My Family and Other Families

Vocabulary: family, community, belief, custom, tradition, role, responsibility

Concepts:

What makes up a family?
Who are the members of your family?

Home activities: Talk about who is in your family. How many members are there in your family? What are the roles of the different members in your family?

History of My Family

Vocabulary: timeline, history, diversity, folktale, legend, biography

Concepts:

· What is my family history?

· What customs in my family come from my family history?

· What makes people and families different?

Home activities: Make a family tree with your child of your extended and/or immediate family. Discuss your family heritage and talk about the different things you do to continue family traditions.

My Community and Local Region

Vocabulary: community, events, people, various places, culture

Concepts:

What types of people make up my community? What are their job titles?
What are the important symbols, monuments and buildings in my community?

Home activities: When driving around town, point out government buildings, offices, and various businesses to your child. Discuss why you need those offices, etc. in your town. What happens in those offices, etc., that makes them so important? What cultures make up your community? Are there certain foods or traditions that are celebrated in your community?

Places in My Community and Local Region

Vocabulary: maps, globes, north, south, east, west, region

Concepts:

What does a map tell you?
What symbols are used on maps?
What are the compass directions?

Home Activities: When traveling in the car with your child, discuss which direction you are traveling. Have fun drawing a map of your street or town, making up symbols for certain landmarks, businesses and important offices.

Challenge of Meeting Wants and Needs

Vocabulary: work, job, profession, earn, goods, services, need, want

Concepts:

What are the jobs in your community?
How do people earn money to buy what they need?

Home Activities: Share your job with your child by scheduling a visit, making up a story or song about your profession. Talk about how your family earns money to buy what they need and how everyone can pitch in to create a budget that works.

Economic Decision Making

Vocabulary: money, spend, earn, budget

Concepts:

Why do you need money?
What types of things do you buy with money?
How do you earn money?

Home Activities: Make a chart with your child’s needs on one side, wants on the other. Make a savings plan to earn the items listed on the want side. Role-play with your child; cashier and customer, i.e., and discuss what you need or want from the provider.

Symbols of Citizenship

Vocabulary: United State of America, citizen, Pledge of Allegiance, national pride, freedom

Concepts:

What country do you live in?
Who is the President?
What does it mean to be a citizen?
What does the flag represent?

Home Activities: Discuss the importance of freedom. Translate the Pledge of Allegiance in to “kid” language and discuss what it means to say the pledge. Sing songs celebrating America.