Children learn how to problem solve at a young age, and how to make their own decisions.

Teachers should help students learn that failure, or messing up is okay and that is how we learn and grow. Students will learn how to deal with failure as they go through social studies lessons.

Teachers should constantly be asking questions to their students so it keeps the kids engaged and curious to learn more.

"Whatever we do as teachers is certainly done for the present, but it has to be done with an eye for the future" (page 4 Russell & Waters).

Teachers being role models and or modeling curriculum for students to better understand materials.

Determining alternatives, and choosing among alternatives

develop classroom values to become more of a community and work better together.

Focus on planning shorter instructional sequences with deeper meanings behind your teaching. This can be done by incorporating social studies into readings and doing multiple subjects within a lesson.

Students learn best by doing things physically and actively engaging their minds.

"Use the textbook as a base but expand from that textbook" (page 59, Russell & Waters). It is important to not just rely on the textbook for your lessons but to take information from the text and create lessons individually/ specifically for your group of students.

Chapter 5: "Authentic assessment means that the focus is on what students do and produce rather than on test scores. Solid authentic assessment involves students in the evaluation process, making them aware of what needs to be accomplished and learned" (page 84). It is important to make sure your students know what to expect and what they should know by the end of the lesson. Using learning objectives helps this!

The purpose of assessments is to improve learning, being authentic, understand assessments are imperfect

Reading supports inquiry based learning by providing students access to information.

Using the Frayer Model to help students learn vocabulary, characteristics, examples, and concepts which are all important in social studies.

Backward design, learning objectives are clear for your students so they know what is expected from them, and what they should know at the end of the lesson.

Differentiation: Have differentiated lesson plans/ activities for a variety of students. Be personal and know what your students need individually.

Incorporating primary and secondary sources into their readings. This helps students engage with the materials and think more about the topic.

By focusing on effective assessment and evaluation strategies that encourage differentiated lessons, helping students actively engage in their learning.

Teach about social responsibility, helping students learn about community service, or debates and things they can do outside of the classroom to be a better citizen.

Integrating literacy activities in social studies lessons helps students think more critically and reflect on actions in society to be better for themselves and the community.

Promotes social interaction, embracing culture by including it in the classroom.

Inquiry based learning involves creating a classroom environment that supports all children and their needs; as well as the ability for students to use problem solving skills, and express themselves.

"Information is important only if it can be put to use" (page 142). I think this quote is important to remember as we want to educate our students and not just have them memorize information. Our goal specifically for social studies should be to help them learn how to be a well versed citizen.

Students will focus on learning about maps and globes at the younger elementary age and build on this topic as they grow up.

In chapter 7 they focus on culturally responsive teaching and the encouragement of inclusivity in and outside of the classroom. Teaching students to be open minded and learning about different perspectives on things helps students become engaged citizens.

In chapter 8 they focus on encouraging critical thinking and problem solving in the classroom. They also encourage students to look for information in texts, or the internet and have them research topics will help them become more well rounded.

"Ours is a society in which development of economic skills is essential to survival. Students need experiences in dealing with money and exchange, as well as a growing understanding of credit, banking, budgeting, and economic planning, at a personal level as well as for communities up to the size of nations" ( page 157, and 158). This quote stood out to me as these topics can be taught at a young age and progress as the children go through grade school. These topics are apart of social studies and we as teachers can incorporate these topics into lessons of play, and literature as well.

"If students can experience social studies, it is more likely to be impactful" (page 176). This quote starts off the chapter with the main idea of experiences and how physical activities including play, storytelling, role play all helps students remember, and make a bigger impact on their social studies learning.

This type of learning helps keep students more engaged in the topics being taught. Balancing textbook readings with physical activities makes a huge difference in students learning.

Taking students on field trips to specific historical sites makes a huge impact on their learning and helps students grasp the information better. Getting out in the real world and out of the classroom can make a difference. I know when I got to go to a local place in my home town for a field trip I had no idea the history behind it and to this day I remember going on that field trip.

Having interactive activities for social studies also helps students become better citizens and learn about social and emotional connections, as well as collaboration and communication skills.

Include drama and role play simulations. By acting out roles students gain deep understandings of more difficult subjects and can learn about responsibility and how actions effect others in history.

Field trips are huge for social studies learning. Getting your students out into the real world to see where social studies is all around them makes a huge impact. Students will be able to connect learnings from in the classroom to the locations you visit which helps them remember in the long run.

You can also include service learning projects to get students more involved with a hands on activity to help in their community. Sometimes in social studies we look at all the mistakes being made or have been made but it is important to teach students that they can have an impact on their society in even the smallest acts of kindness.

Incorporating interactive websites for engaging content in social studies. Youtube videos or other interactive sites help students retain information and understand content more thoroughly.

Virtual field trips are the perfect way to engage students and include technology in lessons especially when planning actual field trips can be cost effective and more difficult to plan.

"Students also enjoy coming up to interactive white boards and engaging directly with the technology and content, bringing a certain level of excitement to the learning experience, which continues to be an important feature when teaching social studies in the elementary classroom" (page 217).

Using technology to encourage exploration is an excellent tool to use and teach your students!

Using technology to support collaborative discussion for upper elementary and higher grades is a great tool to share findings and allow for debates with one another.

Teachers can use technology tools like Kahoot and Quizizz for interactive learning reviews before assessments! Kids love it and its a great interactive activity to help students engage in their learning and with one another.

With technology you can connect to real world/ current issues going on that students may be hearing about already and bring knowledge from the outside world into the classroom in many ways.

Creative problem solving strategies: are learned through experiences when the teacher models them and then has students solve variety of problems/ situations

"Inquiry changed the way we look at teaching elementary social studies and has provided problem solving tools that continue to be useful in teaching students to become independent thinkers and problem solvers" (page 165). I truly think helping students become independent at a young age is such a great tool! Kids can do some much and learn through trying and problem solving even when making mistakes.

It is important to teach students about decision making process and how to solve problems. Not only for social studies aspects but this can be applied in many subjects and daily life in general.

Teachers encouraging students to ask questions and learn about different perspectives on specific social studies topics

Role playing and acting out situations helps students practice decision making and problem solving and really put themselves in the shoes of the situation.

Problem solving and critical thinking are major skills that every person in society need to learn for everyday life. Focusing on these skills from a young age in social studies and any subject will help students be successful in and outside of the classroom.