Hey! I’m Andrea Runnels, aka The Social Studies Whisperer.  I’m back with the third edition of my Weekly TOP HITS show and companion Historical Happenings post! Catch the video show on Instagram or at the bottom of this post! I’m featuring helpful ideas from this week in American history with tips for integrating literacy, technology, and supporting all learners! These “Did You Know?” tidbits have unlimited possibilities for classroom use. Incorporate them now or pin for later when you cover this content!  I’ll be including significant historical events from multiple areas to spark interest for a wide range of kiddos! You never know what fun fact could ignite a passion! Your token history nerd will appreciate them! You’re bound to at least have one! If you missed the last 2 weeks you can find a link at the bottom of this post below the video replay!

Let’s move on to this week in history! And also many of my links below are to history.com. I love this site. Mostly. What I don’t love is that the videos auto-play. My teenage son showed me a super helpful hack for this. Right click on the browser tab and opt to “mute site” or “mute tab.” That tech tip comes straight to you from my 16 year old son!

Monday August 20

We live in the digital age so it’s totally no big deal to communicate with people around the world instantly. Well in 1911 it wasn’t so easy. On this day in history, a telegram, aka great-grandfather of the email, was sent that went around the world. Read more about it and how it related to the space race 6 decades later here: Around the World Telegram in 1911!

I’m sure this day is also one many fans think should be a national holiday. It’s the day that professional football was born! Happy 98th birthday pro football! Click the picture below to learn more!

Tuesday August 21

It’s also Hawaii’s birthday and the day the movie Dirty Dancing opened in 1987. You can’t put Hawaii in a corner. That’s because it’s a group of islands that joined the other 49 states on this day in 1959!

Wednesday August 22

TOP HIT Number 1 from the show happened on August 22, 1950. I’ll be honest. It’s an event I wasn’t aware of and a woman I really didn’t know that much about. This is exactly why I’m doing this show! I love discovering untold tales. Students have probably heard of Jackie Robinson but have they heard of Althea Gibson? I hadn’t.

She was the first African American woman to be part of national US tennis competition. The match took place in Forest Hills, New York. Her first major victory was the French Open in 1956. She eventually took up golf and also toured with her hometown Harlem Globetrotters. If it weren’t for her paving the way Venus and Serena might not be the mega-stars they are! Have students research other pioneers in athletics or compare and contrast the experience of Althea Gibson and Jackie Robinson. On the National Women’s History Museum website http://womenshistory.org, Ms. Gibson is listed prominently as number 1 for African American women who changed history. Have students learn about the other 4 here: 5 African American Women Who Changed History.

I love using quotes in the classroom as inspiration for quick writes. The quote included in the article makes for great reflection. Althea Gibson said “I always wanted to be somebody. If I made it, it’s half because I was game enough to take a lot of punishment along the way and half because there were a lot of people who carried me.” What a powerful statement about teamwork! Read more about her here: Tennis Pioneer Althea Gibson.

Also on this day in 1864 the International Red Cross was founded. American nurse Clara Barton learned about the organization while visiting France after the Civil War. She was so inspired she worked tirelessly until the American version of the Red Cross was finally established in 1881. Click the links to learn more about the International Red Cross or Clara Barton.

Thursday August 23

Ladies across America rejoiced on this day in 1902 as the Fannie Farmer Cooking School opened. It was our great-great grandmother’s version of the Food Network! Click the picture to learn all about it!  

 

This next tidbit mind-boggled me! It caught my attention because it’s kind of my neck of the woods. Back on this day in 1784 a group of 4 counties in western North Carolina decided they wanted a break up. They declared they were now the “State of Franklin.” It remained independent for 4 years! This territory would later become what we call Tennessee! Learn more about Franklin here: On this day in 1784.

Friday August 24

Ok, so if you know me you know my jam is American History so for the most part I share stuff related to that. Every once in awhile I make an exception. For TOP HIT 2 we are going to have to rewind history to the way, way, way back. I have always been fascinated by the story of Pompeii and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius back in AD 79. If you don’t know the story, the town of Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash. Nobody in the town survived. Over time people forgot all about the town until it was unearthed many, many years later. Because of the ash, stuff was preserved just as it was then.

A few years ago when I just taught Science and Social Studies, I decided to merge the two and do a Pompeii day. It fits in earth science and history! Naturally I incorporated a ton of literacy. I found this awesome non-fiction book by Mary Pope Osborne who we all know as the author of the Magic Tree House series (link in Pompeii post)! All of my books are in my storage unit and I did my best to find it but was unsuccessful. I also highly recommend http://kidsdiscover.com, where you can find non-fiction magazines for science and SS. They also have an app with digital versions! After that Pompeii day I bought the Pompeii magazine which is awesome!

Did you know that there is an I Survived Pompeii version? Obviously those are historical fiction. I love that series! Kids could write a diary entry like they were there or they could write as if they were an archaeologist discovering the lost city. Be mindful that some images of the dead might be disturbing for younger students so be careful what resources you use. I’ve learned the hard way to always preview videos! If you want to learn more about the activities I did and my #basic version of a room transformation then click the picture to check out my post about it! 

Saturday August 25

The last TOP HIT of the week is something else I wasn’t familiar with but it really ties in with credible sources, fake news, etc. TOP HIT 3 is the Great Moon hoax of 1835. Yes, you heard me right. I’d heard of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 which was so realistic listeners really thought there was an alien invasion. I also knew that yellow journalism of the late 1800s directly led to the Spanish American War. See what I did there? I just gave you two examples of media/mass media influence on the general public that you could use as something to compare and contrast with what I’m getting ready to tell you about.

So on August 25, 1835 the first of 6 articles detailing how life had been discovered on the moon was published in the New York Sun. The article outlined the discovery of unicorns, two legged beavers, and a bat/human mash-up. The problem was that the New York Sun was NOT at all the New York Times. It was a newspaper designed to be cheap and for entertainment purposes. The entire series was a satire but people thought it was real. Unfortunately that style of journalism was a wee bit before its time and they weren’t exactly going to fact check it with google, right? The whole thing was designed to get sales and in September the newspaper admitted it had been a hoax. The crazy part is that people weren’t even mad. Hmmm a different time and place for sure. This story opens up the possibility of a creative writing prompt or even an opinion piece on what the newspaper did. You could use this example any time during the school year! Read more about it here: Great Moon Hoax

Also on this day another iconic movie opened! On August 25th, 1939 the Wizard of Oz opened! I remember when I was little when it only came on tv once a year! 

LINKS TO PREVIOUS EPISODES

IGTV SHOW REPLAY

That wraps up this week’s TOP HITS! Want a reminder each week? Sign up for one at http://bit.ly/SShooks and guess what? You’ll get my free lesson hooks cheat sheet, too! Thanks for reading and be sure to let me know if you used any of these TOP HITS! See ya next Sunday for Episode 4!