Teaching Reading with the Social Studies Standards: Elementary Units that Integrate Great Books, Social Studies, and the Common Core Standards

Edited by Syd Golston and Peggy Altoff

NCSS Bulletin 112, 118 pp., 2012

This book has been designed for elementary teachers who want to meet the Common Core Standards for Reading Literature as they teach social studies.The class activities recommended in this book for each grade level allow teachers to accomplish the following objectives:

1. Achieve specific learning expectations outlined in the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.
2. Achieve specific objectives outlined in the Common Core Standards for Reading Literature (as well as selected other Common Core Standards)

This book's opening chapters lay the groundwork for the effective teaching of standards-based social studies through the use of literature. Most of the volume consists of reviews and annotations of outstanding children's books for the elementary grades. The contributors examine seven outstanding children's books in depth (one for each grade from pre-K through 5) and recommend scores of other suitable books.

The in-depth reviews demonstrate how to maximize the potential of the featured books for the purpose of teaching social studies effectively and meeting the Common Core Standards. The contributors show teachers how to make the most of timeless classics such as Make Way for Ducklings and The Little House, as well as more recent books, including You and Me Together, Nina Bonita, Show Way, The Unbreakable Code and Sarah, Plain and Tall.

This book provides teachers with guidelines for teaching excellent social studies through the use of literature in ways that offer students a rich education in the topics of culture and cultural diversity, history, geography, civics and government, global connections, social and economic change, and individual development.

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