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    These are the goals for social studies instruction in first grade according to the Scarsdale School District's curriculum.
     
    In our classroom, these goals are achieved through non-fiction literature lessons, poetry and the study of family life.  Family interviews and hands-on map/globe exploration are part of our social studies activities.
     
    Social Studies

    My Family and Other Families
    Major Understandings:

        * Different kinds of families exist in all communities and societies
        * Families change over time
        * Families have beliefs, customs, and traditions, roles and responsibilities
        * My family lives in a community
        * Places in my community can be located on a map
        * People have wants and needs
        * Families help us meet our wants and needs
        * We are citizens of our family and school communities and as citizens have rights and responsibilities.
        * People make rules and laws to govern and protect themselves for the common good

    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
    History/Culture:

        * What is a family?
        * How are families alike and different? (race, ethnicity, culture, family structure)
        * How do people in families depend on each other? (roles, responsibilities)
        * How do diverse families transmit their beliefs, values, customs and traditions? (celebrations, family stories, artifacts, skills, photographs)
        * How have families lived in other places at other times?
        * How do families change over time? (within one family, structure of families, roles and responsibilities of family members)
        * What is a community?

    Geography:

        * What is a map and what is a globe?
        * What is the purpose of a map and a globe?
        * What are the features of a map? (Title, key, labels, symbols, colors)
        * What are the four cardinal directions?
        * How are symbols used on a map?
        * Where is our country on a map of the world? Where is New York on a map of the United States?
        * Where is my home located on a map of my community?

    Economics

        * What is a need? What is a want?
        * What are the basic needs?
        * How do families meet their wants and needs?
       *  What is a job and why do people work?

     Civics

        * What are our rights and responsibilities as members of a family and school community?
        * What are the purposes of rules and laws in our families and school?
        * How can students participate in problem solving, decision-making and conflict resolution for the common good of the family and school?
        * What are some symbols of our country and what ideas and values do they represent? (The flag, eagle, Statue of Liberty etc.)
        * What is the Pledge of Allegiance and what does it mean?