Resources for Social Studies and Science

Social Studies and Science are often favorite subjects for kids. And why not? They offer opportunities to interact with other kids and to do more hands-on projects. Here are lots of great resources for getting started with Social Studies and Science instruction.

At the beginning of the year, it’s helpful to teach your students some of the attitudes and work habits that will be most helpful for them (and you!) during these blocks of time.

GROWTH MINDSET RESOURCES:
Starting either subject with growth mindset resources is a helpful place to start. I’ve mentioned Angela Watson’s growth mindset resource from Teachers Pay Teachers in another post. Here’s a link to that resource if you want to try it out.

Here are some of my favorite picture books to introduce the concept of growth mindset:

*Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Deloris Jordan – the story of Michael Jordan (written by his mom!) and his determination to get better at playing basketball.

*The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett & Gary Rubenstein – a fun book about a girl who is afraid to make mistakes until she actually makes one and finds that it’s not so bad after all!

*The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires –
a fun book about a girl seeking the build the “most magnificent thing” for her dog and repeatedly failing at it. A great book about the value of making mistakes and learning from them.

*What Do You Do With a Problem?
*What Do You Do With an Idea?
*What Do You Do With a Chance?
All of these books are written by the same author, Kobi Yamada. They each have a great story and interesting illustrations, but the messages they teach are the most powerful. Kids love these books.

*Mistakes That Worked
*Accidents May Happen
Both of these books by Charlotte Foltz Jones tell short stories about different inventions that were not intended to turn out the way they did. Mistakes can lead to something even better than what you intended!

*The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken – similar to the books above, even smudgy messes can turn into artistic masterpieces!

*Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty – a fun book with a great message about never giving up

*Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson – I love this true story about a boy with a disability who overcame challenges and pursued his dreams.

*Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall – another cute picture book about overcoming fear and trying something new.

*When Sophie Thinks She Can’t . . . by Molly Bang – a good little story about a girl deciding she just isn’t smart and how a teacher helps her overcome that thinking.

*I Can’t Do That, YET by Esther Pia Cordova – this book teaches the importance of the word YET.

*Nadia, the Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still by Karlin Gray – a great story about Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci. This book is similar to Salt in His Shoes with regard to showing kids that the “greatest of all time” did not start out that way!

*Kid Scientists: True Tales of Childhood from Science Superstars by David Stabler – a great book with a diverse group of scientists who overcame challenges as children.

One thing to keep in mind when you’re teaching any subject is that representation matters! Do whatever you can do to show your students that scientists, mathematicians, artists are not just white. Look for representation from people of color in the books you choose to share, the posters you display, the websites you use. A helpful website for math is Not Just White Dude Mathematicians.

SCIENCE & STEM CHALLENGES:

A very popular STEM challenge to start the year is Saving Fred! But if your students have already saved Fred in previous years, here are some other fun STEM challenges to start the year:

*The Marshmallow Challenge

*Building hurricane houses

*Cup stacking challenge

*Help Harry

*Build an index card tower