Social Studies Curriculum

Unit 1: Families

FOCUS QUESTIONS

FQ1 :How are traditions and holidays part of my heritage? (EQ1)

Identify holidays celebrated by families

S3; PS1 Recognize that people develop traditions that transmit their beliefs and ideals.

S3; PS2 Examine family life and cultures of different peoples at different times in history.

S11; PS3 Understand the elements of culture and how they change.

S4; PS1 Exhibit curiosity and pose questions about the past when presented with artifacts, records or other evidence of the past.

FQ2: Why are traditions and holidays important? (EQ1)

Similarities and differences

S3; PS1 Recognize that people develop traditions that transmit their beliefs and ideals.

FQ3: What are the needs of a family? (EQ2)

Food, clothing, shelter, emotional needs

S13 ; PS5 Identify alternative uses of resources found in their home, school or neighborhood.

FQ4: How do families change? (EQ2)

New family members, job changes

S1; PS6 Create timelines which sequence events and peoples, using days, weeks, months, years, decades and centuries.

S2; PS4 Place the history of their own families in the context of local, state, national, and world history.

S3; PS4 Describe and explain some of the reasons people have moved and relate these reasons to some historic movement of large groups of people.

S3; PS6 Describe the impact of various technological developments on the local community and on the nation.

S4; PS5 Recognize relationships between events and and developments, people of the past and present circumstances, concerns

NOTES TO TEACHER:

As always, please be aware of non-traditional family structures and make modifications accordingly.

RESOURCES:

Provided resources:

Dad lost his Job (Unit 1,FQ4)
My Apartment
Where Do I Live?
My House is Your House

Additional Resources:

Carol Otis Hurst at www.carolhurst.com
Children's Lit. web guide www.ucalguary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html
Education planet www, educationplanet. com
Sources #2,#3 also have literature levels
KidPix Delux 3 - Family tree (template available)
Once Upon a Time b y Carol Otis Hurst ISBN# 1-55924-324-4

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES:

Create a map of your home including your bedroom. Compare and contrast these maps

Create a Family Favorites Recipe Book - each student brings in a family favorite, add student's picture, collate, bind - give at end of year. Also at end of year, have a family feast (potluck)

Create a Family Portrait Collage of family history timeline

Create a series of graphs - (pictographs, bar graphs...Favorite family foods, vacations, pets, jobs, family members, t.v. shows)

Use a map to "flag" the ethnic origins of family members - look for commonalties/ differences

Create a family tree - Use KidPix Delux 3 template (variety of designs)

ASSESSMENTS:

Essential questions
Focus questions
Performance tasks
Tests/quizzes
Teacher observations