Pre School
Building a Foundation for Living, Learning, and Working Together
Students are introduced to ideas from the four major fields of social studies: civics (respecting one another, cooperating, and obeying rules); geography (understanding locations of places, people, and things); history (what happened in the past), and economics (why people create, buy, sell, or trade goods and services). They explore guiding questions such as “Why are there rules?” and “What is my own story?” Each topic has a related supporting question. These questions are included as generative examples to help teachers and students develop their own questions suited to grade-level appropriate texts, learning, and play.
Pre-K Social Studies Topics
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Civics: fairness, friendship, responsibility, and respect
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Geography: maps and places
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History: personal experiences and memories
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Economics: work and commerce
Literacy in Social Studies
In studying these topics, students apply pre-K to K reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills, and learn vocabulary and concepts related to social studies.
Looking Ahead: Connections to Social Studies in Kindergarten
In Kindergarten, students will learn about themselves, civics, history, geography, and economics in greater depth and breadth. They will explore classroom roles and responsibilities, the concepts of fairness and justice, and reasons for working, using money, and purchasing goods and services.
Grade Level Statewide Programs
None
Standards for
History and Social
Science Practice, Pre-K-12
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Develop focused questions or problem statements and conduct inquiries.
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Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources.
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Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact.
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Evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source.
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Argue or explain conclusions, using valid reasoning and evidence.
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Determine next steps and take informed action, as appropriate.
Topic 1. Civics: Fairness, Friendship, Responsibility, and Respect
Compelling Question: What are fair rules and why do we need them?
Suggested Content:
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With prompting and support, give reasons for rules in the classroom and at home.
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With prompting and support, follow agreed-upon rules, limits, and expectations.
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Show willingness to take on responsibilities (e.g., being a helper or a leader).
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With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about literature and informational social studies texts read aloud, and act out or give examples of characters who show fairness, friendship, kindness, responsibility, and respect for one another. Clarification Statement: Students should be exposed to a variety of picture books that demonstrate how people respect one another, cooperate, and work well together.
Suggested Inquiries:
Coming soon!
Suggested Resources:
Coming soon!
Topic 2. Geography: Maps and Places
Compelling Question: How can people show or tell others where they live or go to school?
Suggested Content:
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With prompting and support, describe location of people, animals, objects, and places, using words and phrases such as up, down, on, off, close, far away, beside, inside, next to, close to, above, below, apart correctly.
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For example, a student describes the place where his uncle lives as being “far away” and names the city or town, state, or country. Another student describes two buildings in a photograph as “next to” one another.
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With prompting and support, explain what a map or another kind of representation of a place can show.
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Clarification Statement: Students should be exposed to the concept of a map through a variety of maps of the classroom, school, and neighborhood. They should also see representations such as photographs, drawings, or models of places so they can begin to make connections between maps and other images.
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With guidance and support, use a combination of drawing, building with blocks or other materials, or dictating to construct maps and other representations of familiar places.
Suggested Inquiries:
Coming soon!
Suggested Resources:
Coming soon!
Topic 3. History: Personal Experiences and Memories
Compelling Question: How can we learn about what happened in times past?
Suggested Content:
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With guidance and support, recall and describe events that happened in the classroom or in a story, using words and phrases relating to chronology and time, including first, next, last (e.g., describe something that happened yesterday or last week).
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With guidance and support, explain how the concepts of days, weeks, and months relate to the passage of time.
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With guidance and support, participate in short shared research projects to gather information about traditions of people of diverse backgrounds. Clarification Statement: The emphasis should be on traditions of members of the local community; this project may include international celebrations (such as Cinco de Mayo) taught with attention to the historical events they commemorate.
Suggested Inquiries:
Coming soon!
Suggested Resources:
Coming soon!
Topic 4: Economics: work and commerce
Compelling Question: What kinds of work do women, men, and children do?
Suggested Content:
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With prompting and support, describe some things people do when they work inside and outside of the home, drawing on personal experience, literature, and informational texts.
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With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about buying, selling or trading something and explain how people make choices about the things they need and want.
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With prompting and support, give examples from personal experience, literature, or informational texts of goods and services that people purchase with money they earn.
Suggested Inquiries:
Coming soon!
Suggested Resources:
Coming soon!
Skills Matter: teach the four dimensions of inquiry
Dimension 1: Developing Questions
Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools
Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence
Dimension 4: Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action
Learn more at C3teachers.org
Grades Pre-K-K Literacy Standards for Social Studies
Pre-K-K Reading Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas:
History/ Social Science
Key Ideas and Details
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With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
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With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
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With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, places, or pieces of information in a social studies text.
Craft and Structure
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With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about the meaning of unknown words in a text about history/social studies.
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Identify the title and cover page of a book on a social studies topic.
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Name the author and illustrator of a social studies text and tell what authors and illustrators do to create books about social studies topics.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
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With prompting and support, describe information in illustrations of social studies books.
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With prompting and support, explain how an author uses reasons and details to support ideas.
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With prompting and support, describe similarities and differences between two texts on the same history/social studies topic.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
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Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Pre-K-K Writing Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas
Text Types and Purposes
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Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces that tell the reader the social studies topic and state an opinion or preference about the topic (e.g., “My favorite place to go to is…”).
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Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to name a topic and supply some information about it.
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Narrative Writing (Not applicable as a separate requirement. Narratives may be integrated into explanations or opinion pieces.)
Production and Distribution of Writing
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(Begins in grade 1.)
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With guidance and support, respond to questions and suggestions from peers.
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With guidance and support, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing about social studies topics.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
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Participate in shared short investigations and research projects.
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With guidance and support, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
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(Begins in grades 3-5)
Range of Writing
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Write, draw, or dictate writing routinely for a range of purposes, and audiences.
Pre-K-K Speaking and Listening Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas
Comprehension and Collaboration
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Participate in collaborative discussions with peers and adults in small and larger groups on history/social science topics.
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Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others, speaking one at a time, and taking turns).
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Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
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Confirm understanding by asking and answering questions about a text read aloud or a media presentation.
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Ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
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Describe familiar people, places and things related to history/social studies; with prompting and support, add more detailed information.
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Add drawings and visual displays to provide additional detail.
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Speak audibly to express thoughts and feelings clearly.