Authored by:
TeacherVision Staff
Last edited: November 15, 2019
Distribute an article that gives timely advice to parents on how to foster social studies skill building in their child.
Subjects:
Building Social Studies Skills
Grade 2
Tips for Parents
- Watch the television news together on occasion. Let the events on thenews become a basis for conversation. You might also watch documentaries abouthistorical figures with your child; biography is a good basis for helpingchildren learn about history.
- As your child learns more about the calendar, you might ask, "What arethe days of the week? The months of the year?"
- Look at photographs together. Family pictures showing you and your child atdifferent ages are a good choice. Ask, "What can you remember about theseearlier times? What is different now?"
- Look at photographs of children in other parts of the world. See whetheryour child knows where these children come from, and then ask him or her to tellyou about the different countries the children come from.
- Social studies in second grade includes more about maps and regions of theworld. You might ask your child what countries he or she knows about. Can yourchild find these countries on a globe or map?
- Second-graders study the globe. Ask your child to pick out variouscontinents -- Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Europe, Australia,Antarctica. Make a game of it, taking turns to find the continents. (You can dothe same thing with the oceans.)
- With a map or atlas, see if your child can use map coordinates (the guidesmaps have on the edges rather than latitude and longitude).
- Ask what scientists, carpenters, mechanics, lawyers, and nurses do. Taketurns thinking of various occupations, perhaps starting with people you know orcharacters in books.
- Make a family tree together. Let your child fill in as much as he or shecan; you will have to add to it. Go as far back as possible.
- Using your family tree, make a time line that includes everyone on thetree.
Reprinted from 101 Educational Conversations with Your 2nd Grader by Vito Perrone, published by Chelsea House Publishers.
Copyright 1994 by Chelsea House Publishers, a division of Main Line Book Co. All rights reserved.
