Kindergarten
Main Idea - Learning and Working Now and Long Ago
K.1 Students understand that being a good citizen involves acting in certain ways
K.2 Students recognize national and state symbols and icons such as national and state flags, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty
K.3 Students match simple descriptions of work that people do and the names of related jobs at school, in the local community, and from historical accounts.
K.4 Students compare and contrast the location of people, places, and environments and describe their characteristics
K.5 Students put events in temporal order using a calendar, placing days, weeks, and months, in proper ways.
K.6 Students understand that history relates to events, people, and places, of other times.
Resources
This is a free downloadable booklet. The students discuss possible career choices and color the workers. After the pages are colored the students put the booklet together.
This is free downloadable packet that includes a graphic organizer. There is an American Flag in the middle, and the students must write five descriptors of the flag.
This is a link to a Me and My School Mini Unit for the beginning of the school year. The unit deals with rules and responsibilities and good citizenship.
First Grade
Main Idea - A Child's Place in Time and Space
1.1 Students describe the rights and individual responsibilities of citizenship.
1.2 Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative location of places and people and describe the physical and/or human characteristics of places.
1.3 Students know and understand the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States that provide continuity and a sense of community across time.
1.4 Students compare and contrast everyday life in different places and times around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, place, and things change over time while some stay the same.
1.5 Students describe the human characteristics of familiar places and the varied backgrounds of American citizens and residents in those places.
1.6 Students understand basic economic concepts and the role of individual choice in a free-market economy.
Resources
This is a game in which students get to press the North, South, East, and West
buttons on a compass in order to drive the car around the map. Once
students reach certain marker points the map changes to exhibit a new
part of the virtual community.
In this game students must match the words and pictures of "Home" "Neighborhood" "Community" "Country" to the correct tiles.
Second Grade
Main Idea - People Who Make a Difference
2.1 Students differentiate between things that happened a long time ago and things that happened yesterday.
2.2 Students demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people, places, and environments.
2.3 Students explain government institutions and practices in the United States and other countries.
2.4 Students understand the basic economic concepts and their individual roles in the economy and demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills.
2.5 Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others’ lives (e.g., from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Pasteur, Sitting Bull, George Washington Carver, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jackie Robinson, Sally Ride).
Resources
This is a game in which students must match pictures of the
white house, the capitol building, and the supreme court building to
descriptions and to who works at each location.
This is the link to a video called "Getting to Know George Washington."
There is a whole "Getting to Know You" Series that is posted on
YouTube.
This is a link to the site Teacher Tube.com This link will take you to a
video reading of the book "So You Want to Be President"
At the bottom of this blog is a link to a packet in which students fill in important information about Famous Americans such as Fredrick Douglas, and Harriet Tubman Third Grade
Main Idea - Continuity and Change
3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
3.2 Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past.
3.3 Students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land.
3.4 Students understand the role of rules and laws in our daily lives and the basic structure of the U.S. government.
3.5 Students understand the role of rules and laws in our daily lives and the basic structure of the U.S. government.
Resources
This link takes you to a website called The New York Times Machine. It has articles from the New York Times from 1851-1922.
Located in this blog are instructions on "Lapbooks." It is the same idea as a social studies journal but it is more interactive and three dimensional. This activity promotes the concept of ideas building on one another by having students place things on top one another. By the end of the year you have several flip books that display knowledge.
This is a free download on teacherspayteacher.com. It uses the teaching of Martin Luther king to teach students about justice and equality.
This is the link to a song called "Show You Care." The song is about
showing you care about your environment by using conservation. After listening to the song, students must match the pictures
to the words. The game encourages students to think about the effect they can have on the environment around them by caring and doing small acts.
Fourth Grade
Main Idea - California: A Changing State
4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California.
4.2 Students describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods.
4.3 Students explain the economic, social, and political life in California from the establishment of the Bear Flag Republic through the Mexican-American War, the Gold Rush, and the granting of statehood.
4.4 Students explain how California became an agricultural and industrial power, tracing the transformation of the California economy and its political and cultural development since the 1850s.
4.5 Students understand the structures, functions, and powers of the local, state, and federal governments as described in the U.S. Constitution.
Resources
This website is run by the state of California and has resources for teaching fourth grade. The downloads include lesson plans, vocabulary words, activities and assessments.
This is a book that provides interactive activities about the California Gold Rush. Integration with core subjects is the focus of these activities. The book cost $3.99 from this seller.
This site follows a textbook plan on teaching California History. The site includes links to websites such as the the Museum of San Francisco and the California State Railroad Museum.
Fifth Grade
Main Idea - United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation
5.1 Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements, including the cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River.
5.2 Students trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas.
5.3 Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers.
5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era.
5.5 Students explain the causes of the American Revolution.
5.6 Students understand the course and consequences of the American Revolution.
5.7 Students describe the people and events associated with the development of the
U.S. Constitution and analyze the Constitution’s significance as the foundation of the American republic.
U.S. Constitution and analyze the Constitution’s significance as the foundation of the American republic.
5.8 Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems.
5.9 Students know the location of the current 50 states and the names of their capitals.
Resources
This site was created by the California Council For Social Studies, and provides links to primary sources
This is smart-board lesson that teaches students the fifty states and their capitols. The lesson include kinesthetic gesture, songs, and creative visuals. The lesson was designed around the theory of multiple intelligences.
