Teaching About Abigail Adams

For my field work I got to teach a lesson on the second First Lady of the United States. I told a short story summerizing important background knowledge that students would need in order to be able to work in groups. I split 25 students into 5 groups assigning each a section to read and answer question about Abigail Adams. After that was finished each group got to share what they have learned. It was interesting to see students work together and teach each other. After the groups have shared we had a group discussion and with being pressed with time the lesson ended on a good note. I like letting students discover their own learning with guidence. From my short experience it seems to work better then learning from the board.

People We Are Following!

http://miss-greene.blogspot.com/
http://firstgradealacarte.blogspot.com/
http://misschristnersblog.blogspot.com/
http://missguyersblog.blogspot.com/
http://misslovansblog.blogspot.com/
http://mrsprestonsblog.blogspot.com/
http://beauchampsocialstudiesliteracy.blogspot....

The Oliver Mansion

It was very cool to go and take a tour of the Oliver Mansion. There were so many different things to see and learn from about the past. We saw how the people lived and there are all kinds of things we could gather and talk about after the tour. Just how big the house was. As a class students could take the family that lived there and do research and a presentation. Using actual experiences from what they saw about that family. You get a whole set of new ideas about the people. You can see what they liked and disliked. It puts the people into that house and into the new light. A textbook can't do that.

Trade

Students can learn about trading by having a trade fair in the classroom like we did in our social studies class. The students can either bring in their own items to trade or the teacher can bring in items to make it more equal for everyone. In this activity they learn that there are certain items that are always valued such as food. They also learn that some people will trade for items that they need and some will trade for what they want and not necessarily need. This activity helps students think critically about what the majority of the people want and need so that they can provide those items to make a good trade.

What is Important to You?

I really enjoyed doing the shoebox activity in class where we had to decide what we would grab that could fit in a shoebox, if we had to leave our homes right away. It was a great way to find out what was important and what everyone valued the most in their lives. I learned that even though we all chose different things to put in our shoeboxes, we all had something that reminded us of our families. This is a wonderful activity to use for social studies to get students to communicate and find connections with each other.