INTEGRATING LITERACY: Social Studies

READERS THEATER

Social Studies combined with readers theater allows student’s skills in social studies, reading, oral comprehension,

writing, and public speaking come together and improve in one beneficial and engaging

activity.

SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTIONIt is possible to connect social studies to readers

theater in many different ways. • Creating dialogue in order to talk about important

issues, such as taking care of the earth. • Using dialogue in order to gain insight to a piece of

history. This can be done by taking a story or a lesson in history and creating a story using

dialogue that contains key details and events, in a way that is entertaining.

• Using dialogue to showcase an important event in a way that is engaging to students- this is done

without as much focus on a list of dates and times, but instead focuses on the STORY in history.

READING CONNECTIONReaders Theater allows students to read in teams

or groups in front of their peers.

To benefit the students it is important that the reading be at their level and lower readers have a

chance to work in larger groups, that way they don’t feel as much pressure to perform the

majority of the time like a group of two would.

ORAL COMPREHENSIONThe audience will be listening to the story as the

players read the dialogue in their scripts. Students in the audience will have a chance to

work on their skills of oral comprehension because there will be few to no pictures and the

players won’t be acting out scenes. The audience will work on creating their own

imagery in their brains (making pictures in our brains is what I call it to my first graders). This

helps them comprehend the story orally and gain information from it.

WRITING CONNECTIONIn older grades there is a greater possibility in

students writing their own scripts for their readers theater presentation.

After gaining information students can use the information they have learned in order to pen

their own dialogue. This allows them to practice their writing and work as a team or a partnership

because it is important that the lines of each character match the lines of another.

PUBLIC SPEAKINGThe students perform their production in front of an audience of either their peers, their parents,

or both.

This allows students to practice their skills in speaking in front of an audience in order to

improve on projection and flow in their reading and speaking.

HISTORICAL JOURNALING

By giving students the opportunity to journal as a figure in history we provide them with the chance to learn things from their own writing that they may not have learned in the traditional way of teaching and

learning history. In order to gain inspiration

it is also possible to allow students with the chance to read from historical journals (or fictional counterparts

such as “My America” or “I Survived…” books).

HISTORICAL CONNECTION

By taking a piece of time and allowing children to write about it as if they were there gives them opportunities to learn about it more deeply.

If a child was given the task of writing from the perspective of a child venturing west on the Oregon Trail with his/her family the student would need to

first learn about what it was like to be a child on the Oregon Trail.

Likewise if an older student was given the task of writing from the point of view of Martin Luther King Jr.,

Harriet Tubman, or President Abraham Lincoln it would be essential that they learn about these figures

in history in order to write these journal entries.

READING AND WRITING CONNECTION

While journaling is indeed a writing activity the type of writing is important to note. Because this is an activity that requires them to write from a historical perspective the students need to write

a narrative from the perspective of another. As far as reading goes I mentioned before

students could get inspiration from books that depict journals or personal narratives of children

living at the time or older students could read and look at actual journal entries from the time. This along with other reading materials will help give them enough information to write their own

journal entries.

INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS

Interactive notebooks allow students to be creative while they take notes and they can

become independent writers and thinkers. This is a space where students can write their own

thoughts and take notes, and creatively think through information they receive during class.

CONTENT AREA CONNECTIONS

Interactive notebooks are being used in classrooms for a variety of subjects from writing,

to science, to social studies. Not only do they provide engaging writing and note-taking activities but they also help students with

organization and journaling.

There are many different ways to incorporate social studies into an interactive notebook from basic notes, journal entries, to diagrams, charts,

and maps.

READING AND WRITING CONNECTIONS

Interactive notebooks allow students to have the opportunity to work closely with reading and

writing strategies. • Basic Note Taking strategies

• Strategies to explore vocabulary or a space to write and define new vocabulary words.

• Journal pages• Graphic Organizers

TIME LINES

Time lines allow for students to see a sequence of events. While it does have some focus on when events happened in the past it can be a great opportunity for students to write small blurbs

about a point in time.

SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTIONS

Timelines are typically connected closely with history because they show a sequence

of events.

Timelines can be used to document the lives of the students in class, events happening in class, or current events happening in the

school, town, state, or country depending on the age being taught.

LITERACY CONNECTIONSThe use of timelines to connect literacy and

social studies allows students to work on writing short blurbs about a specific piece of

time.

Timelines also create a sequence and allow students to learn about a sequence of

events and can even be used as a chance to teach and really look into cause and effect

relationships in the timeline.

TIME CAPSULES

This is a piece of personal history for the students in the class. This was something

my second grade teacher did every year and still does with her class to this day.

SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTION

This is a piece of personal history for the students who create their own time-capsule to open at the

end of the year.

The time capsules give students a chance to look back on their own history and experiences (even

if just for a year) for young students it is important that they can create and understand a simple timeline of events. I know some teachers who collect student worth throughout the year and put it in a book for students to look at and

talk about before taking it home.

LITERACY CONNECTIONFor all ages (younger grades may need the help

of you or a parent) they can write a few things on a piece of paper (favorite color, favorite food, favorite animal, etc.) at the beginning of the school year. For kindergarten and first grade

students you could even put in their first writing of the ABC’s or the first sentence they read in the

year. At the end of the year when it is opened again and the students get a chance to look at the

things in their time capsule they can write about how they have changed (either academically,

physically, or in their favorite whatever's).