Social Studies K to 1
Society and Culture

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

• describe differences between individual needs and wants
• describe changes in their lives and their reactions to them
• describe some of the purposes of families
• describe how families can be similar and different
• identify some characteristics of their community

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

• Provide students with visual resources (e.g., magazines, catalogues) and ask them to find pictures depicting needs and wants. Have them cut and paste the pictures onto pieces of paper, using the sentence starters: "I need ‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚" and "I want ‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ ."
• Have students bring items from home or create personal grab bags of items that represent needs or wants. Ask them to explain why they selected each item. Help students to group these items on a class chart under headings such as Safety, Health, and Happiness. Discuss reasons for the groupings.
• Create a way to track changes that are meaningful to students (e.g., moving away or joining the class, new baby in the family). Discuss key events as they occur.
• Ask students: How does your family help you? Use pictures of different family scenes (e.g., cooking, playing) to further their discussion of families meeting basic needs.
• Read stories from a variety of cultures about families and the importance of caregivers. Talk about the roles of various family members in the stories. Extend this activity to other learning centres (e.g., painting, drama, writing).
• With the class, graph similarities and differences in families (e.g., number in family, where people live).
• Conduct a home walk or bus ride through the local community. Then invite students to create a mural depicting places they visited and people they met. As a class, discuss: What is a community?

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• Ask students to collect pictures representing needs and wants, then have them group the items into logical categories (e.g., shelter, food, relationships, clothing). Have them tape or glue the images under the appropriate categories on a wall chart. Note the extent to which students are able to:
  • differentiate between individual needs and wants
  • make connections between the responses of others and their own experiences
  • logically categorize their responses
• In September, establish growth charts. Periodically have students review their measurements (height, hand and foot prints, and teeth changes). Ask students what they notice about how they have grown and developed. Look for evidence that they are able to:
  • identify changes in themselves
  • talk about how they feel about those changes
• Following a class discussion on the various characteristics of their community, have students brainstorm times when their families use resources in the community (e.g., swimming pool, community centre, health unit, hospital). Using Big Book paper, ask students to each draw two situations that represent their families using community resources. Encourage students to label their drawings and complete the sentence stem: "This is my family in our community. We are ‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚." Create a class Big Book entitled "Community Resources Our Families Use" and add students' drawings. As a class, have students present their drawings by reading their pages in the Big Book. Note the extent to which they are able to identify characteristics of their community.