Teaching about the following four kindergarten social studies topics helps children become thoughtful, responsible, and active citizens, and helps them be able to see situations from other people’s viewpoints.
Students learn to identify a variety of roles and responsibilities in their environment as well as gaining an understanding of their roles as members of society. They are working towards showing responsible behavior in caring for their immediate environment and becoming more caring for the environment in their everyday actions.
Depending on where you live the kindergarten social studies learning outcomes or standards may be different from the ones below.
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)