Leigha Thompson

ELED 3223-002

Social Studies Observation

During my fifth grade social studies observation, I learned many ways to make
history engaging for students. My cooperating teacher teaches social studies on
Wednesdays and Fridays for 30 minutes during their literacy block for homeroom. My
teacher has 24 students in her homeroom. She has 11 female students and 13 male
students. During this time, I observed a lesson on the American Indians from Social
Studies Alive!
First, I noticed how the students were using Post-it notes to make their textbook
interactive. As the students read about the four environments the American Indians lived
in, they created box and dots on the sticky note. The students recorded a Post-it note
with the four environments label: grasslands, desert, mountains, and artic. My teacher
described each of these environments and compared them with the information
previously learned in science. The grasslands related to the prairies, the mountains to the
taiga, and the artic to the tundra. This helped the students with connections to the new
information.
During the lesson, the students would read the paragraph aloud by volunteering.
The teacher would stop to discuss for comprehension of the text. For each paragraph the
students would use the box and dots method for the main idea and supporting details.
One paragraph described how the American Indians adapted to the Environment. The
students would label a Post-it note Adapt to Environment and helped the teacher come
up with supporting details from the text. They concluded that the American Indians used
natural resources wisely and the Inuits (Eskimos) lived in the artic.

Leigha Thompson
ELED 3223-002
I liked how the students would give thumbs up for connections they had during
the lesson. The teacher would help make these connections by asking questions like, Did
you have to adapt from 4th grade to 5th grade? I thought this did a good job at making the
information from the text relatable. Also, if they found powerful words in the Social
Studies Alive! text they would circle the words and if they found unknown words/phrases
they would underline them. I observed the teacher asking what words the students had
trouble understanding. She would pull up pictures to help explain the words. For
example, the word harpoon students were having trouble with. My teacher found a
picture of a harpoon to show the students that it looked like a spear.
Overall, I think the students understood the environments the American Indians
lived in and how they adapted. The teacher made the information relatable for the
students. I believe this helped the students make sense of the history that was being
taught. Also, I found it beneficial that the teacher had to scaffold the students towards
understanding the meaning of certain words. This helped with their reading
comprehension of the content.