Why I Picked It Up: I found this book as a result of a Crayola obsession, biography madness, and an author visit. Anyone who has been to our sessions knows that we love biographies. We love that it provides a little historical insight, and we love learning about people’s persistence and accomplishments, but mostly we […]
biographies
Thematic Unit: Picture Books about Perseverance
Theme: In order to teach a thematic unit, students must first understand the theme being studied. Define perseverance for the students. I chose to explain it as continuing to do something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. I illustrated the definition for students by explaining how my youngest son has persevered through guitar lessons. […]
Did you know…FREE iBooks from the Library of Congress!
While my true love is literature, I also have a soft spot for history, which explains why I seem to gravitate towards primary sources. I especially love when primary sources help tell a story, or provide background information to make a story I’m reading come alive for me. Books like Port Chicago 50, Lincoln’s Grave Robbers, and […]
Roundup: Favorite Social Studies Posts (Plus a Few New Biographies!)
We had a wonderful weekend in Galveston this past weekend. We celebrated Halloween with our families AND made a lot of new social studies friends at the Texas Council for the Social Studies Conference! During our sessions, we mentioned several of our favorite books and we thought we might round them all up in one […]
Top 3 Search Engines to Use with Students
Research is when I was probably on the biggest roller coaster of emotion as a teacher. I was so excited to see all my students engaged in topics of their interest, learning and diving in to great thinking and learning. After all, nothing is more inspiring to a teacher than seeing self-motivated children engaged in the […]