My First Mentor Text Linky - Social Studies

I am linking up with Amanda and Stacia of Collaboration Cuties for their Must Read Mentor Texts Linky.

These ladies do this every Sunday, with a different topic, today is Social Studies. I have always had a very hard time fitting Social Studies and Science into my day. We have a Science teacher in my building so my kiddos have Science once or twice a week depending on the term, so I don't worry about Science quite as much, but one of my goals every year is to make time for Social Studies. A couple of summers ago, I took a Reading in the Content Areas with an absolutely amazing professor who has also become a good friend and inspiration. For this class we had to create a unit, so I chose to do the American Revolution because I always want to teach it and never get to it. This was the year! I have had so much fun doing this with my kiddos! I will have to type-up my whole unit plan, we watched some fun videos, performed some short skits, kept a journal of our learning, and had some really great conversations. This is the book that sparked many of those great conversations!

The kiddos especially loved the illustrations and captions in the margins, this is where most of the conversations came from. For the most part we shared-read the text, but by the middle/end the kiddos were partner reading and discussing. If you teach the American Revolution and haven't checked this book out, take a peek! And link up with girls at Collaboration Cuties!