I use several different poems in my Social Studies classroom throughout the year. Some I use to generate discussion about an event or a person, some for relating Language Arts to our history lessons and some for pre-writing sessions for my students to compose their own poems. It's easy to integrate Language Arts with Social Studies using poetry and other pieces of literature. I think it gives the students a sense of how their subject areas are connected. You could also connect to Arts and Humanities by allowing students to use a piece of art and/or music for the basis of their poems. At times I've had students ask if they can illustrate their poems and I've allowed them to--it's another connection for them to make. Check your students Literature books for copies of some of the following poems.

Lesson Plan Ideas
    Colors of the Wind
    Colors of The Wind by Stephen Schwartz
    Trail of Tears
     Link to student work sample

Other Poetry Ideas:
Explorers
   After our study of exploration of the Americas, I have the students research an explorer, then write an epitaph. I use the requirements (must include dates, must rhyme, etc.) from the Explorer's Graveyard link. I then have them write their epitaphs on paper shaped like a tombstone and display.
    Write an epitaph for an explorer
    Link to Explorer's Graveyard
 Link to student work sample

Revolutionary War
    I have a taped version which I play for the students. We listen to this poem after studying about Paul Revere and his fellow patriots. Here's a link to a copy of the poem.
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longefellow
 

Westward Movement
 

Civil War
    I use this poem for a class discussion, asking the students "Who is the Captain, Whitman writes about? , What is the ship? , etc. They then compose their own short poems about the Civil War and Lincoln's death. Here's a link to a copy of the poem.
O' Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman

---

Helpful Links:
Cultural Unity Through Folk Tales   I do a lesson using  Native American folk tales during our Native American unit. Students work in groups to act out a particlular tale, write their own tale (this is for Language Arts class). Just another way to hopefully connect them to Native American history.
Online Poetry Classroom
Teacher'sFirst.com  -- Great Resource for all subject areas
EDSITEment -- the best of the humanities on the web
 

Back to 3Kinds Home