Exploring history in the elementary classroom can be enjoyable, exciting, and eye opening when the teacher chooses the best methods to engage his/her students. Teachers who expose his/her students to history in a way that engages them in creative learning activities, makes history come alive in the classroom. When history comes alive in the classroom, students are inspired and excited about learning the events of the past. This inspiration and excitement leads to better understanding and retention of the material.
What is History? History is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, and person, according to dictionary.com (History, 2002). History is written as a chronological …show more content…
With time constraints and the emphasis placed on standardized testing, some principals in elementary schools are insisting that teachers no longer cover subjects that are considered non-essential. The subject of history is one of those non-essential subjects in many eyes. However, teachers who realize the importance of teaching students events from the past finds ways to incorporate history in other subjects (Swalwell, 2010). For example, math problems are created that include data from timelines and important historical dates. Likewise, when students read they are provided with historical fiction or other reading material that includes history. The lack of history in the elementary classroom is one of great …show more content…
Find ways to make the information relevant in the lives of your students. Some questions may include, what role did race play in the events being discussed. Are the race issues in the past similar or different from the race issues of today? When talking about war you can find similarities in the past wars with the current wars. Are the conflicts of the past similar to the conflicts that occur in our world today? There is a huge range of questions that can be asked to allow students to think about how the past is similar and different to the
What is History? History is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, and person, according to dictionary.com (History, 2002). History is written as a chronological …show more content…
With time constraints and the emphasis placed on standardized testing, some principals in elementary schools are insisting that teachers no longer cover subjects that are considered non-essential. The subject of history is one of those non-essential subjects in many eyes. However, teachers who realize the importance of teaching students events from the past finds ways to incorporate history in other subjects (Swalwell, 2010). For example, math problems are created that include data from timelines and important historical dates. Likewise, when students read they are provided with historical fiction or other reading material that includes history. The lack of history in the elementary classroom is one of great …show more content…
Find ways to make the information relevant in the lives of your students. Some questions may include, what role did race play in the events being discussed. Are the race issues in the past similar or different from the race issues of today? When talking about war you can find similarities in the past wars with the current wars. Are the conflicts of the past similar to the conflicts that occur in our world today? There is a huge range of questions that can be asked to allow students to think about how the past is similar and different to the