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:
Pennsylvania is a interesting state! The state bird is the Ruffed Grouse! Our state animal is the White-tailed Deer. We even have a state dog - the Great Dane! Our state flower is the gorgeous Mountain Laurel. Wow, we have a fantastic state!
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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?
Photo: Pennsylvania State Archives
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.
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.
