Friday was my first early release day and man do those days fly! We spent our Friday working on Social Studies and learning about maps. We used Google Earth to find our school on the map, starting from way out in space. We also created our own projects starting with us, and our house (keep practicing addresses!), and moving to our city, state, country, and finally world. It was great to hear the kids talk about other states they have been to, and what they know about other places in the world.
Tag Archives: social studies
Economics On The Farm!
Mrs. Brenda Raterink, a farmer in Zeeland, came to help us with Social Studies today. She helped us understand and experience what Economics is and how it works. Each of the students had a special job– we had farmers, processors, truckers, and grocers. Once the product was made… everyone got to be a consumer! 🙂
A Visit from the Mayor!
Hudsonville Mayor Don VanDoeselaar came to visit our second grade students this week!  In social studies, we have been talking about how good citizens solve community problems by working together. Mayor VanDoeselaar illustrated this by presenting a current issue that he and the town council are currently working on: whether or not to create a new sledding hill for the citizens of Hudsonville at Hillside Park and closing Watertower Hill on 36th Avenue.  He presented the pros and cons for each side of the issue.  Students voted and there was a majority vote for moving the hill to Hillside Park!  Mayor VanDoeselaar will bring the results to the town council where the issue will be decided on this fall.  Way to go, boys and girls!  You were an important part of the Democratic process! What good citizens you are!! 🙂
Social Studies Update!
We are learning about maps in Social Studies! A lot of the kids had some great schema for maps. They know… it is something that can help you if you get lost, something you use on a trip, something to help show you where you are, or to find a treasure!! You may have seen a classroom map come home that was made from a “Bird’s Eye View.” We talked about how when WE look at things, we see them one way- but when we look at a map, it looks different. We pretended we were birds and could see right through the top of our classroom. We discussed how things would look different from the top, we wouldn’t see the legs of chairs or tables, or the books on the shelves! Since we are looking at the map from a different angle, we needed to make a key with our symbols so people would know what they were looking at!
We also read a book called, “Me On the Map” and learned about maps and globes. We learned that there are symbols on maps and globes, too, to help us understand. Where we see green, that is land, and where we see blue- we know that is water.  We made a map of our school and talked about different regions.  A region is a certain area on a map– the kids know we have a specials region, early childhood region, 2-3 region…
 We also know that each person has a special place on the map.   Next, we will be studying our addresses!
Practice your address at home…the trickiest parts are the numbers (house and zip code)!!
Social Studies Update
During our Social Studies time, we continued talking about the expectations in first grade.  The students have been doing a great job recognizing behavior that will help them “Clip Up” and have been working hard to avoid things that may cause them to “Clip Down”.  An important thing for all the students to remember is that they always have the chance to move their clip back up!
We also learned that each one of us carries an invisible bucket each day.  We talked about how to be “Bucket Fillers” and not “Bucket Dippers”.  We want to work hard to make sure everyone’s bucket is full and we can do that by saying or doing nice things to them.  The good news is… when we fill someone else’s bucket, we fill ours, too!
The third thing that was introduced this week was how to give someone, “A Bug and a Wish”.  Often there are times when a friend does something that bothers us and this is a great way to practice using our kind words and being polite.  For example, “It bugs me when you follow me around and I wish you would please stop.”  This allows the kids to communicate with each other and work on their problem solving skills.
We began the week by celebrating Constitution Day!  We talked about all of our Georgetown Rules and had a discussion about how the United States has a set of rules, too.  We talked about the importance of working together to make sure everyone understood and agreed.  The last thing we did was… make a constitution of our own!  It is up in our classroom to remind us of how to be a good classroom citizen and friend to others!
Social Studies
In Social Studies, we have been talking about the past, present, and future. Â We learned that kindergarten is in the past, 1st grade is the present, and in the future, we will be in 2nd grade.
We are learning about History, and History is the study of the past.
There are four ways to learn about the past:
- Pictures
- People
- Written Records
- Artifacts
One of the ways to learn about the past is through people and their stories. Â We talked about what our parents had told us about when they were in school, or the questions we could ask our grandparents to see how different things were when they were in school. Â To help with this, we discussed family trees. Â We know that we are at the bottom of the tree, with our parents just above us. Â But, the kids learned that the tree could have so many different branches going in all different directions because, “Everyone has parents.”
They are doing a wonderful job… and have been very curious about how school worked when everyone was in the same room- even if they weren’t in the same grade.  Or, why people had to heat up water to take a warm bath.  The biggest question has been, how did they do their work if there weren’t computers, or TVs, or phones to call a friend.  🙂
Social Studies Update!
This week in Social Studies, we started our Economics unit.  The first things we learned were needs and wants.  A need is something we can’t live with out, a want is something that makes life more fun.  🙂  We talked about different wants- things that we have asked for for our birthdays or things that were on our Christmas list.
The kids know that we have 5 needs: Â food, water, shelter, clothes, air
We also talked about goods and services. Â A good is something you can hold in your hand, and a service is something that someone else does for you. Â The kids did a great job of brainstorming different kinds of services- mailmen, waiters, policemen, teachers, and dentists…
We will continue this week reviewing what we have learned so far and moving on to consumers and producers.
*Please continue to practice your home address with your child– I have been so impressed so far with how well they are doing!
Miss Taber 🙂
Social Studies Update
Your student may have received something in the mail last week… and if it hasn’t gotten there yet– it’s coming soon! Â We will continue working on practicing and learning our own addresses and would love extra practice at home, too!
This week we continued the man made vs. nature made learning. Â We talked about different kinds of landforms: Â river, lake, ocean, plain, mountain, and forest. Â We know that each of these things are nature made.
We read the book, “The Little House” and talked about how the land around us can change.  The students were shocked to see the transformation from a little house in the country to an entire city being built up around it.  We introduced the word “adapt” to the students– getting used to something new.  We will continue to work with this word in the coming week!  🙂
Miss Taber 🙂
Social Studies Update
In Social Studies this week we learned about our addresses! Â Since each of us have a special place on the map, we talked about how it is important for people to be able to find us– or send us letters! Â We learned that each of us have a different address and there are a few important things that go into that. Â There are 3 lines that help make up our address:
Name
House Number and Street
City, State, and Zip Code
We will continue practicing our address this week, as well as talking about man made vs. nature made objects. Â *Please practice your address with your student at home!
Thanks!
Miss Taber 🙂
Social Studies Update
We are learning about maps in Social Studies! A lot of the kids had some great schema for maps. They know… it is something that can help you if you get lost, something you use on a trip, something to help show you where you are, or to find a treasure!! You may have seen a classroom map come home that was made from a “Bird’s Eye View.” We talked about how when WE look at things, we see them one way- but when we look at a map, it looks different. We pretended we were birds and could see right through the top of our classroom. We discussed how things would look different from the top, we wouldn’t see the legs of chairs or tables, or the books on the shelves! Since we are looking at the map from a different angle, we needed to make a key with our symbols so people would know what they were looking at!
We also read a book called, “Me On the Map” and learned about maps and globes. We learned that there are symbols on maps and globes, too, to help us understand. Where we see green, that is land, and where we see blue- we know that is water. We know that each person has a special place on the map. 🙂 Next, we will be studying our addresses!