Flannel+boards+Strategy

Flannel Boards II Time, Continuity, and Change Telling soci~ studies stories on a flannel board helps young students connect with characters through the use of a manipulative. As they learn the story and its imbedded concepts, students have a yisual connection to the events recounted. For students examining the American Revolutionary era, the story of Samuel Adams comes to life as they look at his experiences, how he changed, and what issues he faced. Students understand and interpret historical narratives through characters and places (Yeager & Foster, 2001). For younger students, the teacher can prepare flannel board stories -0 illustrate important social studies concepts, people, or events. Older students can make their own - annel board manipulatives to illustrate stories they share with their peers. • Purchase or make a flannel board. You will need a piece of flocked cloth or flannel large enough to completely cover a piece of masonite, plywood, or cardboard and fold over to the back. After trimming off excess fabric, use glue to attach the flannel to the back of the board. Keep the flannel stretched tightly across the front. • Choose a trade book that addresses lesson objectives and that has a strong sense of chronology, an essential understanding in the discipline of history. With a clear chronology, students can explore the concepts of change and continuity as well as cause and effect. Picture books by Jean Fritz (see an example in the Application and Ideas section that ~ollo\Vs). • elect photos of tl1e main characters in the story to scan and print on glossy paper. Textbooks, ~icture books, magazines, coloring books, and even original student art are good sources. Cut out these pictures, mount tl1em on heavy card stock or tagboard, and glue flannel,
 * andpaper, emery cloth, or Velcro® to the back of each item.

• Tell the story, introducing, moving, and removing characters as needed. At junctures you determine in advance, pause and have students predict what happens next. Also have students evaluate the actions of the characters. • Have students use the characters to retell the story to assess comprehension. • Orally present a different story about the same character(s) or event(s) to the students. Again, have students predict what happens next and evaluate the actions of the characters. • Have students use the flannel board characters to retell tile story. • Have students compare tile two stories, discussing the different interpretations. Students in a fourth-grade classroom examined the life of Abraham Lincoln. First, they formed partnerships and selected an aspect of his life they want to study. Some students wanted to explore Lincoln's family and childhood; others were interested in his political career or his presidency; still others wanted to examine his role in the Civil War and his personal and political relationships. They selected pictures they wished to scan, mount as directed earlier, and retell what they read about Lincoln by manipulating the characters on the flannel board. As they told their story, students pointed out a compelling issue. They showed how Lincoln made a decision, and explained the positive and negative aspects of that decision. The teacher had students discuss tile question "Would citizens elect Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in the twenty-first century?" In a second-graded classroom, the teacher read Jean Fritz's Why Don)t You Get a Horse) Sam Adams? Students created flannel board characters and then told the story to one another. Later, studen:ts heard another story by Jean Fritz about John Hancock. Once again, they told the story to their peers using flannel board figures. The students then compared these two figures who lived at the same time and in tile same place and who worked for the same cause. While students retell the stories, the teacher asks questions to measure their comprehension. She asked students to judge whether these two figures would be effective political leaders today. Teachers choosing to assess student comprehension of tile story used a performance rubric similar to the one in Table 15.1. After the teacher initially told and discussed the story, students told and interpreted the story. TABLE 15.1 FLANNEL BOARD COMPREHENSION PERFORM~NCE CHECKLIST ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OBSERVED NOT OBSERVED COMMENTS Correctly identified key characters. Correctly sequenced events. Verbally or visually demonstrated understanding of key concepts. Upon questioning, make reasonable predictions of subsequent actions in the story. Upon questioning, make reasonable and developmentally appropriate evaluations of character behaviors. Banks, D., & Gallagher, D. (1993). Teaching as a sensory activity: Making the Maya come to life. Social Studies & the Young Learner, 5(4), 11-12. Baumgartner, B. (1981). The beginnings of an investigation into folktales told in Pennsylvania. Social Studies Journal, 11, 45-49. Combs, M., & Beach, J. D. (1994). Stories and storytelling: Personalizing the social studies. Reading Teacher, 47, 464-47l. Fritz, J. (1996). Why don)t you get a horse, Sam Adams? New York: Putnam. Henegar, S. (1998a). Storytelling and history. Social Studies Review, 37(2), 68-7l. Henegar, S. (1998b). Storytelling and history. Part 2. Social Studies ReviCJV,38(1), 80-83. Lindquist, T. (1996). Social studies now. Use simple puppets to connect core subjects. Instructor, 106(1),91-92. Marmor, M. (1995). The Holocaust: A personal encounter. Canadian Social Studies, 29,150-153. Millstone, D. H. (1995). An elementary odyssey:Teaching ancient civilization through story. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Millstone, D. H. (1987). Homer's Odyssey: An elementary passion. Classical Outlook, 65(2),53-57. More, R. (1987). Storytelling as a teaching tool. Social Studies Journal, 16,25-26. Ramirez, C. C. (1994). Rewriting history. English in Texas, 26(1), 37-39. Spagnolf~ C. (1995a). Storytelling: A bridge to Korea. Social Studies, 86,221-226. Spagnoli, C. (1995b). These tricks belong in your classroom: Telling Asian trickster tales. Social Studies & the YOung Learner, 8(2), 15-17. Totten, S. (1994). Telling the Holocaust story to children (Pull-Out 2). Social Studies & the Young Learner, 7(2),5-8. Yeager, E. A., & Foster, S. J. (2001). The role of empathy in the development of historical understanding. In O. L. Davis, Jr., E. A. Yeager, & S. J. Foster (Eds.), Historical empathy and perspective taking in the social studies (pp. 13-19). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.