4KookieKids Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 What would you do? Just thinking outside the box and looking for some brainstorming from all you fabulous folks here at the hive! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 There are some human rights curric online with lessons for small kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 1st grade? I am all for starting with something close and tangible to a 6 y/o. I'd study "Our community". On top of my head, I would do things like: Visit the fire station, the police department, the court house, the library. Talk about how different people contribute different things to the community. See if there are museums and theatres or attend a concert Find a map of your town and learn to read a map: streets, parks, find your house, the way to the playground Visit the local history museum (if you have any). Find out how old the town is and how it began, what people settled. Find out what different ethnicities live in your community, what languages they speak, what they eat, what different customs they have visit an ethnic festival and an ethnic grocery store see what religions are present in your community. You certainly have churches, maybe also mosques and synagogues look at where the community is located in the state. What famous sights are close? National parks, etc? Visit Visit the state capital. Tour the capitol. Study how government works on a basic level Talk about the presidential election. Take kid to the poll when you vote. Oh, so much fun! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Library books (picture books) on related topics. http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ Ben's guide (link above)... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) If it is a state requirement that you have to cover social science in first grade, I would think there should be some sort of scope and sequence to show the topics they expect to be covered in first grade for public schools. If all you have for guidance is "social science," you could do geography. When my daughter was young, I cobbled together a sort of "civics and cultures" course prior to starting Story of the World (adjust if you aren't in the US)/ You could call it something like "Exploring our comunity, country, and world'." I included : major US holidays, symbols, figures using books from the library, websites from historic sites, field trips, Junior Ranger materials from the national parks (some are available on the web entirely)---Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, President's Day, MLK Day, Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, Liberty Bell, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc. modern world cultures and religions using DK's "Children Just Like Me" paired with trying different foods, watching traditional dancing, trying traditional art forms when possible. DK has since put out other books on "A Faith Like Mine," "A Life Like Mine," abd "Children Just Like Me: Celebrations." We attended cultural festivals in our area when possible. The DK books had a two page spread with lots of photos for a child in the 9-12 range or so for each culture, religion or celebration. I think they also had "A School Like Mine," which might be interesting. exploring the community by taking advantage of field trips with our homeschool group to places like the fire station, etc. . We did most things as they came up in the calendar, and following interest. Overall, my goal was to give her some basic things for cultural literacy that would be epected of an elementary school student, since we wouldn't be getting to modern history until uch later by following the WTM rotation. There are tons of picture books and early readers for this sort of thing at most libraries. Edited March 9, 2016 by KarenNC 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Community helpers Months and holidays Geography Get library books and videos on topics of interest. Watch School House Rock History and Liberty’s Kids. Celebrate all the little holidays. Take as many field trips as you can handle. Visit the police station, sheriff’s department, fire station, library, post office, and local businesses. Take your child with you when you go to vote. Watch the refuge haulers pick up trash, a building being built or demolished, and streets being repaired. Tour a nearby wastewater treatment facility and a landfill or recycling center. Watch planes and helicopters take off and land. Attend local festivals and a county fair. Go to the zoo and the circus. Visit museums, parks, and local historical sites. Take advantage of family days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) Rand McNally's Beginning Geography and Map Activities Legends and Leagues book and workbook Bede's History of ME and/or History of US Evan-Moor Daily Geography A few of the Childcraft How and Why Library volumes (out of print, but available on Amazon, Ebay, etc) Edited March 9, 2016 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 The state/provincial requirements in my area have NOTHING to do with history. Nothing. Which means that the requirements in your area might be a nice overview of what "socials" could cover without history. But the human rights curricula sound interesting! Now to go ferret those out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 There are lots of free printables you could download and print out. Some topics that come to mind would be community, different workers /jobs, our country, all about me... You could always buy a social studies harcourt get it done workbook off amazon cheap, and call it a day. I personally love to start Story of the World in first grade. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) 1st grade? I am all for starting with something close and tangible to a 6 y/o. I'd study "Our community". On top of my head, I would do things like: Visit the fire station, the police department, the court house, the library. Talk about how different people contribute different things to the community. See if there are museums and theatres or attend a concert Find a map of your town and learn to read a map: streets, parks, find your house, the way to the playground Visit the local history museum (if you have any). Find out how old the town is and how it began, what people settled. Find out what different ethnicities live in your community, what languages they speak, what they eat, what different customs they have visit an ethnic festival and an ethnic grocery store see what religions are present in your community. You certainly have churches, maybe also mosques and synagogues look at where the community is located in the state. What famous sights are close? National parks, etc? Visit Visit the state capital. Tour the capitol. Study how government works on a basic level Talk about the presidential election. Take kid to the poll when you vote. Oh, so much fun! Ah! I love these ideas! I never even thought of teaching him how to read a map and exploring the different cultures in our town (probably since we're a very white midwestern town -- but I know we have other cultures too!) We've done a number of them (like visiting stations, the capitol is one of my kids' favorite places to go for some bizarre reason!), but haven't thought about many of them. And you're so right that with this being an election year, there's so much we could talk about and see! Always love your ideas! ETA: He will actually be 7 most of the year (fall bday), but I'll have three younger kids tagging along, so I love the idea of really being able to include them as well. I'm so excited about this idea now, whereas I was kind of stressed out about finding a history program I really like. Woo-hoo for delaying history! :) Edited March 9, 2016 by deanna1ynne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 One of our favorite activities for 1st is building a 3D map of a well known area (usually downtown). We use boxes and blocks on an old sheet, draw roads, decorate the boxes, and learn how to orient ourselves looking from above (which can be challenging for some kids). It's a lot of fun for them and provides a springboard for a full semester of activities, from visiting the various buildings on the map to learning how things have changed over the past 20/50/100 years. It sets the backbone for Ancient history activities because they can *see* the changes in a short period, and also be able to compare and contrast communities to their own. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 One of our favorite activities for 1st is building a 3D map of a well known area (usually downtown). We use boxes and blocks on an old sheet, draw roads, decorate the boxes, and learn how to orient ourselves looking from above (which can be challenging for some kids). It's a lot of fun for them and provides a springboard for a full semester of activities, from visiting the various buildings on the map to learning how things have changed over the past 20/50/100 years. It sets the backbone for Ancient history activities because they can *see* the changes in a short period, and also be able to compare and contrast communities to their own. What a great idea! I think my 12 year old would even enjoy this... :leaving: (He's a very visual, hands on guy, and loves architecture....) But, yeah, great idea for the little guys, too. :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 I would do K12's History K along with the study of the community that regentrude suggests. History K is extremely gentle and accessable and does one semester of world geography and one semester of American history (from what I remember, we just did the reading and not the output parts). The world geography piece helped my son when we got to ancient history the next year as he already knew where things were. The American history piece is great to have at that age as so many great children's books are set in America's past and knowing in general what was going on was really helpful to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 If it is a state requirement that you have to cover social science in first grade, I would think there should be some sort of scope and sequence to show the topics they expect to be covered in first grade for public schools. California doesn't specify what should be taught in each grade, only that certain topics should be covered between first and seventh, and then again between 7th and 12th, plus a few more things. No requirement for content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 I'd use Studies Weekly. That's what I'm doing this year with my youngest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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