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Social Studies: Candidates demonstrate understandings, capabilities, and practices associated

with the central concepts and tools in Civics, Economics, Geography, and History, within a
framework of informed inquiry.

Social studies instruction at the elementary level faces similar time constraint challenges

as science and art instruction, which I have discussed in previous framing statements. It can be

difficult to carve out time for in-depth instruction, but thankfully, I have found ways to

incorporate social studies and Alaska studies into my fourth-grade classroom. In this paper, I

will highlight a few of the ways I incorporate historical thinking, geography, and cultural art with

limited time dedicated to social studies instruction. Fortunately, in fourth grade, the state

standards for social studies revolve around the state of Alaska: its history, culture, geography,

economy, and government. Having been introduced to so many rich Alaskana books and

resources in the MAT program, I have ample resources to incorporate across a variety of

curricula. The main ways I maintain social studies instruction are through targeted mini lessons

with art integration, history-rich novel studies, and hands-on geography maps and models that

celebrate Alaska.

One of my enduring lessons that I created in my Social Studies Methods course is a mini

lesson about Benny Benson and the story behind our state flag’s origin. I have been able to teach

this lesson in a variety of ways for three consecutive years now. I begin with the trade book

Benny’s Flag by Krasilovsky and Fowler (2002). While I read the book aloud, I model

interactive notetaking using a flower-shaped graphic organizer with six “petals.” I drew

inspiration for this graphic organizer from an inquiry model in Koechlin & Zwaan’s Q Tasks

(2014). As you can see from the pictures in the linked artifact, the middle section of the

organizer is for the main topic, Benny Benson. The “petals” signify subsection items of curiosity

and what students need to know. I pause during the read-aloud to jot down important
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information, modeling what I want students to know by the end of the lesson. During the read-

aloud, students learn that an 11-year-old Aleut boy named Benny Benson entered and won an art

contest to be the designer of the Alaska state flag.

After the reading and interactive notetaking, students have the opportunity to design their

own paper flag, or paint a rock, any way they choose to represent what is meaningful about

Alaska. Some students draw what matters to them. Others take hold of what they know about

Alaska to design a flag with the state flower, state bird, animals, or mountain landscapes. The

students always surprise me with their take on what they feel represents our state. Like Elliot

Eisner, author of The Arts and the Creation of Mind (2011), my view is that arts integration can

enhance student engagement and understanding across subject areas. Eisner’s work emphasizes

the potential to enrich learning, promote connections, and cultivate the diverse talents of all

students. I often incorporate art and social studies instruction to solidify standards and explore

Alaska’s rich cultural heritage through art.

Another way I incorporate social studies in my classroom is by choosing history rich

Alaskana novel studies, like Arnold Griese and Glo Coalson’s The Wind is Not a River (1996).

This novel is about two young siblings who are the only citizens to remain uncaptured when the

Japanese take over their Aleutian Island during World War II. They wrestle with their feelings

about the old ways, the ethics of war, and ultimately, how to save their people. My students

enjoy this book year after year. Like Bruce Lesh, author of Why Won’t You Just Tell Us the

Answer? (2011), I have little to do with our standard schoolboard adopted textbook. Instead, I

choose historical books that grab the attention of my students. Lesh posits that textbooks can be

used to spur investigation of historical questions, and that it’s up to the teacher to decide what

relationship the textbook has with historical thinking. Ultimately, his advice is to “treat the
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textbook as just another piece of historical evidence and move on” (p. 25). Since we spend so

much of our instructional day dedicated to reading, I purposely choose history-rich novel studies

to bring Alaska studies to the forefront of my teaching. We spend some time discussing

comprehension and vocabulary during these novel studies, but we also use this time to

geographically map out where the story takes place. We stop and make rudimentary timelines to

better understand when the events happened. We question the characters’ decisions based on

what we know about that time. There are several other Alaskana novels I read with my students

each year in fourth grade. They are each specifically chosen because they teach us about the

history and culture of Alaska’s people.

The final ways I focus attention on social studies instruction in 4th grade are through

mapping and art integration. With our Alaska maps, we locate and properly label the major

cities, land formations, cultural groups, and bodies of water across Alaska. Every year, each of

my students receives a desk sized map of Alaska, with no labels to begin with. We use a key

with common map icons to solidify understanding of spatial connections within our state. As we

learn about the locations of important communities and regions, we label them on the map. Then

we label major mountain ranges, rivers, and bodies of water. Finally, we color code the tribal

regions of Alaska before moving on to more in-depth study of the history and culture of each

group. In I See What You Mean (2012), Steve Moline writes that:

Maps are about more than knowing where we are. They should also allow us to make our

own decisions. If we want children to be independent, then these skills are still work

teaching. And they are also needed for mapping the unknown (p. 87).

In today’s world, some might feel that learning how to read and create maps is becoming

outdated. After all, we have digital maps at our fingertips with smartphones and navigation
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systems built into our cars. But I believe learning to make maps is still a crucial skill for young

learners. Constructing and learning to read maps helps kids understand spatial awareness and

navigations skills. It also helps them think critically as they analyze information represented on

a map. Our maps of Alaska are proudly on display outside of my classroom, and I love seeing

each student’s creative spin on this special project.

I feel fortunate to have been a part of social studies instruction in a 4th grade classroom

for the past three years, including my time as a practicum student. Being a relative newcomer to

Alaska, I have been able to learn alongside my students about the deeply rooted culture and

history of Alaska’s first people. Through integration of cultural arts, history-rich novel studies,

and purposeful use of maps and geographic models, I hope to always instill a sense of curiosity

and wonder as a social studies educator.

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References

Eisner, E. W. (2011). The arts and the creation of mind. Yale Univ. Press.

Griese, A. A., & Coalson, G. (1996). The wind is not a river. Boyds Mills Press.

Koechlin, C., & Zwaan, S. (2015). Q tasks: How to empower students to ask questions and care

about answers 2nd ed. Pembroke Publishers Limited.

Krasilovsky, P., & Fowler, J. (2002). Benny’s flag. Roberts Rinehart Publishers.

Lesh, B. A. (2011). “Why won’t you just tell us the answer?”: Teaching historical thinking in

grades 7-12. Stenhouse Publishers.

Moline, S. (2012). I see what you mean visual literacy K-8. Stenhouse Publishers.