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Enhancing Understanding

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Using Picture Books

Integrating Language Arts and Social Studies

In a self-contained classroom finding time to fulfill the requirements of teaching writing can be done effectively through integration with other content areas. The following activities were created as a way to assist teachers in meeting the grade level requirements in language arts and social studies as well as providing opportunities for students to utilize various pre-writing tools. Included in the Free Downloads Files are Ohio cards (6 different sets) for sorting and categorizing, a data retrieval chart, and a data collection table. (These were originally designed specifically for Ohio's 4th grade teachers and students, and correlate to Ohio's Social Studies Academic Content Standards.) The focus for writing is still left up to the teacher. There are many possibilities. For example, if using the cards for Ohio's Major Cities, teachers may ask children to sort and organize the cards from the largest city to the smallest or sort the cards that define business in the five major cities included. Students may sort the cards and write a paragraph about one of the cities including information about several of the categories on the cards. (This will make more sense once you download the files.)

One set of cards deals with the seven Presidents From Ohio. Each card includes the president's place and date of birth, number and dates of his term of office, as well as his place and date of death. The idea was to provide just enough information to maybe spark some interest so that students will be encouraged to do additional research thus meeting another language arts standard in Ohio. The Buck Stops Here: The President of the United States by Alice Provensen is a child-friendly resource for students in grades 2 and up. The updated version includes all the presidents up through the forty-first and is an excellent addition to any elementary classroom.

Another one of Ohio's social studies requirements for fourth graders is that they understand the cultural practices and products of the various groups who settled in Ohio. Those groups include pre-historic and historic Indians, African-Americans, Amish, Appalachians, European immigrants and recent immigrants. A book used by many Ohio schools is An Ohio Adventure by Mary Stockwell. It fulfills many of the elements outlined in the Ohio Academic Content Standards in Social Studies. On one of the data retrieval charts included in the downloads, chapters and page numbers from An Ohio Adventure are noted to assist students in their data search. There is another chart that has no chapter or page numbers for teachers in classrooms who would like for their students to do the search without the additional notation.

The number of children's books dealing with Native Americans is vast. However, one must be careful to focus on the appropriate tribes. For those living in and studying Ohio the Native American groups included in the Ohio Content Standards are Ottawa, Wyandot, Mingo, Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware. Two very good books about famous Shawnee leaders that would make excellent books to use with these pre-writing activities are Tecumseh: Shawnee War Chief written by Fleischer and The Legend of Blue Jacket by Michael P. Spradlin and Ronald Himler. These could be used to provide opportunities to help young children develop note taking skills. While reading the text and discussing the illustration students may be asked to sort out important details and make some notes. Then, the students could use their notes to synthesize the information into some kind of logically written response to the literature.

Native-Language.org is a website relating information about Native Americans. The blue bulleted items are links within the site and lead to additional external links. There is so much information that may be useful and engaging for students. It seems like a safe place for student research, however, I would strongly suggest that teachers first do an extensive walk through to assure that links do not lead to undesirable sites.

An example of a way to make connections for students in regard to Ohio's first African-American population is to map Underground Railroad routes in Ohio and discuss how slaves escaped to freedom using the Ohio River. (The Ohio cards for Chillicothe and for the Ohio River both mention this connection. Visiting Ripley, Ohio would be an excellent field trip because the restored Rankin House was an important stop on the Underground Railroad.) White abolitionists living in Cincinnati were also extremely active in the Underground Railroad movement. Some of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin was based on interviews with escaped slaves done while she lived in Cincinnati. Mapping these routes will help children become familiar with cities and waterways in the state. To encourage student writing, ask them to describe an escape route in a paragraph, stressing those aspects of their writing that you have selected to evaluate such as a good topic sentence, logical order, correct capital letters and punctuation. There are numerous picture books written about the Underground Railroad as well. Some of my favorite ones are:




Aunt Harriet and the Underground Railroad in the Sky
by Faith Ringgold author of Tar Beach.

Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad
by Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole tells of a terrified slave's frightening escape during the night to a link on the underground railroad, a safehouse marked by a quilt hanging outside.

Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Jeanette Winter describes how slaves used star constellations to guide them to freedom especially the North Star in the big dipper (the drinking gourd).

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
by Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome tells the story of a young slave girl who stitched a map to freedom in a quilt which she left at Home Plantation for others to use.

The study of the influence of African-Americans in Ohio also provides an excellent opportunity to introduce students to the Civil War. A beautiful book, Pink and Say written by Patricia Polacco, is wonderful. While this story does not take place in Ohio, it does demonstrate a very poignant moment in history that many readers have found extremely touching and significant. The book recounts an incident that captures the strength and humanity of a young African-American Union soldier, Pinkus Aylee, who saves the life of a white soldier. His heroism goes virtually unrewarded. In fact, he is executed shortly after the rescue. Your students will want to follow the suggestion of the author and whisper Pinkus Aylee's name every night before they go to sleep to remember this young man's compassion and courage.

Those living along the Ohio River have probably been more influenced by original settlers from Appalachiathan those living in the northern part of the state. Coal miners and loggers, these people were hardy and hard working. They believed in big families, going to church, and self-sufficiency. Some relevant children's books that detail traits of these hardy people are:

In Coal Country
by Judith Hendershot which apparently is no longer in print.

Up the Tracks from Grandma's
by Judith Hendershot

The Relatives Came
by Cynthia Rylant which is a delightfully humorous look at visiting relatives crowding into a small house for the entire summer.

When I was Young in the Mountains
by Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode recalls a time of simple daytime pleasures and peaceful nights visiting grandparents.

Appalachia:
The Voices of Sleeping Birds
by Cynthia Rylant and Barry Moser

On Top of Old Smokey:
A Collection of Songs
and Stories from Appalachia
by Linda Anderson includes such favorites as The Frog He Went A-Courting, Billy Boy, I Gave My Love A Cherry and Hush, Little Baby and more.



Asking children in southern and southeastern Ohio to write about their own family traditions may very well reveal some direct influences from this cultural group.

The Amish is another group whose culture and products are still impacting Ohioans. While Holmes County in north-central Ohio may be the largest concentration of Amish, there are other communities in Wayne County, Stark County, Mohican County, Tuscarawas County and Adams County. There is an increasing number of children's books about the Amish, including the Jonas Series, available to classroom teachers. One that demonstrates the Amish commitment to community is Raising Yoder's Barn written by Jane Yolan and beautifully illustrated by Bernie Fuchs. Having students simply respond to literature is an great way to get them into writing. After reading this book, ask children to compare their "community" with a typical Amish community described in the reading. They could use a graphic organizer like a Venn diagram or a T-chart to organize the information. This would help them more easily create a paragraph from that comparison.

How To Purchase The Books

JWMercantile.com has most of the books referenced on this Website (and many others as well). A large selection of used children's books in great condition are available. Many First Edition children's books are offered. Click here to search for a book at JWMercantile.com.

To purchase a new book described, simply click the book title(s) or picture(s) and a window will open to the appropriate page at Amazon.com.

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