Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Social Studies Wonder Wednesday



This is my #200 post - it's hard to believe. Thanks for traveling along my journey with me.

Tara @ A Teaching Life has started blogging on Wednesdays about Social Studies.  Here is her blurb encouraging other bloggers to join her.   Welcome to Social Studies Wednesday!  I hope you will stop by to share ideas and resources for teaching Social Studies. Please comment and  leave a link to your post, I'll check in and  round up contributions throughout the day.  If you don't have a link to share, please leave a comment about the posts in the round up. It's always good to hear your feedback! I am very excited about this opportunity to cross post with her because I have been posting about Wonder Wednesday, and I plan on making connections with Wonderopolis as well as Social Studies.


Wonderopolis is a wealth of information for all subjects, but I have found the most support in Social Studies and Science. I am constantly searching for strong non fiction that I can share with my class and also have them be able to access the same text at home for homework.  I also share the hot links and interactive websites that each wonder has in support of the topic.  This year I focused on Native Americans on a Wonder Wednesday blog post.  In addition, I also used the following wonders: #45 What is a Totem Pole?  and #53 Why Do Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?




In addition, I share one of my favorite pictures books:  When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger.  This book is beautifully illustrated with before/after pictures to allow the reader to go on a visual discovery which is how I introduce the book.  The next day, I read the story aloud and have students listen and take notes on a T Chart finally ending with a compare/contrast lesson. While searching for the cover, I found this You Tube I will definitely be using this video next year. 

















4 comments:

  1. Thanks, Maria! Wonderopolis is such an amazing resource, I'll need to make a note to myself to check out their Social Studies wonders this summer. And thanks for sharing Carla Messinger's beautiful book - another one for my summer reading list

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  2. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of your journey! 200 posts???? Congratulations and keep them coming!!!!

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  3. Thanks Tara for your comments-I like connecting my Wonder posts with SS. Helps me to focus on it.

    Thanks Tracy, please join us in these posts and thanks it's hard to believe!!

    Are either of you attending AllWrite this summer in IN?

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  4. Congratulations on your 200th post. I think it's the three of us now, but maybe more soon? I like that you gathered all the different parts for your study, including that wonderful looking book. There are so many resources on Wonderopolis. Sometimes it's hard to stop just looking!

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