This bulletin highlights resources available to support all teachers with

literacy and English language development in the social studies classroom.

CCS Adopted Programs Support

• TCI Program Support: Graphically-Organized Notes
• Achieve3000 Literacy Support

Supplemental Resources

• Shell Education Literacy Support Toolkit
• Graphic Novels and Comic Books

ESL Department Support

• Read and Write Chrome Extension
• Language Practice using TCI Visuals and Edcite Premium

Professional Articles for Teachers

• 7 strategies to use with struggling readers
  
• Four Recommendations to Support Struggling and Reluctant Readers in Social Studies
  
• Unlocking Social Studies Text
• Tampering with History: Adapting Primary Sources for Struggling Readers

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One of the most powerful ways to improve students’ comprehension and retention is to have them complete creative, graphically organized notes on the reading they do for each lesson. Unlike traditional, outline-style notes, graphically organized notes inspire students to think carefully about what they have read as they record main ideas in a form that engages both their visual and linguistic intelligences.

Graphic organizers help students see the underlying logic and interconnections among concepts. When students record information in engaging, visual ways, they are better able to recall key social studies concepts months—even years—later.

In TCI lessons, graphically organized reading notes are recorded in the Interactive Student Notebook.

See the video below for more information about Graphically Organized Notes in TCI.

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Achieve3000 lessons and articles provide literacy support aligned with topics in the social studies curriculum for grades 6-9. Achieve lessons provide readings on multiple Lexile levels.

Alignment Guides are available on the Social Studies Curriculum webpage or from the links below.

• Middle School Alignment Guide
• Modern World History Alignment Guide

Achieve3000 Literacy Learning Sessions

Teachers and Instructional Staff

March 2023

These 30-minute targeted sessions are designed for any teacher using Achieve3000 including ESOL, ELL, ESE, content areas teachers, etc. Instructional coaches are welcome to join as well.

Prior to attending, please ensure you have appropriate access to your Achieve3000 account via Clever. Reach out to Kamala.Abbott@MHEducation.com if you need assistance.

▪ Interested in CEUs? Submit an External Credit Request on PDS

▪ Login to your Achieve3000 account to access the sneak peek resource* links below.

Tuesday, March 21

2:45 - 3:15 PM

Learning Outcomes

• Lesson Planning with your Learning Targets and Content Area in Mind
• Sneak Peek Resource: Columbus County Aligned lessons for Social Studies and Physical Science

Register Here

Tuesday, March 28

2:45 -3:15 PM

Learning Outcomes

• Lesson Planning with your Learning Targets and Content Area in Mind
• Sneak Peek Resource: Columbus County Aligned lessons for Social Studies and Physical Science

Register Here

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To support literacy and language acquisition for all students, CCS Social Studies has created Literacy Support Toolkits using workbooks from Shell Education. These publications include Reading Strategies for Social Studies and the Level Texts for Social Studies listed below.

Grades 6 and 7

• World Cultures through Time (See sample here)

Grade 8

• Early America (See sample here)
• Expanding and Preserving the Union (See sample here)

Modern World History 9 and American History 10

• The 20th Century (See sample here)

To request a Literacy Support Toolkit, complete the form here.

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Graphic novels and comics can be a helpful tool for differentiating instruction. While providing accessible text and visually appealing layout, graphic novels and comics can also be used to address higher order thinking skills. Students can examine the use of colors, graphics, words, text boxes, and frames and evaluate their effectiveness in communicating a message.

Free graphic novels:

• Capstone Interactive includes a collection of 124 ebooks across a wide range of social studies and historical topics. This collection is free through INFOhio.
  
  
• The Federal Reserve Bank of New York provides comic books as an engaging classroom resource on economics. Comic books are available to students and teachers at no charge. You can download copies, or use the online form to request free print copies by mail.

• The World History OER Project uses graphic biographies with an analysis tool, Three Close Reads for Graphic Biographies. This tool takes students through three levels of questions. Create a free account to download the graphic biography titles listed here.
  
  
• Explore Dr. Gregory Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide through online graphic novels. The graphic novels depict each stage through the lens of a different genocide.
  
  

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Read&Write offers a range of powerful support tools to help students gain confidence with reading, writing, studying and research. These tools include:

• Text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting;
• Text and picture dictionaries to see the meaning of words explained;
• With speech-to-text, dictate words to assist with writing, proofreading & studying; and
• Simplify and summarize text on web pages to remove ads and other copy that can be distracting.

For questions on utilizing the Read&Write Chrome Extension in CCS, contact Milot Thaci, ESL Instructional Program Support, via CCS email.

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The ESL Department has developed and begun piloting OELPA practice speaking assessments using TCI visual materials from History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals.

ESL Social Studies teachers have access to these assessments through their Edcite Premium account.

• Go to www.edcite.com
• Log in your CCS Google account
• Click on Assignments
• Click on My Assignments
• Choose Teacher-Created Content > Social Studies
• Click on Supplemental ESL Supports for TCI using Edcite.

The recording activities based on TCI images/placards are in chronological order starting with Imperialism.

General education classroom teachers interested in piloting these assessments may contact Mark Paskert via CCS email.

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7 strategies to use with struggling readers

Find out how teachers can use strategies to assist struggling readers in the classroom.

Four Recommendations to Support Struggling and Reluctant Readers in Social Studies

Teachers should offer a wide variety of literacy support in their social studies curricula, otherwise students can fall behind.

Unlocking Social Studies Text

How high school teachers can support students with reading difficulties

Tampering with History: Adapting Primary Sources for Struggling Readers

Adapting sources for classroom use allows teachers to steer students toward authentic historical inquiry and away from a version of history determined exclusively by the textbook.

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