Melber and Hunter's "25 Strategies for K-8 Inquiry Based Learning"

There were many wonderful strategies to discover in Unit Two but I found "Strategy 7: Developing Map Skills" very helpful. This is a skill that we teach in second grade. I admit that I struggle teaching this skill but if I use this strategy I think I will be more confident in my lesson delivery and the children will be more involved and engaged in their learning. I like this strategy so much because it incorporates their home-life (mapping their homes) and community. Parents would be assisting children in creating their home map. This would increase their retention of information since children would be seeing the skill used in more than one location. As I was reading this, I also thought that families could take this time to plan their emergency meeting locations and fire escapes from the house as well. This would also help children see one relevancy of mapping. For their school/community walks, we could also tie in emergency locations and occupations that reside there. I am glad I have this useful resource to revert back to when this unit comes around next year. I am starting to see how I can make social studies more interesting for myself and my children. :)