Social Studies Survival Tips for the Elementary Classroom
Maintain a bulletin board of newspaper clippings and current events so that your classroom reflects what's going on in the world. Invite children to contribute to this by bringing in an article and telling something about the information that's in it.
Keep newspapers in the classroom for reading purposes (browsing, location of weather maps, and photographs related to areas of the world).
Check with the librarian for computer programs and media resources to accompany and enrich your units.
Investigate whether your local library or your school library has beautiful picture information books on subjects you are introducing. Be sure to have a collection for your study.
Bring in “realia” whenever possible. That is, bring in real items for children to examine, such as postage stamps, articles of clothing, quilts, timepieces, shoes, clocks, and books.
Bring in, and encourage parents to lend, items from trips to distant cities or distant lands that are pertinent to your study.
Set up a bird feeder on the windowpane and fill it with wild birdseed that attracts a particular type of bird in the area. Post a sign that says, “Shh! Quiet Zone – Birds in Your Backyard!” Have many picture books of birds here, and a chart and pencil to record the birds that are spotted. Also, bring in binoculars for students to observe birds up close.
Organize trips! This area of the curriculum is rich with opportunities for field trips to the zoo, firehouse, bakery, grocery store, and so on. The field trips become a common experience, and new learning can be built upon that.
Invite guest speakers from the community into the classroom to tell about their work as a carpenter, dentist, nurse, physician, and so on.
Go on a “Clean-Up-the-Schoolyard Walk” with a big bag and garden gloves. Take along kitchen prongs, as well, for picking up items and for good hygiene.
Plant bulbs outdoors in the autumn and watch them come up in the spring. “Leave the environment just a bit better than you found it” is a key phrase to remember and convey to your students.
Write letters to community workers seeking answers to specific questions.
Write thank-you notes to community workers at holiday time – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and so on – for keeping your community humming.
Have a phone book available and teach children how to read the Yellow Pages.
Have a map and globe in the classroom for easy location of areas that are referred to on TV and in the newspaper.
Encourage parents to send in outdated copies of news magazines. Children can read them for photographs of people in the world.
Foster respect for Planet Earth. Engage children in a discussion of how they, in particular, can help. (Don't throw paper out of the window of a moving car; throw all waste in containers; recycle paper and cans; turn off the tap water while brushing your teeth and then turn it back on again to rinse in an effort to conserve water.)
Read children's books that deal with such topics as friendship, getting along, the playground bully, and interaction with siblings so that children receive positive socialization messages.
Paste maps and photographs onto heavy posterboard, cover them with laminated paper, and then cut them into puzzle pieces. Place the puzzle in an envelope for free-choice time.
Find out what computer programs are available at the library for areas that you will be studying and order them well in advance.
Order films and videotapes from the media center or the public library well in advance for your units of study.
Use a doll or stuffed toy to model for the children how to hold and talk to a baby.
Model for the children how to hold and take care of a pet in the same manner – with your class pet or with a stuffed animal.
Invite a parent to bring in a young baby, so that the mother can talk about its care. The necessity of nurturing an infant can be reinforced.
Lead children in discussions that will help develop their social skills sense, which they will need to survive and thrive. Address such topics as not trying food, drink, or drugs “just for the fun of it”; and practicing safety when a stranger approaches them with gifts.
Discuss with children the procedure to follow when they are home alone and the phone rings and someone asks for a parent. (If they say, “My mom can't come to the phone right now,” they are not telling a fib or a lie because the parent can't come to the phone right now.) Get off the phone as soon as possible and do not give out any information.
Discuss with children the desired procedure to follow when they are home with a parent who cannot come to the telephone upon request. (“My daddy is busy. Please call back.”) This can be used when a parent is in the bathroom; the child does not need to be explicit.
Find out if your neighborhood or community identifies safe houses for children. Many neighborhoods have a specific sticker or relatively large sign in the front window that serves as a signal to children that this is a “safe home” to go to if they are in trouble (need to use the bathroom, fear that someone is following them, and so on).
“I don't do dares” can be one response when a child dares another to do something, such as “I dare you to cross the street before the light turns green”. Impress upon children that dares are usually something unsafe.
Help children learn the difference between tattling and alerting an adult to behavior or a situation that is bothersome, hurtful, or unsafe. If a child continually harasses another (on the schoolbus, on the playground, in line), the child should report the situation to her or his teacher.
Have extra articles of clothing and socks for rainy days. In fact, the nurse could have a little supply of dry underpants, too.
Send a child who has had a bathroom accident to the school nurse, who is trained in such matters. (Use kitty litter and call for the custodian.)
Discuss the telephone purpose of “911” in an emergency, and encourage children to tell what they have heard about it (usually from TV). Leave the children knowing what constitutes an emergency, and feeling positive and empowered. Don't frighten them unnecessarily.
Teach children that a police officer is someone to turn to in case of trouble. Learn the local police number and have children practice dialing it. Discuss when you would use this number rather than calling 911. Leave children feeling positive and empowered.
Encourage elementary students to learn their own phone number. You can also help them learn the phone number of their nearest relative. Work on it. Memorize it.
Use puppets to help get your message across. Sing it.
Arrange to have “study buddies” or a “big sister/big brother program” with upper-grade students who can come to the lower-grade classes to read stories and to help students with small tasks.
Excerpted from Kindergarten Teacher's Survival Guide.
