Comparing classrooms around the world: a unit plan

Abstract

Often times, social studies are a forgotten subject in early childhood education. With a huge focus of the school day being on language arts and math, subjects like science and social studies have seemingly become second tier. Social studies instruction teaches essential skills that help children throughout school as well as teaching them to become responsible citizens. For these reasons, this thesis is a social studies unit plan meant for a kindergarten classroom. It explores three different countries and cultures; South Korea, El Salvador, and Germany. The unit focuses on comparing and contrasting going to school in the United States to going to school in these countries using an introductory read aloud, one full length lesson for each of the countries, and a final assessment where students will write their own book pages highlighting the comparisons they see.