Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

 

Highlighting Our History: American Revolution Read-alouds PLUS for the Common Core

Introduction

As K-5 teachers go about the work of making instructional shifts in their teaching to meet the demands of the Common Core and new initiatives around STEM (STEAM) education, it can feel like “something has to give.” Many of you report that social studies has taken a back seat, and fear that students may lose a sense of our history and heritage. In this installment, TeachersFirst will show you how to leverage the power of daily read-alouds to practice some Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts while infusing some social studies content, specifically the Revolutionary period.

Part of our job as teachers is to share books that students would not necessarily read on their own.  The books featured on this list (both literature and informational text) will help to expand students' knowledge of U.S. history and provide teachers with some springboards for working with the Writing and Speaking-and-Listening standards of the Common Core. Many will appeal to students because they help to answer the question “What role did children play in the war?” Or “How did the Revolution impact children and families?” Additional titles can be found on this TeachersFirst CurriConnects list for the Colonial American period.