Connecting Literature to Social Studies

Students putting together an opinion piece as a pre-writing activity.

In conjunction with our Rules, Rights, and Responsibilities unit we did the literature unit Bud's Day Out from the first grade Houghton Mifflin anthology.  We connected the concepts of rules and responsibilities to the story by discussing how the dog Bud didn't follow the rules.  We covered character traits, setting, retelling, and we connected the whole unit with opinion writing.  The kids had so much fun deciding whether Bud was naughty or just being a dog. Their writing was priceless and they brought up so many points that I hadn't thought of in their opinion pieces.  I created a unit for these activities, and if you're interested it can be accessed below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Buds-Day-Out-Common-Core-Reading-Literature-and-Writing-Unit-1463259