Building Community

Everyone learns best with hands-on activities. Students in my second grade classroom have a strong interest in the social sciences. I struggle, however, with finding innovative, appealing activities for them in which they do not just read about something but actually become part of a larger hands-on project. I feel the concepts being taught in social studies would truly become clear for the students if they could become more actively involved in their learning. Last year I student-taught in a fifth grade classroom. For social studies, we used an exciting curriculum called Storypath. This course provides students with the unique opportunity to take on roles within a particular theme of social studies. Students develop these roles and therefore tend to take on a greater interest in what is being studied. In second grade, it is particularly crucial to build community and help students realize how important it is to work together. Storypath has curricula available for a variety of grades. Two of the primary curricula are entitled “The Parade, Celebrating Cultural Traditions” and “The Wampanoags' Thanksgiving”. The first curriculum would allow children to more thoroughly investigate the importance of cooperation and community-building by actually taking part in creating and studying communities and cultures. The second curriculum would provide students with the opportunity to greater understand how Native Americans adjusted to new settlers in the 1600s and learn more about Native American culture. Both of these topics are part of the second grade social science curricular content. Additionally, both of these projects would contribute positively to the continuing growth and development of the classroom community. I am thrilled about the prospect of bringing this interesting, engaging, and unique learning into my classroom. The Storypath kits come with all of the necessary materials to provide the students with an integrated, hands-on social science adventure.