What a great article about teaching history as a living, breathing thing! I'm interested in finding a lot of picture and chapter books on a grade level of 3-5 so that I can use them with all my students!
I think the two articles use different terms but talk about many of the same things. History needs to be made real for all students, whether left- or right-brained. Using different types of activities, questions and sources will allow for all students to learn. I was very much impressed to see the metacognitive skills applied to learning history. We use those every day in Reading class and, speaking for myself, I'm getting comfortable enough with them to use them in the content areas, as well. We have a goal to get our kids answering open-ended questions (like they will see on the PSSAs and 4Sight) in all content areas. There have been workshops offered to help us to build good questions for each of the subject areas. What I have not done is to focus an entire history unit on using primary and secondary sources and completely immersing the students in the topic. I hope to be able to do that in the coming years.
If anyone knows of a resource out there that lists books (chapter and picture) for historical knowledge about the 13 Colonies and Pennsylvania history, which are also written for students age 8-11, I'd love to hear about it!
I, too, enjoyed this article. I've said for years that it would make a lot of sense to teach the Social Studies curriculum within a reading/writing class - especially in a self-contained classroom. There's nothing like getting double for your time and money!
ReplyDeleteI loved the part on different types of questions. We do that in sixth grade Comm. class, but I wasn't sure at what age these higher level questions are asked.
Bridget,
ReplyDeleteBecky Frost will be posting resource lists on different topics. She has several lists from last year which focus on resources (books, websites, etc.) about Pennsylvania and the colonies. Remind me and will make sure we get those to you if.
Rhonda
Rhonda, that would be fabulous. Thank you!!!
DeleteWhen my district started departmentalizing at the elementary level, they split Reading, Math, and put Science/S.S with writing. It really didn't make any sense. History is all about stories and repeating those stories to our children. Reading and S.S. would easily go together!!! In some of the elementary buildings they find it hard to split subjects so that each teacher has equal amounts to teach. I don't see the confusion? This article was really interesting.
ReplyDeleteHello Bridget,
ReplyDeleteI agree, we need to work on the open-ended questions for PSSA and what a better way to do it by using our reading skills with our history readings and other content areas. I would love to have my classroom working like Matthew Reif's 5th grade class from our assigned reading.
Hi Bridget,
ReplyDeleteI'm working on resource lists for this cohort dealing with events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the war itself and our Constitution. I can't wait to share, not only the lists with you, but some of the more interesting books I've found when we meet in June.
Becky
Thanks so much, Becky! I'm looking forward to it, too. :)
DeleteHi Bridget, I am finally getting caught up on the assignments. I have two books that may interest you:
ReplyDelete"The Signers, The 56 Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence" by Dennis Brindell Fradin (for older elementary) and "Yankee Doodle America, The Spirit of 1776 from A to Z" by Wendell Minor. The later is a beautifully illustrated picture book that would be a great introduction to American History for younger kids.
Thank you! I'll check them out! :)
ReplyDelete