Visualizing and Veterans Day

Last week, I blogged about some great reads for Veterans Day. You can check them out on my earlier post here. But today I want to focus on how to incorporate reading strategies into Social Studies. I try and get the most out of my limited time with my students. So, if I can create a reading lesson from a Social Studies text, I try to use the "double whammy."

This week, we're in between reading units until after our Character Unit Common Assessment (end of unit test). So, in preparation for Veterans Day, we'll be reading America's White Table by Margot Thesis Raven. This historical fiction / informational text is a great read prior to Veterans Day or Memorial Day. The premise of the book is about a fictional family setting a white table for Veterans Day that is meant to symbolize what it means to be a veteran. Interwoven into the meaning behind the white table is a story about Uncle John and his heroic acts while he was in the service. The words and descriptions in the story are extremely vivid -  great for a visualizing activity!

Here's what my teaching partner and I will be handing out to the students after we read the story:

To try this activity in your classroom just click the image for your own visualizing handout. Or you can download from Dropbox here. Handouts like these are simple way to get our students using reading strategies in Social Studies. Hopefully, our students are starting to realize that they are always readers - not just a reader during Reader's Workshop.

Have a wonderful Sunday,