This is a guest blog post by Dr. Geraldine Haggard, who   is a retired teacher, Reading Recovery teacher leader, author, and university teacher. She spent 37 years in the Plano, TX school system. She currently tutors, chairs a committee that gifts books to low-income students, teaches in her church, and serves as a facilitator in a program for grieving children.

This is the second post in a series. You can see the first post   here .

The purpose of this series of blog posts is threefold: sharing the importance of the social studies standards, explaining how to combine the uses of the Language Arts and Social Studies in the first grade, and sharing ways to use Language Arts Standards and leveled books to deliver social studies expectations centered around homes. Specific books will be keyed to specific social studies standards as examples.

Identification of "Language Arts Standards" That Can Help Teachers Strengthen Both Social Studies And Language Arts

The following standards for the language arts can be integrated with the social studies expectations. It is essential that the latter not be neglected.  The suggested tools will first be listed under the categories for the language arts.

STANDARD ONE: WRITING

• Participate in prewriting activities such as brainstorming, discussion, webbing, illustrating, or story starters

STANDARD TWO: MODES AND FORMS OF WRITING

• Compose simple narrative
• Write brief description, using some details, of a real object, person, or place or event

STANDARDS ONE AND TWO:  ORAL LANGUAGE/LISTENING AND SPEAKING

• Listen attentively and ask questions for clarification and understanding
• Stay on topic when speaking
• Use descriptive words when speaking by answering who, when, where, why, and how questions
• Relate an important life event or personal experience in a simple sequence
• Use descriptive words when speaking about people, places, events and people
• Provide descriptions with attention to sensory detail

STANDARD THREE: GROUP INTERACTION

• Show respect and consideration for others in verbal and physical communication
• Make contributions to group discussions

STANDARD FOUR: VOCABULARY

• Increase personal vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts and literature
• Discuss unfamiliar oral and/or written vocabulary after listening to or reading texts

 STANDARD SIX: COMPREHENSION/CRITICAL LITERATURE

• Read and comprehend both fiction and non-fiction
• Use pre-reading strategies (prior knowledge, predicting, and establishing a purpose for reading)
• Respond to questions designed to aid general meaning
• Respond to who, what, when, where, why, and how questions
• Draw and discuss visual images based on text information
• Identify simple cause and effect

The next post in this series will focus on the use of particular books to tie these standards in with social studies standards and expectations. Check back next week to read more, or subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get new posts delivered to your inbox!                     

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Geraldine Haggard is the author of several books from our   Kaleidoscope Collection   Series. For more information about the   K aleidoscope Collection  Series click  HERE  to return to our website or click the series highlight page to the left below.