Social Studies Unit 1: Native Americans in NY

Our first major social studies unit is underway! As social scientists, we are learning all about life in New York 450 years ago. We are investigating the culture, home life, jobs, food, natural resources, geographical influences and historical relevance of this time period to see what life was like for the Native Americans of New York.

In addition to the content we are studying, we are also learning various note-taking strategies to help us organize and interpret information. Some note-taking goals and strategies we will be using include:

Note-Taking Goals:

·      How to take notes to hold onto information

·      Notes to think more deeply about the content learned

·      Types of note-taking strategies

·      When do use each strategy

Note-Taking Strategies:

·      Sketching with speech and thought bubbles

·      Quick Lists

·      Boxes and Bullets

·      Timeline

·      Venn Diagrams

·      Picture Maps

·      Webs

Here is some exciting information we learned on our first day of our exploration: