Social Studies Lessons

I finally got to teach my social studies lessons and I think it went pretty well! The first lesson I taught was on the Amazon Rain forest and I read a book that is perfect for teaching about the rain forest. It is called "The Great Kapok Tree" by Lynne Cherry. I recommend this book for anyone talking about the interdependence of animals and other people in the rain forest. I was a little nervous about how the students would react to being taught since they are used to the Montessori way of learning on their own. I made sure to engage the students through questions, activities, and worthwhile assignments. I had them each write a letter to someone telling them why it is important to save the rain forest and some of the letters they wrote were really great! I was really impressed with how much thought they put into their letters. It was also neat to see who they wrote their letters to because I told them they could write to who ever they wanted to. Several of them chose to write to the governor and one student even wrote her letter to the president. Overall, this first unit went really well and I can see what I did good and what I need to improve on. I am looking forward to teaching my next lesson.