Welcome to the Integration Station!This elementary integration guide is an instructional tool designed for teachers by teachers. The guide provides suggested strategies and resources for addressing standards in more than one subject area through integrated studies. Brain research indicates that the more relevant information is to students, the more likely they are to be engaged and motivated about their learning. By organizing instructional activities to demonstrate the “natural” connections that exist between different subject areas, teachers can make learning more meaningful for their students and help them to see real world applications of skills learned.

With the advent of curriculum standards in all content areas, the expectations for both teachers and students have increased dramatically. Teachers are expected to teach more and in greater depth than before in the same length of time with higher accountability. All of this is occurring at a time when we have more students but less space and more special needs to meet with fewer resources. Our teaching community is working harder than ever before.
In order to address the issue of making learning more relevant for students while dealing with current educational issues and increasing numbers of standards, teachers in Lexington School District One pooled their expertise to create the Integration Station. Teams of teachers representing all subject areas and grade levels met during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years. By studying the South Carolina Curriculum Standards,
these experienced teachers have identified natural connections among the content and process skills of math, science, social studies, language arts, and special areas. They have also identified helpful resources for teachers to consider in planning integrated instructional activities.
It is imperative to note that not all curriculum standards can be integrated. Some require independent instruction. In using the resources outlined in this guide, you must be careful to provide instruction for those “gap standards” that do not fit into an integrated study.
Integration Station is composed of two major sections. Part I: General Integration Resources contains resources such as school organizational tips for creating a positive climate for integration, planning templates, websites, quick links to state standards, etc. Part II: Grade Level and Subject Area Standards Integration Tools provides grade level charts organized to show how certain subject area standards can be taught together. It is important to read the OVERVIEW written by the teachers in grades K-5 who worked on each section in order to understand the rationale for they organized their work in certain formats. You will also note that in this section process skills of language arts (reading, writing, communication, and research) are taught through the content of science and social studies, while incorporating math as it purposefully aligns. Sample lessons, planning tools, reading lists, etc. are also provided in this section.
Integration Station has been designed to be a dynamic, working document. Any teachers in Lexington School District One who have ideas, activities, lessons, resources, etc. to be added to this guide should email Joyce Carter, Director of Elementary Education, at jcarter@lexington1.net. We invite you to explore the Integration Station to see how you can gain time and energy from teaching SMARTER by integrating your curriculum demands.