1st Grade Social Studies Curriculum: How can family members take care of one another?
Updated: Oct 21, 2020
This blog post is one in a series that breaks down one unit from each grade level of Inquiry Journeys, inquirED's core elementary social studies curriculum. For a trial account containing all lessons for the unit, click below.
Preview Inquiry Journeys
1st Grade Social Studies Curriculum Essential Question
How can family members take care of one another?
1st-grade social studies students explore the different roles and responsibilities family members can have as they reflect upon their own unique family roles and responsibilities. They examine how individual family members can work together to meet one another’s needs and wants. Objectives include:
Identify the different roles and responsibilities people may have in a family
Recognize the difference between needs and wants
Describe how family members meet one another’s needs and wants
Lesson 1: Exploring Roles and Responsibilities
1st-grade social studies students explore the important roles and responsibilities that family members have, and discover how these can differ among families. They also share a personal responsibility, then identify similarities and differences between other responsibilities.
Check out this great slideshow of family roles and responsibilities.
Lesson 2: Defining Family Needs and Wants 1st-grade social studies students work to define the terms “needs” and “wants,” then apply them to family dynamics. Through reading, students will learn how to make the distinction between needs and wants, and identify this distinction through visual representation. They develop and demonstrate their understanding through a guided activity.
Check out this article from inquirED's Text Library about needs and wants, scaled for 1st-grade readers.
Lesson 3: Helping Out at Home 1st-grade social studies students create a Comic Strip that demonstrates a role or responsibility that will help meet the needs or wants within their families. The creation of their own Comic Strip offers an opportunity to describe an idea in writing and support it with drawings.
View a sample rubric for the creation of the comic strip.
Lesson 4: Critique the Comic Strip When 1st-grade social studies students are working on a meaningful deliverable, it can be very helpful to facilitate a formal critique session so that they may improve their work. Here, students are introduced to the basics of critique practice (warm, cool, and suggestion feedback) by starting with a low-stakes critique of teacher work. Then, students have an opportunity for peer feedback before revising their work in the Closing.
Check out this video to learn the basics of critique in the social studies classroom.
Download critique rules posters to help guide students.