Using the First Grade Social Studies Frameworks: How do I Get Started? Sarah Blascovich Brown Teacher on Assignment

Out with the old. In with the NEW!!! Day 1 QCC Day 1 GPS I teach whatever I’ve been teaching, because I’ve always done it that way. Day 1=Chapter 1=page 1 We don’t have time to teach it anyway, so why worry about it?

Out with the old. In with the NEW!!! Day 1 QCC Day 1 GPS Start with introducing concepts so students can build important schema Design an authentic activity/task that will demonstrate student understanding Think about trade books that will enrich the content being taught. I teach whatever I’ve been teaching, because I’ve always done it that way. Day 1=Chapter 1=page 1 We don’t have time to teach it anyway, so why worry about it?

What to expect in a curriculum map:

What to expect in a framework: Activities & Mods EUs and EQs

K-5 Suggested Enduring Understandings

Teaching Unit One Think about all you do to teach routines and procedures at the beginning of the year…this is unit one! Lasts about two weeks Introduces all the Enduring Understandings that will be used in Social Studies Accesses students’ prior knowledge Builds the scaffolding needed to understand historical, geographic, government, and economic concepts. A great way to integrate reading strategies and good literature in this unit and beyond!

How do I know what concepts to teach? Use your curriculum map! The concepts are listed for each unit of the map. Every piece of content is listed under a relevant concept These are suggestions – make them work for your class! Since you have already introduced the concepts during Unit One, you can refer to them during the course of the unit!

What if I didn’t teach Unit One? Do mini-lessons/activities to introduce the concepts as you get to them. Stop and do a Unit One in the middle of the year! {This really CAN be done!} Find ways to incorporate the concepts so that students can build their schema.

The Concept Wall Photo courtesy of Yvette Welch, Gilmer County Schools

Using the Next Units Now that you have helped students understand the themes of Social Studies, now it is time to teach the content! Add to your concept wall! Essential questions to guide student learning Standards/elements (if necessary/required) Include important content vocabulary for the unit. Visual clues: portraits, photographs, book covers… Look ACROSS the curriculum to guide you – make things match!

Using the Next Units Continue the work you started in Unit One – link the content students are learning BACK to their own lives, experiences, and prior learning. Incorporate meaningful integration whenever possible! Take some time to plan the activities you want to do before you begin, particularly if you are using a culminating performance task. Re-introduce the concepts to students as necessary – there are NO rules about this!

Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh (poet!) Illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen Connecting Theme: Culture Enduring Understanding: The student will understand that culture is how people think, act, celebrate, and make rules, that it is what makes a group of people special. This is a great book to use either as part of Unit One (an introduction to the culture EU) or during Unit Two to talk about folktales and how they are unique to our country and culture. Before reading, ask students what makes America special. Chart their responses. After reading this book to students, ask if any items on the pre-reading list were things Johnny Appleseed did. Check off those items, and discuss why Johnny Appleseed’s work is admired in our country. Use a large map of the United States (wall map; fabric map; shower curtain; etc.) to show students the route that Johnny Appleseed took west. Discuss cardinal directions and landforms as you map his travels!

Market Day by Lois Ehlert Connecting Theme: Scarcity Enduring Understanding: The student will understand that because people cannot have everything they want, they have to make choices. Lois Ehlert’s books are beloved by first grade teachers for a lot of good reasons: they have simple sentences, large type, glorious pictures, and great stories. This one is no exception. It is illustrated with actual folk art objects from Central & South America. Use this book as an introduction to the idea of producers (people taking things to the market) and consumers (people who buy things at the market). It even allows for a conversation about the fact that most people are BOTH producers and consumers – because when you take your goods to sell at the market, you probably buy something, too! This book is also useful for helping students understand how life is different in different places, and for reviewing the locations of the continents.

Teaching Unit Two: The items that students are supposed to recall (city, county, state, etc.) will need to be taught and reinforced all year long – many first graders might not learn them instantly.  The same thing is true of the two songs first found in this unit: America/My Country ‘Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful. Consider shared reading of the words Make sentence strip/pocket chart games Read trade books SING! Sing often. Please. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000012/default.html

Teaching Unit Two: Resources for the folktale heroes: John Henry: http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/ Johnny Appleseed: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep26.html (scroll to middle) Davy Crockett: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/fcr24.html Paul Bunyan: http://www.paulbunyantrail.com/talltale.html Annie Oakley: http://www.lkwdpl.org/WIHOHIO/oakl-ann.htm Help students understand that fact AND fiction are part of these tales, and how that relates to our culture.

Teaching Unit Two: Don’t delay introducing economics – Labor Day is the perfect time to do it! www.econedlink.org www.econed.org The K-2 Economics document also includes an activity called “The Land of Snakes & Donuts” that involves Play-dough. While there is more than snakes & donuts involved in economics, it’s a great hands-on way to get started!

Final Thoughts Why mess with concepts and enduring understandings? Front end planning and instruction will pay off in the long run. Students will know more than memorized dates, names, and places. Make the concept wall an integral part of your teaching…it will help you and the students make connections within and between concepts. Try to incorporate some social studies content every day – even if it’s just a quick review of a concept.