BIGGER AND BIGGER: (We Live in a family, a neighborhood, a city, and the United States)

Foster contributing members of society with a social studies unit focused on five aspects of community. First graders discuss themes of culture, groups, location, scarcity, and change with discussion questions and activities about...

In order to understand how the land changes over time because of the people who live there, learners interview an elderly person about the past. Children ask an older family member to describe what the local area was like when they were...

What makes a community? How communities differ? Young scholars research different types of communities, small rural towns, and large crowded cities. They respond to writing prompts, and write essays in groups to understand the wide...

Students examine their immediate school neighborhood and create a map of the surrounding neighborhood. They take a walk around the school and take notes and sketch important features, draw a map, and construct a three-dimensional map of...

The Pilgrims may have arrived in North America by way of the Mayflower, but chances are, your class members' ancestors came to the United States in another way. Guide them through an exploration of their own heritage, countries of...

Students predict the things that they may see, smell, or hear in their neighborhood. They take part in a neighborhood walk, creating a rough map of their neighborhood as they go. Upon return to the classroom, students create a final map...

Students react to a series of statements about elephants, then read a news article about how workers at an elephant orphanage are working to return the animals to the wild. In the animal studies and current events lesson, the teacher...

Encourage your students to think about how and why people and categorized in terms of social class. They decide what "class" they belong to, and then brainstorm about the indicators that society uses to define class and to categorize...

A lesson plan looks at the Pilgrims and Wampanoag tribe during the first Thanksgiving. Scholars compare and contrast information presented by an online activity then discuss their findings. Learners examine the two group's daily routines...

Students discover the similarities and differences in families from around the world. In this multicultural lesson, students create their own family album and label each family member. There are suggested activities such as investigating...