Happy 4th of July!!!
I'm excited to link up with my creative buddy Erin for her first Thursday Throw Down party! I love parties! Whoop whoop!
Today I'm sharing how I make our social studies text interactive. We started using Studies Weekly (Florida edition) this year. It's a weekly consumable newspaper for kids.
Before we get started, I gather all necessary supplies:
Newspaper, Reading With Post-Its template, Post-Its, hi-liter, glue stick, adding machine tape.
My students highlight important information in the article as I read or they read silently. This is an ongoing skill (they like to color a lot!). After highlighting and sharing what they think was important, they choose two words to sum up the text and write them on the post-its (Sum It Up Template). The hard part is the written response for the two words-they have to justify their thinking. The two words may or may not be in the text, it can be inferred as long as they justify their thinking. I love this activity because it forces them to be concise with their words.
See the time line on the right side of the newspaper? I have them cut out those pictures and glue them on the adding machine tape (see below).
They glue the individual pictures and dates on the timeline with space in between to summarize the events in their own words.
I like these newspapers because it really makes learning interactive for students because they can cut, underline, highlight, and mark the text because it's consumable.
Something about those post-its and adding machine tape that makes it more exciting and INTERACTIVE!
So, boot, scoot, and boogie on over to I'm Lovin Lit to see how others make learning interactive!
