How To:
The following is excerpted from Five in a Row. © 1994 - 1998 by Jane Claire Lambert, all rights reserved.

Because there are only five subject categories (to correspond to the five days of the week), many different topics are included under Social Studies. Each story presented has been identified according to the geographic area. Often the culture of that area is discussed. Making a flag is recommended as an interesting and informative activity. Geography also includes the mention of oceans, continents and geographic regions. (An excellent illustrated children's geography book is Rand McNally's Picture Atlas of the World, illustrated by Brian Delf. You'll find it informative and fun!)
Under the topic Social Studies, you will also find lessons about cities, small town life, minority ethnic groups, occupations and discovering our own unique gifts. In addition, the Social Studies unit includes History. Under this heading, you will see lessons which create opportunities to discuss subjects such as Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Klondike, Davey Crockett, the American Revolution and the 4th of July. Social Studies also includes lessons about people and their relationships to one another. In this category, you'll find subjects such as traditions, hospitality, relatives, character traits and emotions, just to name a few. As you can see, there is much included under Social Studies.
Choose the topics you'd like to discuss and either mark them in Five in a Row or write them on the Planning Sheet under whichever day it seems best to cover them. If you use the Planning Sheets, be sure when presenting the material, to tie it in to the story, citing the reference page in the story book and adding your lesson conversationally.
Finally, in the Geography section of Social Studies, you'll find the directions for placing the Story Disk for each book you read.

Sample Lesson:
The following is excerpted from Volume 1 of Five in a Row. © 1994 - 1998 by Jane Claire Lambert, all rights reserved.

Here's a sample Social Studies lesson taken from Lentil by Robert McCloskey. Each Monday you'll find lessons designed to help children understand what it would be like to have lived when and where the story takes place.

Social Studies: Small Town Life