This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 1st Grade Social Studies content. Within the folder you will access Parent Guide PDFs in FIVE Languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Vietnamese to help on-going communication with caregivers. 

This resource accompanies our Rethink 1st Grade Social Studies Geography unit. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.

Students will analyze primary source images of Native Americans interacting with the environment. The images show different aspects of how Native Americans dressed, hunted, and lived.

Students will attempt to build a sod house by making choices regarding the construction of their house. Too many wrong answers and the house will collapse! This engaging and lighthearted activity will help students understand the challenges settlers faced while trying to survive on the open prairie.

This virtual field trip from Historic Bath State Site is a fun way to learn more about a kid's life in the 18th century. The field trip packet contains ,links to YouTube videos of costumed interpreters demonstrating historic activities, pre- and post-watch content for educators that provide context and engagement, and follow-up activities (games, crafts, and coloring pages). Live Q&A can be booked as part of the field trip as well.

Students further study the concepts outlined in the geography content expectations by discussing now how they are part of their environment. In this chapter important foundational concepts such as natural and human characteristics are discussed and explored.

In this lesson, students use data from visuals and graphs to make inferences about places. Students discover that human characteristics of places depend upon the natural resources found in environment in their community. Natural resources also affect jobs that are available in the area as well.

This lesson will address the physical and human characteristics of the local community. Students will build geographic vocabulary as well as use map skills.

This Blended Learning Unit is designed to intentionally integrate technology into each lesson while maintaining the integrity of a Social Studies unit created by Oakland Schools, Unit 3: How Do We Learn About Places. The 30-45 minute lessons are structured so the classroom teacher can balance whole group instruction (Face to Face) with technology (Online) to enhance or provide new learning.  Academic Vocabulary is a school initiative in the district this unit was created for, so this is also integrated throughout the unit.  This blended unit was designed for students to use individual iPads, but other devices could be used as well.

Students will hear and discuss the story of Johnny Appleseed, focusing on his example of stewardship and how we can follow his example. The students will then participate in a tree planting activity and learn what needs to be done to take care of the tree after planting. As a culminating activity, students will create a stamp to honor Johnny Appleseed.

This resource supports English language development for English language learners. In “Earth Day Celebrations” - a brief Listen and Read nonfiction story - students learn how children in New York City, Costa Rica, South Korea, and Russia celebrate Earth Day, a holiday that honors our natural environment. The reading activity includes text, images, and audio, so students can read along while listening to a narrator. At the end of the story, a Sound It Out section lets students listen to these vocabulary words a second time: "parade," "trees," "drums," and "recycling."

This video series is broken up into two-part mini programs which each include a short video history lesson followed by a second video with a craft activity. These videos are designed to be viewed together to learn about history of Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in the mountains of North Carolina and life in the 1800s.

Students use data from visuals and graphs to make inferences about places. Students discover that human characteristics of places depend upon the natural resources found in environment in their community. Natural resources also affect jobs that are available in the area as well.

Students are introduced to the idea that some materials can be recycled. They will investigate the types of materials that can be reused, as well as potential uses for each type of recyclable material.

In this short video, students will learn the various ways people have gathered food across thousands of years.

In this activity, children will place a seed in soil, care for it, and track the plant?s growth. By caring for a plant, children will contribute to Lady Bird Johnson?s mission of beautification. Observation and measuring skills will be developed through tracking the plant's growth.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 1st Grade Social Studies.

Students will find and explore a local place that is connected to trains, such as a train station, a train museum, or train tracks. This is connect with the Smithsonian Museums.

In this activity, students study the geography of Greece and how it affects where people live and work. Students will then use art supplies to create a 3-D model of a Greek coastline.

This lesson will address the physical and human characteristics of the local community. Students will build geographic vocabulary as well as use map skills.