“Social Studies teaching and learning are powerful when they are meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging and active.”
---National Council for the Social Studies
Application of Research:
UT Elementary School embraces a research base that tells us that meaningful depth of understanding of social studies content, concepts and competencies are based on life experiences. Using this approach, students and their knowledge are important to the development of the curriculum. Teachers understand the need to build on the students’ prior knowledge of social studies topics integrating all curriculum areas and addressing the four themes: our place in space (geography), our place in time (history), our place in the world (culture), and our contribution to society and the world (citzenship).
NCSS Ten Thematic Strands
UT Elementary School follows the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) ten thematic strands that form the basis for the social studies standards. According to these strands, social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of:
- Culture and cultural diversity
- The ways human beings view themselves in and over time
- People, places and environments
- Individual development and identity
- Interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions
- How people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance
- How people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
Relationships among science, technology and society
At UT Elementary, we looked at these ten themes and thought about what would best fit the children and the community that they are serving. We did quite a bit of work, asking “What might this look like? What might be some of the projects we would engage the children in?”
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) require that kindergarten and first grade students learn about themselves, their families, friends, and the school community. They focus on family heritage and traditions – their own as well as that of others – and they learn about national holidays and celebrations.
Pre K-
Pre-kindergarteners are expected to understand to learn to cooperate with one another, identify common features in the home and school environment; recognize changes in the environment; begin to understand cause and effect relationships; understand similarities among people, understand the basic human needs; recognize the roles, responsibilities and services provided by the community workers; become aware of what it means to be a consumer; and recognize changes in the environment over time.
Kindergarten - First
Kindergarteners share with one another how they live: food, clothing, and shelter. In first grade, the students discuss how they make choices about these elements of culture.
In kindergarten and first grade, the students use simple maps to describe their classroom, school and neighborhood. They learn about citizenship and have the opportunity to practice citizenship in the classroom and school. In addition, they find out about leaders in the community, state and nation.
Second-
The TEKS require that second graders extend these skills through the exploration of their neighborhoods and the people who live there. Specifically, they consider the geographic characteristics, economic roles people play and what they produce, and the neighborhood services provided by the government.
Third –
Third grade curriculum focuses on community, leadership citizenship, geography, and consumer science. Third graders are responsible for understanding history and major landmarks of cities in which they live, map skills, African American history, and women’s history.
Fourth
In fourth grade, our main concentration in Social Studies is on Texas History, geography, economics, citizenship, and government. We discuss important issues and events form the past and present. Key concepts include: the regions of Texas, Native Americans, colonization, explorers, Texas Revolution, and present day Texas. As to enhance our students’ learning we use primary and secondary sources such as Harcourt Brace Social Studies, Time For Kids, Texas Social Studies Weekly, internet, technology, biographies, novels, timelines, artifacts, songs, poems, letters, readers’ theater, plays, oral histories, video clips, and study trips.
Fifth –
Fifth grade studies U.S. History, U.S. Government, and U.S. Geography. The focus is on how the United States became the United States of America. Fifth grade utilizes a variety of primary documents and reads multiple texts about US history.
Instructional Strategies:
Teachers create and implement social studies annual plans which are aligned to the TEKS. These plans use interactive and cooperative classroom activities that bring together students of all ability levels. Through the use of community circles, peace tables, cumulative projects, research projects, mapping, artifact boxes and photographs, students experience interactive social studies learning. Expository text, rich literature, oral language and literacy skills all contribute to reinforcing social studies content. Students use timelines and interactive notebooks to explore concepts. We recognize the value of using quality children’s literature to teach concepts.
Social and emotional development is addressed through a school-wide character education program that focuses on emotional development, violence prevention and civic responsibility. In addition, role play is used as an instructional strategy for the purpose of teaching social and emotional behaviors such as respect and empathy. Service projects serve to emphasis a sense of community at various grade levels.
We know that children are active watchers of the world and they are learning about how the world works in really rich and exciting ways. This trend is shared by many in Social Studies, with the hope that the Social Studies program will encourage children to be engaged in research in their community.
We believe that it is very important to offer real world experience for children and have children research in ways that are appropriate for them.
Field Trips are a key component in addressing the ten themes through experiential learning.
Assessment:
Using a diagnostic prescriptive approach, teachers assess student understanding of social studies curriculum through recorded observations, questioning strategies, projects and products scored with rubrics. Student-generated social studies journals promote further learning, responsible citizenship, and open expression of ideas.
Materials:
Resources include Horizons text (Harcourt Publishing Co.), and History Alive!, Social Studies Alive! (Teachers Curriculum Institute), Time for Kids, Texas Social Studies Weekly, teacher-made materials, photographs, maps, literature, and artifacts are also used. We use desk maps, internet, technology, map champs, globes, and atlases to support the students’ research.
Dr. Sherry Field in the Curriculum & Instruction Department at UT’s College of Education serves as the UT Elementary contact for our social studies research base.
The UT Elementary social studies team leaders are Mary Ledbetter, the fifth-grade social studies teacher, and Nefertiti Williams, our fourth-grade social studies teacher.
