Think back to when you were in elementary school and learning social studies. All too often you were told to read a section of a chapter in your social studies textbook and at the end of the section you had to answer the five questions. How we loved questions one, two and three, they were the recall questions, the answers were right there. And oh how we didn't want to answer questions four and five, those were the "think and write" questions, and you knew your teacher wanted you to write at least three sentences.
Most people don't enjoy social studies until they reach High School. This is because in High School your teachers start discussion social studies with you. You are asked and can ask thought provoking questions. It is not that fourth and fifth graders cannot discuss social studies, it is no one ever thought to ask them thought provoking questions.
Imagine that you are in fourth grade learning about the Civil War and your teacher asks you "What if the South had won the Civil War?". You, as a fourth grader, thought about that last night as you were reading your chapter in your textbook, but now you are being given an opportunity to voice your thoughts in an open discussion.
One way to encourage open discussion is to push the textbooks to the side from time to time and teach social studies from trade books (picture books). Biographies are great books to teach from for many reasons. For example they are great resources to ask "What If" questions. What if Amelia Earhart had finished her last flight and not disappeared? What if, George Washington had said no to becoming the first President of the United States of America? Biographies can also introduce students to important figures in history. For example not many know of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President in a time when women could not vote. Through biographies students are able to expand their knowledge of the past and the important figures in the past.
I would love to be able to have class sets of these biographies of Victoria Woodhull and Eleanor Roosevelt to use in my classroom so I can promote social studies discussions. Why do I need a class set? Having a book in your hands, instead of sitting in a group on the rug, gives a person ownership to the story and when the students want to support their ideas with information from the text it is at their fingertips.
If you ever disliked social studies in elementary school, having books like this in your classroom would have been enjoyable to you. If you liked social studies in elementary school, having book like this in your classroom would have added to your learning experience. Please help give my fourth grade students from New York City the understanding that social studies is more then reading a chapter and answering the questions at the end of the chapter. Social studies, is asking the question "What If?"
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
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