The Structure and Style® methodology provides a framework for incorporating writing into other subject areas. It is also flexible and easily adapted to specific situations. A state history project is one of these. Often occurring during elementary school years, a state history notebook or project is perfectly suited for IEW and Writing Across the Curriculum. An instructor who has completed the teacher training seminar, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, will be able to incorporate writing into this project that comprises learning about the history, geography, science, literature, famous people, and culture of a state.
Most state history projects build from simple to complex topics. This is reflected in the sequence of the IEW structural units.
In Units 1 and 2, students practice note making and writing from notes. This is a perfect time to write about state symbols. If you are working with a group of students, have each student write about two symbols and then compile a class chapter for the notebook with everyone’s contributions.
Because Unit 3 is all about stories, students can summarize state legends and tall tales. In retelling legends, your students will honor the Native American cultures that inhabited the land before European settlers arrived.
Does your state have any distinctives? How about the longest suspension bridge? Or perhaps an island with the only state highway that does not allow motorized vehicles? Unit 4 is the perfect time to teach that paragraphs have a single topic while students write about something specific and unique to your state.
Local libraries or history museums often have newspaper archives. Unit 5: Writing from Pictures teaches students to write an event description. Locate a series of pictures from a historic event that took place in your state. Perhaps your state sent the first soldiers in response to Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops. Are there early pictures of those gatherings? Create a series of three pictures that show the steps in a traditional manufacturing process that is part of your state’s heritage. If you have students who enjoy drawing, provide them with sources to sketch pictures they can share with the class and then write the event descriptions.
In Unit 6 students summarize multiple references. The possibilities are endless—a famous person’s biography, a significant event, or an invention that changed the world, such as breakfast cereal.
Unit 7: Inventive Writing allows your students to write about the things they love about your state. Do they have a favorite vacation destination? Perhaps they visit the same state park every year to celebrate the beginning or end of school.
With the addition of introductions and conclusions in Unit 8: Formal Essay Models, students can add to an already completed Unit 6 assignment. For older students, work together on writing a short history of the founding and settling of your state or connect local history to events in national or world history. How did the Civil War, the Great Depression, or World War II impact your state or even your town?
The Unit 9: Formal Critique model can be used to analyze stories, novels, plays, movies, and narrative poems. Wrapping up the project with a historical fiction chapter book or picture book will show students how others have combined state history and writing. If you can’t find a story set in your state, locate books written by authors from your state.
State and local history museums are the best places to locate resources for a state history project. State libraries often have local history sections on their websites to help teachers with lesson plans and sources. Your state representative may also have state history themed coloring books or other materials to send to interested students. Before you visit a museum, look at the website to plan which exhibits to focus on and take notes to later write about.
As a fourth grade student, I changed schools midyear. My previous school had not yet started the state history project. My new school was just wrapping it up and required me to complete it. I recall spending most of my Christmas break working on the notebook with my mom. Even in the rush, I found it fascinating to learn the local and state history. Learning about their state gives students a sense of place and of belonging to something unique. The IEW structural units provide the framework for exploring these topics and uncovering tales and treasures from your state.
by Danielle Olander
