LiteratureandSocial Studies: Literature and Social Studies Grade 5& 6 Rosanne Sylvestre TL @ Ryerson School E-mail: rsylvestre@pembinatrails.ca


Why?: Why? Another bunch of dates…….. Another bunch of maps…. Who cares about a bunch of dead people…. Another bunch of boring facts….. Another bunch of laws…. I can’t vote for another 10 years, why should I care about how the government works?


Why not?: Why not? How would I feel if I was put on a boat to go live some place else with people I don’t even know and my parents had to stay behind? ( The Home Child) How would I feel if I was a 12 year old girl and I was being sent off to marry someone in a foreign land? ( The King’s Daughter by Suzanne Martel)


Slide4: How would I feel if I knew that I was the only one who could help my family survive? ( The Hungry Years) How would I react if I went to school one day and came home to find that my home and been destroyed and I couldn’t find my family? (The Halifax Explosion)


How can I make Canadian history more alive for my students?: How can I make Canadian history more alive for my students? Students need to feel: uncertainty, determination fear, courage hope, hopelessness joy, sadness….. Heather Kirk (1966)describes as “emotional sustenance”


Slide6: Only when students develop a sense of empathy for the individuals at that particular time in history do they want to try to understand facts and maps! Motivation is like food for the brain. --Peter Davies If there is no desire to learn then minimum learning happens!


Slide7: According to Krashen one of the keywords that triggers "Motivation" in our minds is “active involvement” How can I get my students actively involved in a period of history? Historical fiction provides that “active involvement” through the lives of the protagonists.


How?: How? Using literary devices such as: Picture Books Time travel- Journals Biographies Blurring of the line between fiction and non-fiction ( historical background information woven around a fictional narrative.)


Why? Why & How I Teach with Historical Fiction By Tarry Lindquist: Why? Why & How I Teach with Historical Fiction By Tarry Lindquist It piques kids' curiosity. It levels the playing field . It hammers home everyday details . It puts people back into history. It presents the complexity of issues. It promotes multiple perspectives. It connects social studies learning to the rest of our school day.


Strategies: Strategies Literature Circles Read alouds Novel studies Free Reading Assigned reading Book Talks


Concerns - Fact or Fiction?: Concerns - Fact or Fiction? Accuracy – “ It is the small details that make historical fiction work, I believe. You need to know what hymns they sang, what their family traditions were, what sayings were passed down, that chores they had to do …what games they played… Find these bits and pieces is like going on a treasure hunt-deeply satisfying when you stumble on a tiny bit that brings your whole scene to life “(Jean Little)


Slide12: Presentism This refers to the placing of “present-day culturally contingent values and conventions and judgments upon the people of the past, people whose cultural frameworks were quite different .”( Seixas, 1993) Ex. Child rearing in the 1900 compared to child abuse laws today.


Selection Criteria: Selection Criteria When choosing novels to explore with your students consider: Will I learn about the historical period? Are background details accurate to the time and place? Does it portray a perspective's not found in other resources such as a textbook? Does the novel provide" emotional sustenance”


Slide14: “social studies 6.1”


Cataloguing in Mandarin: Cataloguing in Mandarin Grade 5 Social Studies Main curriculum objective or 658 a: Peoples and stories of Canada Subordinate curriculum objective or 658 b: First peoples 5.1 Early European colonization (1600-1867) 5.2 Fur trade 5.3 From British colony to confederation (1763-1867) 5.4 Curriculum code or 658 c: 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Grade 6 Social Studies Main curriculum objective or 658 a: A country of change Subordinate curriculum objective or 658 b :Building a nation (1867-1914) 6.1 An emerging nation (1914-1945) 6.2 Shaping contemporary Canada (1945-Present) 6.3 Canada today (Canada today) 6.4 Curriculum code or 658 c:6.16.26.36.4


Cluster 5.1: Cluster 5.1 First Peoples Aubry, Claude.Agouhanna. / Translated from the French by Harvey Swados. Illustrated by Julie Brinckloe. Toronto : Doubleday Canada; 1972. Hudson, Jan,Sweetgrass / Jan Hudson. Edmonton : Tree Frog Press, 1984. Katz, Welwyn Wilton.Out of the dark / Welwyn Wilton Katz. Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre, 1995. Markoosie.Harpoon of the hunter. / Illustrations by Germaine Arnaktauyok. Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1970. Steele, Mary Q.The eye in the forest / Mary Q. Steele and William O. Steele. New York : Dutton, [1975].


Cluster 5.2: Cluster 5.2 Early European colonization (1600-1867) Martel, Suzanne,The king's daughter / Suzanne Martel ; translated by David Toby Homel and Margaret Rose. Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre, c1980. McKay, Sharon E.Esther Trottier, Maxine,Alone in an untamed land : the filles du Roi diary of Hélène St. Onge : by Maxine Trottier. Markham, Ont : Scholastic Canada, 2003.


Cluster 5.3: Cluster 5.3 Fur trade Durbin, William,The broken blade / William Durbin. New York : Delacorte Press, 1997. Speare, Elizabeth George.Calico Captive / illustrated by W. T. Mars. [Boston ] : Houghton Mifflin, [c1957]. Trottier, Maxine.The death of my country : the Plains of Abraham diary of Geneviève Aubuchon / by Maxine Trottier. Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada, c2005. Boy or girl or either


Cluster 5.4: Cluster 5.4 From British colony to confederation (1763-1867)


Cluster 6.1: Cluster 6.1 Building a nation (1867-1914)


Cluster 6.2 : Cluster 6.2 An emerging nation (1914-1945)


Cluster 6.3: Cluster 6.3 Shaping contemporary Canada (1945-Present


Cluster 6.4 : Cluster 6.4 Canada today (Canada today)


Book Reviews Published byThe Manitoba Library Association : Book Reviews Published by The Manitoba Library Association Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364           


Discovering Where History Stops and the Story Starts: Discovering Where History Stops and the Story Starts Raise students' awareness. Bring in resource people.( grandpa, peacekeepers, newspaper person, lawyer) Integrate skills across the disciplines. (fact/opinion, fiction/non-fiction)


Slide27: Investigate sources ( internet, encyclopedia, wikipedeia) Facilitate access to resources( libraries, museums, senior’s residence, legion, cemeteries)


Slide28: Observe illustrations. ( books, paintings,) Consult primary documents.( photos, diaries, newspapers)


Slide29: Develop criteria.( authenticity, biases, media inaccuracies) ( worldbookonline.ca) Test generalizations. Encourage questions. Use graphic organizers.( kidspiration, time lines, differentiated instruction)


Suggested Activities: Suggested Activities Historical Fiction - Based on facts or purely fiction? - Students, after reading an historical fiction book, research the actual historical time period portrayed in the book. Then, working in a cooperative learning group, they create a Power Point presentation. Students reflect on their knowledge and impressions of the World War I &II before reading a selection of novels. They consider the use of primary resources to gain a more accurate view of historical events.


More…: More… Students develop a definition of the terms slave and indentured servant, then compare and contrast the lives of individuals in each category. They utilize three different types of writing to examine the lives of slaves and indentured servants. Students learn about historical fiction. They write diary entries at the end of reading their book.


Still more….: Still more…. Students read and discuss the historical fiction novel by Lois Lowery, Number the Stars. Students further investigate survivor and rescuer stories from the Holocaust in order to make a class presentation. decide if they would make a stand to protect persecuted people with different beliefs than themselves Students research websites and compare aspects of WWII as seen through primary source materials and historical fiction pieces. Students construct a newspaper detailing the events and how it influenced the immigration to Canada. Courage in Chaos - Students determine the quality of courage found among both survivors and rescuers during the Holocaust of World War II. Students


http://www.ourcanadiangirl.com/fun /: http://www.ourcanadiangirl.com/fun /


Slide35: Students read the Our Canadian Girls stories, then create posters comparing celebrations during various time periods. Write an Obituaries about a character who existed in one of the novels and include one famous person who died during that time period, including a picture and why s/he was well known. Ask them to draw a Venn diagram showing the events and characteristics of one of the Our Canadian Girls and one of the Dear Canada series dealing with the same time period. Write a Lead story- an account of one exciting scene in the book and has additional historical details.


More activities: More activities Students participate in literature circles and read various historical fiction books for discussion. Students complete responses and Venn diagrams to compare and contrast the changes in characters' perceptions in the books and finally write diary entries. Students "mine" online databases for primary texts and period photographs, then explore the Klondike Stampede, and, like London, can glean from their visit sufficient period details to help them create their own narratives based on the Gold Rush


Sources: Sources Notes taken from Penney Clark Canadian Social Studies, Volume 37, Number 1, 2002 Why & How I Teach with Historical Fiction By Tarry Lindquist http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/social1.htm#tips


Web sites: Web sites http://readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=779 http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/social1.htm http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=GBwYQnpk6rF2NyncJ5VJqY5CjvJGfbklVnyvLWG4Hzw78jj6GFK3!5818497?a=o&d=5002518566 http://www.readingquest.org/


Slide41: http://www.ourcanadiangirl.ca/teachers/


http://canadaonline.about.com/od/historylessons/: http://canadaonline.about.com/od/historylessons/


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/china/chinese_immigration.html: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/china/chinese_immigration.html Time Tunnels of Moose Jaw by Mary Bishop An Ocean Apart Emily


Slide46: 1759: From the Warpath to the Plains of Abraham This interactive site revisits the Seven Years War through the eyes of a French soldier, British soldier, Canadian militiaman and Amerindian. Created by the National Battlefields Commission. http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/PM.cgi ?LM=Games&LANG=English&AP=vmc_search&scope=Games&terms=warpath


Pier 21- immigration: Pier 21- immigration http://canadaonline.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=canadaonline&cdn=newsissues&tm=16&gps=393_638_1020_619&f=10&tt=14&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.pier21.ca/


The End: The End If you have any suggestions for other novels at this level, please e-mail me : rsylvestre@pembiantrails.ca