I am looking for some suggestions on history for a first grader. We began our school year at the begining of summer and are going great with everything but history. I thought I knew what I was going to use but now I don't know. I am thinking of just reading age appropriate biographies of Americans like George Washington and Buffalo Bill periodically through the year. Is that enough? She is only 6 but I don't know if I should be doing more. I want to do the Prairie Primer with her but that won't be for another year or two.
I think you have a good plan already, since she is in 1st grade. Seriously, I think you will find plenty of opportunity to teach history through your other subjects. You can also go onto the internet for printables that deal with history. Make a lapbook about George Washington, Columbus, or your state. Add color pages of your state flag and state song. Something simple. Have fun!
If you want something to give your curriculum a little structure, you might look at Bob Jones for 1st grade history. It was very light---- designed for 3 days per week [but each lesson was so short that you could easily tackle them all in one sitting]. It did some geography and covered early American history with Columbus and Bradford with the pilgrims. It also gave info on Native Americans, pointing out that what they wore and what they lived in depended on where they lived. I liked it mainly for the project ideas it had. The kids liked them quite a bit. We ended up switching to a classical approach to history the next year, but for an easy early American history curriculum, Bob Jones would do the trick.
You can get simple biographies, we got a few history type issues of time and took the pictures out and are learning about the pictures themselves. What they are of, what are they doing, etc. I've written down ten facts about the historical event and then we go from there. I can save those pictures and use them for other grade stuff, like when she is older I can bring out the picture of Armstrong walking on the moon and turn it into a journal entry. "So pretend you are Armstrong, write down what you are feeling and experiencing on the moon" I'm trying to do things that are unique and can last a few years with a little expansion each time. Your plan seems fine.
I would have suggested looking into SOTW...if you were not doing American History. However, at this point, I think Bob Jones or internet sources may work very well for you.
There are some good step into reading books that are kid oriented biographies. I just read a couple with my 7 yr old son about Helen Keller, and Henry Ford. They are cute, but include factual information. You could also start reading the American Girl books to her. My DD has loved them from ages 6-10... only now she reads them to herself. One thing I have decided to do is put up a timeline for my kids. That way, everytime we learn about an event or a person, we can add them to the time line and give kids a point of reference for what and when we are talking! Plus it's a hands on "crafty" thing my kids will love, but won't take tons of materials or planning.
Oh I had forgotten all about lapbooks!! I really like that idea and I think Grace would enjoy the hands on aspect of it. I think I will try that first before actually buying anything because I can get the bios from the library. I think we will go with George Washington first and if I can get to the library this weekend we can begin next week. I also think we will implement a timeline. Great ideas thanks!
I really like CLP's History for Little Pilgrims. It reads like a story, so younger children can stay focused and it is for every other day, so not too much. Plus, it is very affordable.
I think your idea of reading biography books for first grade is perfect, use the American Girl series! They have craft books and cooking books too that you can incorperate into it. Maybe do a little local stuff too like a trip to a museum in your town, and look for what it was like for kids back in the day. For geography do local map work. Have your child draw a map of the neighborhood , learn how to find the way back home from two place or more that you go to regularly. I did more community lessons in first and second , third grade we began states geography part. keep it light, and interesting!
We use the Usborn World History Encyclopedia for a history guide/ outline. That way we don't miss stuff. We read the 2 page spread, then get more books on the topic from the library and read those too. Then we do projects or activities from ideas found in books or online. We spend four years making our way through the entire history of the world and then start over again, this time with more difficult/detailed outside reading and new projects. Plus at this age, I have my kids start to write about the history topics as well.
Someone on this thread is a distributor for Usborn too so if you choose to get some of them check for the person, they are not pushy about it either! I just forget who it is , ehy gave me some good advice about some books I already had on my shelf and had forgotten that helped me last year!
My son is in first as well. We don't do History regularly instead I wait for a holiday (4th of July, Presidents' Day, Thanksgiving, etc.) and we learn about history through that holiday and make lapbooks. We check out books from the library or I find worksheets on the internet.
I'm not even messing with history for my K and 1st grader. The point of learning in the earliest stages for us is to create hooks for learning, and I just really dont think my kids are ready for the facts that history presents. We're going a social studies route, according to interests mostly - things like community workers, holidays and traditions, and anything for which scouting provides an easy expansion. Being aware of the world around us, kinda thing. Our formal history will start with the Ancients in 3rd grade.
my dd is 1st grade also! we are doing a short/simple version of Am. history and important american people. Lots of step into reading books are being used this year at our house. we just finished george washington and the generals dog. i want to to be fun and make her interested in history in the future instead of being dull and boring in the 1st grade. we are also working on learning the states, but b/c DD loves to memorize things! LOL
Last year, my first grader read the Abeka History 1 and History 2 readers. He loved them. He could read them to me and loved that they were short but had lots of pictures. We don't use a ton of Abeka around here but 2 of my 3 have loved the History readers for 1, 2, and 3rd grade. From there, we use Sonlight for a few years.
We are using it too. I am getting free through paperbackswap.com the reader/book. I purchased teacher's guide and the coloring book at our local FEAST bookstore for $ 7.00. We will be supplementing with read aloud books and making lapbooks.
We learned the Animaniacs president song that someone posted on here. My kids thought it was great. So then I just picked up some kid-sized presidential bios for my then-2nd grader and K to read and flip through from the library.
