I think the best way for students to really understand science and social studies concepts is to also integrate it into reading and writing. I have many articles and passages that you can use to integrate your science and social studies skills into your language arts time.
If you googled “interactive notes,” you would find that there are all different types of strategies. I am going to share the one that has worked for me in my classroom. In my room, we use colored pencils to key our paragraphs, then we use those same colors to write phrases and draw pictures that represent the important information learned in a passage. Colored pencils work best- no bleeding markers, and no fat, dull crayons.
Once students have finished their notes, they should be able to read back what they have learned. Allow the students to sit with a partner and talk in complete sentences to summarize the notes they have drawn and written on the left side of their notebook.