District: 5th Grade Social Studies Pilots

Today John Bayers, principal of Greens Farms Elementary, led a small group to discuss a summer writing workshop to look at some possible changes in the 5th grade social studies curriculum. The group consisted of Michael Brownstein, technology teacher at LLS; Joe Pullia, 5th grade teacher, CES; Anne Nesbitt, assistant principal, KHS; Nancy Giglio, 5th grade teacher, KHS; Melanie Carroll, 5th grade teacher, LLS; Calla Constantine, 5th grade teacher, GFS; and Dianne Connolly, 5th grade teacher, SES.

The goal of the writing group this summer will be to make some minor changes to the 5th grade study of culture through the exploration of these essential questions:

• How do the cultural universals help us compare and contrast various communities?
• How does human interaction with natural resources influence the development and survival of a culture?
• How do technology and trade affect the growth of a culture?
• What contributed to the development and “cultural diffusion” of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome?

The group will look at:

• how the four big ideas from the recent social studies curriculum review process are integrated into the social studies units (Global Understanding, Multiple Perspectives, Effective Citizenship, and Historical Thinking)
• the possiblity of including "Big Think" activities that provide students with the opportunity to apply their learning to a "real" problem
• the inclusion of other ancient civilizations that broaden the understanding of "culture."
• the possibility of one or more schools piloting the proposed changes during the 2009-1010 school year.
  
  

GFS: Time, Continuity and Change

Recently at GFS the 1st grade teachers, Mary Ellen Barry, Ellen Mason, Shannon Utecht, MarySue Welch and library media specialist, Kelley Auringer and technology teacher, Sally Wanamaker with guest presenter, Michael Urban, owner of Urban Antique Radio & Vintage Hi-Fi created a TRIP THROUGH TIME for all the 1st grade students!

Michael Urban shows 1st graders antigue radios.

Students had a passport that needed to be stamped as they made their way to different "artifact stations" where various tools and equipment were displayed and presented to students.

Mary Ellen Barry shows 1st graders a washboard.

Kelley Auringer, LMS, shows 1st graders a typewriter.

Students later researched the artifacts and created a digital photostory in the computer lab. Through these activities students were engaged in thinking about this essential question:

How would your life be different if you were a member of a family living in an earlier time period?

CMS: 6th Grade Research Project - Social Studies and ITL

6th grade social studies teachers, Glenn O'Neill and Lucille Hyland recently worked with John Horrigan, LMS, to plan and implement a research project on a disaster. After determining that there were plentiful resources, studens followed their interests around a spcific natural or man-made disaster, such as: the San Francisco earthquake, Pearl Harbor, the Irish potato famine, Hurricane Katrina, the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, the Titanic, or the Love Canal disaster.

Students used the online project guidelines and resources on the LMC page, which included the following:

• Questions to consider
• Disaster project note sheets
  
• A project rubric
• Instructions
• Photostory Tips
• Scanned pictures and music in the R -Drive
• Resources to develop background knowledge
• Specialized resources to develop more knowledge (books, magazines, Internet)
  
• Suggestions for interviewing, viewing videos
  
• Use of Noodletools to cite sources
  

This year was the first year for this Social Studies/ITL project and it was so successful that it will be done earlier in the year next year providing students with the opportunity to become oriented to their new library media center and to both apply and learn new information and technology literacy skills within a social studies context.

Here is one sample by Emily which focuses on the Irish potato famine:

SHS: A Revolutionary Harvest

SHS teachers, Cathy Schager (Social Studies) and Michael Fulton (English), collaborate together in an honors course for 10th graders called COLLAB, short for U.S. History/English Collaborative.

A recent project, The Revolutionary Harvest: Using the Digital Story for Reflection, was designed to have students analyze and synthesize their last unit of study on the American Revolution. Students were asked to provide an in-depth and personal reflection on a topic where they were impacted by one of the two class texts: A People’s History by Howard Zinn and Birth of the Republic by Edmund Morgan.

Students were told that this was a creative project that would involve their use of art, music, and writing to create an insightful look into their struggles with the texts about the Revolutionary period in American history.

The students were asked to explore the topic as historians by finding at least one primary source document on the topic. They had to create a digital story to walk the viewer through their understanding of the American Revolution based on their exploration.

Students were required to cite all of their images and music, as well as citing Morgan, Zinn and whatever primary source material they used. The final citation could be in the presentation and/or provided in written form.

Students were asked to use PhotoStory, but they could use any other digital storytelling software (such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or MovieMaker) as long as they saved the final version as an .avi or .wmv file in the class dropbox.

Here are two examples of the students final work (Thank you James and Tori):