Social Studies in ELA

This week my students worked the nonfiction text called Rebuilding New Orleans. Classrooms That Work states that science and social studies are taught/integrated with reading and writing in an effective classroom. I am in a strictly reading and writing class, however that does not mean integration of other subjects does not occur! I strive to have my classroom cross into other subject areas. This week’s the text focused on a massive event in history, Hurricane Katrina. The objective was to identify the main idea in the text. To meet the needs of my students I always state the objective and read it aloud. Classroom Instruction that Works states the discussing the learning objective clearly shows students what is important during the unit. I make sure it is clear to the student what will we be doing and I engage the student with the objective. This can also advance the learning for the students.

My CT and I used the text to teach new vocab to the students. Classrooms That Work states that using science and social studies text can "increase the size and depth of students' meaning vocabularies so they can comprehend more sophisticated text". My CT and I introduced the new words to students and did whole group instruction on the meaning of the words. In my guided small group, I made sure to review the words with my students and had them put the words in their own words to check for understanding.

To engage my students in the text, my CT and I showed primary sources of Hurricane Katrina and the destruction it caused. The Library of Congress states that primary source make instruction more impactful when used correctly and that students can connect to the people who produced or were subjects of the primary sources as they rarely, if ever, connect to textbooks and other secondary sources. At the end of the week my students did a formative assessment in the style of a journal response. The student below was able to state what Katrina did and what happened, and met the objective!

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