Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Chapter 6
Reading and Writing in Social Studies
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Looking AheadWhat role does information and
communication skills have in the elementary social studies curriculum?
What information skills are most essential to elementary social studies?
What tools are available for teachers and students for teaching/learning these skills?
What pitfalls/problems exist for teachers and students when utilizing those tools?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Can You –Name the four basic purposes for reading
and writing assignments in social studies?Identify the specific reading abilities
students need in social studies?Explain how to use textbooks with students
who cannot read?Think of ways to use fiction books in social
studies?Help students use the Internet for
research?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Do You –Know what students dislike most about using
references?Know how to break students out of the “copy
from the Internet” habit?Know how to make social studies book reports
interesting?Know how to help students learn to organize
their writing?Know several ways to teach new concepts and
new vocabulary?Know some ways to actually shorten what
students have to read?Know why it is important for students to
understand the organization of reading material?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Focus Activity What was your favorite book(s) as child?
Why?Do you remember reading or having it
read to you by a parent or teacher?Share experiences with classmates.Discuss the details of the book(s) and how
you might use them in your classroom.
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Reading and Writing Assignments in Social StudiesWhat traits should an effective
assignment have?Provoke the curiosity of studentsTeacher facilitated (i.e. challenging but
not impossible)Able to be accomplished in an amount of
time appropriate to the age and ability of students
Clearly organized and understandable
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Reading Skills Needed in Social StudiesRecognize the organization of reading materials
Bring meaning to readingRead for a purposeRead critically
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Helping Students Read Social Studies Materials
1. Pre-teach difficult vocabulary prior to reading.
2. Reduce the length of independent reading tasks.
3. Provide specific, clear purposes for reading.
4. Help students get a sense of the “story” that the reading material is telling, developing their predictive skills.
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Less Can Be More: Quality Reading in Social StudiesWhat are some ways a teacher can
reduce the quantity but maintain the quality of the social studies reading?Use student-written summaries instead of the
textUse teacher-written summaries instead of the
textUse textbook cut-upsTry textbook highlightingExperiment with question write-insCooperate with class divide-ups
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Reading TextbooksWhat do teachers need to do in
order to use textbooks effectively?Give specific, purposeful assignmentsStimulate interest in doing the readingMake sure that students have the skills
needed to do the assignmentProvide supervision, monitoring, and help
where neededFollow up on reading assignments
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Reading Question and Task StatementsWhat strategies can help students better
understand the questions they are being asked?Teach students to be sensitive to the nature of
question words and to the nature of the answers these words demand (i.e. who, what, where, etc.)
Alert students to organizational features of textbooks related to questions
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Reading Social Studies Themed Trade BooksWhat are trade books?
Trade books constitute a variety of reading topics and formats, including biographies, fiction, and poetry; written for various levels.
Why might you utilize biographies?Fiction?Poetry?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Connecting Reading and Writing in Social StudiesEconomic reportsArcheology reportsStory museum reportsComic reportsShoe box story paradeBook trialsHistorical creation reportsStory geographySociometries of booksPublicity and review reports
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Organizing to WriteWhat are the base or prerequisite
skills needed for many if not all writing jobs?Note takingWriting answers to questionsOutlining
Do NOT assume students know how to do this
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Developing Research and Reporting SkillsWhat are the benefits of having
students complete reports?What type of reporting is best for
elementary students?What is a real danger in having
students complete reports?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Writing CreativelyIn-role writing?Modeling cultures?Problem-solving stories?
Diary?Collaborative writing?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Looking Back Social studies is knowledge most readily
communicated through print.Reading and writing grow through practice and
they are linked to thinking.There are several strategies that teachers can
use to help studentsPre-teaching vocabularyReducing the actual length of reading assignmentsProviding sufficient and clear purposes for reading Developing predictive skills
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
ExtensionYou have been procrastinating in completing your
trade book adoptions project. Feeling a little stressed about the timeline, you consider alternatives. In the end you decide you only have two options.
Option One: Develop your own list of 20 books you could use in your classroom to help teach social studies.
Option Two: Partner with your other grade level teachers and develop one list of 20 books that all the teachers in your grade will utilize to help teach social studies.
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
ExtensionSelect an option.Develop a trade book adoption list. The list
should include at least 20 recently published trade books.
The list should also include all bibliographic information:summary of the booksdiscussion of how you could use the book in
social studiespossible state and national standards addressed
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
ExtensionWhat are the advantages/disadvantages of
having your other grade level teachers input and adopting one set of trade books?
What are the advantages/disadvantages of selecting your own list of 20 books for adoption?
What qualities, topics, etc., would you seek in the new books?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Self-Test1. What are the four basic purposes for which
reading and writing assignments are used in independent seat work?
2. What are the qualities that you need to look for in a non-fiction book?
3. What are some different kinds of fiction material that can be used in social studies?
4. What are the purposes of learning research and reporting skills?
5. How are guidelines useful in making textbook questions more meaningful?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
Self-Test6. Why do teachers have students write
reports and present them orally?7. Describe several ways of teaching
concepts and vocabulary to students.8. What is SQ3R?9. What is meant by the term “purposeful
reading” and why is the concept important?
Essentials of Elementary Social Studies By Turner, Russell, Waters Copyright 2013
ResourcesLibresco, A., Blantic, J., & Kipling, J. (2011).
Every Book Is a Social Studies Book: How to Meet Standards with Picture Books, K-6. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.
The Great Books Foundation – http://www.greatbooks.org/
Storyline Online – http://www.storylineonline.net/
TumbleBooks – http://www.tumblebooks.com/
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