Department of Social Sciences K-5 Learning Logs The K-5 Social Studies Learning Logs provide opportunities for teachers and their students to have ongoing discussions about what students are learning relevant to the social studies curriculum. Specifically, they show the of the content standards and benchmarks. “big picture” each grade level’s curriculum, Furthermore, students can reflect about their learning. Why is this important? Strategies for metacognition, about and about my provide students with significant benefits as “thinking my thinking” “thinking learning”, the process of reflection is integral to the learning process. Some ideas and tips for using the are as follow: K-5 Social Studies Learning Logs Introduce the Learning Logs as a tool for students to of their learning in an interactive way ‘keep track” through conversations with the teacher and classmates. Individual copies of the Learning Log may be kept in the social studies folders. students’ be guided through teacher modeling (think alouds), such as: Students’ thinking should How do I know that I understand this? What evidence (student work or oral responses) do I have that I understand? Why is it important to know this? How will it help me? Besides my teacher, which classmate(s) may share their knowledge about this benchmark? I know this right away, I can continue learning by asking questions, reading again, It’s OK if don’t talking to a classmate, etc. Students can select pieces of work and also discuss their thinking as evidence of how they perceive their progress. Since instruction for the content benchmarks is repeated throughout the year, teachers may revisit a benchmark and students may revise their rating. Students may write the dates next to the ratings for the same benchmark and chart their learning in this manner. Learning Logs may be shared with parents during conferences. Learning Logs should encourage discussion and questions to motivate students for the ongoing learning of socials studies.
Department of Social Sciences K-5 Learning Logs The K-5 Social Studies Learning Logs provide opportunities for teachers and their students to have ongoing discussions about what students are learning relevant to the social studies curriculum. Specifically, they show the “big picture” of each grade level’s curriculum, the content standards and benchmarks. Furthermore, students can reflect about their learning. Why is this important? Strategies for metacognition, “thinking about my thinking” and “thinking about my learning”, provide students with significant benefits as the process of reflection is integral to the learning process. Some ideas and tips for using the K-5 Social Studies Learning Logs are as follow: Introduce the Learning Logs as a tool for students to ‘keep track” of their learning in an interactive way through conversations with the teacher and classmates. Individual copies of the Learning Log may be kept in the students’ social studies folders. Students’ thinking should be guided through teacher modeling (think alouds), such as: How do I know that I understand this? What evidence (student work or oral responses) do I have that I understand? Why is it important to know this? How will it help me? Besides my teacher, which classmate(s) may share their knowledge about this benchmark? It’s OK if I don’t know this right away, I can continue learning by asking questions, reading again, talking to a classmate, etc. Students can select pieces of work and also discuss their thinking as evidence of how they perceive their progress. Since instruction for the content benchmarks is repeated throughout the year, teachers may revisit a benchmark and students may revise their rating. Students may write the dates next to the ratings for the same benchmark and chart their learning in this manner. Learning Logs may be shared with parents during conferences. Learning Logs should encourage discussion and questions to motivate students for the ongoing learning of socials studies.
4th%20Grade%20Social%20Studies%20Learning%20Log.docx