R9 Social Studies Support

If you're new to this newsletter, let me say, "Welcome!" I’m Chelsea Howells, the Social Studies content specialist at ESC Region 9. I'm here to help with whatever you need, whether it’s finding resources, supporting your projects, or offering coaching and feedback. This newsletter is designed to provide you with resources related to various social studies topics, as well as general instructional tools and professional development updates that can benefit all educators.

I want to emphasize that my goal is to be of assistance to you throughout the entire year. Whether you have questions, need guidance, or are looking for specific resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Your success is important to me, and I’m here to support you every step of the way.

Sincerely,

Chelsea

Other timely resources to note:

🏫2024-2025 Student Opportunities Special Edition 📚🔎 2024-2025 Revised Social Studies TEKS Special Edition

The revised and updated social studies TEKS are now live and being implemented in classrooms across Texas! All changes have been finalized and posted as of August 1st. For a comparative view of the standards, the Crosswalks are super helpful. They give you a quick view of TEKS that have been added, revised, or renumbered.

NEW!! You can now view the skills strand in a matrix that outlines the vertical alignment of each standard. These are such a helpful resource for PLC and/or vertical planning and allow you to see skill development across grade bands!

These can also be found on the TEA Social Studies website.

NEW!! In light of the added standard that wraps expectations for language skills and civil discourse into social studies instruction across grade bands, TEA has released a definition for civil discourse in an effort to help clarify what this might look like in classrooms.

The social studies assessed curriculum documents were updated to incorporate the revisions made by the State Board of Education in 2022. These documents are now available on the Social Studies STAAR Resources page of the TEA website. These documents are now in effect to align with the implementation into the classroom for the 2024-2025 school year. The revisions are as follows:

• Inclusion of 8.5B
• Inclusion of 8.7C
• Adjusted number/letters of SEs under knowledge and skills statements 5 and 7 for grade 8
• Adjusted language in 8.17A and 8.24A
• Adjusted language in USH 8F and 9F
• Removed social studies skills strand (As previously announced, assessment questions will not be written to this strand.)

Questions written to the new content are scheduled to be field-tested in Spring 2026 and be operational in Spring 2027.

If you have any questions regarding the announcement from assessment, please submit them to the Assessment Help Desk.

Released Tests are Now Available!

STAAR Released Test Questions for 2023-2024 are live! Released tests are now available on the Practice Test Site on texasassessment.gov. Don't forget: STAAR is now fully online, so these released test questions are not available as PDFs. For answer keys, item rationales, and SEs tested, click here.

The 2024 Short Constructed Response Scoring Guides are now available! Each scoring guide provides student exemplars at all score points, as well as annotations made by the Anchor Approval Committee. It's helpful to remember that each SCR question has an item-specific rubric, so these questions are scored, not graded.

You can find these guides and more on the STAAR Social Studies Resources Page on the TEA website.

The TEKS Resource System/TCMPC Social Studies Team has a twice-monthly blog for all things social studies! Check it out below!

Are you a fan of the New York Times game called Connections? Now you can use this style of game as a classroom tool to review content in a fun way!

What is Connections?

Connections offers a unique puzzle challenge that tests players’ wit, vocabulary and creativity. How do you play? You’re presented with 16 words. Your mission? Identify the hidden relationship and organize them into four distinct groups of four. The four category colors are yellow (the most straightforward), green, blue and purple (the trickiest). But be careful — players only have four chances to solve the puzzle before it’s all over.

Flippity has come out with a new activity called "Flippity Group Game" that mimics Connections.

Here are a couple of ideas you could try:

Upper Elementary Physical Geography:

Landforms: Mountain, Canyon, Plateau, Valley

(Features created by processes like tectonic activity and erosion)

Water Bodies: Ocean, River, Lake, Bay

(Types of large and small water features)

Extreme Climate Features: Glacier, Tundra, Desert, Polar Ice Cap

(Features that exist in harsh, challenging environmental conditions)

Coastal/Water Features: Island, Peninsula, Delta, Cliff

(Features shaped by water and found near coastlines or formed by water movement)

AP US History Wars:

American Revolution: Declaration of Independence, Lexington and Concord, Boston Tea Party, George Washington

Civil War: Dred Scott v. Sandford, Gettysburg, Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln

World War II: D-Day, Atomic Bomb, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Holocaust

Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh, Kent State Shooting, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Napalm

Differentiation Suggestions:

• Simplify or expand the vocabulary difficulty
• Complete the activity in small groups
• Do the first grouping together as a class
• Provide hints for what the group titles are
• Ask students to write about how the group words are connected (“A glacier and a tundra are similar because…)
• Have students build their own word sets
• Add a time limit or friendly competition element

Pssst- thanks to ChatGPT for helping me create these groupings!

As talk of the upcoming Presidential Elections continues to dominate the news the Texas Secretary of State site is a good place for students to learn about the other important elections ongoing in 2024. For resources on the Presidential Race check out the myriad of resources from C-SPAN, iCivics, AllSides, Sphere, and PBS.

Shout out to Kelly Bellar at Region 10 & Crystal Klose at Region 11 for pulling together a wonderful Wakelet of Election Resources! Check it out here.

Click the images to access links!

All Region 9 Districts have access to TexQuest. Email sunday.mcadams@esc9.net or contact your school librarian to learn more!

*revised 10/18/2024 - The Smithsonian Comes to Texas

The 2023 Texas Council for the Social Studies Conference is being held at the Kalahari in Round Rock, Texas from October 30th-November 3rd!

Some ideas to get approval to attend this fantastic conference:

• The conference is Thursday through Sunday- if subs are an issue you can request to attend Friday- Sunday or Saturday/Sunday only
  
• TEA always presents the most recent updates- you'd get the newest social studies information straight from the source!

Ways to "level up" your conference experience:

• Make it a Family Affair -- room reservations at the Royal Sonesta for #TXCSS2023 Outdoor roof deck pool, fitness center, Galleria Shopping is a short walk. So while you are learning, the family will be entertained. The evenings can be a mini family vacation.
• Connect with Pros-- First time TXCSS Conference Attendees make sure to attend the First Timer's Event and/or stop by the TXCSS Information table just inside the exhibit hall to meet TXCSS members and get your questions answered.
• Build Your Social Studies Teams Uniquely -- Within walking distance: Post Oak Shopping Center, Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, The Galleria, multiple restaurants. Royal Sonesta Shuttle provided within a 3 mile radius.

Find more information at: https://www.txcss.net/conference

Meet with thousands of social studies educators, administrators, and professionals from across the country to inspire your usage of best practices and rejuvenate with others in the social studies profession. You will leave the conference with strong strategies for delivering instruction that engages students, the best ways to advocate for the most pressing issues of social studies education, and a network of colleagues to support you throughout the year.

Boston has something for everyone. It’s a multicultural city with diverse neighborhoods from Beacon Hill to China Town. If history is your thing Boston has you covered, for example the Freedom Trail includes 16 sites where the American Revolution started earning Boston its title as “the cradle of liberty.”

Conference Highlights include:

• Hundreds of content-rich sessions
• Renowned speakers and education experts
• Learning opportunities at Boston institutions

Come to Boston and have a wicked good time!

Click here to register for the 2024 NCSS Conference.

2024-2025

24-25 Student Opportunities Special Edition 🏫

2023-2024

Volume 3, Issue 2 ✒️ Volume 3, Issue 1 📰 Celebrate Freedom Week Special Edition 🎆

2022-2023

Volume 2, Issue 5 📓 Review Resources Special Edition ✏️Volume 2, Issue 4 🖍️Volume 2, Issue 3✒️Volume 2, Issue 2 📓 Volume 2, Issue 1 📋TEKS Revision Special Edition

2021-2022

Secondary Edition

Apr/May 2022 ✏️ Feb/Mar 2022 🖊️ January 2022 🖍️December 2021✒️ November 2021📓 October 2021 📋 Aug/Sept 2021

Elementary Edition

Apr/May 2022 ✏️ Feb/Mar 2022 🖊️ January 2022 🖍️ December 2021✒️ November 2021📓 October 2021 📋 Aug/Sept 2021

Region 9 ESC

#GCT #iCivicsEducator #MIE #GridGuide #EdPuzzleCoach

Email: chelsea.howells@esc9.net
Website: https://www.esc9.net/564748_3
Location: 301 Texas 11 Loop, Wichita Falls, TX, USA
Phone: 940-397-8106
Twitter: @ChelseaHowells9