[00:00:00] Kirsten: This is the Social Studies Teacher Podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm Kirsten of the Southern Teach, an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies.

[00:00:30] Kirsten: I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement, so let's dive in together.

[00:00:47] Kirsten: Today's topic is all about building literacy skills through social studies. Today, our objectives are to understand the importance of integrating literacy skills into social [00:01:00] studies. We are going to explore some strategies and examples and also learn how to create engaging activities to promote critical thinking.

[00:01:10] Kirsten: So to get started, we are going to talk about why. We want to integrate literacy skills in the first place. One big reason is that it enhances comprehension of social studies content, which can make learning more meaningful for students. It also develops critical thinking and analytical skills, encourages students to ask questions and seek answers.

[00:01:35] Kirsten: A lot of the same social studies skills that you might see can easily tie in with. ELA and reading it can encourage effective communication through writing. When you can help the students express their ideas clearly, you teach them effective communication through that. And then also it supports overall literacy development, which of course [00:02:00] benefits them in all areas.

[00:02:02] Kirsten: Of learning and in all subjects. Let's talk about a few reading strategies you can incorporate with social studies. The first and big tip I have is to use primary and secondary sources, such as historical artifacts, letters and articles. Primary sources are straight from the source, so we're thinking real letters or speeches or historical documents.

[00:02:27] Kirsten: And then secondary sources are really. Written or spoken about, maybe a documentary about that. Primary sources, so usually secondary sources. They're using the primary sources to compile the secondary sources. So you might have some type of. Curriculum or passages. Those are just some examples of the differences between primary sources and secondary sources.

[00:02:51] Kirsten: There is definitely a place for both in the social studies classroom. Another tip I have is to implement close reading [00:03:00] techniques, focusing on key details and vocabulary. The third tip for reading strategies would be to build vocabulary by exploring unfamiliar words, words in context, using context clues, helping them understand and utilize those new terms.

[00:03:18] Kirsten: That's a really great integration with ELA. All right, so I pulled up the. First day of the map skills. This is free. This is just a really great example that I'm going to utilize as far as annotating and close reading. So this is all about elements of a map. Very first day, and I'm just going to share with you some tips on how you can use this social studies topic in.

[00:03:49] Kirsten: Reading with reading. So that's just something to think about. So one tip I have is have students read this. Passage two times. So [00:04:00] just reading it really slowly if needed, they could read out loud or whisper read if needed. Just giving them a couple of times to read the passage. Another thing I would recommend is underlining.

[00:04:13] Kirsten: Any unfamiliar words that they may not know? Okay, I'm gonna go to draw mode. So I'm going to kind of think in the mind of the student. Um, elements might be one that they may not know. Uh, legend Compass Rose doesn't always have to be the bold words or the main words to know, or vocabulary words, maybe distance.

[00:04:41] Kirsten: Vertical horizontal. So just have them go in in the passage and just simply underline any under unfamiliar words. Then also you can have them circle any key vocabulary. So usually anything that's key would [00:05:00] be anything that's in bold. So you've got, I have map here, elements key legend.

[00:05:14] Kirsten: Compass Rose, scale and grid system. Those are the key vocabulary words that are highlighted in bold. And another thing you can do is have them write a short phrase describing each paragraph. So I'm going to just quickly insert a text. So for the first paragraph I have here, what is a map? That's just kind of the gist of the first paragraph.

[00:05:51] Kirsten: Second paragraph, I was gonna write description of each of the common map [00:06:00] elements. So that's gonna be. Kind of how, I'm paraphrasing in my own words. Each student might have something different depending on what they write, and also in a sentence, have a main idea of the text. So I'm just gonna do that over here.

[00:06:18] Kirsten: And students can write this maybe at the top of their paper, kind of by or under the map skills area here. Um, let's say map. Elements are important to know in order to read and understand a map. I'm just gonna make it a lot smaller here. I there. So that is my main, key, main sentence for this particular passage.

[00:06:56] Kirsten: Other ideas would be, you can have, you know, students [00:07:00] write questions that they may be having or making some connections. Like my mom has a map on her phone. She uses it all the time. Anything like that. You can also note any text features, have students note text features. So that would definitely be any words in bold.

[00:07:21] Kirsten: The photograph is a text element. The caption under the photograph is a as a text feature that students should also be reading before they are answering the questions. Now when we look at the actual questions of this specific passage. We have the three questions. What is the purpose of the map grid system and then the compass rose.

[00:07:44] Kirsten: Question here are some examples of what you can do to kind of help them use evidence. This is something I utilize with my students. The first step, reading the questions, underlining any keywords or phrases in the [00:08:00] question. So for example, number one, purpose. Of a map, that would probably be what I would underline, eliminate answer choices.

[00:08:11] Kirsten: So I could definitely, for number one, eliminate D to persuade us to go camping and probably also be to inform us about rivers in forests because it was not mentioned in the passage. So I am left with either A or C. The fourth step would be highlighting or underlining evidence from the text. So going back to find your answer, the purpose of a map, I can see that's in the second sentence.

[00:08:46] Kirsten: The main purpose of a map is to show where things are, so that tells me that. C is not the best answer and a is the best answer. So I [00:09:00] can underline that second sentence as evidence and I can circle the correct answer, which would be a and a bonus if you want to incorporate CER responses. Claim evidence, reasoning.

[00:09:15] Kirsten: You can have students in the margin in a space provided explain the reasoning why the answer was selected so they could use what the answer is and the evidence to provide some type of reasoning in a short sentence. Alright, let's move on to writing strategies with social study. One tip I have for you is to encourage journaling about historical events and allow students to reflect on what they've learned.

[00:09:50] Kirsten: Another idea is to assign essays or reports on social studies topics. This can help students organize and present their ideas. [00:10:00] And another strategy I have is to use creative writing. Such as letters from historical perspectives to make history come alive. So I have some prompts here for you or some ideas for you based off of this second day.

[00:10:18] Kirsten: The second passage is on the types of maps. So I came up with some ideas. So the journaling prompt, imagine you're an adventure exploring a mysterious island marked on an old physical map, right? About the landmarks you encounter, the challenges you faced, and the treasures you discover along the way. So that's kind of activating their creative minds in.

[00:10:37] Kirsten: Thinking of something. The second idea I have is to write an essay or have a report topic research, and write about the different types of maps used throughout history. Explain how maps have evolved over time from ancient civilizations to modern technology. You can include examples such as ancient navigation maps, medieval world maps, and [00:11:00] contemporary digital maps.

[00:11:02] Kirsten: This could be kind of funny as they're researching, they might see maps that have like the medieval world maps or, um, how people thought certain areas of the world looked and how it actually looks can be a little bit of a difference. So it could be an interesting thing for students to write about. And the third idea is creative writing task.

[00:11:21] Kirsten: For this particular topic, write a story about a map that leads to a hidden historical artifact or a lost civilization. So they really have to be creative on this one. They're creating characters who are going on a quest to discover clues, encountering historical figures, and unraveling some mysteries from the past.

[00:11:40] Kirsten: So it could be. Any type of way they wanna go with it. But these are just a few ideas to get started with just this topic. And of course you can do the same with really virtually any social studies topic. All right. The last strategy section we're gonna talk about is critical thinking and pairing that up with social studies.

[00:11:59] Kirsten: Critical [00:12:00] thinking goes hand in hand. One really great idea to think about is to utilize. Questioning techniques so that you can encourage deeper thinking about historical events. So instead of the superficial who, what, when, where, how. Think about, well, more how and also why and what if kind of questions.

[00:12:21] Kirsten: And then the second one, organizing debates and discussions on historical events, helping students to explore different viewpoints. This is really great to do, especially with your older students. The third one, analyzing cause and effect relationships and how, kind of showing how historical events are connected together.

[00:12:46] Kirsten: So here are some ideas based off of this particular map skills passage that I have. So questioning techniques such as how do we use directions like north, south, east, and West in our daily lives. [00:13:00] That could be a really good question to think about. Can you think of examples where knowing these directions would be important in in history, so they're activating some background knowledge on that, and that could also make a really great discussion point there.

[00:13:14] Kirsten: And then another kind of discussion idea, discussing why explorers needed to know directions like Northeast and Southwest and Southeast and Southwest during their journey. So those intermediate directions. And a couple of other ideas, especially with cause and effect related to the cardinal and intermediate directions.

[00:13:34] Kirsten: How did people moving West affect how towns and cities grew in early America? And also, can you think of other ways, knowing directions helped people in history to travel and trade with others? So these are some ideas, use or lose, but just kind of hoping to get your brain thinking about how you can incorporate certain strategies into social studies.

[00:13:59] Kirsten: I have a [00:14:00] few tips for successfully integrating this, and the first tip I have is to start small, gradually incorporate more activities so you're not overwhelming students. I definitely don't recommend doing all three reading, writing, and critical thinking strategies in one week or even in one passage.

[00:14:17] Kirsten: That would be a lot. Maybe do it. One for each week, or focus on reading for one specific unit or timeframe, and then go into writing and critical thinking or mix and match, however you wanna do that, but definitely don't do all three with multiple discussion points and questions and activities in one day or one week.

[00:14:40] Kirsten: Another tip is to encourage student choice and creativity to keep them engaged and motivated. This can especially be done really with all of them. Reading is a little bit more structured with the closed reading or annotating, but in writing you can get really creative with it because students have kind of a choice of, you know, they're creating their own story, [00:15:00] critical thinking.

[00:15:00] Kirsten: You can do some type of report, research, topic, or um, discussion related to that, and you can also just kind of vary the activity. So this is just a really great way to embed that in. And then the third tip is to make connections to students' lives and current events to make learning relevant. So maybe your students have phones, and so you can kind of connect how maps went from having it on paper to going onto a website and printing out your directions on MapQuest two.

[00:15:36] Kirsten: Now you can go virtually anywhere with your map that's hosted on your iPhone or Android smartphone. So there's a lot of different connections you can make and you can also encourage students to make their own connections. All right, so we are at the end of this particular video. I hope you enjoyed it.

[00:15:59] Kirsten: The question I have [00:16:00] for today, how will you integrate social studies with ELA in the upcoming school year? Some of us may not have a choice, just depending on how much time we might have allotted for certain subjects. Some of us could be a little bit more flexible, so I wanna hear your thoughts and what you plan on doing this school year to add social studies with your ELA block or the other way around.

[00:16:21] Kirsten: Thanks for listening to the Social Studies Teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the Southern Teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.