Social Studies K to 1
Environment

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

• use picture maps to identify home and school within the community
• demonstrate awareness of natural and human-built environments
• describe how they interact with different environments
• practise responsible behaviour in caring for their immediate environment

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Environment in other grades click on an icon below.

• Ask students to identify natural and human-built landmarks that help them find their way between home and school. Then have them each create or compile a series of pictures representing their routes. Discuss the language of sequence: first, next, after that.
• Have students represent what they see when looking down (bird's-eye view) on several objects on their desks.
• Place a variety of elements from the natural environment (e.g., grass, water, gravel, leaves, sand) in separate boxes. Ask students to reach in without looking and describe what they feel. Have them create dioramas or visuals illustrating a natural environment that uses at least three of the elements.
• Have students, with school buddies, observe a specific area within the school field, a forest, a playground, or another local environment. Use a hoop or string to mark the environment and challenge students to observe by looking and feeling for an extended period of time. Record their findings. Provide opportunities for students to share and compare their observations.
• Conduct field trips (e.g., to a pond, garden, fish hatchery) to provide students with first-hand information and experiences in natural and human-built environments. At classroom centres, ask students to use various materials (e.g., sand, water, blocks, recycled objects) to represent in model form what they have learned about the environments they visit.
• Challenge students to plan a course of action that leads to an improvement in the school environment (e.g., garbage recycling, more art on the walls).

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• Take students for a walk around the school grounds. When they return to the classroom, have them identify all the things they noticed as they walked around. Ask students to each choose one object they saw and draw it. Then have students cut out their pictures and place them in the correct location on a large wall map showing the outline of the school. Check that they can use appropriate language to describe the locations of their objects (e.g., near, beside, in front of, behind).
• Show students photos depicting a variety of outdoor environments and ask each to choose a photo. Give them paper that is divided into four boxes. Ask them to illustrate the following:
  • clothing that might be suitable
  • a play activity suitable for this environment
  • shelter that might be appropriate
  • a possible occupation
  Look for evidence that the illustrations depict appropriate items and activities for the environments.
• After a field trip to a natural environment and another to a human-built one, use a Venn diagram to record students' observations of similarities and differences. Ask older students to cut out magazine pictures of natural and human-built environments. Have the younger students sort and classify the pictures into either "human-built" or "natural" environments. Note the extent to which students are able to classify the pictures and explain the factors that influenced their choice of classifications.
• As students plan a course of action to improve the school environment, note evidence that they are able to:
  • suggest suitable ideas to improve the classroom environment
  • make appropriate choices
  • share their ideas with others