As always, fun picture books are a great tool for teaching. They often make students more interested and engaged in topics as well. Social studies is such a huge topic, so the books are endless. Not only are this helpful when read-aloud, but having a classroom library filled with different options leaves students with the opportunity to learn on their own as well.
Where On Earth? by Helen Abramson - This geography based book is great to use as a teaching tool, or just have available in the classroom library. It includes seventy-five 3D maps of buildings and landmarks around the world.
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine - This picture book about history of slavery would be a good read-aloud for an elementary class. It has an interesting story line, vibrant illustrations, and is very informative. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse - Even though this children's book might seem out of the ordinary for teaching social studies it can very easily be related. A huge part of social studies is learning about rules and laws, something elementary students might view as less important to them. Using this fun book though, Lilly breaks rules and gets in trouble within her classroom. Therefore, you can relate this at the younger age how if you do not follow rules there will be some form of punishment. Link this in with the rest of your laws/rules unit and students will be thrilled! |