Social Studies for Young Children: Preschool and Primary Curriculum Anchor

214 Pages·2013·1.24 MB·English

by  Gayle Mindes

Social Studies for Young Children
Preschool and Primary
Curriculum Anchor
Second Edition
Gayle Mindes
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELDEDUCATION
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Copyright©2014byGayleMindes
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Mindes,Gayle.
Socialstudiesforyoungchildren:preschoolandprimarycurriculumanchor/GayleMindes—
Secondedition.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-1-4758-0086-9(pbk.:alk.paper)—ISBN978-1-4758-0087-6(electronic)
1.Socialsciences—Studyandteaching(Earlychildhood)2.Socialsciences—Studyandteaching
(Elementary)I.Title.
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2013029696
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Withmanythanks,Gayle

Contents
Foreword vii
MaraSapon-Shevin
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1 IntroductiontotheAuthorityofSocialStudies 1
2 MoralDevelopment,CharacterEducation,EmotionalLiteracy,
andtheSocialStudies 21
3 TeachingandLearningSocialStudiesintheAgeofCommon
CoreandStateStandards 45
4 TheContextofCultureinTeachingSocialStudies:Beyondthe
AntibiasCurriculum 69
5 PerspectivesonClassroomPractices 89
LindaDaveyandDorisProninFromberg
6 Multimedia,theWorld,andYoungChildren 115
7 AssessingtheAccomplishmentofLearningintheSocialStudies 139
8 SocialStudiesasCurriculumAnchor 161
Appendix:Children’sLiteratureOrganizedbyNationalCouncilof
theSocialStudiesThemes 193
PreparedbyKellyMinks,CollegeofEducationgraduate
assistant,DePaulUniversity,Chicago.
v

Foreword
Mara Sapon-Shevin
Howdowehelpyoungpeoplelearntobegoodcitizenslivinginademocrat-
ic, diverse society, and why does it matter? This book makes it abundantly
clearthatthistaskisnotonlycomplexbutessentialtoourcollectivefutureas
human beings sharing an increasingly connected planet. Learning to live
together—the focus of social studies—is the most important thing that stu-
dents can learn in schools, and it is critical that we continue to advocate
stronglyfortheimportanceofthiscurriculum.
When my daughters were young, we lived in North Dakota, and they
weretheonlyJewishvegetarianchildrenwithhyphenatedlastnamesintheir
fairly homogeneous school. It was difficult for other children to understand
and appreciate the food that they brought to school for lunch; their names
were “different”; and they were sent home with ornaments that they had
made in class to decorate their nonexistent Christmas tree. All of us—chil-
dren and parents—struggled to situate ourselves and experience a sense of
belonging within a community in which few people looked like us, wor-
shippedaswedid,atelikeus,orhadbeenbornoutsidethestate.
This book makes evident how crucial it is for all of us—beginning, of
course,withyoungchildren—totrulyunderstanddiversity,tohavetheinter-
personal skills to live well with others, and to embrace a worldview that is
broad andembracing,opento thevastwondersof theworld.Whatcouldbe
moreimportant?
Inthiseraofincreasedstandardizedhigh-stakestesting,externalcurricu-
lum mandates, and growing corporate control of education, it has become
painfully challenging for teachers to be responsive to the children in their
care. Many teachers have left education because of the excruciating gap
between what they know is important for their students and what, how, and
whentheyaremandatedtoteach.
vii
viii Foreword
Social studies education, as outlined in this excellent book, has been
squeezedoutofthecurriculuminmanyplaces,anditisvitaltooursurvival
as citizens that it be reinserted, valued, and supported by parents, educators,
administrators, and policy makers. Social studies cannot and should not be
viewed as an “add-on”—what we do if we have time after we teach literacy
and mathematics. In fact, as this book demonstrates, social studies can and
should be taught as an integrated part of all other subjects. Social studies
teaches us how we belong and how we can help others to belong, how we
resolve conflicts, how we talk about differences, how we understand our
interconnectedness, and how we support one another’s rights and opportu-
nities.
This book reminds us of the critical preparation provided by social stud-
ies, and it is rich in concrete examples of how we can provide endless
teachable moments about citizenship and belonging in terms of what we
read, what we talk about, what we listen to, what we draw, and how we
interact.