As the husband of a first grade teacher, I’ve come understand the classroom priorities for elementary teachers. For the vast majority of you - social studies is the low man on the educational totem pole. And by that, I mean you’re lucky if you get it in. In first grade especially, there is a large emphasis on learning how to read and complete math facts that little time is left over for anything else. So when teachers have an opportunity to integrate social studies - it usually aligns with a holiday or reinforces trivial information. (Honestly, it’s no fault of any elementary teacher!) There needs to be a discussion that shifts the focus of social studies away from fact mining and towards informational text analysis and critical thinking. Here is an example.

In Pennsylvania, third or fourth grade classes talk about the basic facts of our state. (I’m sure that many states have similar requirements.) Since time is a priority, most teachers focus on the facts - William Penn, Penn’s Woods, the state bird, state flower, state animal, etc. Other facts could be peppered in to reinforce informational text writing and non-fiction reading. So the result may be something like this:

I know this may be an exaggeration, but you get the point. We’re rarely pushing primary students creatively in the social sciences. Therefore, they’re instilled with the belief that social studies and history are simply a reiteration of facts. 

This is where primary sources could be a dynamic way to promote a deeper understanding of the social studies while also building their critical thinking and questioning skills. For those of you that don’t know, “A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study” (Princeton University Reference Desk). Primary sources can be a wide array of things - from photographs or art to furniture or clothing. (Start with the Library of Congress if you’re looking for primary sources to include in your instruction.)

So, let’s go back to our discussion on Pennsylvania history. What if you started the Pennsylvania unit with this photo from 1890? What questions might students generate?

How many trees is that?
Who cut them down?
Where did all of those trees come from?

You could then explain that when William Penn first signed the charter for Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods), over 90% of the state was covered in trees. What would William Penn think about his land now? Why did a state so rich in timber cut down almost all of its forests by 1890 - the year of the picture above? That could lead to a completely new discussion on people’s interaction with the environment. For example, a student might ask - If they cut down all of the trees, what happened to the animals? That would be an appropriate segue way the introduction of the white-tailed deer as the state animal. (It might also be interesting to note - the white-tailed deer population in the state dropped to near endangered levels in the late 1800s. So much so, the state had a repopulation effort beginning in 1906 that brought in deer from other states.) Again, this fact could be supported by primary sources to promote engaging discussion.

I digress. The fact of the matter is, primary sources create a dynamic way for students to critically think, read, and write about the social studies. If you’re looking for a way to introduce it to students in the primary grades, check out our product on Becky’s TPT Store.

Best. 

Hi Everyone, it's Becky! I'm linking up tonight with GoNoodle's Brain Break Blitz Linky! 

I have always done exercises with my kiddos, so when I found out about GoNoodle last year, my first graders and I were instantly hooked! I loved how there were so many (age & language appropriate) exercise videos all in one place! My kids loved trying new exercises, and probably would have sung "Let It Go" all day, every day if I let them!

So this year I knew that I was going to start out the school year with GoNoodle! The first few days of school include a lot of learning about rules and procedures, which can put any first graders into overload. Plus, the days can be very long for them, coming from half-day kindergarten. Wednesday was our first day of school, and I could see that I was losing my new kiddos when we were discussing some classroom expectations. So, I decided it was best to stop where we were, do a brain break or two, and then continue on with the task at hand. (I don't really schedule my brain breaks. We just take one when I see that we need it.) Their first introduction to GoNoodle was "The Caveman!"

With it being the first day, some were hesitant about joining in on the fun. (They didn't want to look silly!) But once they saw their cool teacher doing the funny exercises, the majority of the students participated! 

But today, our second day of school, I knew I had them hooked! They were asking me if we could GoNoodle today! So, when the time was right, we tried out Hopscotch, and Flow. They LOVED Hopscotch! Almost all of them joined in on the fun right away! Since they were pretty amped after this fun exercise, I put on Flow. Flow is great because it is calming and encourages the students to focus on themselves. They were ready for learning when we finished with Flow.

Another aspect about GoNoodle that my kids like is that your class picks a character that grows as your class exercises and accumulates more minutes. They always want to see what it is going to look like next!

Like most first graders, my new kiddos seem to be very talkative and have LOTS of energy! I am hoping that GoNoodle will be a positive outlet for all of their excitement! If you haven't tried it out yet, you should! Your kids will LOVE it!

Happy exercising!
~Becky

Hi everyone, it's Becky.  I'm linking up with the fabulous ladies over at Blog Hoppin' to show you where I teach! I've been working very hard to get ready for my kiddos on Wednesday, and I'm very excited to share the (almost) finished product with you! I don't do classroom themes...If I had to name it, I would just call it "stuff I like!" I really just pick out things that I like and hope they go together! In the end, everything seems to work out!

I'll start with the outside of my room. I loved @cfry27's s'more birthday board she posted awhile back on IG, and kept it in my mind as a jumping off point for my BTS bulletin board! I'm so pleased with the way it turned out! (Funny thing is that although I do love s'mores, I'm not really a camping gal!)

This is the view from my doorway. It is such a nice bright room! I love the way my classroom library has turned out! 

Here's a better view of the classroom library. This just makes me happy! I used my Cameo to cut the "READ" letters from contact paper to give that area more personality!

I also love the way this project turned out! I covered the back of my bookshelf with contact paper and washi tape. This is going to be a new space to go with my writing station.  I will be writing about this in a blog post once we get reading groups/stations up and running!

One of the big changes I made this year is that I got rid of my huge teacher desk! With having 23 kids in my room, I needed all of the space I could get, so the desk had to go! I couldn't get rid of a desk completely (I'm not that good!), so I traded it in for a much cuter, smaller option! (Found it on Craigslist for $40...didn't have to do a thing to it! I consider that a bargain!) I also made a teacher toolbox to give me a space to put some of the things I hoarded in my big desk! I also love the chevron fabric and burlap boarder above my desk. Let me tell you, arranging burlap is not an easy task, but I'm happy with how it turned out! 

This is a panorama shot of the front of my classroom. For some reason I like to have my groups at an angle. I can't deal with everything straight out from my board! By the way, my favorite part of this view is my awesome EPSON projector mounted above my board. I don't know what I'd do without it! If you look under the board, you can see where we are going to place our mentor sentences. (See close-up below.) I wanted these sentences to be somewhere easily accessible for my kiddos when they are writing.

Well thank you for taking a tour of my room! Be sure to link up with Blog Hoppin' to share your space! I can't wait to see everyone's hard work! We really do put our heart and soul into our rooms to make them just right for our kiddos! 

Greg still has another week before his district starts, so his room is not quite ready. But I do have to share this awesome bulletin board that he finished today! He used paint samples to create it!

Also, don't forget about the big TPT 1 day sale happening on Wednesday! Everything in my Wim's Winners store is 20% off, and with the code BOOST you will get 28% off! Wednesday is the first day of school with my firsties, so I will be doing my shopping in the evening!

Until next time everyone! Have a great week getting to know your kiddos!
~Becky