Using the Kindergarten Social Studies Frameworks:

How do I Get Started?

Sarah Blascovich BrownTeacher on Assignment

• I teach whatever I’ve been teaching, because I’ve always done it that way.

• Day 1=Chapter 1=page 1• We don’t have time to

teach it anyway, so why worry about it?

Out with the old. In with the NEW!!!Day 1 QCC Day 1 GPS

• I teach whatever I’ve been teaching, because I’ve always done it that way.

• Day 1=Chapter 1=page 1• We don’t have time to

teach it anyway, so why worry about it?

Out with the old. In with the NEW!!!Day 1 QCC Day 1 GPS

• Start with introducing concepts so students can build important schema

• Design an authentic activity/task that will demonstrate student understanding

• Think about trade books that will enrich the content being taught.

What to expect in a curriculum map:

What to expect in a framework:

EUs and EQs

Activities & Mods

K-5 Suggested Enduring Understandings

Teaching Unit One• Think about all you do to teach

routines and procedures at the beginning of the year…this is unit one!– Lasts about two weeks– Introduces all the Enduring Understandings

that will be used in Social Studies– Accesses students’ prior knowledge– Builds the scaffolding needed to understand

historical, geographic, government, and economic concepts.

– A great way to integrate reading strategies and good literature in this unit and beyond!

How do I know what concepts to teach?

• Use your curriculum map!– The concepts are listed for each unit of

the map.– Every piece of content is listed under a

relevant concept• These are suggestions – make them work

for your class!

• Since you have already introduced the concepts during Unit One, you can refer to them during the course of the unit!

What if I didn’t teach Unit One?

• Do mini-lessons/activities to introduce the concepts as you get to them.

• Stop and do a Unit One in the middle of the year! {This really CAN be done!}

• Find ways to incorporate the concepts so that students can buildtheir schema.

Photo courtesy of Yvette Welch, Gilmer County Schools

The Concept Wall

Using the Next Units• Now that you have helped students understand

the themes of Social Studies, now it is time to teach the content!

• Add to your concept wall!– Essential questions to guide student learning– Standards/elements (if necessary/required)– Include important content vocabulary for the unit.– Visual clues: portraits, photographs, book covers…

• Look ACROSS the curriculum to guide you – make things match!

Using the Next Units• Continue the work you started in Unit One – link

the content students are learning BACK to their own lives, experiences, and prior learning.

• Incorporate meaningful integration whenever possible!

• Take some time to plan the activities you want to do before you begin, particularly if you are using a culminating performance task.

• Re-introduce the concepts to students as necessary – there are NO rules about this!

Here’s an example:Miss Rumphius

by Barbara CooneyConnecting Theme: LocationEnduring Understanding: The student will understand that where people live matters.

1. Introduce the story the story to students and incorporate all the reading strategies you use when you do a read-a-loud.

2. Using a map or a globe, help students identify some of the places where Miss Rumphius might have traveled.

3. Talk about the landforms, physical features, etc. of those places, and how they appear in the story.

4. Discuss why Miss Rumphius chose to return to the seaside – ask students where they would live if they had the choice, and graph the results!

5. If you’re beginning Unit Two soon, use this book to discuss different kinds of work that people can do! Think about how Miss Rumphius and her grandfather both worked to make the world a more beautiful place.

Here’s another:The Honest-to-Goodness Truth

by Patricia McKissack; Illustrated by: Giselle PotterConnecting Theme: Individuals, Groups, and InstitutionsEnduring Understanding: The student will understand that people, groups, and institutions say and do can help or harm others whether they mean to or not.

1. Before reading the story, have students imagine a situation where it is VERY important to tell the truth. Chart this list. Tell students that they are going to read a story where a little girl learns the REAL meaning of “telling the truth.”

2. Read the story and discuss. Pay particular attention to how different people and groups act within the story.

3. Afterwards, discuss ways that Libby Louise could have behaved differently. Then, have students divide into groups and act out better choices that Libby Louise could have made in the situations where she told too much truth.

Teaching Unit Two:

• The transitional words are meant to be introduced in this unit and continually reinforced all year long – calendar time is a great and natural way to do this.

• Obviously, students will not instantaneously remember all of the words to the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance. Keep working at it, and help them understand some idea of what those words actually mean.

Teaching Unit Two:• Consider shared readings for both the Pledge

and the anthem.• Put the words on sentence strips and let

children arrange them in the correct order in a pocket chart.

• Create a cloze activity with the words.• Read the words as part of an illustrated story:

Teaching Unit Two:• Don’t delay introducing economics – Labor Day

is the perfect time to do it!– www.econedlink.org– www.econed.org

• The K-2 Economics document also includes an activity called “The Land of Snakes & Donuts” that involves Play-dough. While there is more than snakes & donuts involved in economics, it’s a great hands-on way to get started!

Final Thoughts• Why mess with concepts and enduring

understandings?– Front end planning and instruction will pay off in the long

run.– Students will know more than memorized dates, names,

and places.– Make the concept wall an integral part of your teaching…it

will help you and the students make connections within and between concepts.

• Try to incorporate some social studies content every day – even if it’s just a quick review of a concept.