PreK-2: Learning Objectives

Knowledge: PreK-2 students should be able to-
- Define terms such as: rules, rights, democracy, responsibilities, laws, power, nation-state, justice, and the roles of citizenship
- Explain why we need rules and how rules are made
- Describe the purposes of rule making
- Explain how to change an unfair rule
- Explain how rules and laws affect children and adults
- Explain why people make and change rules and laws
- Identify the symbols of citizenship and our nation
- Name and discuss the holidays and celebrations of our nation
- Identify and discuss the rules and responsibilities that children have in school, at home, and in their communities
- Discuss how students, teachers, and staff members of the school community have rights and responsibilities
- Explain how people in rural, urban, and suburban communities develop rules and laws to govern and protect community members
- Identify their local representatives
- Identify and describe the roles of local community helpers
- Explain what it means to be a good citizen in the school, home, neighborhood, and community
- Explain why people form governments
- Describe what is meant by a representative democracy
- Explain why the American flag is an important symbol of our nation
- Describe the importance of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America
Skills: PreK-2 students will learn and practice social studies skills related to getting, using, organizing, and presenting information.
- Students should be able to get information by-
  - Identifying available and appropriate resources
  - Reading from trade and text books
  - Listening to guest speakers such as police officers, city council members, school staff members and administrators, fire fighters, paramedics, and other community members
  - Interviewing parents and relatives, local political leaders, school officials, and community helpers
  - Viewing photographs, videotapes, DVDs, and museum exhibits that display the symbols of our representative democracy
  - Listening to radio broadcasts about community news and issues
  - Visiting local and neighborhood government offices and buildings
- Students should be able to organize information by-
  - Completing Venn diagrams
  - Putting events in chronological order
  - Completing charts and tables that sort information into logical categories
  - Completing outlines that include important facts and information
  - Arranging or sorting pictures into a logical order or sequence
  - Contributing to a language experience chart that classifies information into categories
  - Completing timelines
  - Making posters that present a theme or express a point of view
  - Drawing maps and pictures
- Students should be able to present information by-
  - Describing the meaning of pictures, photographs, and objects
  - Drawing pictures of the American flag and other symbols of our nation and explaining their meaning
  - Contributing to a “big book” activity about classroom rules and responsibilities
  - Acting out roles in classroom plays about national holidays and celebrations
  - Role playing various classroom, school, community, and home rules
  - Singing patriotic songs or playing instruments along with patriotic music
  - Making posters displaying classroom and school rules
  - Demonstrating how to share, take turns, listen to others, respect property, and follow directions in the classroom, on the playground, and at home
  - Writing letters to law makers and local officials about local, neighborhood, or regional issues or problems
- Students should be able to present information by-
  - Developing and explaining possible solutions to a local, community, or regional problem
  - Establishing a classroom government, electing leaders and representatives, and passing “legislation” related to classroom procedures and activities
  - Reciting and explaining the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
  - Contributing to a classroom art gallery of students’ drawings showing the rights/responsibilities of citizenship and rules for school safety
Civic Dispositions*: Students should learn and demonstrate the following civic values and attitudes-
- Willing to listen to others points of view or positions on issues even if one strongly disagrees (i.e., civility and civil conversation)
- Willing to view and assess a problem or issue from different points of view or perspectives (i.e., perspective taking)
- Willing to put oneself into another’s shoes
- Willing to allow others to express their opinions, without interruption, after expressing one’s own opinion
- Willing to participate in open-ended and respectful discussions, without using name calling or verbal attacks on those who disagree with one’s own position or arguments
- Willing to show respect for the rule of law
- Willing to consider other points of view or arguments before forming conclusions or making judgments
- Willing to tolerate ambiguity and resist simplistic solutions to complex issues and problems
- Willing to respect the civil rights of others
- Willing to participate in classroom, school, and community activities
- Willing to respect others’ property
- Willing to demonstrate personal responsibility

(*Adapted from: Judith Torney-Purta and Susan Vermeer, Developing Citizenship Competencies from Kindergarten through Grade 12: A Background Paper for Policymakers and Educators [Education Commission of the States, 2004], p. 21; and Dialogue on Brown v. Board of Education [American Bar Association, Division for Public Education, 2003], p. 7.)