Imagine a few classic combinations: macaroni and cheese, milk and cookies, a burger and fries…
Now that your mouth is watering, I want to add another classic combination to your teaching repertoire: History and ELA.
While these two subjects often get treated separately, in reality, they fit together beautifully! (Although you probably don’t want your students gnawing on those textbooks.)
If you are running out of instructional time and history lessons are suffering, integrating social studies into your ELA instruction could be the perfect solution. To help you get started, I have 5 Ways to integrate history and language arts in your classroom this week!
1. Explicitly teach social studies vocabulary words
Another method to help integrate history and language arts is to use social studies terms as your weekly vocabulary words. Our ELA standards ask students to use many tools to determine the meaning of unknown words, such as context clues or dictionaries. If you have been scrambling to determine what vocabulary words to cover during ELA instructional time, try finding words from your history lessons!
As students learn these social studies vocabulary words, you’ll see growth in history and ELA.
To help you get started, check out these blog posts with suggested vocabulary word lists for many American History eras.
2. Use a read-aloud to introduce a historical topic
While your students may have moved on to chapter books several years ago, I have found that a good picture book always attracts attention! To help you address your ELA speaking and listening standards and integrate some social studies, I recommend a read-aloud about a historical topic.
If a picture book read-aloud is new for you, here are a few suggestions!
- Discuss the title and preview the cover before you start! Ask your students what they notice about the style of the artwork, the title’s focus, and if they have any predictions.
- Read a page at a time, and be sure to show those pictures! (Look through the book before class so you can give plenty of emphasis and a smooth reading rendition!)
- Ask students to respond, perhaps to a partner first, then to the class. What did we learn from this book? How could we summarize this book? What did this book teach us about history? What was the message or theme of the book? How did the pictures and words help convey that message?
I’ve spent several years compiling lists of exceptional historical children’s books that you can use for your next read-aloud!
Click here to find blog posts with book suggestions that would fit beautifully in your next social studies unit.
3. Examine historical events from multiple perspectives
Another powerful way to combine history and language arts is to have students consider different people’s perspectives from history. This post from the National History Education Clearinghouse makes a powerful case for having students ask, “Whose voices are we not hearing? What perspective is not represented?” in the prevailing historical narrative.
After students learn about historical events from multiple perspectives, you’ve set them up for a meaningful creative writing project! Students could create journals of real or fictional people living in history.
Your students could use various narrative techniques using their historical knowledge and practice empathy for people of the past. (Not to mention if they get to make the paper look “old” by crumpling it or rubbing it in the dirt, they’ll all be sold on how fun ELA and history can be!)
4. Analyze primary sources
A final idea for integrating history and language arts is to have your students analyze primary sources. You may have picked out your favorite literature for this year’s novel studies, but what about your informational texts?
Historical primary documents are prime candidates for informational texts! They allow students to practice key literacy standards while also learning social studies content. Reviewing more than one account of history lets your students compare and contrast each source, such as a great historical fiction book with actual primary documents.
If you want to use primary sources in your classroom, I’ve already scoured the internet for you! I’ve found quality sources appropriate for your classroom that you could start using right away.
You can find these primary sources blog posts here!
5. Use my U.S. History Quote of the Week Resource
If you’re looking for a simple way to start combining History and ELA, I have something that can help. My newly updated American History Quote of the Week Resource has enough quotes, student worksheets, and informative task cards to cover an entire school year!
This weekly lesson format will allow you to integrate history and language arts seamlessly. With minimal prep time, you’ll be able to cover the major eras of American History through the powerful words of the diverse people who lived it. Your students will practice critical ELA skills like making inferences, summarizing key ideas, identifying the author’s purpose, citing evidence, and more.
Answering Your Frequently Asked Questions about U.S. History Quote of the Week:
Q: My students struggle to understand historical quotes. Will they be successful with this resource?
A: Yes! U.S. History Quote of the Week breaks down the quote analysis into bite-sized tasks. The manageable tasks build on each other daily, and students are given the needed vocabulary definitions and historical context to understand the quotes.
I highly recommend modeling how to complete the worksheets for a few weeks before asking students to do them themselves.
Q: Can this resource be used with Google Slides?
A: Yes! All the quote posters, student task cards, and worksheets are available as printables and Google slides.
Q: How much prep is this resource?
A: I want to make your workload more manageable. I’ve done the hard work of selecting the quotes, defining vocabulary words, making task cards, and writing thorough answer keys. As a result, QOTW is so easy to use that you could leave it with a substitute teacher.
Q: Which literacy skills are practiced?
A: Each week, students practice:
- making inferences
- researching & summarizing
- identifying the main idea, historical context, and author’s purpose
- and responding to prompts
Q: What U.S. History content is covered?
A: U.S. History Quote of the Week Part 1 has 22 quotes from 1492 to 1871.
Here’s the breakdown:
- 6 Exploration & Colonization quotes
- 5 American Revolution quotes
- 3 U.S. Constitution/Early Republic quotes
- 3 Westward Expansion quotes
- 4 Civil War quotes
- 1 Reconstruction quote
U.S. History Quote of the Week Part 2 has 18 quotes from 1877–1964.
Here’s the breakdown:
- 3 Gilded Age/Industrialization quotes
- 2 World War 1 quotes
- 3 1920s/Women’s suffrage quotes
- 2 Great Depression quotes
- 2 World War 2 quotes
- 2 Cold War Quotes
- 4 Civil Rights Movement quotes
If you cover all of U.S. History, you can buy both parts in a money-saving bundle.
Q: Where does this resource fit in my busy day?
A: This resource is versatile and is easy to modify for different teachers’ schedules. U.S. History Quote of the Week can be used:
- as a bell-ringer/morning work
- as an early finisher/enrichment activity
- in literacy rotations/centers
- in jigsaw groups
- to introduce a new unit
- to wrap up a unit
- for test prep
- as group work
- & more!
Furthermore, the Quote of the Week posters can be printed and added to your walls as visuals for students.
Get started with a free Quote of the Week Lesson
Are you ready to integrate history and language arts in your classroom? Make it easy on yourself and start with this FREE Thomas Paine Quote of the Week lesson.
Your students will practice making inferences, summarizing, identifying the author’s purpose, and responding to a meaningful historical quote. With worksheets and task cards ready to print, you’ll save valuable time, and your students will be actively learning. Sounds like a classic win-win to me!
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