TCI Simulation

This fall I started using TCI History Alive! social studies curriculum. One of the components that drew me toward the program was its interactive activities. I knew that students would grasp the concepts so much more through this type of learning. Today we did our first simulation (feudalism in medieval Europe). It will be so nice to have that common learning experience to relate back to tomorrow as they dive further into the chapter's reading. I look forward to seeing how much the students are able to learn this year.

I am still using our class created interactive notebooks for social studies. Although TCI does come with one commercially prepared for the program, I decided to continue using the spiral notebooks we organized as a class for now. With our self created INs I like that we have learning objectives and titles on the top of every page. However, I am still also using a lot of the TCI IN activities. The kit comes with an electronic version of the materials, so teachers are able to print off the IN. I am going to start with using a mixture of our class IN, as well as students completing some of the TCI IN pages and keeping them in their binders.

This is a big learning year for me in various areas as I am trying out new programs, fine-tuning my literacy block, and making adjustments as a result of reflective teaching.