8th Grade Social StudiesU.S. History and Current Events

(including the study of the United States Constitution beginning in November – exam late December or January)

Why study social studies?(from Children and Their World: Strategies for Teaching Social Studies, Welton & Mallan, 1992)

to teach future citizens of the world about our cultural heritage—about where we as a world culture have come from, where we are, and where we may be going

to teach future citizens to think and process information skillfully and intelligently (using analysis, inference, and synthesis)

to teach future citizens about human behavior

to develop in future citizens a commitment to act in accordance with what they know and believe

What did you learn in school today, dear?

Go to “The Week Ahead”(found at “Classroom” website link on the Herrick homepage,

click “Bolton”)

Daily plansLinks to handouts, videos, etcSchedule should be updated by Monday eveningDISCLAIMER: Circumstances may change the

schedule at any time

Expectations for Excellencebest effort completed by due dateDouble Column Notes (DCNs)– questions provided

by teacher for “first time” comprehension of a section of the book– students should attempt to do more than simply answer the questions—make the notes theirs! (Create a study guide out of a reading guide.)

“Mark it Up!” – opportunity for students to bring themselves to the “dance” (between themselves and the ideas and information provided)

class participation – strive to verbally advocate for self

Writing expectations

Focus – opinion, main idea

Support- discussion, explanation, evidence, examples (analysis / synthesis)

Grading

The Social Studies department will continue to use letter grades.

We are in transition from PowerTeacher to SQUIRREL.

Test Prepreread textreview notes from text (just doing this is not

enough!)do practice questions at end of each section

and chapterreview notes from videos or other class

activitiesreview handoutsvisit classzone.com and do interactive review

(students do not need to have an account for this feature)

www.classzone.comdistrict 58 no longer provides direct online

access to the textbook, however....support materials available from main web

pageinteractive reviewanimationsand more

Thank you for coming this evening!

(This presentation is on the classroom website.)