Let's Talk Social Studies!

I want to talk about a passion of mine, since I've been talking about my students' passion projects lately  I.Love.Social Studies!  In particular, I love teaching children about our world.  When I was growing up, my family traveled.  We drove through almost every state and saw so many beautiful places. I have so many memories, including post cards in a collection from the states we visited.  I remember getting my Raggedy Ann sent through the mail to me from Kentucy, where I had left her in a motel, feeding the mynah birds on our hotel lanai in Hawaii, trying to save a jellyfish off the coast of Oregon and swimming in the Great Salt Lake after getting lost trying to find the "best" copper mine in Utah (thanks for that, Dad).                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          You can tell by my map (made at Map Loco), we travel a LOT

growing up. We were lucky. We learned a lot about our great country by 4 tires and 4-arm air conditioning (for those of who didn't know, air conditioning used to NOT EXIST!!!  It was windows down and your arms up in the windows, thus 4-arm air!) We did eventually get air, then vacations were a lot more pleasant!

 Here's my beautiful mom standing in a giant Sequoia tree.  This was taken before I was born, but it was very fun to share with my students when I read, My Adventures with Fluffy, a big book in our Literacy by Design reading curriculum.  In this story, the main character visits the Sequoia National Park, the Joshua Tree Forest, the desert, and the beach.  

I brought in several of my own pictures of a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, with a stop (or three to get the PERFECT picture of a dead Joshua Tree) along the way at the Joshua Tree Forest near the Grand Canyon.  It's funny, as we got closer to the Grand Canyon, the trees looked familiar to me, but I couldn't put a name to them.  Then it hit me!! THOSE ARE IN MY STUDENTS' READING CURRICULUM!!! MR. HEIKES, STOP THE CAR!!! I don't know about your spouse or significant other, but my husband totally understands and accomodates my need for the right picture, even if it's only a picture for ONE student. :)                                                

I HAVE to have it!

                              

So I     wanted needed the dead Joshua tree, at the angle it was at, and at the size it was, so we could do a Venn Diagram, comparing it to the Saguaro cactus picture a former student took for me several years ago on a family vacation. She took the picture because of a connection she made to the story I read, The Cactus Hotel, by Brenda Guiberson. It's an excellent text for students K-2.            

And of course, IF you give a teacher a story about a cactus and she's lived in the desert, she'll have to read another story about the dese

So I read, Roxaboxen, by Alice McLerran.  I lived in Yuma, Arizona for two years, where I taught in a Migrant Even Start, a program we called, Primeros Pasos, First Steps. 

Here was a chance to show how the campus of a school in a warm climate was very different than a campus in a cold climate.  From there, we launched into an idea of what it would be like to tweet to other schools and ask what their schools look like.  We didn't get many replies, but it's the asking and beginning connections we've made to hopefully connect again later.  We also had a Time for Kids magazine on schools, so the connections made through my lesson weren't lost. :)

  

Here's an extension from a study of animal habitats I've done.  The boy in the bottom picture is the son of a friend of mine.  They are in South America!  Robert was so surprised when this Humbolt penguin came up to him and started pulling on his pant leg!!  He wasn't sure what to do - he also wasn't sure why - do you think it was because his black pants had a white stripe on them? My students were wondering... My friends Karen and Robert brought back a shell, a penguin feather (white - downy) and a coin from South America from their trip to see the penguins. I also have several more pictures and a video clip of                                                                                                                                                   Robert with the penguin, but it is a family video
so I am not posting it here. By the way, it was a VERY windy day when Karen and Robert were there, and if you notice the strings along side Robert, there are walk ways for the visitors to stay within.  The penguins are free to roam as they wish, and that's how Robert got to meet this charming  Humbolt penguin, haha.










For George Washington's Birthday, have you ever considered reading the obituary to your student? Sounds odd, but the vocabulary is very unique! My students found it very interesting, wanted to learn more, and wanted to know if there was an obituary for Abraham Lincoln.  Archiving Early America is a great site for America's life and times of the founding years.

In my classroom, I read a lot of Magic Treehouse books.  These are rich with history lessons, and can be linked with so many teaching themes.  If you haven't considered linking them in with your social studies lessons before, it's time!

Here's another great connection I made to Women in History, tied to another Literacy by Design story about Jackie Mitchell, The Strikeout Queen, a 17 year woman who pitched for the Chattanooga Lookouts, who (may or may not have) struckout Babe Ruth.  A friend of mine took this picture of one of the "Lipstick League" collections.

One of my resources for ideas has been the book, Social Studies That Sticks, How to Bring Content and Concepts to Life.  I took a class a few years ago for post grad work, and fell in love with many ideas in this book, implementing many ideas right away.  A take away idea was to go digging in my own photo collection, helping my students make connections to the learning through my personal connections every chance I could.

Also, utilize your students' families.  They have so many experiences they can share as well.  An activity I've enjoyed with my students is having them bring in (or email to me) pictures of places from around the world they have been (or grandparents).  We mapped them out and learned what we could about each place. I wish I had invited the travelers in!!!

From wherever you pull your inspirations, keep social studies alive for your students.  Don't let them think it's less important than any other area of study. Use maps like books and launch lessons from there. If you go to my Twitter page @MrsHeikes, you'll notice right away, I've got two maps as you walk into my room - a United States map and a World Map.  As we tweet, Skype or do a Google Hangout with anyone, we make a post-it tab and mark it on our map. It's fun to see my students using the maps during Daily Five to Read the Room - of COURSE you can read the maps!!!!! :) Makes my heart soar!!!!
Check out the great resources below!  One of my favorite places to find and curate materials is Participate Learning.  Check them out - you won't be disappointed.  You can also join all your favorite chat groups through their site, with all links automatically curated.  AND, questions are always posted, so you don't have to scroll up and down through the tweets to find what question you're on!

Have a great week!!

Resources
PBS Learning Media
gosur.com
Center for Interractive Learning and Curriculum
Participate Learning
Archiving Early America
Using Google Earth with Literature
Google Lit Trips
Symbaloo Social Studies 1st Grade