Social Studies
 

Our focus in social studies this year is Community.  What makes a community?  Why are communities important?  What makes a healthy community? How does the environment affect communities and vice versa? These are some of the guiding questions of our social studies program throughout the year.
 

Our focus in social studies this year is Community.  What makes a community?  Why are communities important?  These will be the guiding questions of our social studies program throughout the year. 

A community consists of the sum of its individual parts.  As such, we began our year by focusing on the individual, learning and sharing about our own identities. Questions we consider are: "What can you tell about somebody just by looking at them? What can't you tell about somebody just by looking at them." We begin our exploration of the individuals that make up our community by discussing the science and the poetry around skin color and other physical characteristics.How can you learn about somebody's affinities, hobbies, likes, dislikes, favorites? What are the strengths, what do our brains do well? Are we drawn to music, nature, friendship, numbers & logic, words & language, organization, drawing, design & construction, creative thinking and problem solving? What are our own "super powers" and how do we use them to better our community? What are the challenges we face? What do we do whne we face them? How can we make them less of a challenge? Knowing ourselves and how we learn helps us to enhance our community.

We will then expand our study of identity to a family level exploring topics such as roles and responsibilities, division of labor,

needs and wants, and scarcity of resources.  We will then continue to build on our study of individuals and families to examine our classroom, school, and city communities.

We will be visiting Champoeg State Park three times in the year. There will be a day trip in the fall, a day trip in winter, and a two-night overnight in the spring. Champoeg provides a great opportunity to reflect on different types of communities. Integrating our Pacific NW animal research with science and art, the students learn about the natural communities of plants and animals. We will also be learning about the historical communities that lived along the Willamette River in what is now a state park. We’ll look at the Kalapuya people and how they shaped and were shaped by the physical environment. We’ll then segue into the pioneer experience as many traveled westward on the Oregon Trail. We will consider how the environment and communities of people have changed through the years as we learn more about modern city communities and take a closer look at our own city.

Children will be creating a fictitious community, inventing characters, and participating in some of the decisions that are made at a community level.  Decisions will be influenced by a variety of factors such as (but certainly not limited to):  community history, geographical features, businesses, community members, natural environment, goods and services, advantages and disadvantages of the community.

Another important aspect of community is learning about the people in our own community. We are seeking volunteers to come in on some Thursday afternoons (though we can be flexible with days and times) to share a hobby, talent, occupation, cause, interest, skill, challenge, etc. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon in order to sign up (though you can be). We’re just looking for ways for the 2nd graders to learn more about the people who live and do things in their community

The social studies focus on community provides the second graders with rich opportunities to integrate their learning across subject areas.  We are working closely with all of the special subject teachers to broaden our focus on community well beyond the homeroom.