Social Studies for Young Children Preschool and Primary Curriculum Anchor Second Edition Gayle Mindes ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELDEDUCATION Adivisionof ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELD Lanham•Boulder •NewYork•Toronto•Plymouth,UK PublishedbyRowman&LittlefieldEducation AdivisionofRowman&Littlefield 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.rowman.com 10ThornburyRoad,PlymouthPL67PP,UnitedKingdom Copyright©2014byGayleMindes Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems, withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote passagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData 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. LB1140.5.S6M552013 372.6071—dc23 2013029696 TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Tomyfamilyandfriendswithbigearsandbiggerhearts. 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.