3/22/22
Each year before we dive into our first social studies unit, I take time to introduce the 10 themes of social studies to my students. These ten themes have been identified by the National Council for Social Studies and can be found woven throughout every social studies program. Although some themes might be more prominent than others in certain units, all are interconnected.
The interconnectedness of the themes makes them meaningful, while simultaneously making them challenging to teach as the web of interconnectedness is so complex.
Over the years, I've tried to introduce these themes in a few different ways. The most successful of those was to host a discussion about the themes using small posters for each that would hang in my classroom for the entire year. After discussing the themes, I put students into partners and give each pair a poster board, a set of flashcards, and a mini set of the theme posters; each mini poster is about the size of 1/2 a piece of printer paper. Each flashcard contained an image from around the world. Students will decide which flashcards goes with which social studies theme. First, students title their poster 'The 10 Themes of Social Studies' and glue the small theme posters onto the board. Then they sort their flashcards and glue at least two flashcards underneath each of the 10 themes mini poster and justified their placement.
This activity uses 3 of the 4 C's, asking students to Think Critically, Communicate, and Collaborate. Students are given 36 flashcards and are only required to use 20. All 36 of the cards can be placed under at least one of the ten themes. But providing more than is required allows for each poster to be a bit different than the next. Also, students justifications for the flashcard placement and the interconnectedness of the 10 themes often allows for the same flashcard to be placed under different themes on different posters and still be correct.
Scaffolding for Younger Grades:
While my 6th graders did this project with their partner and minimal support, I've also done this with younger grades providing more guidance. Instead of giving students all 36 of the flashcards at once, I hand out flashcards one by one. After a flashcard has been distributed, we discuss each as a class and determine which theme the flashcard fits under and why. After the discussion, students place the flashcard and write a justification on their poster. Turning the first few steps of the project into a whole class collaborative process. Then, once students have had ample practice placing and justifying flashcards, I give partners 3 - 4 flashcards to place and justify on their own. Basically, we spend a lot of time on 'We Do' before moving to 'I Do'.
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