A Letter to Parents, Families, and Students

Miss Vessio's Social Studies Class 

Dear parents, families, and students,

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog! I hope you are as excited as I am to start a new school year. Before getting into the details of the social studies program that we will be exploring, I would like to share a little bit about myself. I have recently completed my Bachelor of Education at Brock University, where I had the chance to work with both junior and intermediate grades. On a more personal level, my passions include languages, art, sports, and working towards a more sustainable tomorrow. 

In the social studies classroom, our overall program goal will be to help students explore, and think critically about the world around them. Critical thinking is the process of thinking about ideas or situations, in order to understand them completely, and to understand their implications. The purpose is to guide students towards a sense of empowerment, so that they feel more connected to the world around them. Students will be engaged in real-life problems to develop the necessary skills to challenge the current norms in society, and promote change. We will be looking at issues that are relevant in the students' lives, to promote engagement and motivation in the social studies classroom. 

Ultimately, students will gain a better understanding of who they are, who they want to become, and the society they want to live in! Of course, all of our work will stem from the Ontario Social Studies Curriculum, which can be found HERE. 

The first unit that we will be diving into will last about six weeks, and will be focused on First Nations and Europeans in New France and Early Canada. We will be focusing on perspectives. In our current world, understanding how perspective shapes our lives will help students gain a better understanding of who they are, and how they can impact their community. 

The big ideas (questions that will be guiding our entire unit) will be: 

Why might the same event have a different impact on different people?

Why is it important to understand that people have different perspectives?

The overall expectations for this unit from the Grade 5 curriculum will be:  

A1. Analyse some key short- and long-term consequences of interactions among and between First Nations and European explorers and settlers in New France prior to 1713.

A2. Use the social studies inquiry process to investigate aspects of interactions among and between First Nations and Europeans in Canada prior to1713 from the perspectives of the various groups involved students will learn about key characteristics of various First Nations and European settler communities in New France up to 1713. 

Stay tuned to learn more about our big idea, and the next steps of our inquiry unit.  If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to contact me. I can also be reached on my professional twitter account @genevievessio 

I look forward to working with you all this year!

Best wishes,

Miss Vessio

Social Studies: Shaping How Students See Themselves, How They See The World.

The Ontario Social Studies curriculum has recently undergone multiple changes. Within the 2013 curriculum update, there are three fundamental principles that set the stage for the entire social studies curriculum. These three principles are vision, goals, and citizen framework. By looking at each aspect individually, we can gain a greater understanding of why they were built into the new curriculum. In addition, the Ministry has also reduced the number of expectations in the curriculum, in order to allow more in depth analysis of the content.

Vision: The vision for the Ontario Social studies curriculum is to "enable students to become responsible, active citizens within the diverse communities to which they belong. As well as becoming critically thoughtful and informed citizens who value an inclusive society, students will have the skills they need to solve problems and communicate ideas and decisions about significant developments, events, and issues".

The main purpose of this vision is to promote critical thinking through inquiry-based learning. 

Goals: The three main goals of the new social studies curriculum are to prompt students to

• Develop a sense of time
• Develop a sense of place 
• Understand who they are, and who others are

Citizenship education: The purpose of the citizen education framework is to help students build an inclusive and integrated approach to citizenship.

What does it mean to be a responsible, active citizen in the classroom community? Beyond the school community?

The focus on inquiry within the new social studies curriculum allows for the inclusion of various exciting resources. For example, this website called Breathing Earth, can be used as a starting point to spark student curiosity in relation to population issues, as well as environmental concerns related to CO2 emissions and climate change.

The main goal is to prompt students to think about how this relates to them. Why should they care?

What is the impact of these factors?

What can we do about it?

What happens if we don't do anything?

With open ended questions, the inquiry process can be altered depending on what students are most interested in, and passionate about. The possibilities are endless.

For more details, read on: http://bit.ly/17W0tM6

TED Talk - The Power of Student Driven Learning

A great TED Talk by @wrightsroom on taking classroom learning beyond the walls of your classroom, and the power of connecting students to causes they care for and believe in: http://bit.ly/1A8NP2X

Citizen Education Framework, The Ontario Curriculum - Social Studies (2013) 

Dear parents students and educators,
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!
I will be using this blog to post various social studies resources that may be of use to you inside and outside the classroom. As a current intermediate level student candidate, my goal is to foster an environment of learning, fun and growth.  The social studies curriculum is fascinating because it provides countless opportunities to engage students in the world around them.  I am hoping to learn how to create inquiry-based projects, to promote critical thinking and curiosity in all students. I look forward to collaborating with you!
Best,
Miss Vessio