Madison moves social studies for grades 4–5 into ELA classes, shifts math teachers to teach science

Kale, assistant superintendent, told the Curriculum and Student Development Committee that the Madison School District will redesign grades 4 and 5 instruction next school year so elementary ELA teachers will teach both English language arts and social studies while math teachers will teach math and science.

The change is intended to create more instructional time for social studies and science while “uphold[ing] the integrity of our math and ELA structures,” Kale said. He told the committee the shift responds to the 2023 social studies standards, which are “very specific in terms of social studies content that they want taught in those grade levels.”

District staff said they selected units where ELA and social studies can be meaningfully integrated. Michelle Horn, curriculum generalist, described grade 4 plans that pair a regional geography theme with an ELA biography study called “Changemakers,” using books about figures such as Louis Armstrong, Jackie Robinson, Ruby Bridges and Teddy Roosevelt so that the study of biography complements the social studies content. Christina Seratni, literacy coach for upper elementary grades, said grade 5 will center its integrated work on migration, settlement and the American Revolution; the teachers are considering whole-class historical fiction reads that align to that focus.

"So we took the social studies component off of the math and science teachers and moved that over to ELA," Kale said. "Now ELA team leaders, teachers will be teaching ELA and social studies, and then math will be teaching science as well as math." Michelle Horn said the grade 4 geography theme made integration more difficult than grade 5, which lent itself more naturally to an American Revolution–themed historical-fiction read.

For grade 5, staff described a book-selection process using Lexile and historical alignment. Two titles currently under consideration for the whole-class read are My Brother Sam Is Dead and Sofia’s War; teachers will pilot one title this year and use teacher feedback to finalize the selection. Staff also said ELA/social-studies and math schedules are being balanced daily: ELA and social studies content will generally be scheduled three days a week while ELA and math occur five days a week, with related-arts scheduling affecting minute allocations on some days.

Committee members asked how the redesign would address perspective and representation in social studies. Michelle Horn and other staff said the grade 5 migration and settlement unit will “start purposely with the indigenous people and move to the explorers,” include study of regional tribes and discuss contemporary life for those tribes. Staff also said book groups and teacher choice are intended to broaden voices beyond the core selections.

The committee was told the integrated units remain draft work; staff said the units will be presented to the full Board of Education for adoption in June and that teachers will pilot materials and provide feedback before final adoption.

Committee Chair Steve Pinn thanked staff and noted the district will continue to refine pacing and materials with teacher input.