Kindergarten

Social Studies Practices

Culture: Students will explore different traditions, customs, and cultures within their families, schools, and communities.

Economics: Students will identify basic wants and needs, the ways families produce, consume, and exchange goods and services in their communities, and the work people do in order to spend or save money.

Geography: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of location, what a map represents, and their geographical location.

Government and Civics: Students will learn the foundations of good citizenship, including civic responsibilities and patriotism through the rules by which they live, the authority figures within their community and the United States, and state and national symbols.

History: Students will understand the chronological organization of history and the importance of holidays.

Gather information from a variety of sources, including:

Critically examine a primary or secondary source in order to:

Organize data from a variety of sources in order to:

Communicate ideas supported by evidence to:

Develop historical awareness by:

Develop geographic awareness by:

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events within a student’s home, school, and community.

Compare and contrast family traditions and customs, including food, clothing, homes, and games.

Distinguish between wants and needs.

Identify and explain how basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are met.

Give examples of how people use money to make purchases.

Explain the connection between saving money and meeting future needs.

Recognize and describe different types of jobs, including work done in the home, school, and community.

Use the language of location (e.g., up, down, near, far, left, right, in front of, and behind) to describe a students’ location, items on a map, and items in the classroom.

Define what a map represents.

Recall the student’s and/or school’s street address, city/town, and state.

Identify the following state and national symbols: American flag, Tennessee flag, and the words of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Recognize the name, image, and role of the current President of the United States.

Describe roles of authority figures in the home, school, and community, including caregivers, teachers, school principal, police officers, and fire/rescue workers.

Explain how rules and laws provide guidance for authority, fairness, and responsibility (e.g. safety and cooperation).

Use correct words and phrases related to chronology and time, including:

Name the days of the week and months of the year.

Locate and describe events on a calendar, including birthdays, holidays, cultural events, and school events.

Identify the following holidays, and describe why we celebrate them:

Printed materials (e.g., literary texts, newspapers, political cartoons, autobiographies, speeches, letters, personal journals)

Graphic representations(e.g., maps, timelines, charts, artwork)

Artifacts

Media and technology sources

Oral History

Summarize significant ideas and relevant information

Distinguish between fact and opinion

Draw conclusions

Recognize author’s purpose and point of view

Compare and contrast two sources

Recognize differences between two accounts

Frame appropriate questions for further investigation

Demonstrate an understanding of ideas

Compare and contrast viewpoints

Predict outcomes

Illustrate cause and effect

Sequencing past, present, and future in chronological order

Understanding that things change over time

Identifying geographic symbols on maps and globes

Understanding relationships between people, places, and resources

Now

Later

Long ago

Before

After

Morning

Afternoon

Night

Today

Tomorrow

Yesterday

Last

Next

Week

Month

Year

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Presidents’ Day

Juneteenth

Independence Day/July 4th

Labor Day

Thanksgiving

Veterans Day