Welcome Parents

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Welcome Parents!

• Goals for the next hour
• Let you know how social studies is organized and
  taught
• Give you ideas for being
• supportive at home

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When my child graduates high school, Id like my
child to beThink about the type of person
youd like to see in a cap and gown! If youd
like talk it out with your neighbor.
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So what is it we want

• Self-knowledge
• Empathy
• Application
• Interpretation
• Perspective
• Explanation
• These can be taught - daily!

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Give it a try Youre teaching students about
Early American History

• How do you get them to explain an idea?
• Get a perspective from this era?
• Interpret information?
• Apply what theyve learned?
• Show empathy?
• Gain self-knowledge?
• (These are principles of Understanding by Design)

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How Kids Learn

• By Being Engaged
• By Being Involved
• By Finding Meaning
• By Making Connections
• Two key phrases Problem-based Learning
• Differentiated Instruction

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Social Studies

• Real life experiences
• Relevant resources
• Diverse world
• Global understanding
• Current events

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Major Themes in Social Studies

• Change
• Scarcity
• Diversity
• Interdependence
• Conflict
• Authority

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The New Jersey Core Content Curricular Standards
for Social Studies

• Civics
• World History
• United States New Jersey History
• Economics
• Geography

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Geography Current Events

• These are a part of ALL social studies classes -
  regardless of grade level
• Lets look at the resources

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What can I do at home?

• In a word PLENTY!
• Make it interesting, have dinner conversations
  about events, ask your kids to explain their
  reasoning, give kids resources to be informed,
  have periodicals and books, point out
  geographical interests, plan trips with history
  and culture involved, encourage writing and
  readingPLENTY.
• Lets look at your materials

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I love America.  I love the world.  Brotherhood
and sisterhood have no borders.  My heart orbits
the Earth, love cannot be measured in longitude
or latitude.  - Valentine Sterling
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The world we have created is a product of our
thinking it cannot be changed without changing
our thinking.  - Albert Einstein
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It'll be a great day when education gets all the
money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a
bake sale to buy bombers.  Quoted in You Said a
Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs
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A people that values its privileges above its
principles soon loses both.  Dwight D.
Eisenhower, first inaugural address, 20 January
1953
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Every individual has a place to fill in the world
and is important in some respect whether he
chooses to be so or not.  - Nathaniel Hawthorne
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We cannot always build the future for our youth,
but we can build our youth for the future. 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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History being the record of human action is a
richly variegated material, and it is not easy to
give a true impression of the stuff by snipping
off an inch or two for a pattern.  Cicely
Veronica Wedgwood, Truth and Opinion
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Patriotism... is not short, frenzied outbursts
of emotion, but the tranquil and steady
dedication of a lifetime.  Adlai Stevenson
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Our historic imagination is at best
slightly developed.  We generalise and idealise
the past egregiously.  We set up little toys to
stand as symbols for centuries and the
complicated lives of countless individuals. 
John Dewey, Characters and Events
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A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot
answer.  - Author Unknown
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