In social studies, we've been learning about our U.S. government..specifically the 3 branches of government. I started out with a pictorial input chart (a strategy adapted from Project GLAD) where I created colorful visuals of information (picture notes) to describe each of the three branches. I drew the picture as I described each of the vocabulary words and concepts. I also used colors to organize/chunk important information. It's super important to revisit the chart on multiple occasions to add additional information or images. We always keep our pictorial input charts available as resources all around the classroom. At the end of the unit, I "auction" the charts or KWL's off to students...they go b-a-n-a-n-a-s over them! It's super cute. :) Here's an example of the one we've been using during this unit.
Big books are also another great motivation tool when starting out a new unit. My teacher-made big books directly focus on the content standards of the unit and embed important concepts and academic vocabulary. It exposes my students to comprehensible expository text using real pictures they love. It's a great way to get students motivated about a topic and its what the common core is all about...being exposed to more expository texts!
(One thing I added to this activity was the pictures of each building to help my students identify where each branch of gov't works) |
-Mrs. Rossi
Auctioning off your KWL charts is the cutest thing I've ever heard! Loving your great social studies visuals!
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