One of the particular strategies of involving students in the learning process of social studies is the integration of performing and visual arts, by making the contents and concepts relevant and relatable in daily lives.( Johnson, Edric, Katrina, and Kristen 206).
OBJECTIVES:
- Students should be able to:
- Learn how to represent ideas and concepts of social studies with art objects and themes.
- Be able to identify and differentiate between characteristics of each community in the past and the present. (Farris "Elementary and middle school social studies: interdisciplinary, multicultural and approach”).
RESOURCES:
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Resources for teachers will be inclusive of both audio and visual. For the visual aids, students will draw maps that demonstrate both rural and urban surroundings after which they will hang them on the classroom walls. The maps will be a representation the combination of social studies and art combined with a lot of adventure. On the other hand, for the audio resources, students will film various aspects that are related to the topic in question, then present whatever they filmed to the whole class during the learning.
VOCABULARY
The vocabularies that the students will come across on the topic of types of communities under the unit of social studies include urban, suburban, rural, races, community, neighborhood and migration as well. All these vocabularies are inevitable when it comes to learning about communities.
TIME
The topic on types of communities will require four lessons for thorough coverage of the whole topic since it has several involving activities of filming, drawing as well as class presentation.
MATERIALS AND PREPARATION
Materials:
- Each student will be required to have at least two new drawing charts with black and blue marking pens.
- For the students who will be filming, they will need a camera. They can as well use their smartphones for the activity.
Preparation tasks:
- The teacher will come up with various ideas of what the can draw then Students will pick and draw a concept of their choice of what they perceive to be a community.
- The teacher will specify the regions of the community that the students can film when they get home as part of their homework assignment.
INTRODUCTION
A community is a group of people with similarities and common aspects. A community can be formed by many people of different races and origins with interests in various things. There are three main types of communities, and each of the three has its distinct characteristics. The three community types include suburban, rural and urban communities. A suburban community is one outside of major cities where residents live in neighborhoods with small apartments and individual houses. An urban community is a large area, one with many tall buildings and people are crowded. The last type of community is rural which is characterized by few businesses and buildings, has open land and few people live there.
INSTRUCTION
- The teacher will read out a story on the types of communities, paying close attention to instances where the type of community changes. At the crucial junctures in the story, the teacher will pause and engage the students by asking whether they notice a change of community in the story.
- The teacher will the ask the students to describe the changes they notice in each community they identify with the story. After the story reading, the teacher will ask the students to identify the particular community they belong and live in, followed by supportive reasons for their answers.
EVALUATION
- To assess whether the students have grasped what they have learned, the teacher prepares a template for the students with an essay on “My home and Its Community.”
- Another strategy that could be used is giving out a homework assignment where the students should write about the three types of communities they learned and the characteristics of each community type.
BACKGROUND
Written materials for teachers use.
- “The Little House” by Virginia Lee and Burton.
- “The Usborne Book of Art Skills” by Antonia Miller, Fiona Watt, and Katrina Fearn.
- “Teach Like a Pirate” by Dave Burgess.
- “Managing the Art Room” by Michael Linsin.
Work cited
Farris, Pamela J. Elementary, and middle school social studies: An interdisciplinary, multicultural approach. Waveland Press, 2015.
Johnson, Edric C., Katrina Liu, and Kristin Goble. "Mantle of the Expert: Integrating dramatic inquiry and visual arts in social studies." The Social Studies 106.5 (2015): 204-208.
