Kindergarten social studies
Kindergarten social studies integrates well with art, literature, and drama. Rather than teaching social studies skills in isolation, reinforce them as children participate in hands on activities.
Social studies skills develop naturally through play, dramatizations, role playing, field trips and through the study of themes. Most kindergarten children enjoy making pictures and maps or models with Plasticine or other modeling compounds. They like to create villages with blocks and listen to and act out stories.
There are many good stories that help children build kindergarten social studies vocabulary, learn to solve problems, and increase skills and knowledge in social studies. Read more to find out how to connect kindergarten social studies skills to literature that lends itself to:
- discussions of maps and landmarks
- creating graphs of family members
- noticing differences and similarities between families
Suggested literature and sample activities:
- "Rosie's Walk" - mapping activities
- "The Gunniwolf"- safety concerns
- "Wolf Island" - demonstrating concern for the environmental
What social studies skills do my students need to know?
Preschool and kindergarten children are learning to:
- work in groups
- gather information from personal experiences, books, videos
- share information in a variety of ways
What kindergarten social studies topics do I need to teach?
As in most areas of the curriculum, kindergarten social studies learning outcomes vary geographically. There are usually four main topic groups.
Topic 1 - The world closest to the children
Generally young children are working towards:
- showing an awareness of the concept of change
- naming changes in their everyday lives
- naming groups and places that are part of their lives
- giving examples of ways in which people co-operate e.g. sharing and taking turns
- naming which country they live in
- naming familiar places and landmarks in their school and community
- naming similarities and differences among families
- identifying the caregivers in their own families
Topic 2 - The rules in their world
Generally young children are working towards:
- naming their roles & responsibilities as part of the classroom and school community
- talking about the variety of roles and responsibilities they have as members of the classroom and school community
- identifying people who make decisions about what happens in the classroom and at school
- being part of discussions about appropriate conduct
- naming some classroom and school expectations (e.g. classroom routines)
- identifying the purpose of specific school expectations (e.g. safety)
Topic 3 - What people need and the technology they use
Generally young children are working towards:
- naming individual human needs - food and water, shelter, clothing, and safety and protection
- naming work done in their community
- giving examples of types of work in their families, schools, and communities
- giving examples of technologies used in their lives at home and at school
Topic 4 - Their environment and how to care for it
Generally young children are working towards:
- identifying characteristics of different local environments from photographs or other images
- pointing out natural characteristics of the local physical environment
- identifying human-built characteristics of the local physical environment
- being able to give examples of how daily life is influenced by the environment during walks or from images e.g. weather
- naming familiar places and landmarks in their school and community
- showing responsible behavior in caring for their immediate environment
- showing care and concern for the environment in their actions (e.g., reduce, reuse, recycle; not disturbing plants and animals in their natural habitats)
All kindergarten social studies pages
- Kindergarten social studies - what skills do children need to learn? what topics should I teach?
- Introduce a unit on kindergarten maps by reading Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
- Read The Gunniwolf by Wilhelmina Harper to teach children about stranger safety; also great ideas for literature comparison charts and story maps
- Read Wolf Island by Celia Godkin to teach about the food chain and introduce students to environmental education
- Recommended kindergarten and preschool social studies resources
