CCS First Grade Social Studies Class

Each Fall, CCS First Graders spend three or four afternoons per week in Social Studies Class.  It's one of our favorite times of the day.  We study so many interesting topics, and have lots of fun activities that complement our lessons.

We learn about our great country and about some of the things that make America a wonderful place to live.  We spend a little time learning about maps and globes and working on some simple vocabulary (north, south, east, west, continents, oceans).  

We talk about some of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans (freedom of worship, speech, press, assembly) and about some symbols of our country (our flag, the great seal, the eagle, the Liberty Bell, Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty, documents and coins).  Do you like the pictures above of us wearing our Uncle Sam hats and beards? 

http://www.usmint.gov/kids/flashIndex.cfm

We really enjoy visiting the US Mint website for kids.  There we can learn a lot about our currency system and have loads of fun playing the cool games!

We also study a few famous Americans (Pilgrims, George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Columbus and Abraham Lincoln.)  We learn about how America has grown and changed in the areas of communication and transportation. 

Next, we do a geography unit.  Here are some of the places we study:  Plymouth Rock and Plantation, Niagara Falls, Fort McHenry, Washington D.C., Williamsburg, Virginia, the Mississippi River, Great Plains, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, the Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco and the Pacific Coast. 

We even 'travel' outside of America and learn about these places:  Mexico, Peru, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, England, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Egypt, India, China, Australia, Guam and American Samoa.

We enjoy using the Internet via our classroom computer during Social Studies time.  Since we have an overhead projector that connects to our computer, we can take lots of fun 'virtual' field trips to these locations.  The above pictures show us on a virtual field trip and playing an online game in Social Studies class.

From time to time, we have special Social Studies guest speakers and other activities, so be sure to check for links on the website for those pages.