april0421 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Hello all! This will be my first time home schooling kindergarten and I am beginning to plan for the fall. As far as social studies goes, I am wondering what topics you include for this grade level? I am thinking of Beginning Geography, and neighborhood/community workers. Otherwise I am at a loss. I know there are more topics out there I should include so any suggestions of topic or resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I used A Beka's Social Studies for Kindergarten. It's ok, but it gave some good jumping off topics. We did Community Helpers, Basic American Culture (this is the flag, the Statue of Liberty, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc.) and Children of the World. I supplemented with lots of books and it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 One resource to look into is Five in a Row. While it includes much more than social studies (art, science, some language arts, and minimal math), I appreciated it for its gentle social studies and art the most. My girls remember a lot from our FIAR books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Maybe look into this! http://www.elementalhistory.com/ :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 We used I Love America as a hands-on way to introduce the basics of American History. It is secular, but conservative. We enjoyed it and the boys loved learning the Preamble to the Constitution in sign language! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reign Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 We do a informal history/geography/social studies this past year. I did incorporate some of the ebooks from scholastic's dollar days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 The Social Studies K book I used was one of a series, so the K book starts with: - All About Me - All about my Family - My Street - My Neighbourhood - Family Tree - Clothing/Seasons That sort of thing. The only reason I use it is as a base "gap" measure to cover anything I might miss, and we only have to do 1-2 pages a week to finish it. It also works up to "all about australia" etc so, since its hard to find good curriculum with australian forefront, i decided it was a good choice. For K, I would suggest the following (IMO): Beginning Geography: Focus on the World, and the Seven Continents. Get it so she can recognize any of the continents even if they are a mess of "puzzle pieces". Community Workers: I don't really care much for that. Children learn that in everyday life, so what I did was intermingle it with the health, safety & manners program I made up, which includes (but is not limited to, since my brain is fried right now :tongue_smilie: ) - SES (State Emergency Services - What the uniforms look like, what they do, then covered flood preparedness (floods are a must know in our area) this is so if it happens, they would understand the process we would have to go through, and know what to do) - Fire Safety (A look at parts of a fire engine, the firemans uniform (again so if they see "that" uniform on big scary men, they won't be afraid), science parts about what fire "needs" to survive (so how to cut off the source), fire "plans" and checklists, emergency exits etc - Doctors: What doctors do during examinations, what various machines are for, some stuff about diabetes (my daughter has diabetes type 1) -Police (the car, the uniform) what they do, stranger danger etc, mini "neighbourhood" plan, so if they get lost they known there way home, also helps to teach their address etc - Car & Road Safety (how to be a good & safe passenger, how to be safe on the street) - First Aid (making own first aid kit, going through the basics of "emergencies and not emergencies" learning what to do during emergencies (learning to make mergency phone calls, and learning their phone number), basic first aid for various things, local dangerous wildlife/insects and what to watch out for There's probably other stuff, but thats the basics off the top of my head. Most of the "community worker" stuff is really fill stuff IMO, they just go "this is a fireman, he drives the firetruck reee---awwww" "this is the mailman, he delivers *wait for it....totally amazing* the mail!!!!!!!!! :lol: My daughter knew about the mailman from the moment she saw him "whats he doing?" "delivering the mail" "ok". I go and collect mail from PO box "mummy, where does the mail come from?" "blah, blah blah *explanation* most of the community worker stuff does not have to be written in to school unless the child is *extremely* sheltered. Children have natural curiosity and commonsense, so learn as they go about their everyday lives. The only reason I added any "community workers" in was part of learning about safety, and thats so they would know in case of a fire, if a big man in the "fireman" uniform comes up to them, its fine to be taken out of the house (we are more rural, so its harder for them to "See" the uniforms during their daily lives, and I don't want them to runaway during a emergency, from the men trying to help them (especially when the fireman have the masks on, they can look frightening lol). I love the book (and supplement books off the series) of "children just like me", all my children love the book too. it gives them an overview of childrens lives in various countries. HTH xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyerin Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 One resource to look into is Five in a Row. While it includes much more than social studies (art, science, some language arts, and minimal math), I appreciated it for its gentle social studies and art the most. My girls remember a lot from our FIAR books. :iagree: This is our plan for PK4 and kinder this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
april0421 Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thank you all for the suggestions! I have quickly looked at them all and now I have so many more thoughts and ideas to consider! The Social Studies K book I used was one of a series, so the K book starts with: - All About Me - All about my Family - My Street - My Neighbourhood - Family Tree - Clothing/Seasons That sort of thing. The only reason I use it is as a base "gap" measure to cover anything I might miss, and we only have to do 1-2 pages a week to finish it. It also works up to "all about australia" etc so, since its hard to find good curriculum with australian forefront, i decided it was a good choice. For K, I would suggest the following (IMO): Beginning Geography: Focus on the World, and the Seven Continents. Get it so she can recognize any of the continents even if they are a mess of "puzzle pieces". Community Workers: I don't really care much for that. Children learn that in everyday life, so what I did was intermingle it with the health, safety & manners program I made up, which includes (but is not limited to, since my brain is fried right now :tongue_smilie: ) - SES (State Emergency Services - What the uniforms look like, what they do, then covered flood preparedness (floods are a must know in our area) this is so if it happens, they would understand the process we would have to go through, and know what to do) - Fire Safety (A look at parts of a fire engine, the firemans uniform (again so if they see "that" uniform on big scary men, they won't be afraid), science parts about what fire "needs" to survive (so how to cut off the source), fire "plans" and checklists, emergency exits etc - Doctors: What doctors do during examinations, what various machines are for, some stuff about diabetes (my daughter has diabetes type 1) -Police (the car, the uniform) what they do, stranger danger etc, mini "neighbourhood" plan, so if they get lost they known there way home, also helps to teach their address etc - Car & Road Safety (how to be a good & safe passenger, how to be safe on the street) - First Aid (making own first aid kit, going through the basics of "emergencies and not emergencies" learning what to do during emergencies (learning to make mergency phone calls, and learning their phone number), basic first aid for various things, local dangerous wildlife/insects and what to watch out for There's probably other stuff, but thats the basics off the top of my head. Most of the "community worker" stuff is really fill stuff IMO, they just go "this is a fireman, he drives the firetruck reee---awwww" "this is the mailman, he delivers *wait for it....totally amazing* the mail!!!!!!!!! :lol: My daughter knew about the mailman from the moment she saw him "whats he doing?" "delivering the mail" "ok". I go and collect mail from PO box "mummy, where does the mail come from?" "blah, blah blah *explanation* most of the community worker stuff does not have to be written in to school unless the child is *extremely* sheltered. Children have natural curiosity and commonsense, so learn as they go about their everyday lives. The only reason I added any "community workers" in was part of learning about safety, and thats so they would know in case of a fire, if a big man in the "fireman" uniform comes up to them, its fine to be taken out of the house (we are more rural, so its harder for them to "See" the uniforms during their daily lives, and I don't want them to runaway during a emergency, from the men trying to help them (especially when the fireman have the masks on, they can look frightening lol). I love the book (and supplement books off the series) of "children just like me", all my children love the book too. it gives them an overview of childrens lives in various countries. HTH xxx Thanks so much for all the detailed suggestions! I agree that community workers is pretty much fill stuff and kids get that in everyday life. I do think it is important to remember to teach address, phone # and safety as you suggested. I probably would have forgotten the address and phone part! ;) Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 We used Scholastic – Non-Fiction Literacy-Building Booklets & Activities from Scholastic's Teacher Express Dollar Days. There's a lot in there, so I picked and choosed. We did social studies about once a week. Always read books from the library for each subject too. There are suggestions for each subject. DD loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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