Social Studies Elementary News
February 2020
In This Edition:
- Recently Added Resources
- Tennessee Blue Book: A History of Tennessee
- KidCitizen
- February Celebrations
- Women's Suffrage Centennial Resources
- Suffrage Coalition Centennial Celebration Contest
- Essay Contest for 4th & 5th Graders
- Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
- Teacher and Student Spotlight- East Knox Elementary
- Previous Elementary Newsletters
Recently Added Resources
Recently Added Resources:
- Women's Rights Comic Strip Pages- (3rd-5th) Comics to choose from include Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglas, the Seneca Falls Convention, and Sojourner Truth. There are even Blank Comic Strip pages where students can come up with what should be said.
- Tennessee Blue Book on Tennessee History- (5th Grade) This pdf document includes a booklet of Tennessee history from the land and native people through modern time.
- Family Traditions and Customs Resources- (1st Grade 1.03) These new resources submitted by Amie Wheeler include a flip chart, writing page, and a report planner. Check them out under the Module 1 Resources on the first grade page.
- Due to several requests, new resources for 5th grade standard 5.27 have been added under the Module 5 Resources on the grade level page. Some include an indigenous settlements rap, rap lyrics, reading articles, and more.
Directions on how to access resources on grade level pages:
1. Visit the Knox County Schools website
2. Click Departments
3. Scroll down to Social Studies
4. On the left, find "For Elementary Teachers" and click your grade level (You must be signed in to access materials.)
Tennessee Blue Book: A History of Tennessee (5th Grade)
Check out the Tennessee Blue Book: A History of Tennessee- Student Edition featuring kid-friendly text and primary sources that tell the story of the state of Tennessee! This content corresponds to the 5th grade Tennessee History Curriculum but also goes further, adding in the stories of Tennessee history from communities across the state. You'll find information about Tennessee prior to Statehood, including the Native American tribes who lived in the area, the Watauga and Cumberland settlements, and the steps Tennessee took to become a state.
The student edition also explores the stories of Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, and Sequoyah and examines our state's experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction. As you learn about Tennessee in the 20th century, you'll explore the women's suffrage movement, TVA, and people like Alvin C. York and Cornelia Fort. Closing out this journey through history will be the Civil Rights Movement, where students will learn about the Highlander Folk School and the Clinton Twelve.
The Student Edition features:
1) Kid-Friendly Text
2) Primary Sources directly from the State Library & Archives
3) Text that correlates to the 5th grade Tennessee History Course
4) Assessment Materials
5) And more, including stories of Tennessee History from communities across the state!
To find the assessment materials in the form of quizzes and discussion questions, click on each chapter and check the sidebar on the right-hand side of the page. For the answer keys to these assessments, click below:
KidCitizen
KidCitizen introduces a new way for young students (K-5) to engage with history through primary sources. In KidCitizen’s interactive episodes, children explore civics and government concepts by investigating primary source photographs from the Library of Congress. They also connect what they find with their daily lives. They use primary sources for rich demonstrations, interactions, and models of literacy in the course of innovative hands-on activities that make academic content meaningful, build on prior experiences, and foster visual literacy and historical inquiry. Each KidCitizen episode draws on a set of primary source photographs from the Library of Congress. All KidCitizen episodes run on PCs, Macs, Chromebooks and iOS and Android mobile devices. Click here for an informational article on KidCitizen.
February Celebrations
February is Black History Month, and February 17 is President's Day. Below are a couple resources to help teach and celebrate these occasions.
- K-5: KidCitizen Episode on Rosa Parks (for more on KidCitizen, please see the blurb below.)
- 3-5th: Vooks Abe's Honest Words
- Harriet Tubman Acrostic and Famous Folks Quiz
Women's Suffrage Centennial- TDOE Featured Content
This month the role of Alice Paul is highlighted and the use of parades and rallies to gain support and attention for women’s suffrage. Alice Paul was one of the main leaders of the women’s suffrage movement; she led and organized one of the largest parades from the movement in March of 1913.
The following resources are examples that can be used to begin exploring the Women’s Suffrage Movement. In addition to thoughtful preparation from these resources, there are additional components for which educators will need to plan and prepare. These include, but are not limited to, reviewing all activities prior to use and adjusting material as needed.
- Library of Congress: Women’s Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less
- National Women’s History Museum: Alice Paul Protesting Arrests and Suffragists Picketing at the White House
- Decoding the Video (National Constitution Center) and NPS Lesson Plan
- Library of Congress: Tactics and Techniques of the National Woman’s Party Suffrage Campaign
- PBS: Suffragist Alice Paul Clashed with Woodrow Wilson
- NPS: A Woman’s Place is in the Sewall-Belmont House: Alice Paul and Women’s Rights
Suffrage Coalition Centennial Celebration Contest
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women in the United States the right to vote. The contest includes three individual categories which students may participate.
Schools may set their own deadline for entries, but please have entries judged at the school level and submitted for the final judging process by the due date. The due date has been extended to Friday, February 28! The finalists in all categories will be judged by distinguished members of the Knoxville community. Winners in each category and grade division will receive prizes, recognition, and the opportunity to be presented at the East Tennessee History Fair August 22, 2020 and at the 2020 Suffrage Coalition suffrage parade. If you have any questions, email angie.maxey@knoxschools.org or sarah.eddins@knoxschools.org. Please submit your entries to the previous emails as well.
The contest flyer, plus rules, rubrics, and templates are included as attachments below.
50 States, 1 Nation Elementary School Essay Contest Launched
Professional Development Opportunities
- February 6 - Cold War workshop at the East Tennessee History Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET. To register, email Lisa Oakley.
- February 29 - Migration workshop at the East Tennessee History Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET. To register, email Lisa Oakley.
- March 17 (Murfreesboro) - "Road to Suffrage" at the MTSU Student Union from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To register, email Kira Duke.
*PDs offered during a regular school day, require teachers to submit a professional leave request. Unfortunately, the Social Studies Department does not have money to pay for substitutes.
Teacher & Student Spotlight
Previous Elementary Newsletters
Social Studies Department
Katherine Petko, Social Studies Supervisor katherine.petko@knoxschools.org
Dean Burress, K-12 Social Studies Facilitator dean.burress@knoxschools.org
Kristin Risdahl, K-12 Social Studies Facilitator
kristin.risdahl@knoxschools.org
Vickie Beckers, Administrative Assistant