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Integrating Reading Skills & Social Studies: How
One Teacher Uses Trade Books in the Classroom
By Tarry Lindquist
I admit it! I love integrating reading skills and social studies. Some kids come to me as capable readers. Others straggle out along a reading continuum from
"Not so hot" to "Almost there." Not only must I help all my students be better readers, but I have to make sure they are learning from their reading. Some kids come with a wealth of knowledge in the social
studies. Others have a meager fund of knowledge to draw from. Since none of my students are born with a history gene, I need to support their knowledge of the past. 1942? 1492? To many intermediate grade learners, these two
dates are the same—a long time ago! How do I scaffold an understanding of what, where, when, and why things happened in history and still devote the amount of time needed to teach lifelong reading skills?
One effective and efficient way to accomplish all this starts with the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People.* For almost every unit I teach, I start with a trade book from the Notable's
list. Classroom teachers have learned reading aloud provides a powerful model. Why not choose outstanding social studies books to demonstrate reading skills while adding historical knowledge, plus an occasional dash of values?
Why not read aloud books of substance that enlarge and enrich our students' lives?
I begin by reading aloud, sharing not only the story and the illustrations, but also modeling how to read with fluency and comprehension. Notable picture books are especially effective. Why? The stories/information are engaging
, the books portray historical periods accurately, are gender and ethnically sensitive, of high literary quality, and the text is enhanced with illustrations that are worth dozens of textbook pages.
I embed five skills that capable readers use as I read aloud, demonstrating and calling attention to what I am doing. These five skills are based on Michael F.
Opitz and Timothy V. Rasinski's ideas in their book Good-bye Round Robin: 25 Effective Oral Reading Strategies (Heinemann, 1998) as well as my own teaching experience. For example, before beginning the actual reading of the book I activate
prior knowledge by asking the kids to look at the cover, read the title, and discuss whether it reminds us of anything that has ever happened to us personally, or reminds us of any other book we have read, or brings to mind anything that we have heard. Then we move to predicting as I probe before, during, and after reading. Creating mental images is where Notable picture books shine. The illustrations provide a multitude of visual stimuli for the novice historian to draw from and the challenged reader to remember. Finally, using the platform of reading aloud, I can demonstrate to my class how capable readers monitor
reading for errors and how to find and fix errors.
The simple strategy of reading aloud from books such as those on the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People list brings democracy to the
classroom as well as being effective in boosting student reading skill acquisition and knowledge of history because my students are able to refer back to the book, that common reference we all share. As we move through our
study all of the kids can shake their heads in agreement or question the observation, "Hey Mrs. L., isn't that just like in the book you read us . . .yesterday?. . .last week? . . .last month?" •
Tarry Lindquist, a National Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year, State Farm National Teacher, and recent member of NCSS-CBC Notables Selection Committee recently retired after thirty-eight years of public school teaching. She now tours the country teaching teachers in workshops and seminars and writes books, including Seeing the Whole Through Social Studies, 2nd edition; Ways That Work and Social Studies at the Center, all published by www.Heinemann.com.
* The Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People bibliography is a joint project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and The Children's Book Council (CBC). Click here to view the 2003 Notables Social Studies Trade Books for Young People list.
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