Connecticut Social Studies Framework: Kindergarten – Me and My Community
In Kindergarten, students engage in the study of themselves, their families, and their communities and learn how to participate and use effective citizenship skills. They explore their classrooms, schools, neighborhoods, and home communities through an interdisciplinary approach including history, civics, economics, and geography. The study of themselves, their families, and their communities requires that students generate and research questions such as:
What is my role in my community?
What is “history” and how is the past different from the present?
How are we connected to the past?
Change, Continuity and Context
HIST K.1 Compare life in the past to life today.
Through this unit, students learn about visionary women and men who have made changes to our world that they are able to identify. They answer questions and make observations about how our lives now are changed because of these notable people.
HIST K.2 Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped a significant historical change.
Students will ask questions about the women and men that are studied in the mentor texts. They each include historical figures from around the world. Students will be making observations and creating charts that collect their learnings.
Compelling Question:
- How do our communities and the people who live in them change over time?
Supporting Questions:
- How does the time in which we live affect us?
- How is the past different from today?
- How has my family changed (where they live, what they do)?
Perspectives
HIST K.3 Compare perspectives of people in the past to those in the present.
Compelling Question:
- Were people in the past the same as people today?
Supporting Questions:
- How do past experiences shape who we are today (family, home, school)?
- How is my family’s past similar to and different from my peers’ families?
Common Core State Standards: Kindergarten – Reading Informational Text
CCSS ELA-Literacy RI K.1: With prompting and support, students will ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
In Activity One, students will be introduced to the mentor texts and will practice the skill of asking and answering questions about the historical figures, including discussion about the details within each biography.
CCSS ELA-Literacy RI K.2: With prompting and support, students can identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
Students will use the format of the mentor texts to retell what they have learned through each biographical section. Students will understand the format of a biography and its purpose.
CCSS ELA-Literacy RI K.3: With prompting and support, students will be able to describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Students will use the comparison of two figures in specific fields to understand their similarities and differences. They will complete charts that show they details of each person’s life and accomplishments.