Social Studies & ELA Integration

Social studies, in addition to being a standalone subject, can also be used to reinforce ELA standards, routines, and strategies.

Examples of these are:

• Cloze reading
• Vocabulary development
• Writing prompts
• Sentence frames with structured classroom discussion
• Comprehension strategies for informational text

Canvas and CSDDocs/Google tools can be used to assist in this integration. Examples in Canvas follow on the Examples tab.

With Google tools:

• Google Docs is a great tool to use to help students develop writing skills.
• Google Slides is a great tool to help students develop oral language/debate skills. 

We will go into more details with Google tools in a minute.  

Some examples:

-Passages can be uploaded into Canvas which are already marked to facilitate cloze reading with instructions for students and be available for students not in class at that time (or assist in doing it in another setting such as resource)

In a practice station, students may be asked to do partner reading.  Canvas audio/video recording can be used so students can have their reading captured, to make sure students are following the routine and a teacher can go back to see how a student is reading without being present.

A vocabulary activity could have a student define the word, use it in a sentence, and find an image using Flickr that represents that word.   (from Unit 3 4th grade curriculum map) history- the study of past events  I would like to know the history of dinosaurs.