Social Studies Weekly
Year 5 Volume 18 ~ January 22, 2019
Last week, Coach Palmer had his students rocking and rolling with review materials for the NC Final. He was a using hands-on "domino" connection activities and the students were highly engaged. As students were working, Coach Palmer checked in on students and sat with those struggling with the activity to get them on track. When a student was completed with his/her "domino", he checked their work and got them started on another set. The only students on their phones were the ones looking up information from the dominos. As we all know, keeping students off their phones can be a major struggle. On this day the score was Teacher 1 and Cell Phone 0.
Balanced Literacy: Word Study, January 24th
Where: Carver High School
Date: Thursday January 24
Time: 4:00-5:30
Presenter: Courtney Tuck
Register for this session in in the Staff PD. (Should be open to register by the end of the week.)
Founding Principles Course from DPI
If interested, fill out this form. When asked the name of the course, put in “Founding Principles”. Registration ends Feb 1st. The course will run from Feb 4 – Mar 8. Please email Tom.Daugherty@dpi.nc.gov with any questions.
Here is a spreadsheet with numerous opportunities for summer learning and travel.
- The KKC Study Tour of Japan is due February 1st.
- The Mount Vernon Fellowship application is due February 28th.
- The Brussels Study Tour Grant is due March 1st.
- The Supreme Court Institute is due March 11th, see the flyer here.
These are just as a sample of what is available. Look at the spreadsheet to see everything!
Lino
Level-Up Your Knowledge
World History
As you begin World History, there are two different approaches you can take with regard to Unit 1. You may review key historical thinking ideas with the three days allotted or you may decide to build the review of historical thinking ideas into Units 2 and 3. Either method is fine. Just keep in mind that historical thinking skills (Stanard 1) should be taught/utilized throughout the entire course.
As you plan your lessons for World History, remember to build in writing assignments for students. Writing assignments are great ways to check students understanding of key concepts in a lesson. For Unit 2, you could try these formative assessments to evaluate student understanding of the objectives, practice historical thinking skills, and practice student writing.
Civics and Economics
Check this Google Doc out to see how to connect the Enlightenment Thinkers with the Democratic Principles while creating an interactive poster that can strengthen student application of this information.
If you used the "Order in the Court" digital breakout box to review for the NC Final, we would love to hear how it went. Send Melissa an e-mail.
American History 1 and 2
While the content within the course is important, we want students to experience more than just "let me, a textbook, or a video" tell you what happened. We want to give them the opportunity to analyze the information, determine what happened based on their analysis, and compare their analysis to historians. Yes, this is a lot. But, this is what Standard 1 expects.
To do this, we need to scaffold the information based on our student needs. Students don't always need to read entire primary sources. It is perfectly fine to use excerpts. Images, charts, and graphs can be used as well.
The Teaching American History primary sourcebooks are a good place to start looking for the primary source material. For American 1, try the "Merchants and Morality" or "Labor, Servitude and Slavery" documents from this book. For American 2, try the "Reconstructing the West" or "Urban Growth" documents from this book. All of the documents can be excerpted even further for time and student readiness.
Message from Melissa
And a collective sigh of relief falls over the crowd as teachers have reached the halfway mark and prepare for a new semester. All seems a little more bright and shiny, not like a brand new school year, but like a "new" used car. The anticipation is met with both excitement and apprehension. Will it be a diamond in the rough or a giant lemon? Either way, it will be decided soon.
I appreciate everything you do. Here is to a "diamond in the rough" kind of semester!
Melissa
Email: mmmcgready@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
Website: http://wsfcs.k12.nc.us/Domain/54
Phone: 813-388-3999