Social Studies: American Symbols

We had a lot of fun in class this past week learning about American Symbols.

Some of the activities that we did:
Museum Walk- I put symbols around the classroom for the children to look at.  For some of them it was their first time seeing some of the symbols.  The kids glanced at the picture and then the name trying to create connections with their learning.
Reading:  We read lots of books to tell us the hows and whys of symbols.  Did you know that Mt. Rushmore was created to draw in tourism? I guess I learned something too.
Task cards:  Once the students were familiar with the symbols and their facts, they worked with task cards.
Video:  We found a video on youtube that showed us a few of the symbols.

This is the list of American symbols that I used:
American Bald Eagle
American Flag
The White House
The Liberty Bell
The Statue of Liberty
The Lincoln Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial
The Washington Monument
Mt. Rushmore
WW1 Memorial
Presidential Seal
Declaration of Independence
Uncle Sam
The Rose
Airforce One

Here are some of the books that we looked at.

If you click on the photo below it will take you to the video on youtube.

This pack contains more reading material and task cards that we used.

Social Studies: Teaching Immigration

Teaching students about immigration can be fun and engaging for your students!  We always kick off this unit with a study on different cultures from around the world.  You can find more information about these lessons in our culture blog post.  After the culture unit we learn the key points below:

1.  Definition of immigration.
2.  The history of Ellis Island.
3.  The why's and how's of immigration.
4.  The influences of immigration on American culture.

Below you will find books on the topic of immigration.

The documentary below is a little boring, but it does a good job of showing why people left their countries and what they found in Ellis Island.  Just click on the picture for the link to youtube.

While learning about immigration we learn about Ellis Island and different famous Americans who have immigrated from other countries.  Students are assigned a research project for homework.  They get to choose Ellis Island or a famous person who immigrated to the U.S.  They can make a poster, book report, display or anything that their heart desires.  They have to include:  topic, birthdate, death date, key details and what the person or place was famous for.  Students have a lot of fun presenting these projects in class.  Everyone gets to learn about all of the people that their peers found interesting.

During the unit, I use passages and task cards written on immigration, Ellis Island and Cesar Chavez.  I wrote these passages to fit in perfectly with the unit. If you want to just print and teach, you can find these units by clicking below.

Teaching Partners

Could a teaching partner be the answer to your prayers or your worse nightmare?  The simple answer is that they could be either depending on how much thought and work you put into the process.  My advice to you would be to get a teaching partner.  Education has become too complex for you to do it on your own.  A lot of people wonder if the primary grades can handle teaching partners.  My answer for them is always "Absolutely, just keep the students in mind when making choices".  I have had a few teaching partners over the years and have learned that if you follow a few guidelines your teaching partner may be the answer to your prayers.

First you have to decide which collaboration will work best for your students and teaching situation.  Here are two models for a general education classroom: 
Co-Teaching:  Two teachers work together to teach in one classroom.  All academic areas are supported by both teachers simultaneously.
Departmentalize: Two teachers work separately to teach different subjects to the same students.

There are a a lot of variations that could go into either of those models.  Both models can be very beneficial.  Co-Teaching a subject like shared reading could alleviate stress of planning, allow for better grouping of students and allow students to have two different teaching perspectives.  I have worked with another teacher where we brought both of our classes together for shared reading.  We would take turns on being the lead teacher for the lesson.  After the whole group portion of the lesson students would be separated into groups for group work.  This can be a very supportive environment that decreases stress from presenting each lesson.  This is also the best way to find out if you like working with partners.

Departmentalizing could allow each teacher their own space to teach in while focusing on less subjects.  I have departmentalized with students switching out of my classroom and with me switching out of their classrooms.  The choice of who would switch was always based on the needs of that class.  Some classes do not fair well with change while others enjoy a change.  This way of teaching is most beneficial in giving you the autonomy of the classroom that you may desire.  If neither of these models will work for your school environment I encourage you to research other models

Here are some tips for making a partnership work:
1.  Let it go.  If my students are happy and being well educated, I don't dwell on what ever may bother me.  Don't sit and stew over the fact that your partner left her stuff in your area.  Who cares? Just clean it up and go on.
2.  Nurture your relationship.  I like to leave notes for my family and my teaching partner.  Quick little pick me ups reminding them of how much I love them.  It only takes a minute for you to tell someone that they are awesome on a sticky note.
3.  Get over yourself.  It takes billions of teachers to educate our world.  Your way is not better than someone else's way.  Use your partnership as a learning tool and be receptive to new ideas.
4.  Don't waste time on hashing out tasks.  When I come in to my classroom I look at the list of things to do.  I do as many as possible as quickly as possible.  If forms need to be filled out I do it for myself and my partner.  She does the same thing for me.  This divide and conquer of tasks benefits the students and cuts down on work.  Doing the tasks immediately also insures that I don't get behind on work to complete.  (Except for grading,  I haven't conquered that beast yet!!!)
5.  Make sure to look into the future a year or two before you sign on with a partner.  If they are newly married and planning on starting a family, you may not want to sign on there.  However, maybe that is where you are in life and a partner with those dreams would be a perfect fit for you.
6.  Assess your teaching goals and styles with someone before you sign on with them.  If they are OCD and you are a "hippy" go lucky teacher, you don't fit together.  You don't have to be the same, but you don't want someone driving your crazy because you are just too different.
7.  If the partnership goes south don't make the students suffer.  If you sign on to have a partner you have one school year to get through.  You need to make it work perfectly for the students no matter what.  If you want to end the partnership during the summer, so be it.

My hope for you is that you have a teaching partner as wonderful as mine.  My teaching partner is caring and always puts others firsts.  She has a no non-sense attitude that fits perfectly with mine.  I'm very lucky to have her.