Discusses writing assignments based on the SOAP technique, which has four primary elements: the Subject, the Occasion leading to the writing, the Audience, and the Purpose. Describes using the technique in a social studies classroom. (RS)

Presents sample writing assignments that enable students to practice social studies skills. Suggests that the use of creative writing assignments allows students to make a jump in time or place to the era and area being studied. Argues that using the imagination is a better approach to learning than memorizing facts. (DK)

Describes a nine-week South Dakota history unit for junior high school students that incorporated writing for learning. Describes the eight writing assignments that were the key activities of this unit. Concludes that writing helps students comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. (SR)

Advocates using scrapbooks as a genre for getting reluctant writers involved in writing across the disciplines of English and social studies. Provides examples. (PA)

Suggests that the use of writing in the social studies classroom deepens the meaning and the students' understanding of the content. Discusses the use of journal writing, the guided writing procedure, interviews, and letter writing in the social studies classroom. (RS)

Pupils need variety in their writing experiences, and social studies writing involves writing across the curriculum as well as stressing positive attitudes and feelings of the learner. Subject matter should come from the pupil, and diverse learning opportunities should assist the pupil in acquiring the relevant facts, concepts, and main ideas…

Presents a social studies writing assignment which encouraged students to offer their personal reflections on the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. (MG)

Presents results of a project examining the effects of writing to learn in elementary social studies. Explains that the research explored journal writing activities as a means of improving social studies achievement, writing fluency, and communication. Concludes that journal writing does increase writing fluency and learning retention. (DK)

Describes five writing activities and assignments designed to help students understand the content of social studies and the process of writing. These include student journals, biographical poems, elaborate word games, and creative writing exercises. Illustrative examples relate these to social studies issues. (MJP)

Presents a model for structuring writing in the geography class with a focus on using maps to prompt writing that will promote student interaction with geographic concepts. Delineates four components of successful writing as fluency, flexibility, frequency, and formality. Includes suggestions for geographic writing activities. (MJP)

Examines whether writing activities promote learning and thinking in elementary and secondary social studies students. Describes writing activities that teachers have used to draw on existing student knowledge, consolidate and review new information, and reformulate and extend knowledge. Concludes that writing activities benefit student learning…

Contends that teachers often demand creative and concise writing but do not provide students with concrete suggestions. Presents an approach to writing instruction using geometric figures as models for essay writing. Includes 10 examples of models with essay questions derived from each model's conceptual base. (CFR)

Writing activities can be used to cultivate students' enthusiasm for learning. This book shows teachers how to introduce their students to the benefits of writing in a variety of subjects including math, language arts, science, social studies, and art. Each chapter in the book includes an observation that allows readers to enter a classroom and…

Maintains that writing is one of the most important skills students can acquire. Asserts that social studies teachers can help students learn the writing process through a variety of written formats, such as essays, diary writing, and letter writing. Describes a classroom activity using letters and editorials. (CFR)

Maintains that creative writing should be no less a part of the elementary social-studies writing program than other expository forms. Discusses using the poetic form, the cinquain, to teach about Mexican vaqueras and vaqueros in an elementary unit on the American Southwest. Includes illustrations and instructional materials. (MJP)