Social Studies Insider
February 2020
Join the Google Community
Interested in Co-Teaching? Need Help Planning?
Celebrate Culture and History
Engaging Digital Resources
New to the List this Month: 5 Clue Challenge
Looking for a way to cover your geographic standards in a more interesting and inquiry-based manner? Consider integrating "Where in the world?" to add a new level of excitement and problem solving to cover key locations, events, and people from within your standards.
What is "Where in the world?" All over the world, people live in diverse regions, and climates with different animals, plants, and interesting nuances. As I have traveled the world working with teachers and students, I have tried to bring experiences back to my own classes. Below you'll find short videos where you will get 5 clues to guess a location, animal, or person. Some videos were created by me as I traveled. Others were submitted to me by teachers and children from around the globe. Your mission is to do research and figure out the answer to each challenge in as few clues as possible. Have fun!
UPDATE: Achievement Level Descriptors
Invest in GCA and Watch Your Students Grow
Utilize the bank of questions to spiral information from your previous units of study. Select five questions per week and conduct a brief warm-up/concluding review with a daily assigned question. Take time to allow students to review their notes, discuss their understanding with a partner, and document their thoughts. Encourage them to mark out, highlight, underline segments of the question and option choices. Before reviewing the correct answer as a class, demonstrate how students should get to the correct answer by identifying what students know about the various distractors. Model for your students as you highlight key points, jot down reminders, and eliminate any incorrect options choices to solidify the correct answer.
If interested in more information about this strategy, reach out to Nessa McClure, Jeff Welch, or Phil Sykes. The examples pictured below were created by Nessa McClure and cover the 5th-Gade Social Studies Georgia Standards of Excellence. I have also linked middle school examples below.
Organized Questions
Daily Question
Weekly Response Sheet
Georgia Council for Economic Education Review Apps
Spotlighting Excellence
Mrs. Weaver joined our 5th-grade team at Moreland 2 years ago. She, along with her husband and 3 beautiful children come to us from North Carolina where she had 13 years of experience in teaching. Most of her experience was at Thales Academy, a private school, where she taught 5th grade. At Moreland, Megan also teaches 5th grade Math, Science, and Social Studies. Mrs. Weaver has an energy and enthusiasm that is contagious to her students and team-mates; and which creates a classroom atmosphere where true learning can occur. She loves it when her students put forth genuine effort, express their creativity, and connect with their learning on a personal level. Megan and her team-mates work diligently along with our support staff to develop activities and strategies that assure all students in her collaborative classroom experience success. Mrs. Weaver is the co-sponsor of our Jr. Beta Club and one of our go-to teachers when it comes to technology. It is a joy to watch her work with her students and to see the interaction between student and teacher as they work together in a true teaching-learning partnership.
Third Annual Coweta Innovation Summit
Attention Elementary Teachers:
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help moving forward! I'd be happy to sit down and go through the results to identify students' strengths and weaknesses.
Integrating Social Studies into your ELA/Reading Lessons Made Easy
Located within the GA DOE Teacher Notes, teachers can find a list of standards connected books that can easily be integrated into your ELA/Reading lessons.
For Kindergarten access, Click Here.
For 1st Grade access, Click Here.
For 2nd Grade access, Click Here.
For 3rd Grade access, Click Here.
For 4th Grade access, Click Here.
For 5th Grade access, Click Here.
Student Friendly Biography on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As we begin our celebrations of Black History Month, take a moment to check out this student-friendly resource on Dr. King.
2nd Grade Teachers:
Utilize the following link to help gather relevant information in regard to your Georgia Studies standards. Georgia
3rd Grade Teachers:
Check out National Geographic Kids. They have numerous resources on the American Indians and the regions in which they live(d).
Attention Middle School Teachers:
SGM Revisions:
If you are aware of an issue with your course's SGM, please contact your testing coordinator. We are in the process of establishing revision dates. Your testing coordinator will need to share your request with Dr. Jackson in order for the SGM to be added to our revision list.
7th Grade Teachers:
As you cover various conflicts across the Middle East and Asia, you may be interested in having your students explore the following game created by the United States Airforce. This game touches on many of the topics you may discuss within your classroom lessons.
Opportunity for Students in Grades 6-12:
The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is looking for it's 2020 Student Community Service Award recipient. This award is given to honor students in middle and high school who are making significant contributions to their community through their time, actions, talents and dedication. Students applying for these awards will have consistently demonstrated qualities of compassion and service in their volunteer activities. Students may not receive any monetary or personal benefits from their involvement in these activities. Please encourage students to apply! We'd love to have a CCSS student recognized for the work they are doing to better our community. Click here for an application.
Benchmark Results are In:
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help moving forward! I'd be happy to sit down and go through the results to identify students' strengths and weaknesses.
Monthly Social Studies Meeting:
This month's meeting will be held on January 29, 2020, at Werz. Mrs. Heather McMillan will be presenting information that you won't want to miss. We will also take some time to comb through our Mid Year Benchmark data.
GCSS Reading List:
Click on the following link to access a reading list connected to various social studies themes and topics. Click Here
Attention High School Teachers:
SGM Revisions:
If you are aware of an issue with your course's SGM, please contact your testing coordinator. We are in the process of establishing revision dates. Your testing coordinator will need to share your request with Dr. Jackson in order for the SGM to be added to our revision list.
What's Cooking Uncle Sam?
The National Archives Museum adapted our very popular printed exhibition catalog “What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?” to a fully interactive eBook with video, audio and additional content. The eCatalog is based on the “What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?” exhibition that debuted in 2011 at the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. The records featured in “What's Cooking” were all produced in the course of Government efforts to ensure that Americans enjoy an ample, safe, and nutritious diet. Spanning the Revolutionary War to the late 1900s, the letters, photographs, pamphlets, posters, films, and radio programs echo many of our current concerns about Government’s role in the health and safety of our food supply. Click Here
Social Studies Civic Engagement Diploma Seal
Continue to advertise this opportunity to your students. As you finalize your review of capstone projects. Please keep me posted with the expected number of graduates receiving the diploma seal.
Opportunity for Students in Grades 6-12:
The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is looking for it's 2020 Student Community Service Award recipient. This award is given to honor students in middle and high school who are making significant contributions to their community through their time, actions, talents and dedication. Students applying for these awards will have consistently demonstrated qualities of compassion and service in their volunteer activities. Students may not receive any monetary or personal benefits from their involvement in these activities. Please encourage students to apply! We'd love to have a CCSS student recognized for the work they are doing to better our community. Click here for an application.
Scholarship Opportunity for Seniors:
Newnan Coweta Historical Society Scholarship
For the third consecutive year, the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society (NCHS) will be awarding a $10,000 scholarship to a Coweta County student intending to pursue a college education with a history or history-related major or minor.
The Newnan-Coweta Historical Society is now beginning to take applications for its annual $10,000 scholarship awarded to a local student in good standing. The scholarship will be issued at a rate of $2,500 per year, paid in installments per semester or quarter depending on the institution’s’ system.
The NCHS scholarship is intended to promote the study of history and history-related fields. History helps us understand change, society, and community, and the study of it creates well-rounded, skillful citizens. This specific scholarship is an investment in the Newnan and Coweta community and its future and serves to promote the Historical Society’s goal of preserving and protecting local history.
To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be a Coweta County resident in their senior year of high school and in good standing to graduate. Students from public school, private school, home school, and virtual school are all eligible to apply. Applicants must intend to pursue history or a history-related field as an area of study. The mailing deadline for applications is February 28, 2020. Applications must include: a completed and signed application form, official transcripts and available aptitude test scores; letter of acceptance from college/university (if received); three letters of recommendation; and a one-page personal statement. A followup interview may be requested by the NCHS staff and Scholarship Committee.
For more information or questions concerning the application process, please call the NCHS offices at 770.251.0207 or email executivedirector@newnancowetahistoricalsociety.com
Network Connectors
Connect with Georgia's virtual learning community for Social Studies
Georgia Council for the Social Studies
Georgia Council on Economic Education
Professional Learning for All
Monthly Middle School Meeting
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020, 04:00 PM
167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA, USA
High School Curriculum Meeting
Thursday, Feb 27, 2020, 04:00 PM
167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA, USA
GCEE- Workshop 4th and 5th Grade Literature in Economics
Want to Register? Click Here.
Thursday, Mar 26, 2020, 08:30 AM
167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA, USA
Comments, Concerns, Questions?
Email: phillip.sykes@cowetaschools.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/cowetaschools.net/cowetasocialstudies/home
Location: 167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA, USA
Phone: 770-254-2800
Twitter: @Syked4SS