Select: [Featured Teacher] [Instructional Resources] [Contests/ Awards/ Recognition]
[Elementary Photo Albums] [Message from Susan] [Message from Janie]TEKS Revisions -
Now is the time
to give input!
STEP ONE: Find your grade level's Proposed TEKS Revisions Comment Form below. Open the link and save this document to your desktop.
STEP TWO:
Provide feedback on this form and, when done, electronically save the form - giving the file a name that includes your own name, campus, and the subject you're commenting on.
Example:
Smith_GullettEl_3rdGr
STEP THREE:
- Kindergarten TEKS Revision Template
- 1st Grade TEKS Revision Template
- 2nd Grade TEKS Revision Template
- 3rd Grade TEKS Revision Template
- 4th Grade TEKS Revision Template
- 5th Grade TEKS Revision Template
Your colleagues on the district's new IPGa Online Database want your model lessons!
Download the IPGa
Lesson Submission Form
FEATURED TEACHER
Social Studies Teacher Receives Preserve America's
Elementary History Teacher of the Year Award
The Social Studies Team would like to extend our congratulations to Sally Hunter, 2009 Preserve America Teacher of the Year for the state of Texas.
On Tuesday, September 15th, a school-wide celebration honoring Sally Hunter is being held at Highland Park Elementary School. Mrs. Hunter is the recipient of the 2009 Preserve America, Elementary History Teacher of the Year Award for the state of Texas. Sponsored by Preserve America and The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this award recognizes outstanding American history teachers from elementary school through high school, and the crucial importance of American history education.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History presented Mrs. Hunter's school, Highland Park Elementary, with an archive of primary historical materials, named in her honor, for use in the school library. Mrs. Hunter's students learn about their local history, by examining primary source documents and artifacts, along with historical sites to deepen their understanding of American and Texas History.
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
Featured Resource for Elementary Teachers
BrainPOP creates and provides animated, standards-based content that supports educators and engages students. BrainPOP is used in numerous ways, from introducing a new lesson or topic to illustrating complex subject matter to reviewing before a test. All content areas, including Social Studies, are addressed.
Kudos to our own Instructional Technology Department for providing this instructional tool to All AISD elementary and middle school students and teachers who now have access to BrainPOP, BrainPOP Español and BrainPOP Jr. from 7:00am-5:30 pm, 7 days a week.
Message from Janie:
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is having a pleasant year. I know you are having a busy year.
If you are doing a social studies project or have completed one, please email me so that I can come out, take pictures, and put you and the project on our social studies website.
"Children are not born knowing the many opportunities that are theirs for the taking. Someone who does know must tell them."
- Ruth Hill Viguers
JanieAll are supported by BrainPOP Educators, which features free lesson plans, video tutorials, professional development tools, graphic organizers, and best practices for our teacher community.
Oral History
Can elementary students learn from doing an oral history project? Yes, they can. Are elementary students old enough to take an oral history? Yes, they are. Elementary students might want to interview a family member.
You can use this link Oral History K-2 for a lesson from Edsitement on how to teach social studies using an Oral History. Your students will connect to history and learn about their families, culture, and heritage. What a great experience!
Great Texas Women
A downloadable book on Great Texas Women in history produced by the UTSA's Institute of Texas Culture. There are many narrative texts about Texas women and primary source pictures. Go to the Great Texas Women website or go to Resources on the left side of this page, select, then select Web Resources, select W for Women and download this wonderful book for your classroom. You will want this book available for your students all year and not just for Women's History Month in March. Enjoy!
Texas Cartoons
Texas Cartoons - You can use these political cartoons in just about any grade level. They can be used as warm-ups, previews, or as an activity in a Texas lesson. Students will find them engaging and motivating.
Take a Look at Our World
Share this powerpoint with your students. See if they can find Austin and other important cities in the United States and throughout the world.
Enjoy!
Learning About Our Community
Message from Susan:
Over the summer we have been busy updating our online IPGs and adding lessons that will make finding engaging lessons merely a mouse-click away.
Be sure to check your grade-level IPG link for lessons listed for each nine-week period.
I'm looking forward to working with you all in the 2009-2010 school year!
Austin Past and Present is an interactive documentary that brings Austin’s history to life. From its geologic formation to its current urban skyline, Austin Past and Present explores Austin’s past and present in more than 300 multimedia stories and over 2 hours of motion picture documentary.
Students learn new and fascinating things about their community while they use this project in combination with district-provided curriculum that is aligned to state standards.
Check out the collection of local and Texas history through this amazing website! There are many newspapers, photographs, and other information dating back to the 1800s. The Austin Post Card site can be especially helpful in teaching Texas History in an interesting, engaging way!
Put your video i-Pod or i-Phone to work with Zilker Trek,
a self-guided, multimedia tour
of Zilker Park!
Karen Kocher (Austin Past & Present creator) has another dynamite project! Take a walk at Zilker while learning - and you will be amazed at all you can learn - this is a great medium forintegrating into other content areas. (Yes, there really are other content areas besides social studies!)
Visit: www.zilkertrek.org
There are some pages you will want to print when you go to the zilkertrek website, Lesson for Podcast 00: Get started with Zilker Trek and the Zilker Trek Project Overview. The second website (New Horizons) is a great resource for journal writing. You will see examples of journals that students have made that show learning and pride in their work. There are more links in this article (they are in red) that demonstrate what to record and how to draw/sketch a picture (a short slide presentation that each student can watch).
How often do journals seem like something more to do, after reading this short article and going to the sites presented, you will see how you can encourage students to take pride in their work in all subjects that require a notebook, (hopefully your students all have a social studies notebook and after viewing these sites, you will want your students to have notebooks for all their subjects) thus increasing what they observe, record, and learn.
More Related Web Resources (WEB):
Great models for students to see what an interactive notebook should look like-
- Nature Walks. This site describes the benefits of nature walks and how to develop your observational skills-
- Nature Journaling: This website describes how to create a nature journal and describes why such a journal is beneficial to learning.
Contests / Awards / Recognition
2010 Letters to Leaders Initiative
Teachers and others who work with youth are invited to involve their students in Letters to Leaders, an art and letter-writing contest especially for Texas school children that aims to provide a hands-on lesson in civic engagement. For the 2010 contest, winners will have their submissions shared in a capital-area public forum with state leaders in advance of the Texas governor's race.
Children in grades K-3 are invited to submit artwork (an illustration or painting) on the subject: "What Texas leaders can do to make Texas even better." Children in fourth grade and above are invited to participate in the letter-writing portion of the contest, submitting letters with the salutation "Dear Candidates for Governor," plus at least one question to the candidates and a suggestion for ÒWhat the next Texas Governor can do to make Texas even better. All submissions must be postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2010, and should be sent to Letters to Leaders, c/o Texans Care for Children, 814 San Jacinto, Suite 201, Austin, Texas, 78701. For complete contest guidelines and teacher lesson plans tied to TEKS learning objectives, visit www.txchildren.org.
Growing A Generation of Givers
Legacy of Giving Provides Opportunities to Reinforce
Social Studies TEKS Concept: Philanthropy
The Social Studies department is grateful for the vision and continued efforts of Linda Brucker, Executive Director of Legacy of Giving, Austin Community Foundation, and the many foundations and corporate sponsors for making possible important opportunities for civic learning and philanthropic giving. In addition, Sooch Foundation designed "The Empowerment Challenge" to grant $1,000 to five different Title One schools, giving students the power to make things happen in their community.
[VIEW VIDEO of The Sooch Empowerment Challenge in Austin ISD].
The Legacy of Giving is partnered with The League, a national youth service 
organization that provides TEKS compliant philanthropy curricula and metrics to insure continued measurable benefits to Austin ISD students.
For additional free lessons and educator resources provided by Learning to Give, the curriculum division of The League, please call Courtney at (512) 472-4483.
________________________________________________________
A Legacy of Giving
promotes student-led
philanthropic events
that build upon learning
children have secured in the classroom.
Recent Trainings
Provided Materials
Click on the links below for lessons and resources from our recent training for Kindergarten through 2nd Grade teachers: Primary Sources for Primary Grades. Updates will continue to be added!
List of Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Released
Social Education, the offical journal of the National Council for the Social Studies has released its 2009 supplement, "Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People"
Read more...
© AISD, 2009 /