Who honestly loves getting science and social studies content only from the text book? Not me! Learning science and social studies material is not very fun if you're ONLY using the old text book to get the information! My students feel the same way. And I feel their pain!
My school has a high population of students of military families.
Some kids come with many life experiences because they've lived in many different cities around the country. And some kids have even lived outside the country for a few months or more than a year. And some are waiting for a parent who's been deployed for months, to finally arrive back home! And I also have students who've never left our region or state. This is only one type of diversity I have in my classroom!
My Project
My students will be using the materials in partner-reading sessions, and guided reading sessions. Many of these books I will read aloud and students will respond to them in center-based activities. Rather than using the information from the text book as my only resource, students will be getting the social studies (or science) content from the literature or informational texts we read, included in Common Core units. For example, students will learn about how our country fought to gain independence and govern our "new world" nation by writing the constitution. Instead of reading boring facts from our text book, students will be engaged in reading the book "Shhh! We're Writing the Constitution!" and "We the Kids". I will model the reading strategies used to help them learn the social studies aligned our third grade curriculum. Then students will practice these reading skills while they learn the social studies content of history and government.
The materials in my project come from the book lists in Common Core Curriculum Map units that are integrated and written by experienced veteran teachers!
Why separate social studies and science from reading comprehension lessons? Why not choose books that are so well written with content that delivers! Students' lives will change as they realize that they can reach for a creative book that is also informational. As part of these units, students can share with others what they've learned.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Brink and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.