1st Grade Social Studies – My Community and the World Around Me
Communities, local geography, responsibilities, and integrated ELA literacy.
Standards at a Glance
Course Focus
1.1 Me and My Community
1.2 Neighborhoods and Local Geography
1.3 Citizenship, Rules, and Responsibilities
1.4 Past and Present in Our Community
Overview
1st Grade Standards at a Glance – My Community and the World Around Me
A quick view of how 1st graders deepen their understanding of community, place, responsibilities, and change over time—while building geography and literacy skills.
1.1 Me and My Community
Social Studies Focus
- Identify themselves as part of many groups (family, class, community).
- Recognize community helpers and their roles.
- Describe ways they can contribute to their community.
Geography Skills
- Use simple maps or diagrams to show where they live, learn, and play.
- Use words like “near,” “far,” “between,” and “around” when describing places.
ELA Integration
- Reading: listen to and read simple texts about communities and helpers.
- Writing: draw, label, and write simple sentences about “my community.”
- Speaking/Listening: share community stories in partner and class discussions.
1.2 Neighborhoods and Local Geography
Social Studies Focus
- Identify important places in their neighborhood and town.
- Recognize that places can have different purposes (home, work, play, service).
- Begin to compare different kinds of communities (rural, suburban, urban) in simple ways.
Geography Skills
- Read simple picture maps and models of neighborhoods and towns.
- Use symbols and a simple key/legend to show places on a map.
ELA Integration
- Reading: informational texts and picture books about different types of communities.
- Writing: draw and write about a favorite place in their community and why it matters.
- Speaking/Listening: compare where they live to another community shown in a text.
1.3 Citizenship, Rules, and Responsibilities
Social Studies Focus
- Explain why communities have rules and laws.
- Identify examples of good citizenship at home, at school, and in the community.
- Recognize local leaders and how they help their community.
Geography Skills
- Connect certain places (like city hall, fire station, library) with the roles of community leaders and helpers.
- Use maps and images to locate places where decisions are made or services are provided.
ELA Integration
- Reading: read or listen to stories about fairness, rules, and helping others.
- Writing: write or dictate simple sentences about how they can be good citizens.
- Speaking/Listening: role-play situations showing responsible choices and cooperation.
1.4 Past and Present in Our Community
Social Studies Focus
- Describe how their community has changed over time.
- Identify simple timelines of personal and local events (then and now).
- Recognize people and places that are important to their community’s history.
Geography Skills
- Compare pictures, maps, or drawings of local places from the past and present.
- Notice how changes in buildings, roads, or parks affect how people use the space.
ELA Integration
- Reading: listen to or read simple historical stories about their town or region.
- Writing: create “then and now” drawings with labels or sentences about local changes.
- Speaking/Listening: share family or community stories about how things used to be.
Course Focus
1st Grade Social Studies – My Community and the World Around Me
In 1st grade, students expand from “me and my classroom” to “me and my community.” They learn about the people, places, and helpers that make their community work, and they begin to notice how rules, responsibilities, and changes over time shape daily life where they live.
Throughout the year, students practice geography skills by reading and creating simple maps, using symbols and keys, and describing how places are arranged and used. They also build ELA literacy by listening to and reading stories and informational texts, talking with classmates about their community, and drawing, labeling, and writing about the places, people, and events that matter in their lives.
Content Focus: Students see themselves as part of families, classrooms, and communities with people who have different roles and ways of helping.
Social Studies Indicators
- 1.1.1.SS – Identify groups they belong to (family, class, team, community) and describe how they participate in each one.
- 1.1.2.SS – Identify community helpers (such as firefighters, doctors, mail carriers, teachers) and describe how they help others.
- 1.1.3.SS – Give examples of how they can show kindness, respect, and responsibility in the community.
- 1.1.4.SS – Recognize that people in a community may have different backgrounds, traditions, and interests.
Geography Integration
- Locate on simple maps or diagrams where key community places (home, school, park) are in relation to each other.
- Use positional language (near, far, between, beside) to describe how community places are arranged.
- Draw or build simple models of their community showing important places and where helpers work.
- Connect the idea of “community” to a specific place or area where people live and work together.
ELA Literacy Integration
- Reading: Read or listen to picture books and short informational texts about community helpers and children’s roles in communities.
- Writing: Draw and write simple sentences about a community helper or about themselves as a helper (using sentence frames like “I help by…”).
- Speaking/Listening: Share ideas in small-group or whole-class discussions about what makes a good community member.
- Language: Use words such as community, helper, group, respect, responsibility when speaking and writing about their lives.
Content Focus: Students learn more about the physical layout of their neighborhood and town and how different places serve different purposes.
Social Studies Indicators
- 1.2.1.SS – Identify and describe important places in their neighborhood and town (homes, stores, parks, school, library).
- 1.2.2.SS – Explain why people go to different places and what they do there.
- 1.2.3.SS – Recognize that communities can look different (rural, suburban, urban) but all have important places and services.
- 1.2.4.SS – Compare two different communities in very simple ways (buildings, transportation, open spaces).
Geography Integration
- Interpret simple picture maps, aerial photos, or models showing buildings, roads, and open spaces.
- Use symbols and a basic key/legend to represent places (house, school, park) on a map or diagram.
- Follow a map or picture plan to move through or describe a neighborhood or school area.
- Use directional words (north/south/east/west only if appropriate; otherwise, up/down/left/right) in navigation and map games.
ELA Literacy Integration
- Reading: Read or listen to informational texts and realistic fiction about different kinds of communities and places.
- Writing: Draw and write about a favorite place in their community, using words that describe what they see, hear, or do there.
- Speaking/Listening: Compare and contrast their community with one from a text, using sentence frames like “In my community…” and “In the book…”.
- Language: Use words such as neighborhood, map, symbol, town, city, country correctly in oral and written language.
Content Focus: Students build on what they learned in Kindergarten about rules and responsibilities and connect these ideas to local leaders and citizenship.
Social Studies Indicators
- 1.3.1.SS – Explain why communities have rules and laws and how they help keep people safe and treated fairly.
- 1.3.2.SS – Identify examples of good citizenship (obeying rules, helping others, taking care of property, telling the truth).
- 1.3.3.SS – Identify local leaders (mayor, principal, council members) and describe how they help the community.
- 1.3.4.SS – Describe simple ways they can participate in their school or local community (recycling, volunteering, following rules).
Geography Integration
- Use maps and pictures to locate places where rules are made or leaders work (school office, city hall, police station).
- Connect specific places to the responsibilities carried out there (e.g., library → reading and borrowing books responsibly).
- Identify areas in the community that need care (parks, streets) and connect them to citizenship actions.
- Create simple “citizenship maps” that show where students can help or follow rules in school and community spaces.
ELA Literacy Integration
- Reading: Read or listen to stories and informational texts about fairness, honesty, and helping others; identify the problem and solution.
- Writing: Write or dictate a few sentences about a time they showed good citizenship or followed an important rule.
- Speaking/Listening: Participate in role-plays, discussions, or short presentations about being a good citizen at school and in the community.
- Language: Use words like rule, law, leader, citizen, fairness, respect accurately in discussions and writing.
Content Focus: Students explore how people, places, and daily life in their community have changed over time and how some things stay the same.
Social Studies Indicators
- 1.4.1.SS – Compare aspects of life “long ago” and “today” in their community (transportation, clothing, school, communication) using simple examples.
- 1.4.2.SS – Create or interpret simple timelines showing events in their own lives and events in the community.
- 1.4.3.SS – Identify people, buildings, or landmarks that are important to the history of their community.
- 1.4.4.SS – Describe how changes in the community can help or challenge people who live there.
Geography Integration
- Compare maps, photos, or drawings of the community from the past and present to see what has changed and what is the same.
- Identify changes in land use (open fields to neighborhoods, new roads, playgrounds) and talk about why those changes happened.
- Connect changes in places to changes in how people live, work, and travel.
- Create “then and now” map panels that show a place in the community at two different times.
ELA Literacy Integration
- Reading: Listen to or read simple historical texts, photo essays, or stories that show how communities change over time.
- Writing: Draw and write about how one place or activity in their community has changed; use words like “before,” “after,” “then,” and “now.”
- Speaking/Listening: Share family stories or interviews about “what it used to be like here,” and compare them with today.
- Language: Use time words and phrases (long ago, today, in the past, now) correctly in oral retelling and writing.
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