Social Studies Woes By Sarah

We also do the tapes in class. I also assign the textbook for independent reading after I go over the main ideas and vocabulary.

You could try what I do: I give a quiz every week on the material we have covered that week. I let them use the textbook for quizzes. That way, they do pass the quiz.

When I give a test, I spend a couple of days reviewing, then I give them my own test.

One of the problems is that if you are using the publisher's test, you may be giving them something that is too hard for them. Your students' success may depend upon their reading comprehension levels. I make up my own quizzes and tests which I believe are suited for all grade levels. If you have children who are poorer readers, you can put a word bank after every few questions (if it's fill in the blanks). If it's multiple choice, maybe you can give them a, b, and c as choices instead of a, b, c, and d. I got this idea from a special education teacher. Some of the teachers have tried this with the low readers and special education kids.

I have found that one of the reasons kids hate social studies so much is that they are expected to memorize so much stuff. Maybe you can just quiz them on the main ideas, as I mentioned above. You can also give them a grade from a project, a skit, a poster, or even an essay test. Last year, I asked my fifth graders to write an essay on anything they could remember about the Civil War. I told them that if they filled the whole one side of a piece of lined paper with the main ideas of the Civil War, they would receive an A on the paper. If they filled up 3/4 of the paper, they would receive a B, etc. They ALL shot for the A. Every single one of my kids answered the essay question (the unit test, by the way) in a wonderful way! The work was outstanding, and they remembered so much about the Civil War that I was impressed. We proudly posted these, along with the Civil War posters that they also decided to do.

Good luck! I know you can help all students achieve success in social studies.