Social Studies

                                              Social Studies Philosophy

     When I look back at social studies, I remember asking myself, "why are we learning about something that happened many years ago?" Social Studies was not my favorite subject in school but I did pretty well in it. History did not come naturally to me so I had to work hard for my grades. It was not until college that I learned to appreciate history. I remembered learning about the Indians and such when I was in elementary school but I did not really learn and/or understand it until recently. I want my future students to appreciate it when they are young. In high school, I remember my history teacher because she was so enthusiastic about history and teaching it.

     I want my future students to be enthusiastic about history. I want them to learn and explore the knowledge that can be learned from history. I want my future students to open their heart and expand their minds to what new information can be found throughout history. 

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                    Teaching with Manipulatives

     I am a firm believer in manipulatives. We can learn so much through tactile learning. I remember a concept, skill or subject because of what we actually did. In both of my lessons that I taught in Social Studies, my students had an art project. I also used music to gain the students attention, which they really enjoyed. Click on the links below to see the lesson plans that I taught. Social Studies Lesson Plan 1

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Teaching with Art

     I love art! Art, in my opinion, is peaceful and relaxing. Learning core materials through art should be fun and relaxing. This is what I did with my second Social Studies lesson plan. I incorporated art into social studies. I was teaching my students about the Plains Indians. I was telling the students that the Plains Indians used many natural resources and one of those resources was buffalo skin. I went to my local craft store and found leather, which I told the students that it was buffalo skin, and they created a message on the skin. It was a wonderful lesson and my students loved it. Check out my lesson Here.

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Teaching with Children's Literature

    Children's literature is an important tool for the classroom. We all get tired of reading textbooks but we can expand our minds through children's books. It helps each child in different ways. A great way to incorporate children's literature in the classroom is through bulletin boards. This semester we had to make a Social Studies bulletin board. I chose the book Invasion of Canada. It was about the War of 1812. It had great pictures and it was easy to read.