FIRST GRADE

Exploring Our Community and State

The overall goal of the first-grade curriculum is to increase knowledge of the physical world and help build self-assurance as students become aware of the rights and responsibilities of members of their community and state and of their individual roles in social groups. The curriculum encourages students to explore in an environment in which unique abilities and contributions are valued. Students in Grade 1 are continuing to develop a sense of time and place. Many have few direct experiences with people from other cultures and countries. First graders rely upon concrete representations of abstract ideas and distant places. Therefore, they learn best when provided numerous opportunities for dramatic and cooperative play. In addition, student enjoyment of stories of the distant and recent past can be reinforced through the effective use of literature that brings to life other people, places, and times. Involvement of students in a thematic approach to instruction that includes active manipulation and exploration of their environment allows them to construct an understanding of relationships among objects, people, and events.

In Grade 1, students begin to recognize that the heritage, culture, and talents of others are worthy of respect. They study their locality in relationship to other places in the state and make comparisons of current families to families of the past in relation to work, home, and school. Students expand their sense of time and place as they increase their awareness of people and ways of life that are different from their own. They develop an understanding of the roles of leaders in communities, businesses, and governments and look for ways to protect the environment and ways to use graphic tools to study the physical features of Earth. Additionally, the content of social studies in Grade 1 allows students to begin making economic decisions and to build on the concepts of citizenship and patriotism.

Cherokee County Schools: The content standards, bullets and examples contained within this local version of the Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies are minimum content and are required for instruction and student mastery. The activities and resources listed in this document are not all-inclusive, but are a representation from which one can pick, choose and blend with activities and resources already employed within the first grade setting.

Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies

AHSGE

Activities

Resources

Exploring Our Community and State

Students will:

E	G	H	PS	1. Identify past and present modes of air, land, and water transportation.
		ü

Examples: airplane, spacecraft; horse and buggy, subway

· Identifying past and present forms of communication

Examples: past—letter, radio, rotary-dial telephone; present—e-mail, television, cellular telephone

· Identifying past and present types of apparel

· Identifying past and present types of technology

ExaE Examples: past—record players, typewriters, conventional ovens; present—CD and DVD players, VCRs, computers, microwave ovens

· Identifying past and present types of recreation

Examples: past—marbles, hopscotch, jump rope; present—video games, computer games

· Identifying primary documents of the past and present

Examp Examples: past—letters, newspapers; present email, Internet articles

E	G	H	PS	2. Describe how primary sources serve as historical records of families and communities.
		ü

Examples: oral histories, vacation pictures in scrapbooks, videos, timelines

E	G	H	PS	3. Identify historical events and celebrations in communities and cities throughout Alabama.
	ü	ü

Examples: Mardi Gras, Helen Keller Day, National Shrimp Festival, Boll Weevil Festival

E	G	H	PS	4. Describe the role of money in everyday life.
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Examples: using money to purchase goods such as groceries, using money to pay for services such as babysitting

· Explaining differences between wants and needs

· Explaining concepts of saving and borrowing

· Explaining differences between buyers and sellers

E	G	H	PS	5. Label human-made and natural resources in Alabama.
ü	ü

Examples: human-made—plastic, rayon; natural—cotton, coal, trees

E	G	H	PS	6. Identify land masses, bodies of water, and other physical features of Earth on maps and globes.
	ü

· Explaining uses of cardinal directions on the compass rose

· Measuring distances using nonstandard means

Example: measuring with pencils, strings, hands, or feet

E	G	H	PS	7. Identify ways to take personal action to protect the environment.
	ü		ü

Examples: cleaning up litter, recycling, participating in Earth Day and Arbor Day activities

E	G	H	PS	8. Identify how occupational and recreational opportunities in Alabama and local communities are affected by the physical environment.
ü	ü

Examples: occupational—jobs provided by shrimping industry in coastal communities; recreational—swimming at the beach, hiking in the mountains

E	G	H	PS	9. Identify traditions of a variety of cultures in Alabama and local communities.
	ü	ü

Examples: marriage customs, religious celebrations

· Identifying common and unique characteristics of individuals in societal groups, including age, religious beliefs, ethnicity, disability, and gender

E	G	H	PS	10. Discuss civic responsibilities of participating members of a community and state.
			ü

Examples: paying taxes, voting

· Discussing the meaning of patriotism

E	G	H	PS	11. Identify roles and responsibilities of leaders within the community and state.
			ü

Examples: recognizing the mayor as city leader, recognizing the governor as state government leader

· Recognizing how laws protect rights and property

· Identifying reasons for having rules at home and at school

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See “Alabama Extras” unit 1 & unit 2 from Scott Foresman.

Read/think alouds

Visit Cherokee County Historical Museum

Invite senior citizens to share about the past and how things have changed during their lifetime.

Choral Reading

See “Alabama Extras” unit 1 & unit 2 from Scott Foresman.

Invite senior citizens to share about the past and how things have changed during their lifetime. Some may even have pictures and/or scrapbooks to share.

See “Alabama Extras” unit 5 from Scott Foresman.

Discuss during on or near the time the celebrations take place, and even have a celebration in class that mimics some of the activities that take place during the actual celebrations.

See “Alabama Extras” unit 3 from Scott Foresman.

Read/think alouds and/or independent reading

Have a class piggy bank to save for something specific for the students to use in class

See “Alabama Extras” unit 4 from Scott Foresman.

Visit a cotton farm, cotton gin, and/or yarn mill or have a representative from each visit and share with the class

Read/think alouds and/or independent reading

See “Alabama Extras” unit 3 from Scott Foresman.

Read/think alouds and/or independent grade level reading

Obtain actual maps of city, county & state along with globes and atlases for students to locate places and measure distance.

See “Alabama Extras” unit 4 from Scott Foresman.

Pick up litter and separate for recycling

Plant a tree on the school grounds on or near Arbor Day

Read/think alouds

See “Alabama Extras” unit 4 from Scott Foresman.

Discuss the tourist industry that WEISS Lake brings to Cherokee County

Invite someone from the Chamber of Commerce to discuss how seasonal changes affect Cherokee County

See “Alabama Extras” unit 6 from Scott Foresman.

Invite senior citizens,and individuals from different race and ethnic groups to speak to the class

Invite elected officials (tax assessor, mayor, etc.) to share with the class

Also relate paying taxes to fees charged to visit museums, parks, etc.

(for example—entrance fee to a national park for upkeep or entrance fee to Cherokee County Historical Museum for upkeep)

Do not just recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag each day—discuss what the pledge means

Invite a veteran to talk to the class about patriotism

Web sites on patriotism

Read/think alouds about patriotism