What did you cover for kindergarten "social studies"? And how?

[AimeeM]

I use the term "social studies" because I do want to use the year, prior to beginning our history cycle, to introduce some geography, some civics, some community/helpers, and some basics like calling 9-1-1, etc.

 

LIterature based is a-okay, but this boy needs some thing interactive too. I need to go light in this department - most of his energy is spent on math (he loves math) and learning to read :p The year's FOCUS is definitely 4 R's only (reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion) - handwriting being what he struggles greatly with.

 

I was looking at Evan Moore's Beginning Geography, for basic geograpy, because it looks fun, and would be interested to know if anyone here has used it.

[SilverMoon]

The Tiger level Cub Scout handbook would work well for a K. It was written for 1st. Google something like "bsa tiger handbook filetype:pdf" to find a free downloadable copy.

 

(They're redoing the handbooks next year so even if he joins as a first grader there would be new material for him.)

 

My DD/rising 1st grade used Legends and Leagues from VP's first grade for K. It only lasted a month or so, but she learned a good deal about maps, directions, latitude/longitude, and such. She'll use Rand McNally's beginner Geography and Map activities for first grade.

[In2why]

It's been awhile but in K, we did crafts or projects to celebrate the holidays.  We went normal places like grocery stores, post office, library, and went to the fire department and sang Christmas carols at a nursing home.  Basically that is social studies.   

[Heathermomster]

For kindie and DD, I used an Usborne Geography book and read from it twice per week.

 

I have the EM Geography and will be using it next year.  I've had the spine removed and have broken the work down to 2 concepts per week. I'm combining EM with a habitat study, Magic School Bus videos, Betsy Maestro books, and a year long hands-on science book that I picked up from a Scholastic dollar sale.

 

ETA:  I forgot to mention that I plan to use HWT's new keyboarding program for my DD and am using Start Write software for generating handwriting sheets.

[craftyerin]

We did social studies as part of Five in a Row in kindergarten last year. Was perfect for geography and discussion of cultures, relationships, etc.  

[73349]

I did an introduction to maps and geography. For DS, the community thing had been about done to death between home and preschool.

I had some materials, but nothing else as useful as blank maps printed from the internet and books from the library.

[KrissiK]

I use A Beka's stuff for that. It's not bad.

[Mrs Twain]

I have used the A Beka stuff, too--K and 1st grade. I think they call it My America, My World or something like that. I don't use anything else A Beka, but I liked those two books.

 

Evan Moor Beginning Geography is excellent.

 

I also read a few history books aloud from Yesterday's Classics--ones for the younger kids.

[Chris in VA]

We started SOTW in Jan of K year, but all year we celebrated holidays. For ex we read Stories of the Pilgrims in November, and

 

we made boats (folded paper) and sailed them in the creek for Columbus Day.

 

We did a quick state study to learn some geography--I don't recall exactly what we used, but it had a coloring page for each state. We didn't complete it. We also had a map of the US, and put stickers on the states where our family lives (we are spread out!). You could do a postcard swap--lots of fun! You could also use Cooking Up US History--it has historical recipes, but it also has recipes from regions of the US, so you could pick a couple and do them as you learn the states in each region. Wouldn't that be fun? :laugh:  I love the Montessori map work, too--but you can just add a US map puzzle to your puzzles and do it together every so often for a gentle introduction.

 

We used Homeschool Ponies very lightly--I wish we'd completed it. It's cute but full of information. You earn patches and iron them on a shirt. (You'd do Huskies with a boy--although I suppose you could do Ponies if he liked horses better!).

 

It contains mostly patriotic stuff, like the Pledge and so forth. You can supplement with some of the Schoolhouse Rock songs for extra fun!

 

ASA Community Helpers, just visit places, and practice calling 911 with your phone turned off.

[ammv15]

My suggestion is Time4Learning.It is inexpensive and light.It starts in 2nd grade but would be great for a younger child.You would have to get 1st grade and then you would get access to k-2.

[SkateLeft]

My younger three all used K12's History K. (We purchased it as independents, not through a charter school.) The first semester is a continent-by-continent tour around the world, and the second semester is stories from American history. It's story based, has coloring sheets and activities. It's my absolute favorite history/social studies program for K (and I don't believe that K *needs* history or social studies.)

[PagesandFields]

I was planning on doing an official social studies in K but realized how much of it just comes up in day to day explorations...  We're doing map-drawing (of our property) with observations... probably tied to our nature study a bit...  Then in semester 2 we're doing local historic sites and biographies/books about them...  Then for semester 3 (we're doing 1 1/2 years of K) I might do an American track I've put together.  My younger really likes Peak with books, and I wouldn't be surprised if for her we move into BFIAR or FIAR at some point... so I feel like with some exposure to those kind of unit studies or lit studies a lot of social studies covers itself for us.  

[Tracy]

I used a combination of FIAR and literature-based geography books, which I have compiled into a list here.  

[AimeeM]

My suggestion is Time4Learning.It is inexpensive and light.It starts in 2nd grade but would be great for a younger child.You would have to get 1st grade and then you would get access to k-2.

 

I generally prefer non-computer based, but thanks for the suggestion!

[AimeeM]

I have used the A Beka stuff, too--K and 1st grade. I think they call it My America, My World or something like that. I don't use anything else A Beka, but I liked those two books.

 

Evan Moor Beginning Geography is excellent.

 

I also read a few history books aloud from Yesterday's Classics--ones for the younger kids.

 

How much of Abeka's religious worldview is integrated into this program?

 

I do *love* the looks of EM Beginning Geo!

[Courtney_Ostaff]

I use the term "social studies" because I do want to use the year, prior to beginning our history cycle, to introduce some geography, some civics, some community/helpers, and some basics like calling 9-1-1, etc.

 

LIterature based is a-okay, but this boy needs some thing interactive too. I need to go light in this department - most of his energy is spent on math (he loves math) and learning to read :p The year's FOCUS is definitely 4 R's only (reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion) - handwriting being what he struggles greatly with.

 

I was looking at Evan Moore's Beginning Geography, for basic geograpy, because it looks fun, and would be interested to know if anyone here has used it.

 

Sounds like you know what you want to cover. :)  Someone showed me a link of Beginning Geography on the web as a PDF, and I downloaded it. It's pretty much all worksheets. 

 

This is what I did last year for her for K, and it was totally spontaneous for the most part. Your mileage may vary. :)

 

In geography:

We have a cheap, free world map and a free US map on the wall at her height (I donated money to some organizations that sent freebies), and so anytime an area came up, we'd go look at it. Then, if it were some place that we'd visited, I'd let her draw/highlight our route to the area.  I let her play with tracking us via GPS on Google Maps on my phone as we drive somewhere on long trips.  I wrote off to all the state tourism boards and asked for free maps and tourist packets, and handed those out a week for her to flip through.  (She wasn't impressed, but maybe another child would be?) I had a tablecloth of blue fish, and overlaid it with a shower curtain that was a world map. At dinnertime, we'd talk about what animals lived where, or where family members are living, etc.  We made a big deal every time we crossed a city, county, and state line (we live near all three).  We always get maps at the museum and the zoo and so on, and she locates where we are on the map as we go through.

 

In civics:

I take her with me to vote (all the ladies at the church that is my polling place just dote on little kids).  Then we talk about what voting is, and why it's important, and what government does.  When I get the car inspected, we talk about why I have to do that, and why I pay money to have it done, and so on.  We visited a fire station, and we go to the public library, and the post office, and I talk about public institutions and how they (institutionally, and individually) help people.  Our local law enforcement agencies put on a community day at a local park, and we visited, and explored the inside of an ambulance, and a police car, and met a police dog, and so on. (She was terrified of the dog after watching a practice attack run, so beware!) 

 

This year, in first, I want to do a more formal geography, so we're emphasizing the maps that are in the SOTW activity book. I want to get her a globe, and use that to point out the areas, and talk a little more about cardinal directions and so on.

[ondreeuh]

We didn't do anything heavy in kindergarten. Halfway through the year we started Daily Geography 1, so we did it twice a week and finished in the spring. Honestly, I just had him read a few pages a week out of the Usborne First Encyclopedia of History (he's a good reader). Oh, he read lots of Magic Tree House books, which are set in history. We covered community helpers through the geography book and just living life.

 

We spent a lot more time on science. IMO, it's a lot more relevant than history, and is a higher priority to me. We did lots of activities and had a great time.

 

In 1st, we will do light American History and then do a two year world history survey in grades 2-3.

[fourisenough]

MP K Enrichment covers a nice variety of topics. It will be our Social Studies for K.

[Kerileanne99]

In addition to stacks of living books, junior biographies, EM books and add-ons like Geo Puzzles, I bought several Intellego unit studies. There are sveral based on the K-2 ae group. I specifically remember the Symbols in America, the Constitution, Geography, and American Leaders. I used these as supplements and they are well done.

I just bought the 3 unit economics bundle for my dd as she has become very interested as well:)

[KrissiK]

How much of Abeka's religious worldview is integrated into this program?

 

I do *love* the looks of EM Beginning Geo!

I wouldn't say much, if any. Although, I am a Christian and I've used A Beka's products over the years, so I may be de-sensitized, KWIM? I don't think they push their world view, although one of the community helpers is a pastor. They cover "community helpers", "Patriotic symbols" and "children of the world". It's very light weight, but it's also open-and-go, which is what I need. Gathering materials and such.... Just can't do it any more.

[Embassy]

My Kindergartner tagged along on our geography studies of the Middle East this past year.  But just for her, I did an introduction to world cultures study using DVDs from the library.  My daughter really enjoyed it and considered it fun.   For history, we started with a creation unit study and then moved onto a prehistory study.  We are starting first grade in a few weeks and are in the middle of the prehistory study. HTH

[Wabi Sabi]

We didn't do anything formal, but found that we covered quite a bit just from reading lots of various books, visiting museums (especially living history museums where everyone is dressed in period costumes!), traveling, etc. My daughter also got really into the American Girl doll books this past year, so reading those together (or on audiobook) plus watching the movies also counted as social studies as far as I was concerned. There was also Liberty's Kids and Carmen Sandiego. We also spent some time learning about all seven continents- I didn't use a curriculum, but we read all of the Rookie Read Aloud books pertaining to the different continents, colored maps, found other books from the library, and frequently played with a wooden seven continents puzzle that we own. At the end she put together a display for our homeschool group's annual International Fair. 

Finally, we didn't start it until the very end of kindergarten, but we also subscribed to Little Passports. She's been enjoying it quite a bit, and it's great for this age range. 

[Korrale]

Most of what others have said.

For us K has been our Americana year. So we covered American history, civics, famous people, states, landmarks etc.

We also informally taught, by accident on my part as I didn't intend to introduce it yet, fire safety, community, heathy habits and with Brain Pop Jr. My son was the one watching the video clips, doing the quizzes and then coming to me and teaching me all about many things.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I am buying Veritas Press' book Bede's History of Me and History of US.  My older son is doing SOTW 3 with heavy supplementation of American history so it dovetails nicely with what he is doing, and we can join in when age appropriate.  I am thinking of making a play neighborhood and focusing on some other things like fire safety, health, etc.  And I will talk about our country.  In first grade, when my older son is doing Modern Times, we are going to study the countries that go along with what my oldest is studying with food, geography and culture.

 

[pitterpatter]

We used this Scholastic eBook (bought for $1 during dollar days) as the basis of our social studies lessons for Pre-K/K (DD's K year, but Pre-K by age). There are book suggestions, which I borrowed from the library (or found others on the same topic). The activities were pretty well perfect for her age and skill set. I did cut most things out ahead of time in order to cut down on time. She and I both enjoyed it.

 

 

http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/nonfiction-literacy-building-booklets-activities-mkt11442

[clemota]

We used Studies Weekly for social studies in 1st and will use it again in 2nd.  I love that it covers a variety of topics in a once-a-week newspaper-style format - geography, community people and places.  DD loves getting her own newsletter each week.  The series comes 4x a year (one per semester, and includes a teacher's guide.  The teacher's guide contains lesson plans, assessments and suggested outside reading.  It's an outstanding program, and if you're concerned about it, it is correlated to state standards.  The best part?  It's only $10.78 - that includes the shipping.  You can see both the scope & sequence and samples on their site.

 

DD also loved Evan Moor's Beginning Geography at that age.  She still does the Daily Geography, which isn't much different.

 

 

 

[pitterpatter]

DD also completed Beginning Geography during the summer after her K year. It's wonderful for that age and very practical. She has built on those skills ever since. HTH!