

Patricia Bentham, author, kindergarten-lessons.com HOME SITE MAP SOCIALS STUDIES Skills to teach... SS topics... Introduce maps Maps & literature Food chain & lit. Resources for... OTHER RESOURCES Board games Bulletin boards Free worksheets Gifts for kids Grad ideas Kids' magazines K readiness Picture books Software ..................... About Can't find it? Contact me Create a website Links Store	Early childhood social studies Make social studies fun with play, role playing, art and more... Early childhood social studies, like all other areas of the curriculum, is best taught with real experiences and the children's knowledge is best demonstrated through play, role playing, drama, music and through model, puzzle and picture making. Connect early childhood social studies to literature to enrich social studies and other concepts. Use books such as Peter Spier's "People" to teach about world cultures, Ted Lewin's, "Market" to learn about markets where traders buy and sell products and Joan Sweeney's, "Me on the Map", to teach mapping skills. Use "Wolf Island" to teach about the environment A great story to enhance an early childhood social studies program is Wolf Island by Celia Godkin. It is a tale about a family of wolves that leave their island home. Before the wolves leave, the island is a healthy environment for all the animals living there. After they leave, the delicate balance of the food chain is altered and the story demonstrates the consequences. This story is beautifully illustrated and introduces young children to the dependence of each animal to the other. Take about two weeks for the activities below adding one or two concepts at a time. Wolf Island Activities Early childhood social studies and science Mapping activities to follow "Rosie's Walk" mapping activities Make a big chart drawing of the main land and island Have children color in the water, draw trees, rocks, caves, etc. Have children draw and cut out the animals in the story and glue them onto the map View posters showing geographical terms and post them in centers for students to look at Provide map puzzles for children to assemble, map sticker activity sets, and other social studies toys Food Chains When teaching early childhood social studies concepts be sure to keep experiences concrete. Don't assume that children have had previous experiences with chains or the term food chain. Bring a piece of chain into the classroom before talking about the food chain Be sure children understand the terminology - talk about what a chain is and show them what a link looks like and how each link is connected to the next link Make a class chart of each animal mentioned in the story and draw pictures of what each animal eats Introduce the idea of a food chain and the idea that each animal is linked to another animal Talk about what happened on Wolf Island when the wolves left Introduce the following terms as you read and reread Wold Island: environment, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, prey Show pictures of contrasting environments, desert, jungle... Keep early childhood social studies concepts simple for young children: A food chain is easier to understand tham a food web. A food chain follows a single path as animals eat each other. The grass is eaten by a grasshopper. The grasshopper is eaten by a frog. The frog is eaten by a snake. The snake is eaten by a hawk. Food webs are more complicated. They show how animals and plants are interconnected. Trees produce pinecone seeds that are eaten by mice and squirrels. Insects in the pinecones are eaten by birds. Hawks and owls can find food as there are lots of birds and small animals to eat. The animals and plants are interconnected by different paths. The sun is introduced as a source of energy. Compare and contrast a wolf with the familiar Studying wolves goes against my philosopy about keeping kindergarten themes to topics that children can touch and feel. There are not too many wolves around to explore in most places! The students enjoyed the Gunniwolf, Wolf Island, Rosie's Walk, Lon Po Po and Little Red Riding Hood stories so much I developed activities that used as many real things as possible. To make wolf stories more meaningful to the children, introduce the dog as the wolf's relative. Arrange a policeman with a police dog to visit the school to talk about stranger safety Prompt the children to ask about the dog's needs Later discuss how a wolf is similar or different to the police dog Have the children draw and record their observations in their journals Similarities/differences suggestions: appearance, needs - water, sleep, shelter, food Math - Graph "My favorite book" Graph all wolf and fox stories mentioned by placing the actual books on a graphing map and have children place a block on the row to signify their favorite story Count and record how many children liked each book Use terms such as more children liked and fewer children liked Read more graphing tips ... Go from early childhood social studies to recommended socials studies resources... All Social Studies pages: TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES Kindergarten social studies - how to teach it and what skills do children need to learn? Kindergarten social studies topics - what topics should I teach? What resources are available? Recommended kindergarten and preschool social studies products MAPS Kindergarten Maps -Introduce a unit on kindergarten maps by reading Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. CONNECT SOCIAL STUDIES & LITERATURE The Gunniwolf by Wilhelmina Harper - connect to social studies concepts, ideas for literature comparison charts and story maps Wolf Island by Celia Godkin- Teach young learners about the environment and the delicate balance of the food chain.	Sign up for your copy of Kindergarten-Lessons News ................................. .......................... Return to Environmental Education Pages ......................... This is a great early childhood social studies book. How Much?: Visiting Markets Around the World. This is a great book for teaching K-Gr. 2 children about commerce. It goes with Ted Lewin's earlier Market! (1996) How Much?: Visiting Markets Around the World is a large-format picture book that take takes readers to five local marketplaces on four continents. .......................... Canadian shoppers visit Amazon.ca for lower shipping rates.
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Early childhood social studies

Make social studies fun with play, role playing, art and more...

Early childhood social studies, like all other areas of the curriculum, is best taught with real experiences and the children's knowledge is best demonstrated through play, role playing, drama, music and through model, puzzle and picture making.

Connect early childhood social studies to literature to enrich social studies and other concepts. Use books such as Peter Spier's "People" to teach about world cultures, Ted Lewin's, "Market" to learn about markets where traders buy and sell products and Joan Sweeney's, "Me on the Map", to teach mapping skills.

Use "Wolf Island" to teach about the environment

A great story to enhance an early childhood social studies program is Wolf Island by Celia Godkin. It is a tale about a family of wolves that leave their island home. Before the wolves leave, the island is a healthy environment for all the animals living there. After they leave, the delicate balance of the food chain is altered and the story demonstrates the consequences.

This story is beautifully illustrated and introduces young children to the dependence of each animal to the other. Take about two weeks for the activities below adding one or two concepts at a time.

Wolf Island Activities

Early childhood social studies and science

Mapping activities to follow "Rosie's Walk" mapping activities

Make a big chart drawing of the main land and island
Have children color in the water, draw trees, rocks, caves, etc.
Have children draw and cut out the animals in the story and glue them onto the map
View posters showing geographical terms and post them in centers for students to look at
Provide map puzzles for children to assemble, map sticker activity sets, and other social studies toys

Food Chains

When teaching early childhood social studies concepts be sure to keep experiences concrete. Don't assume that children have had previous experiences with chains or the term food chain.

Bring a piece of chain into the classroom before talking about the food chain
Be sure children understand the terminology - talk about what a chain is and show them what a link looks like and how each link is connected to the next link
Make a class chart of each animal mentioned in the story and draw pictures of what each animal eats
Introduce the idea of a food chain and the idea that each animal is linked to another animal
Talk about what happened on Wolf Island when the wolves left
Introduce the following terms as you read and reread Wold Island: environment, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, prey
Show pictures of contrasting environments, desert, jungle...

Keep early childhood social studies concepts simple for young children:

A food chain is easier to understand tham a food web. A food chain follows a single path as animals eat each other. The grass is eaten by a grasshopper. The grasshopper is eaten by a frog. The frog is eaten by a snake. The snake is eaten by a hawk.
Food webs are more complicated. They show how animals and plants are interconnected. Trees produce pinecone seeds that are eaten by mice and squirrels. Insects in the pinecones are eaten by birds. Hawks and owls can find food as there are lots of birds and small animals to eat. The animals and plants are interconnected by different paths. The sun is introduced as a source of energy.

Compare and contrast a wolf with the familiar

stranger safety Studying wolves goes against my philosopy about keeping kindergarten themes to topics that children can touch and feel. There are not too many wolves around to explore in most places! The students enjoyed the Gunniwolf, Wolf Island, Rosie's Walk, Lon Po Po and Little Red Riding Hood stories so much I developed activities that used as many real things as possible.

primary social studies

To make wolf stories more meaningful to the children, introduce the dog as the wolf's relative.

Arrange a policeman with a police dog to visit the school to talk about stranger safety
Prompt the children to ask about the dog's needs
Later discuss how a wolf is similar or different to the police dog
Have the children draw and record their observations in their journals
Similarities/differences suggestions:
appearance, needs - water, sleep, shelter, food

Math - Graph "My favorite book"

Graph all wolf and fox stories mentioned by placing the actual books on a graphing map and have children place a block on the row to signify their favorite story
Count and record how many children liked each book
Use terms such as more children liked and fewer children liked
Read more graphing tips ...

Go from early childhood social studies to recommended socials studies resources...

All Social Studies pages:

TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES

Kindergarten social studies - how to teach it and what skills do children need to learn?
Kindergarten social studies topics - what topics should I teach?
What resources are available? Recommended kindergarten and preschool social studies products

MAPS

Kindergarten Maps -Introduce a unit on kindergarten maps by reading Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins.

CONNECT SOCIAL STUDIES & LITERATURE

The Gunniwolf by Wilhelmina Harper - connect to social studies concepts, ideas for literature comparison charts and story maps

Wolf Island by Celia Godkin- Teach young learners about the environment and the delicate balance of the food chain.