Infusion of Language Arts into Social Studies Unit

With a unit on American Indians, especially those within Wisconsin, the more interesting way to infuse Language Arts is through the use of Storytelling.  The form of storytelling that is most valued for infusion into this unit is the method of using storytelling to describe natural processes.  A great resource to begin with would be based would be the “Circle of Stories” from the PBS Website (http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/educators).  Although this unit is based primarily on an 8-12th grade classroom, it offers a great framework around which to begin.

The rationale for integrating Language Arts and Science is based on the use of storytelling as a mode of explaining natural phenomenon and also, this validates the use of storytelling.  With a piece of American Indian culture and history, it is an integral part of creating a unit that is both receptive to the needs of the classroom, but also offers the affective objectives of appreciation towards different forms of sharing information.  Within this set of lessons, the framework is laid by offering multiple examples of American Indian storytelling, followed by the students beginning to craft stories to tell about one particular phenomenon (the Sun and the Moon) and then the connection of the stories to what they are currently doing in the class.

Week 1: Storytelling, the broad picture

To start the week, have the students think about what the word “storytelling” brings to mind.  By doing this, you can informally assess what level of understanding the classroom has as a whole.  

• For the major activity for the first day, have the students write about their favorite story and what it means to them.

For the second day, have the students share their stories and what it means.  Have each students share if they want to and once everyone has shared, ask the students what they noticed about the reason for people and their favorite stories.

• Begin to create a class definition of storytelling and guidelines for looking at stories.
  
• This would also be a good time to have the students come up with the different types of stories that could possibly be told.  This would be the student looking at the meaning behind the stories.
  

The different types of stories

• Symbolic
  
• Lessons
  
• Instructions from Spirit Mentors
  
• Description of Natural Processes
  
• Survival Accounts
  
• Oral Maps
  
• Magical tales of Transformation
  
• Adventures in love, romance and marriage
  

Using the guidelines created and the different types of stories, spend the next two days to three days writing their own stories.  This is very important to have the students writing and giving them the experience of writing stories.

Week 2-3: American Indians and Storytelling

To begin, ask the students to think about what stories might mean to an American Indian.

• This would be a great class to have right before the guest speaker would come to allow for the optimal experience for the students.
  
• By allowing the students to hypothesize, it will help give each and every student access to the topic and the guest speaker.
  

During this week and the following, the goals are to read as many stories from the different types of stories.  Use the following 2 day sequence with each of the stories

• On the first day, depending on the length, have the class read over the whole story or part of the story and talk about what it was about.  You can begin to talk about the meaning of the story but that is not the main point for this part.  This can be varied to have the students read a part of the story and report out, round-robin reading, or any other form of reading the story.  The importance is to do what is in the classroom culture
• Day two will be finishing the reading of the story and discussing the meaning depending on how far day 1 got.  During this part, try to have the students put the stories into the categories that we came up with a class and what our speaker helped us come up with as well.
  

Week 4: Storytelling and the Sun and Moon

For the first lesson on teaching about natural phenomenon, read the story Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun from the Cherokee Nation. 

• The premise of this story is around the solar cycle and how the sun got from one side of the world to another.  Do not tell the students the title but use this story as the basis of beginning your instruction on using stories.  Ask the students to describe what the story is telling.  Allow for the students to decode the text and create the meaning that they think.  When the students discover the topic and theme, ask the class to define how they did that.  This will be the important framework for how to create their own stories
  

The second lesson will continue with the Sun and the Moon and will be Walks-All-Over-The-Sky from the Tsimshian Nation.

• Follow the similar procedures with the previous story and make sure to connect this to the previous story.
  

The third lesson will again continue with the Sun and the Moon with the Little Brother Snares the Sun from the Winnebago tribe.  For this story have the students follow similar procedures but this time, have the students evaluate the three different stories about the Sun and the Moon

• By this point, the students will have had experience with almost 10 American Indian stories and three that deal directly with natural phenomenon.  To begin the process of writing stories about natural phenomenon, begin to work through a story with the class as a whole.  It is important to make sure that the students are given agency to be able to complete the stories.
  

The last part of this would be based on the students writing stories about the Sun and the Moon.  This allows for the students to use the stories that they have already read and replicate the concepts in the stories.  Give the students 2-3 days in order to write out the stories around the Sun and the Moon.

Week 5-8: Storytelling and the Science Curriculum
During the rest of the unit, the students will work on creating stories based around the activities that they are doing in their science curriculum.  The other integral part of this Language Arts unit is to continue reading the stories of Native Americans.  The consistent contact and exposure to the stories will only make the writing process for the students easier.  Based on the MMSD Standards for 4th grade, the areas of studying would be Electricity and Magnetism, Properties of Water, and Structures of Microscopic Organisms.

Electricity and Magnetism

• The idea that “forces are invisible, but we can see their effect on visible objects.”
  
• With this section, it is important to make sure that the students have created a story that helps to explain what is going on.
  
• For example, when talking about how the two magnets repel from each other, the students should be able to represent this in some form or fashion, which demonstrates their understanding of repelling.
  
• The wolves do not like the foxes but the wolves like other wolves.
  

Properties of Water

• For this standard in 4th grade, the properties of water will be one of the easier for students to grasp and begin writing stories about.  With so much experience with water, the students will already have a basic understanding that will make the writing of stories less challenging.
  
• There is a great deal of variation in the possibilities of what could become a part of the students’ writing.
  
• One theme that would be interesting to have students look at would be how to create a story around the different states of water (solid, liquid, gas).
  

Structures of Microscopic Organisms

• As one of the more abstract concepts of the 4th grade science curriculum, organisms offer a great deal of variety as well.
  
• Students could decide to talk about the size, the make-up of organisms.
  
• Depending on how this content is taught, this story would lend itself to being very close to a creation story, or the make-up of the tribes/nations.
  
• For some students, they may be able to relate the idea of cells and organisms to the large picture of the organism being earth and the cells being everything on earth.
  

Conclusion
To conclude the infusion of Science and Language Arts, the students would create a booklet of all their stories that they create.  For the entirety of the time spent during Weeks 5-8, the students will be working on creating a story that represents what they are learning.  Hopefully, the students will be able to complete at least one story per week.