this was a major problem because they would finally have the time to be creative and do their own activities. Also, I think integrating social studies into other lessons is extra critical now, since it is already being cut short. My co-op should use every chance in other lessons to bring social studies into it. In my future classroom, I believe I will like the opportunity to break away from a scripted curriculum and create my own activities if specific ones are not given to me for social studies. Being a teacher is all about being creative and having some freedom opens up many opportunities to make learning interesting and fun. I liked the art project the students did today and then I would give them a chance to decorate them and could serve as decorations around the room. Also, I could integrate social studies into a reading lesson by giving the students a factual story to read dealing with past events, different cultures, or a simplified version of the government. Also, from my recollection, in elementary school, we would have special days directed towards a certain culture where we would experience food, art, dance, and background information. I know having a school wide special day set aside is hard to do but maybe a day just in my class could be used for just the study of one culture. This would highlight the importance of social studies and throughout the whole day integrate that specific culture in all subjects. In my co-op's room, the children do Accelerated Reading tests after they read a book independently. One way I could integrate social studies is to have them read social studies books. This would provide them with a mini lesson and they would get tested on it without ever taking specific class time to cover that material. This placement is helping me see how crazy busy the teachers are and how certain subjects are not priority but how important they are to incorporate as much as possible.
Today I was unable to see a specific Social Studies lesson in effect as we are still adjusting to the new routine of school. However, Social Studies was incorporated in the morning with the question "How can we be a good friend?" We went around the room and each child was given the opportunity to explain what being a good friend means to them. Students answered with things such as, "Someone who shares", "Someone who will ride a horse with me", and "Someone who makes cupcakes!" This was mainly a Language Arts lesson, but definitely had Social Studies integrated. Just like a lot of others were responding, it teaches students how to be good friends, good citizens, and teaches respect.
In my own classroom, I would like to use student involvement while integrating a Social Studies lesson with a Language Arts lesson. I believe, especially in Kindergarten, that it is imperative the students are active and participating as much as possible. Any type of activity where the students can come up to the board and give their thoughts and opinions on a topic is great!
Day 2 in Mrs. VanOrden's First Grade Classroom. I have not seen much social studies in the past two visits. The only social studies I see during the day are singing patriotic songs in the morning and the student teacher reads a historical book to the students after lunch and before special starts. I am not sure how I would employ any strategies concerning social studies because I have not seen much and I do not think that I will see any more than reading a historical book once a day and singing patriotic songs in the morning.
Once I do see more social studies I hope that I would be able to determine how I would integrate. When I start teaching I would hope that social studies would be allotted its own time and that I would be able to integrate all of the subjects together. I would teach the students about the Flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, and many other subjects that can be implemented throughout the year and be integrated into the curriculum.
My co-op integrates social studies mostly with reading. They are currently talking about community and where people live and how it can be different or the same. The kindergarteners would listen to a book about children's homes around a world and then they compared it to what they know as a house or a home. During morning meeting, Mr. Swanson also asks the children who the first president was and what planet, country, and state we live in. He also shortly discussed Mary Bethune and what she did for the progression of schooling for African American students. The students were very interested in this because they themselves are very diverse.
I would impliment this technique of integrating reading and social studies similarly. Young students can benefit from discussing new concepts with the whole group because it helps them make connections to their own lives. I like that some of the morning meeting is taken up by Mr. Swanson asking the students about the most basic and important questions dealing with social studies; Where do you live and who was our first president? Start basic and a good foundation will form.
Unfortanetly, I have not had the opportunity yet of seeing social studies in my particular classroom and neither has my students. Starting this cycle my co-op along with the other second grade teachers at my school will be trying something different involving the students seeing social studies, science, and computer one day every six day cylce. I do not understand all parts of this process yet, so I am not sure if the students will see a different subject each cycle, or if they will see all three subjects one day a cycle. My co-op did however stress that these three areas were not given much attention to in their curriculum anymore due to the fact that they are not assessed. This particularly upsets her and she felt that the students needed to see these subjects and build a basis of knowledge for each, so as a result she came up with this plan (as I mentioned last week). Since I have not had the pleasure of seeing social studies in my classsroom just yet I cannot say what I would take from their curriculum and use in my classroom. However, I do agree with my co-op's way of thinking in that students need to gain knowledge in these areas and if it is not required, it needs to be put in or intergrated whenever possible. In my classroom, I would love to mix up the use of social studies and try to intergrate it with different subjects so that the students are not always learning it along the sames lines each time. Even though I have not seen social studies yet, I am very excited to witness it in my classroom and I am sure the students are too!!!!
I asked my co-op about social studies and science today because I have not seen it as a separate subject in the classroom so far, and I learned that, starting today, the three second grade teachers are going to rotate classes during the morning so that one will teach science to each class, one will teach social studies, and one will teach computer technology. The classes will rotate each day so each teacher teaches their lesson three times to three different classes. Each quarter, the teachers will switch the subject that they teach. I was happy to see that each of these subjects was going to be taught on its own, and I liked how each teacher will teach just one of the subjects each quarter because it gives them time and space to delve deeper into the particular subject and plan better lessons.
Although not on purpose I don't think, I also observed today one reading group that is integrating social studies. In their small group, the teacher led students in a discussion about their book Hannah's Helping Hands, a story about early pioneer life. They compared and contrasted their lives with the main character's.
The read aloud story today was also an example of social studies integration, even though I don't think that it was on purpose either. During the reading of the book Just Plain Fancy, students and teacher talked about Amish culture, traditions, and beliefs, how they are different and the same as the students' own lives, and how all of these beliefs are valid. I thought my teacher did a really good job of connecting the text, which takes place in Lancaster county, to the students' lives. She had them share what they knew and had experienced about the Amish, and then she continually drew on that knowledge and extended it throughout the reading of the book.
In my own class, I hope, of course, that social studies has its own instruction time. However, I know that this is not always the case, and, therefore, hope to use the strategies that I have seen my co-op use. I think read alouds and reading groups are a great way to share social studies literature and explore social studies concepts. Even if social studies is taught as its own subject, I will strive towards integration with other subjects because I believe that it makes the learning more meaningful and real.
The first time I went to my placement my cooperating teacher introduced the topic of communities to the students. They did a KWL chart about their community of Lititz. As a class, they wrote up on the Smart-board various places they knew throughout the town. Then my teacher asked them to form questions about things they wanted to learn in the town. Finally, my teacher explained some things in town that students were not familiar with and then asked them what they had learned from their overall discussion. Although, not the best example of integration this lesson included some aspects from reading/writing and science. The KWL chart provided some critical thinking and writing skills to form sentences about the places they already knew. It also used science in the sense, that there were inquiry and process skills being used to form questions. At the completion of the KWL chart, my teacher introduced students to their content words in social studies for the week. These terms included rural, suburb, city, etc. The students learned characteristics about each place and at the end figured out what category their houses were considered. Then, my teacher had the students cut out picture cards with these words and stick them in their folders to review and use throughout the week. During, my most recent visit students did not have a social studies lesson. Although, at the very end of the day the students played a game where they could throw this soft ball at these circles on the Smart-board and when the ball hit one a question popped up on the screen. My teacher incorporated some social studies content words and concepts into some of the questions. Unfortunately, I have not been able to see much of social studies integration but even through these few activities I have seen, I have a better understanding of integration as a whole. Hence, some forms of integration are very natural such as reading/writing and social studies. In the future, I hope to incorporate and emphasize these natural connections between disciplines so students receive a more balanced education. I feel it is important for students to be exposed to other subjects especially science and social studies whenever possible because of the extra emphasis that has been put on math and reading/writing, after No Child Left Behind.
I have seen social studies integrated into my placement classroom in two ways. The first was in the form of guided reading. The students were working with a book on the court system. The focus was on the reading, but naturally they were learning about the different roles in the court and the way a court room is run. This was a great book that the students truly enjoyed and learned a lot from. I also saw social studies integrated into worksheets that the students did to learn vocabulary. Some of the words were related to the court guided reading book. I will employ similar curriculum strategies in my own classroom. It is always easy and effective to integrate other subjects through read aloud and guided reading books. The reinforcement activities can then incorporate multiple subjects as well; such as writing, reading, and any other subject (like social studies).
In my classroom there is a specific time set aside towards the end of the day for social studies so there really is not too much integration needed. I have not however seen social studies yet because both times they had an assembly or testing that took its place. There was a literature lesson though that they did on a book that involved learning about how people's cultures are different and discusses things that other people may do differently than them. This I thought was a really great way to tie in social studies and the ways of people with reading. First graders really seemed interested to know other people's customs and how they may live differently than them.
I have not seen social studies in the classroom yet. When I asked my co-op about it, she explained they get about 30 mins 1 day out of a 4 day cycle. Language arts gets 2 hours everyday, i think it would be possible to use some books about culture or about government instead of the basal to develop literacy skills.
I unfortunately have yet to see any social studies in my 4th grade classroom. I have seen every other subject through integration or full instruction except for social studies. I recieved a worksheet that Mrs. Snagreys entire class and parents were given about their schedule for the year and she mentioned that science, social studies, and writing will be rotated in every cycle of the week. Every Thursday I see a little bit of science so I'm assuming that Social Studies is on another day. Hopefully I will have the chance to observe some social studies soon!
Today my co-op did a review of the continents using a powerpoint and the smart board. He had the students come up and touch ___________ continent. If they got it right their was a screen that said GREAT JOB. It was a great way to keep the kids physically and mentally engaged. My co-op also talks about the ideas of respect and good citizenship throughout the day as an opportunity presents itself. I like how my co-op uses technology in his teaching especially the interactive smart board. I also appreciate that citizenship is never taught as a "lesson/topic" per se but is integrated into everyday functioning in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteDay 2
ReplyDeleteSeeing as my class gets a Social Studies lesson all to itself, I do not see much integration of the subject into math or reading. In my own classroom I may not be as lucky to have a social studies time slot, so I would use strategies such as writing a research paper as a class about a SS topic, looking at how other civilizations did math, present culture by learning other languages, talk about economics while we learn money, and make as many of these as possible authentic activities.
Today the students learned the cardinal points as they were working on maps. My co-op had each word (North, South, East, and West) written on an index card that was taped onto a popsicle stick. After reviewing these terms she passed out the cards randomly and asked the student who received North to go pick a spot in the room. The children with the other index cards had to then arrange themselves around the room in the correct order. Then they gave the cards to the students who were sitting down and the new student with North had to start from a different side of the room. This continued until each student had an opportunity. I thought this was a great way to engage the students and get them active in their learning. There has not been a lot of social studies incorporated throughout the day because most of their other subjects are scripted in lesson books. The only integration that I have seen so far is writing.
ReplyDeleteIn my own classroom I will attempt to incorporate social studies into other activities by possibly reading books that deal with history. My co-op has assigned each student a date to be the student of the day and bring in a current event and answer questions to prepare a summary for the class. I think this is a great way for students to get involved with what is happening in the world around them and can also be a great way to incorporate other subjects into the lessons.
Unlike Kyra and Lorin's placement, my fourth graders did not have any particular lesson on social studies today. During today's writing, however, my co-op wrote her "setting" summary about her trip back home to Puerto Rico. She used information this trip to scaffold brainstorming techniques, and used details to describe to the kids what she saw (beaches, palm trees, blue water) and how it felt (the ocean's breeze, sand). In addition, she described the unique look and sound of a particular type of frog that is native to Puerto Rico, known as the coqui. I thought this was an intersting way to integrate culture. All of the kids were very interested in hearing about the frog.
ReplyDeleteIn my own classroom, I would probably try to employ a lot of writing and social studies integration lessons. I like how writing naturally encourages children to open up about their thoughts and background. I would like my class to not only learn about the topics we discuss, but also reflect put themselves into the shoes of the individuals we study. On a different note, I also agree with what was said earlier about integrating concepts such as citizenship on a daily basis. I plan to have qualities of being a good citizenship embedded into my classroom management, and promote respect, responsibility, and justice.
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ReplyDeleteToday, I did not have the pleasure of seeing social studies because a guidance lesson was in place of that. This is the second time that social studies has been replaced due to testing and guidance. However, I did ask Mrs. Robinson about social studies and she said that it is not integrated through anything, but she incorporates writing into it. Lately, she has been teaching her students about the constitution. She had them write about about "We the People", the book she read to them. Besides asking about that I do not have much else to say because I have not seen it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am teaching social studies, I hope to have it as its own subject. I want to get the students involved in wanting to learn about social studies. I would incorporate every aspect of curriculum strategies into my classroom to mix around the activity or lesson for what may be taught. I agree with Lauren about having the students "put themselves into the shoes of the individuals we study" that is exactly how I want my students to learn.
I have not seen much integration of social studies in my first grade class. Last week, I did not see any but luckily this week I saw one lesson on it. During the stations, students read a book with me called "What is a Pal" by Nina Crews. This book discusses social skills such as friendliness to pals. This teaches students how to be good citizens. It also teaches them on how to be respectful towards others. There were no other integration lessons on social studies today, but I asked my co-op other lessons that she teaches based on integration. She told me that the lessons focus on firefighters, different jobs, how to act in a community, and holidays.
ReplyDeleteIn my own first grade classroom, I would choose books on how to be respectful, kind, and how to be a good citizen. After reading the books, students could draw ways to be a good citizen. I would also introduce books on holidays such as Labor Day. During this activity, I would read a book and then divide students into different jobs. The students would be expected to role play their jobs with their partners in order to learn about how to be a good citizen and understand how much sacrifice people have to do to earn a living.
My field placement portrays to Lorin's in a way because my co-op focuses books on how to be respectful and how to be a good citizen.
Day 2 in 4th grade-
ReplyDeleteToday I did not observe any social studies. I spoke to my co-op about this and she explained that the 4th grade teachers are working on a 9 week schedule. This means that they teach science for nine weeks and then social studies for another nine weeks. The nine weeks i am there they will be teaching science. So sadly, I will not be able to see any social studies taught on its own. Last week I did see the students do (if it even counts) social studies during english. The students had to answer questions on a worksheet about Flordia, highways and city locations. I do not believe that this was honest social studies because students really just had to look at a map and answer questions. Not much was taught and the questions were very very easy.
I am hoping that in my own classroom, I will be able to incorporate atleast basic social studies into everyday lessons (examples: what it takes to be a good citizen, what it means to live in America, and other facts that all students should know)
My co-op has not implemented a lot of social studies into the lessons yet. She does emphasize to the students though that it is very important to be good citizens and respect one another. Today she read a book about not interrupting other when they are speaking, especially adults. Recently there has been a lot of emphasis on respecting authority. Also, in the classroom, she does have the cardinal directions on the lights hung in the middle of the classroom. Therefore, the students can see north, south, east and west in relationship to their classroom. My co-op said that she does try her hardest to include social studies in her lessons when it is applicable. There are no standards for social studies for 2nd grade, so the whole second grade does not get a special spot in the schedule. Hopefully though, during the course of the semester I will see more integration of social studies.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I want to be teaching at a higher grade, therefore I hope that integrating social studies into my lessons will be more prevalent and not pushed to the side because social studies is important for students to learn too. I want to be able to take advantage of teachable moments of social studies throughout the day like my co-op does do. My co-op did say that some of the students writing will be related to social studies, which is also what I hope to do in my own classroom one day. I want to be able to integrate it with other subject areas as well.
Social studies was very brief today due to DIBLES testing that the students had to participate in. With all of the assessments and testing that the students have to do the first few weeks of school a lot of the subject areas have to get shortened to make room for them. I was happy to see though that my co-op was able to get a little bit of social studies curriculum in to today's class.
ReplyDeleteDuring social studies the students were making American flags to go with their letters that they were writing for the soldiers in Iraq. This activity was part of the unit on war that the students have been working on for the last two weeks. The flags were made out of tissue paper that was stuck on laminated paper. While the students were working on their flags my co-op explained what the strips and stars stood for on the flags. I thought this was a great way to integrate social studies with art. Having the students learn about the parts of the flags and their meanings made this activity more than just a simple art project with really no social studies content integrated into it. Also writing letters to the soldiers is a great way to integrate writing with social studies. I think it is extremely important to inform the students on the war, since it is currently taking place.
In my classroom I am hoping to give equal attention to all of the major subject areas, as well as using integration as a useful strategy. I am hoping to integrate several subjects with social studies, but not limiting it to just writing and art. I am hoping to integrate social studies with science and math as much as I can into my classroom. Economics is a great opportunity for me to integrate social studies with math. The art project that my co-op did was something that I might definitely use in my classroom to integrate social studies with art. Students usually really enjoy art, so I am hoping to integrate art with all subject areas in my classroom.
Overall, I really enjoyed my field placement this week. My co-op let me know that when assessments and testing are over she will let me teach part of a social studies unit. I am looking forward to teaching social studies, as well as learning more strategies for integrating social studies with other subject areas.
Today I saw a couple ways Mrs. Curtin integrated social studies into the rest of the school day. Since tomorrow is constitution day, Mrs. Curtin gave the students a constitution packet with activities earlier this week. The students used this packet for a writing and spelling lesson. There was also a worksheet that integrated social studies into math. It was a math worksheet where the answers went along with the information about the constitution.
ReplyDeleteAlso Mrs. Curtin made the question of the day a social studies question. She asked the students what country is to the north of the United States. I thought this was a good question because it included the cardinal directions, as well as geography. I think tomorrow's question is what country is to the south of the United States. The students also have a class period of social studies every other day.
I like Mrs. Curtin's question of the day idea, and I think that it is a good way to integrate other curriculum that the students might not see otherwise. I realize this isn't very much, but its better then nothing. I also liked the constitution day packet because it is something they celebrate throughout the school and it is information they should know.
Today Mrs. Pericci was absent so social studies (as well as the rest of the day) was a little different than usual. The substitute did teach social studies, however it was not integrated into other subjects and other subjects were not integrated integrated into it. The class had finished the chapter yesterday, so today the substitute had a discussion with the class asking them the major comprehension questions at the end of each section. I thought it was important to discuss these questions because they did provide a great overview of the topics learned, however the students were not involved enough in the discussion and were not particularly paying attention. After the discussion we played a game, sort of like tic-tac-toe, with vocabulary words from the chapter. The class was really into the game and excited to be playing but I don't think the game was really testing their knowledge to see what definitions and concepts they actually remembered. The class took it as more of a race, and just looked up the definitions in the chapter to make sure they got the right one, and quickly.
ReplyDeleteI recognize that the substitute was doing the best she could, with the materials she had, but I feel I would have ran this lesson a little differently. The unit was on the community: including the mayor, tax, voting, law, etc. I think that I would have had the students do some type of simple creative writing activity such as writing a letter to the mayor involving something about the community. This also could have been explored more by connecting it to the students' actually communities which would have really helped them to understand the concepts and keep them involved in the lesson.
I hope that next time I am there I will see a better representation of social studies in the classroom along with integration into other subjects such as language arts.
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ReplyDeleteDay 2 in Mrs. Rights' 3rd Grade Class:
ReplyDeleteI feel I have been placed with a co-op that uses every moment as a teachable moment. On this particular day I saw Social Studies taught through both integration and as a subject all its own. Since the beginning, I have observed that Mrs. Rights has treated her classroom as a community, thus providing her students with techniques on how to be a good "citizen" everyday in this school community. She has developed a classroom based around respect, responsibility, and safety (the students even have a "Falcon Book" in which they receive check marks when they demonstrate these characteristics in the classroom). Although, Mrs. Rights is moving towards a "formal" community lesson she has exposed the characteristics of a good citizen since the beginning of the school year.
I also saw Social Studies integrated in the writing lesson when the students where learning how to write descriptive sentences. Mrs. Rights demonstrated the use of descriptive words through an explanation about her summer vacation; which included her pulling down a big map of the US and tracing her route through various states Through this writing lesson, students were exposed to geography concepts including the cardinal points (north, east, west, and south), and the placement of states on the US map.
I also saw Social Studies integrated into the reading lesson. The students have been reading a historical fiction story; therefore they discussed past lifestyles that were different then their lifestyles today.
Finally, during the social studies timeslot the students did an activity that allowed them to visualize the relationship of their school to the whole world. They went from looking at the galaxy as a whole to zeroing in on their individual school.
On this particular day I observed multiple strategies that I want to use in my future classroom. I completely agree with Leigh that I want "to be able to take advantage of teachable moments of Social Studies throughout the day". I feel that using visuals and engaging activities (such as songs, globes, maps, interactive worksheets) will keep students attention and thus prevent straight memorization of facts. Also, relating the lesson to real life situations (such as describing a vacation and geography when teaching descriptive words) and developing general/ daily classroom rules and standards are valuable strategies. Finally, like Audra I want to take advantage of school celebrations (such as Constitution Day) that relate to Social Studies.
My main goal is to teach students Social Studies throughout various subjects; I want to integrate Social Studies concepts in way that makes learning Social Studies concepts less intimidating.
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ReplyDeleteToday, my class had a social studies lesson on the seven continents and where they were located. They also cut apart a worksheet and had to glue it back together which integrated some art. I did not see any other social studies integration in any other subject areas because social studies had its designated time slot and the rest of the day was packed with other lessons. Social studies and science are always the subjects that have a time slot, but get pushed to the way side first because my co-op told me they were never given materials to teach with. She said they have to find their own activities that go along with the standards and so the lessons are always shorter. I didn't think this was a major problem because they would finally have the time to be creative and do their own activities. Also, I think integrating social studies into other lessons is extra critical now, since it is already being cut short. My co-op should use every chance in other lessons to bring social studies into it.
ReplyDeleteIn my future classroom, I believe I will like the opportunity to break away from a scripted curriculum and create my own activities if specific ones are not given to me for social studies. Being a teacher is all about being creative and having some freedom opens up many opportunities to make learning interesting and fun. I liked the art project the students did today and then I would give them a chance to decorate them and could serve as decorations around the room. Also, I could integrate social studies into a reading lesson by giving the students a factual story to read dealing with past events, different cultures, or a simplified version of the government. Also, from my recollection, in elementary school, we would have special days directed towards a certain culture where we would experience food, art, dance, and background information. I know having a school wide special day set aside is hard to do but maybe a day just in my class could be used for just the study of one culture. This would highlight the importance of social studies and throughout the whole day integrate that specific culture in all subjects. In my co-op's room, the children do Accelerated Reading tests after they read a book independently. One way I could integrate social studies is to have them read social studies books. This would provide them with a mini lesson and they would get tested on it without ever taking specific class time to cover that material.
This placement is helping me see how crazy busy the teachers are and how certain subjects are not priority but how important they are to incorporate as much as possible.
Today I was unable to see a specific Social Studies lesson in effect as we are still adjusting to the new routine of school. However, Social Studies was incorporated in the morning with the question "How can we be a good friend?" We went around the room and each child was given the opportunity to explain what being a good friend means to them. Students answered with things such as, "Someone who shares", "Someone who will ride a horse with me", and "Someone who makes cupcakes!" This was mainly a Language Arts lesson, but definitely had Social Studies integrated. Just like a lot of others were responding, it teaches students how to be good friends, good citizens, and teaches respect.
ReplyDeleteIn my own classroom, I would like to use student involvement while integrating a Social Studies lesson with a Language Arts lesson. I believe, especially in Kindergarten, that it is imperative the students are active and participating as much as possible. Any type of activity where the students can come up to the board and give their thoughts and opinions on a topic is great!
Day 2 in Mrs. VanOrden's First Grade Classroom. I have not seen much social studies in the past two visits. The only social studies I see during the day are singing patriotic songs in the morning and the student teacher reads a historical book to the students after lunch and before special starts. I am not sure how I would employ any strategies concerning social studies because I have not seen much and I do not think that I will see any more than reading a historical book once a day and singing patriotic songs in the morning.
ReplyDeleteOnce I do see more social studies I hope that I would be able to determine how I would integrate. When I start teaching I would hope that social studies would be allotted its own time and that I would be able to integrate all of the subjects together. I would teach the students about the Flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, and many other subjects that can be implemented throughout the year and be integrated into the curriculum.
My co-op integrates social studies mostly with reading. They are currently talking about community and where people live and how it can be different or the same. The kindergarteners would listen to a book about children's homes around a world and then they compared it to what they know as a house or a home. During morning meeting, Mr. Swanson also asks the children who the first president was and what planet, country, and state we live in. He also shortly discussed Mary Bethune and what she did for the progression of schooling for African American students. The students were very interested in this because they themselves are very diverse.
ReplyDeleteI would impliment this technique of integrating reading and social studies similarly. Young students can benefit from discussing new concepts with the whole group because it helps them make connections to their own lives. I like that some of the morning meeting is taken up by Mr. Swanson asking the students about the most basic and important questions dealing with social studies; Where do you live and who was our first president? Start basic and a good foundation will form.
Unfortanetly, I have not had the opportunity yet of seeing social studies in my particular classroom and neither has my students. Starting this cycle my co-op along with the other second grade teachers at my school will be trying something different involving the students seeing social studies, science, and computer one day every six day cylce. I do not understand all parts of this process yet, so I am not sure if the students will see a different subject each cycle, or if they will see all three subjects one day a cycle. My co-op did however stress that these three areas were not given much attention to in their curriculum anymore due to the fact that they are not assessed. This particularly upsets her and she felt that the students needed to see these subjects and build a basis of knowledge for each, so as a result she came up with this plan (as I mentioned last week).
ReplyDeleteSince I have not had the pleasure of seeing social studies in my classsroom just yet I cannot say what I would take from their curriculum and use in my classroom. However, I do agree with my co-op's way of thinking in that students need to gain knowledge in these areas and if it is not required, it needs to be put in or intergrated whenever possible. In my classroom, I would love to mix up the use of social studies and try to intergrate it with different subjects so that the students are not always learning it along the sames lines each time.
Even though I have not seen social studies yet, I am very excited to witness it in my classroom and I am sure the students are too!!!!
I asked my co-op about social studies and science today because I have not seen it as a separate subject in the classroom so far, and I learned that, starting today, the three second grade teachers are going to rotate classes during the morning so that one will teach science to each class, one will teach social studies, and one will teach computer technology. The classes will rotate each day so each teacher teaches their lesson three times to three different classes. Each quarter, the teachers will switch the subject that they teach. I was happy to see that each of these subjects was going to be taught on its own, and I liked how each teacher will teach just one of the subjects each quarter because it gives them time and space to delve deeper into the particular subject and plan better lessons.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not on purpose I don't think, I also observed today one reading group that is integrating social studies. In their small group, the teacher led students in a discussion about their book Hannah's Helping Hands, a story about early pioneer life. They compared and contrasted their lives with the main character's.
The read aloud story today was also an example of social studies integration, even though I don't think that it was on purpose either. During the reading of the book Just Plain Fancy, students and teacher talked about Amish culture, traditions, and beliefs, how they are different and the same as the students' own lives, and how all of these beliefs are valid. I thought my teacher did a really good job of connecting the text, which takes place in Lancaster county, to the students' lives. She had them share what they knew and had experienced about the Amish, and then she continually drew on that knowledge and extended it throughout the reading of the book.
In my own class, I hope, of course, that social studies has its own instruction time. However, I know that this is not always the case, and, therefore, hope to use the strategies that I have seen my co-op use. I think read alouds and reading groups are a great way to share social studies literature and explore social studies concepts. Even if social studies is taught as its own subject, I will strive towards integration with other subjects because I believe that it makes the learning more meaningful and real.
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ReplyDeleteThe first time I went to my placement my cooperating teacher introduced the topic of communities to the students. They did a KWL chart about their community of Lititz. As a class, they wrote up on the Smart-board various places they knew throughout the town. Then my teacher asked them to form questions about things they wanted to learn in the town. Finally, my teacher explained some things in town that students were not familiar with and then asked them what they had learned from their overall discussion. Although, not the best example of integration this lesson included some aspects from reading/writing and science. The KWL chart provided some critical thinking and writing skills to form sentences about the places they already knew. It also used science in the sense, that there were inquiry and process skills being used to form questions. At the completion of the KWL chart, my teacher introduced students to their content words in social studies for the week. These terms included rural, suburb, city, etc. The students learned characteristics about each place and at the end figured out what category their houses were considered. Then, my teacher had the students cut out picture cards with these words and stick them in their folders to review and use throughout the week.
ReplyDeleteDuring, my most recent visit students did not have a social studies lesson. Although, at the very end of the day the students played a game where they could throw this soft ball at these circles on the Smart-board and when the ball hit one a question popped up on the screen. My teacher incorporated some social studies content words and concepts into some of the questions.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to see much of social studies integration but even through these few activities I have seen, I have a better understanding of integration as a whole. Hence, some forms of integration are very natural such as reading/writing and social studies. In the future, I hope to incorporate and emphasize these natural connections between disciplines so students receive a more balanced education. I feel it is important for students to be exposed to other subjects especially science and social studies whenever possible because of the extra emphasis that has been put on math and reading/writing, after No Child Left Behind.
I have seen social studies integrated into my placement classroom in two ways. The first was in the form of guided reading. The students were working with a book on the court system. The focus was on the reading, but naturally they were learning about the different roles in the court and the way a court room is run. This was a great book that the students truly enjoyed and learned a lot from. I also saw social studies integrated into worksheets that the students did to learn vocabulary. Some of the words were related to the court guided reading book. I will employ similar curriculum strategies in my own classroom. It is always easy and effective to integrate other subjects through read aloud and guided reading books. The reinforcement activities can then incorporate multiple subjects as well; such as writing, reading, and any other subject (like social studies).
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom there is a specific time set aside towards the end of the day for social studies so there really is not too much integration needed. I have not however seen social studies yet because both times they had an assembly or testing that took its place. There was a literature lesson though that they did on a book that involved learning about how people's cultures are different and discusses things that other people may do differently than them. This I thought was a really great way to tie in social studies and the ways of people with reading. First graders really seemed interested to know other people's customs and how they may live differently than them.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen social studies in the classroom yet. When I asked my co-op about it, she explained they get about 30 mins 1 day out of a 4 day cycle. Language arts gets 2 hours everyday, i think it would be possible to use some books about culture or about government instead of the basal to develop literacy skills.
ReplyDeleteDay 2 in Mrs. Sangreys 4th grade classroom:
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately have yet to see any social studies in my 4th grade classroom. I have seen every other subject through integration or full instruction except for social studies. I recieved a worksheet that Mrs. Snagreys entire class and parents were given about their schedule for the year and she mentioned that science, social studies, and writing will be rotated in every cycle of the week. Every Thursday I see a little bit of science so I'm assuming that Social Studies is on another day. Hopefully I will have the chance to observe some social studies soon!