Description:
As a culmination of learning throughout the semester, students will develop interdisciplinary activities for their choice of 5 themes related to the Missouri Learning Standards for their chosen grade levels. Even though these units will not be fully developed in this course, this project will give students the experience of integrating social studies into content areas to develop rich learning opportunities for students AND give you a start on 5 units that can be fully developed later. Each of the 5 interdisciplinary units will include a main children's book, 4 interdisciplinary activities, and 2 supporting books that align with the theme. The visual below is just for clarification of the project. You DO NOT have to make your units look like this.
As a culmination of learning throughout the semester, students will develop interdisciplinary activities for their choice of 5 themes related to the Missouri Learning Standards for their chosen grade levels. Even though these units will not be fully developed in this course, this project will give students the experience of integrating social studies into content areas to develop rich learning opportunities for students AND give you a start on 5 units that can be fully developed later. Each of the 5 interdisciplinary units will include a main children's book, 4 interdisciplinary activities, and 2 supporting books that align with the theme. The visual below is just for clarification of the project. You DO NOT have to make your units look like this.
1) Grade level standards / themes
- Begin this project by consulting the Missouri Learning Standards for SS to determine which grade level you will choose for the focus of your first unit. Your theme CANNOT just be an area of Social Studies. It has to be a TOPIC, TIME PERIOD, EVENT, etc.
- You DO NOT have to choose the same grade level for all 5 of your units, but you do need to keep all activities within a unit at the same grade level. For example, I could choose 1st grade National Symbols as one theme for a unit and then choose 3rd grade Westward Expansion for another unit. All activities in the National Symbols unit need to be appropriate for first graders, and all activities in the Westward Expansion unit need to be appropriate for third graders.
- More than one of your units can be focused on the same grade level. If you want to do all of your units on the same grade level, that's fine as well. Just remember that you need to let me know the theme AND grade level for EACH of your units. Don't assume I know that all units are focused on the same grade level if you don't tell me.
- On your presentation (for each theme), include:
- Theme (remember this needs to be more than just economics or history, etc. It COULD be World War II, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, or the Civil Rights Movement, as examples)
- Grade level
- At least one standard that aligns with the unit.
- See my example embedded below:
2) Explore children's books - Lots of them!
- Your choice of books for this project must be ones that you have access to and can actually read. I have many books in my office that you are welcome to explore and borrow. However, if you do not have books on hand, there are now LOTS of children's books being read online on YouTube. Try to find one where you can read it all online if you don't have it physically. I just want you to make sure you get to read the whole book before making activities focused on it.
- For each of your 5 units, you will choose one main book as a "jumping off point" for the activities in your unit. You should choose a book that is rich with content and can be extended with connected activities in all content areas. As you read books to decide which to choose, be thinking about possible connections to other content areas. We will be talking about these kinds of activities all throughout the semester, so this should not be new to you at this point.
- You should have 5 books now that serve as the main touchpoint for each of your units.
- On your presentation (for each theme), include:
- Book title, author, and an image of the cover of the book
- Summary of 2-3 sentences of what the book is about, so I can understand how the books and activities all fit together. I've read a lot of books, but I'm not familiar with all of them.
3) Brainstorm Unit Activities
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/2/0/112047841/published/vote.jpg?1562617882)
- For EACH unit, you will have 4 interdisciplinary activities that align with your main book and help students actively engage with content.
- Brainstorm and/or research activities for each content area that are related to the topic/theme of your main book. These activities need to be connected to the theme/historical time period/culture of your book or be related to something the characters did that would be worth exploring further. There needs to be an obvious connection. If you have a question about an activity you have in mind, ASK ME! Don't just assume it will be fine.
- Within these 4 activities, you must represent at least 2 different areas of SS and 2 different content areas in this unit. Label your SS and content areas on each activity.
- Example: Book: Vote! by Eileen Christelow - 5th grade (You may NOT use this book in your units!)
- Activity #1 - Civics/Math: Students research different issues with school that they'd like to change (such as not enough recess time or bad cafeteria food) by surveying other classes and charting results (math). Have students devise solutions and vote on actions to take (civics).
- Activity #2 - Civics/ELA: Students research local candidates' positions on community issues and create a t-chart to compare (civics). Students will then write letters to the editor to ask candidates questions their positions and how they will improve the community and school (ELA).
- Activity #3 - Economics/Art: In the book, it discusses how campaigns cost a lot of money for candidates. Students will get into groups, using supermarket flyers and online sites to determine a budget for a campaign dinner (economics) for their candidate. They will create posters or videos to promote their campaign dinner to get others to contribute (art).
- Activity #4 - History/ELA: Students will research the history of voting and how it has developed over time (ELA). Students will create an interactive timeline to represent their findings with images, videos, and words (history).
- This represents at least 2 different areas (but I did more) of SS (Civics, Economics, History) and at least 2 (but I did more) content areas (art, math, ELA).
- Example: Book: Vote! by Eileen Christelow - 5th grade (You may NOT use this book in your units!)
- Throughout all your units, you need to represent 5 of the 6 areas of social studies (civics, economics, history, geography, sociology) at least one time. (I'm not including anthropology here because it's not really focused on in elementary school.) You also need to include all content areas at least once throughout your 5 units as well.
- Give the source for EACH activity!
- If you get your ideas from an online source, that's fine. Just cite it or give the link. If the source is you, then tell me that as well.
- On your presentation (for each theme), include:
- 4 interdisciplinary activities
- Activities labeled with SS area and content area
- Citation for each idea
4) Choose 2 more supporting books (for each unit)
- Include 2 supporting books (with no activities needed) for each of your 5 units.
- Supporting books would be those books that align with your chosen theme/topic and connect to your main focus book in some way.
- On your presentation (for each theme), include:
- 2 Book titles & authors
- Images of the front cover for each of these books.
- 2 Book titles & authors
5) Create Your Presentation / Web
- Design your presentation/web however you choose, as long as your 5 themes/units are distinguishable. I've given specifically what needs to be given on your presentation in purple on the information above in each section.
- Here are some options:
- 1) Use an online mind mapping tool like Google Drawing, Bubbl.us, Mindomo, SpiderScribe, or Prezi.
- 2) Use Google Slides like I did in the example embedded above. Yours doesn't have to look exactly like mine. This is just to give you an idea.
- 3) If you have another idea, please let me know. Be creative! Try something new!
6) Check SS and Content Areas Throughout Your Units!
- Go back through your units to ensure that you have included at least 5 of the 6 areas of social studies (civics, economics, history, geography, sociology) at least one time.
- Also check that you've included all content areas at least once throughout your 5 units as well. This includes math, science, ELA, drama, movement, visual arts, and music.
- Points will be deducted if this is not followed. This is to ensure that you are utilizing a wide variety of activities and can integrate SS into all content areas.
7) Record Your Favorites
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/2/0/112047841/published/flipgrid-logo.jpg?1562617541)
- a) For this part of the assignment, you will be creating a FlipGrid video on our class grid to share your favorite unit, main book, and your 2 favorite activities from your ILU.
- Download the FlipGrid app if you haven't already. This makes it easy to record and share videos with the whole class. You can watch your classmates' videos to get ideas for other units if you'd like.
- Access the class grid here to record your video OR go to your app and input class code: b827be92
- The video should be at least 2 minutes and no more than 5 minutes total. This gives you ample time to include all requirements, but not go overboard.
- b) Your recording must include:
- 1) Tell about your favorite theme (unit focus). Give the grade level and why you chose it.
- 2) Show your main book on video and describe it briefly (if you don't have a physical copy, then that's fine). Tell the title, author, and short summary.
- 3) Describe your 2 favorite activities from your presentation/web. For each include:
- a) What the activity is
- b) How the activity relates to the focus of your book - show the connection
8) Scoring Guide
- Make a copy of the scoring guide, and place it in your shared folder. Fill in the needed information at the top. See preview embedded below.
9) Submit Your Project - Due by midnight, Sunday, Dec. 6
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