Here is a resource for teachers and prospective teachers who want to engage their students in hands-on learning opportunities that are aligned with the NCSS standards. Includes: assessment rubrics, student and professional technology resources, children's literature to use with each activity, content area background information, descriptions of various instructional models, and ways in which each activity can be used for enrichment or to accommodate students with various needs.

This book provides an all-encompassing treatment of classroom planning, instruction, and strategies for enabling and encouraging teachers to effectively teach elementary social studies using creative and active learning strategies.

EDUCATION/ SOCIAL STUDIES "... a much-needed addition to elementary social studies that will move the field ahead." Keith C. Barton, University of Cincinnati "This text fills a valuable niche and should quickly become a leading reference for teachers and teacher educators." Linda S. Levstik, University of Kentucky This book, resulting from a collaboration among an educational psychologist, a social studies educator, and a primary teacher, describes in rich detail and illustrates with excerpts from recorded lessons how primary teachers can engage their students in social studies lessons and activities that are structured around powerful ideas and have applications to their lives outside of school. The teaching portrayed connects concepts and skills emphasized in national and state standards, taught in ways that build on students’ prior experiences in their local communities and connect with their family backgrounds and home cultures. The analyses include rich descriptions of the teacher-student interactions that occur during lessons, detailed information about how and why the teacher adapted lesson plans to meet her students’ background experiences and adjusted these plans to take advantage of teachable moments that emerged during lessons, and what all of this might imply concerning principles of practice. The principles are widely applicable in elementary schools across the country, as well as across the curriculum (not just in social studies) and across the elementary grades (not just the primary grades).

Organized around four commonplaces of education—learners and learning, subject matter, teachers and teaching, and classroom environment—Elementary Social Studies provides a rich and ambitious framework to help social studies teachers achieve powerful teaching and learning results. By blending the theoretical and the practical, the authors deeply probe the basic elements of quality instruction—planning, implementation, and assessment—always with the goal of creating and supporting students who are motivated, engaged, and thoughtful. Book features and updates to the fourth edition include: • Two new chapters on using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) to understand inquiry-based teaching and learning and to develop IDM inquiries. • Revised chapter on ideas and questions. • Revised chapter on literacy to more fully incorporate media literacy and digital citizenship. • Real-classroom narratives introduce chapters and provide in-depth access to teaching and learning contexts. • Practical curriculum and resource suggestions for the social studies classroom. • End-of-chapter summaries and annotated teaching resources.

Enrich students' social studies learning in Morning Meeting! This book is ideal for getting K-6 students excited about - and deepening their understanding of - the world around them. The activities cover a wide range of topics, concepts, and skills, in geography, civics, economics, and more - all without adding to your already packed schedule. · Features clear, step-by-step directions · Can be used with any curriculum · Includes key vocabulary words · Provides variations and extensions for further learning · Activities are sorted by grade, but can be adapted for any grade

Supplement your social studies curriculum with 180 days of daily practice! This essential classroom resource provides teachers with weekly social studies units that build students' content-area literacy, and are easy to incorporate into the classroom. Students will analyze primary sources, answer text-dependent questions, and improve their grade-level social studies knowledge. Each week covers a particular topic within one of the four social studies disciplines: history, economics, civics, and geography. Aligned to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and state standards, this social studies workbook includes digital materials.

If you are searching for ideas to teach social studies in fun and meaningful ways, 50 Ways to Teach Social Studies is a book that provides a plethora of ideas of practical lessons connected to real-world topics that will save the busy teacher time and effort. The activities in this book are housed under themes and include content connections (civics, history, geography, economics), guiding questions, and literacy connections. From community, primary sources, and music to food, visual media, and experiential learning, this book will inspire you to make connections in your own environment to expand the teaching of social studies.