In the classroom, I  integrate the district adopted social studies curriculum, Impact, into our GLAD units of study. GLAD is an acronym for Guided Language Acquisition and Design. It is an approach to teaching language acquisition through very engaging, purposeful, and meaningful strategies. At the center of GLAD are the science and social studies standards. Through GLAD, students will learn about each unit of study through team collaboration, interactive vocabulary strategies, oral language experiences, anchor charts and visual supports, concrete objects, literature and informational text, songs and chants, informational writing, projects, and experiences in which they become “experts” through reading and research in a certain topic or domain and teach others what they have learned. In my experience with this approach, students take ownership of their learning and learn important life skills such as cooperation, responsibility, and interdependence.

These are the chapters in our Social Science curriculum, Impact:

Chapter 1: The Land and People Before Columbus

Chapter 2: The Age of Exploration

Chapter 3: A Changing Continent

Chapter 4: The Road to War

Chapter 5: The American Revolution

Chapter 6: Forming a New Government

Chapter 7: Life in the Young Republic

Chapter 8: The Westward Expansion

An Overview of the New History–Social Science Framework for California Public Schools:

https://www.scoe.net/castandards/Documents/parent_overview_hss_k-5.pdf