Core Curriculum

First Grade

Core Curriculum

National Standards

Materials And Resources

The following are materials and resources that can be used to support the core curriculum.

Lesson Ideas

Books

  • Notable Trade Books for Young People
    The books that appear in these annotated book lists were evaluated and selected by a Book Review Committee appointed by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and assembled in cooperation with the Children's Book Council (CBC).

  • My Perfect Neighborhood by Leah Lomaiko Reading Leah
    Komailko's book is a great way to introduce children to the concept of neighborhood. In the story, a young girl describes her own neighborhood, embellishing her view of it to an amusing extent.

  • Once Around the Block by Kevin Henkes
     Annie is bored, so she walks around her neighborhood, finding pleasant surprises along the way.

  • Neighborhood Odes by Gary Soto
    Through poetry, the author conveys the sights and sounds of a Mexican-American neighborhood.

  • Garden of Dreams by Richard M. Wainwright
    This story tells of a boy's dream to improve his urban neighborhood and of the children who give life to his dream.

  • Stop Your Crowing, Kasimir! By Ursel Scheffler
    When neighbors complain about a rooster's wake-up call, they come to regret their whining.

  • One Afternoon by Yumi Heo (ISBN 0-531-06845-5, Orchard Books)
    This picture book is about Minho and his mother as they go to the neighborhood market. They encounter many sounds on their way to and from the store. They go home but they don't find quite what they expect.

  • The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse by Lorinda Bryan Cauley
    Neighborhoods, as your students have probably already observed, are not all alke. Reading this book with your students is a great way to begin discussing different kinds of neighborhoods and of introducing students to the concepts of urban and rural.

  • My Farm, by Alison Lester ( ISBN 0-395-97721-5, Houghton Mifflin)
    American readers will be introduced to a "jinker," a "bush run," and "mobs of cattle" in this gentle memoir, spanning one year of life for a child living on an Australian farm overlooking the sea. This picture book lovingly depicts intriguing particulars of everyday life in a faraway place, a place that seems both familiar and strange.

  • The Desert Fox Family Book by Hans Gerold Laukel (ISBN 0-7358-1095-8, North-South Books)
    This animal family book makes the desert region of northern Africa and the Sahara desert come alive with real pictures of the area. The story of a family of fennec foxes helps to tell the story of desert life. Here students are introduced to the Bedouin people, oasis, and sandstorms.

Teacher Resources

  • Utah State Office of Education Recommended Instructional Materials System (RIMS)
    Find instructional materials that have been adopted by the Utah State Office of Education

  • Neighborhoods and Communities by Kathleen M. Hollenbeck (ISBN 0-590-89809-4, Scholastic Professional Books)
    The literature-based, hands-on activities in this resource will provide your students with lots of opportunities to discover their surroundings. As they learn about the people and places within their neighborhood, they will also build on the concepts of cooperation, living with diversity and change, and making a personal contribution for the common good.

  • National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
    Founded in 1921, National Council for the Social Studies has grown to be the largest association in the country devoted solely to social studies education. NCSS engages and supports educators in strengthening and advocating social studies. With members in all the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 69 foreign countries, NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for elementary, secondary, and college teachers of history, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law-related education.

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Internet Resources

The following links January 3, 2008ref="http://www.marcopolo-education.com/" target="_blank"> MarcoPolo
MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom is a consortium of premier national education organizations, state education agencies and the MarcoPolo Education Foundation dedicated to providing the highest quality Internet content and professional development to teachers and students throughout the United States.

  • Pioneer - Utah's Online Library
    Pioneer is Utah’s Online Library of electronic resources. It provides statewide access to newspaper articles, magazines, professional journals, encyclopedias, video, photographs, maps, charts, and graphics.

  • Utah Education Network
    The Utah Education Network website provides education tools, activities, lesson plans, curriculum guides and professional development for teachers and educators in the state of Utah. You can also find other UEN resources like KULC channel 9, EDNET, and distance learning resources here.

  • Education Site for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

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    For further information, contact Robert Austin, State Social Studies Specialist - 801.538.7708; FAX 801.538.7769
    This page last updated January 3, 2008