Kindergarten - History/Social Studies

Diverse group of people embracing each other

Kindergarten students in SFUSD engage in an average of 45 minutes (through both integrated and stand-alone units) of social studies instruction from 4-5 days a week. There will be 3-5 week stand alone units that alternate with Science units during the year. Social Studies instruction prioritizes building a strong foundation in community and the understanding that every community member (citizen) has a voice in the ways our communities function. We explore students' communities and neighborhoods as windows to the past and present while working together to intentionally build a classroom community rooted in the SFUSD Humanizing Values (knowledge of self, solidarity, and self-determination) and core concepts of Ethnic Studies.

Priority Standards Link to this section

What students will know, what students will do, and what thinking skills students will develop to apply and transfer History/Social Studies/Ethnic Studies understandings that endure within the discipline, leverage deeper understandings, and/or support readiness for success at the next grade level. 

In kindergarten, students focus on these critical areas:

Instruction: Signature Elements Link to this section

Below are signature elements of SFUSD History/Social Studies instruction that students should experience regularly throughout kindergarten as they develop as historians & social scientists.

Materials

Beyond the Unit Overview, there are no required materials.

Units

Units for Kindergarten History/Social Studies/Equity Studies are currently in development. See below for guidance and examples of how you might structure your own units. (Click here for the latest updates to the information below in an easy-to-read format: Overview and Examples for K Units)

Unit Design

Incorporation of the Four Dimensions of the Inquiry Arc Across the Three Bends of a Unit

Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action
A compelling question supported by Investigation questions Investigate the ideas, tools, and concepts of 
  • Geography
  • History
  • Civics
  • Economics
Gather evidence from reliable sources Do something with the knowledge and skills acquired
Inquiry Investigation Informed Action

 

Units

Here are some practical examples. Each class may go on a slightly different path (culturally/community-relevant), but are still likely headed in the same general content-driven direction. Students engage with a compelling question. Students learn more through exploring media (books, videos, etc), interviews, field trips, etc..(historically responsive literacy). Students generate new questions based on what they learned, explore more (inquiry), and eventually and/or during the process create artifacts that represent their learning and/or contribute to their community in some fashion (informed action).

Learning and Working Together Inquiry Possible Investigations Possible Informed Actions

Keywords Slides

 

Compelling Question:

How can we make sure that our school (or classroom) is a fun, safe learning space for all of us as community members (citizens)?

This should lead to investigative questions from the students. Here is a possible way to elicit those questions:


Think, Puzzle, Explore
 

  • Look at School/Classroom Norms/Agreements from the past.
  • Create a school/classroom map and think about areas where we may need norms/agreements
  • Read about ways people help in their communities
  • Discuss what being respectful and responsible means to your students
  • Interview other staff members about their roles/ duties and responsibilities at school
  • Research strategies people use when they disagree and how to resolve conflict peacefully
  • Create a book that can be shared with future students to help them understand how schools are safe learning spaces
  • Create a set of classroom norms/agreements that everyone will follow
  • Make posters to remind others of the agreements we have made to keep our classroom a fun and safe learning space
Who I am in my Community Inquiry Possible Investigations Possible Informed Actions

Keyword Slides

Compelling Question:

How do we build a strong neighborhood community for ourselves and others?

This should lead to investigative questions from the students. Here is a possible way to elicit those questions:
Get some images of people in neighborhoods/schools and do a See Think Wonder

  • Create self-portraits and discuss all the things that make us unique, including but not limited to, cultural identity, skin,eye and hair color, home languages, family structures, and interests/hobbies….
  • Look at some neighborhood maps and discuss what is the same and what is different
  • Read about different kinds of neighborhood communities and the people we may encounter in them
  • Take a field trip to go on a neighborhood walk and take notes of what we see
  • Investigate some community events that represent different people in our neighborhood
  • Watch videos that show the people in our communities and/or different types of communities. Here are some examples: 
  1. Communities for Kids - Types of Communities | Social Studies for Kids | Kids Academy
  2. Sesame Street: Ben Stiller Sings About Friends & Neighbors
  • Invite members of the community in to interview and find out more about they identify in their different community spaces
  • Create a model of your school’s neighborhood
  • Create a collage mural with drawings from the students   of the school’s neighborhood for the class bulletin board to share with the school. Students can draw themselves, the adults they see,  the buildings they see…etc.
  • Have students write and perform their own version of “These Are the People in Our Neighborhood” for a buddy class(es)
  • Create a neighborhood travel guide to help others find things in the neighborhood
Time and Chronology: Reaching Out to Times Past Inquiry Possible Investigations Possible Informed Actions
Keyword Slides

Compelling Question:

How can we learn from the past to build a better future for ourselves?

This should lead to investigative questions from the students. Here is a possible way to elicit those questions:
Instead of sharing ideas, have them come up with questions and stop and jot as a class between mingle sessions
Mingle Pair Share | Inquiry Lesson Plan Strategy
 

  • Create a personal timeline
  • Read aloud about change makers from the past
  • Use a calendar to note important community events, holidays and important dates (our birthdays each month) throughout the year (This could be integrated into calendar time).
  • Interview an elder in their family about their family history
  • Look at pictures of classrooms in the past and note how they have changed over time
  • Create a T-Chart with pictures with photos from the past and present
  • Watch videos about how people have made their community better in the past
  • Read books about characters who spend time with and learn from the elders in their family.
  • Invite members of the community in to interview and find out what things were like when they were young.
  • Take a field trip(s) to look at murals throughout the city and find out more about the people in them.

**The concepts of important dates, before and after, past, present and future can also be integrated into whole class calendar time and  investigations throughout the year. 

  • Create and develop a class project to benefit their community i.e, (clean up the beach, plant pollinator flowers in the schoolyard…)
  • Make posters of their family histories to share with their classmates and the school at large. 
  • Create a class book of elders where each student makes a picture of their elder and says what they have learned from them to share with a buddy class or put in the library for others to read.
  • Use what they have learned about community action to create a timeline of their community
  • Make a portrait of themselves as a change maker in the future with a caption of what they are doing to put on their class bulletin board


 

Planning Guide

Many elements of kindergarten History/Social Studies can and should be integrated across the day and year. That being said, three periods of roughly five weeks are set aside each trimester for more intensive History/Social Studies learning. Through these units, Kindergarten students will learn that everyone is a member of a COMMUNITY. In order for a community to thrive, members (CITIZENS) need to work together and learn from the past.

1st Trimester 2nd Trimester 3rd Trimester
Learning and Working Together Who I am in my Community Time and Chronology: Reaching Out to Times Past
~five weeks of four lessons per week ~five weeks of four lessons per week ~five weeks of four lessons per week

 

Reflection Questions Link to this section

  1. How are students' developmental needs, communities, and experiences being reflected and honored, or how could they be?
  2. What opportunities do you see for developing equitable access & demand, inquiry, collaboration, and assessment for learning?
  3. What are the implications for your own practice? What strengths can you build upon? What will you do first?

This page was last updated on October 21, 2022