United States · Common Core State Standards
1st Grade Families & Neighborhoods
First Grade Social Studies exploring family life, neighborhood geography, civic responsibility, and basic economics. Children expand their world from home to the wider community.
Families Past & Present
How have families changed over time? Children learn about different family structures, celebrate family traditions, and discover how families have changed across generations.
Children learn that families come in many forms and that every family has its own special way of living and caring for one another.
Children share traditions from their own families and explore how celebrations, meals, and stories are passed down through generations.
Children compare family life long ago with family life today, discovering how things like technology and daily routines have changed.
Students create simple visual timelines to show important events in their own lives and their families' history.
Our Community Geography
What does our world look like? Children begin to read maps, compare different types of neighborhoods, and learn about the physical world around them.
Children are introduced to maps and globes, learning that these tools help us understand where places are in our neighborhood and the world.
Children draw and describe their own neighborhoods, identifying the important places and people that make their community special.
Children compare life in cities, suburbs, and the countryside, learning that people live in different types of communities.
Students identify physical features like mountains, hills, rivers, and lakes found in the United States and their local area.
Students learn to use a compass rose and map keys to find their way around a simple map of a park or school.
Being a Good Citizen
What does it mean to be a good citizen? Children explore their rights and responsibilities, practice making group decisions, and learn about American symbols.
Children learn what it means to be a citizen of their classroom, school, and community, and that citizens have both rights and responsibilities.
Children practice voting on classroom choices and learn that voting is one fair way groups make decisions together.
Students identify and learn the meaning behind the U.S. flag, the Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty.
Children discuss why we need rules at home and school, and how laws keep people safe in the community.
Our Economy: Work & Money
Where do the things we use come from? Children explore goods and services, learn about producers and consumers, and discover the importance of saving.
Children learn that goods are things you can touch and buy, and services are helpful things people do for others.
Children discover that producers make or grow things and consumers buy or use them, and that everyone is both at different times.
Children explore the many different jobs people have in their community and how each job helps meet the needs of others.
Students distinguish between things people must have to survive and things they would like to have.
Our Country, Our Heroes
Who are the people who helped shape the United States? Students learn about national holidays and the diverse people who contributed to American history.
Students explore why we celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and Independence Day.
Students learn about historical figures such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Harriet Tubman.
Children study leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks who worked to make the United States more fair.
Students discover Americans who invented things that changed our lives, like Thomas Edison or the Wright Brothers.