If you’ve taken time to glance at the Kindergarten “Myself and Others” book, or its sequel First Grade “Families and Schools”, you’ll know that the authors of those books envisioned them being “big books” which were meant to be experienced with the teacher projecting the materials on a big screen. This book begins the transition from “big book” to an individualized tool. It doesn’t mean that the book is meant to be read without teacher interaction, but this resource was designed to be in the hands of students in conjunction with daily classroom instruction.

Day 1: In this lesson, students will…. Understand how information is transferred over physical or wireless paths and are broken down into smaller pieces called packets, then reassembled at their destination. They will learn this by creating a LEGO/Magnatile/block house, or building, as a team. The teacher, or facilitator, will take a photo of their creation. The students will disassemble their structure and transfer it to the next group, representing how information is broken down and passed on. The next group who receives the pieces will have to look at the photo and rebuild based on the photo. If the group completes this, they will successfully complete how information is transferred showing that in order for information to be the same when it’s transferred and to show up, it needs to be the same.

Day 2: Students will learn to protect their personal information by creating passwords/passphrases. This will be equated to students using your house key, or house code. This is private to the adults in your life. They do not share those with others, just like you would not share a password to your account with others. Teacher will create an easily guessable password to model, students will ask the teacher questions from a predetermined list of questions with picture tiles, like favorite animal, favorite color, etc. Using the answers to the questions the students will try to guess the password. Then, students will create a password, and play the guessing game with a small group.

Day 3:Students will review previous concepts about passwords and protecting personal information. They will be introduced to anti-virus software. Teacher will equate malware to getting sick and anti-virus software to antibiotics. When you’re sick your body is ‘infected’ like a computer with malware on it. The anti-biotic or anti-virus software protects you. Students illustrate a computer transmitting information (use paper and markers to solve a maze). They will be given anti-virus software (saran wrap) to place over their maze. Teacher walks around and sprays water on each “computer” with anti-virus software. Remove anti-virus software and spray again to illustrate malware.

This lesson is about creating a safe classroom community. It provides opportunities for students to gain skills in solving problems and communication. Coding is introduced as an option/follow-up.

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the Kindergarten Social Studies content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink Kindergarten Social Studies Civics & Government 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.

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for Kindergarten Social Studies in Civics & Government.

Students will explore the idea that they are interconnected to many larger communities (classroom, school, family, neighborhood, city, world, etc.) They will also explore the need for these communities to have systems in place where each person plays a role in making the systems function. We will specifically explore the need for, and create, systems that allow us to work, learn and play together in our kindergarten classroom. The creation of rules, jobs, and routines will be the core of this unit. Documenting and sharing these systems will be the product.

You may be tempted to skip this short section. It is brief in comparison to previous chapters but it is ultimately one of the most important. Students have spent their entire class period up to this point exploring and learning more about foundational social studies concepts. This is the chapter that puts it all together.