On this page are resources that can be used in Social Studies instruction. First, I have placed the Oregon Social Science State Standards for easy access and reference. Below the standards, I have organized the materials by topic, because that is easiest for me to think about them. Many of the resources can be used for various grades. Additionally, many of the topics relate to what I have seen taught in the classes I have observed, assisted, or completed
my student teaching in. Oregon department of Education:
|
|
Here are Oregon's social science standards. Oregon does not yet have Common Core standards for social science, so the one I posted was the Standards By Design.. On the left is an embedded document of the k-12 standards, which can be opened to full-size by clicking the expand box in the lower right-hand corner of the Scribd box (in the grey border). Additionally, I have placed a downloadable file of the same standards below.
|
Other content areas
Useful Social Studies Websites
Before moving on to categories, I would like to keep a running list of useful websites that I have found, covering many different aspects of social studies curriculum.
Oregon Trail/ westward MovementMost local schools incorporate the Oregon Trail into their units of study, at least in the intermediate grades. There are so many different resources for this topic that, hopefully, I will be able to pick and choose.
* This is a great video about the westward movement. I would use this in a 4th or 5th grade classroom, which is normally when Oregon Trail is taught.
Oak Street Elementary is a good resource for teaching and learning about westward expansion. It covers many different aspects, such as pioneer life, the gold rush, information on wagons, and information on the routes
themselves. This website, History Globe, has brief overviews of different landing points along the trail, along with pictures and links to some of the different destinations that were encountered along the trail. My favorite part, though, is that this site has a modern map and a map of that they territory looked like in 1843.
Here is another website has many different links to material related to Westward Expansion. This site has a lot of in-depth and interesting reading that can either be used for teacher's to learn more about western expansion, or can be used as articles for students to read about this topic.
|
|
GovernmentThere are several different levels of government that children learn in school. I have a mix of resources for different grades and foci, so they can be mixed and matched.
*Congress for Kids is an interactive site that teaches kids about the basics of federal government. This site is appropriate for intermediate grades.
*The Branches Of Government website has a game that allows students to read about and practice determining the different roles and responsibilities of each branch and the members. There are also additional activities for students on this site, all related to the branches of government. *How to Become President of the U.S. is a webpage that explains the election process. This page also has a free downloadable poster of the information. *This is a video/song by Schoolhouse Rock about what a Bill is, and the journey it takes before becoming a law.
*This is an image of what another teacher did in their classroom. I would like to do something similar to represent the branches of government.
|