Unit Plan 1 (Grade 1 Social Studies): Our Classroom Community
A caring, safe classroom community unit where first graders learn cooperation, kindness, and rule-following while creating a Class Promise that builds fairness, respect, and responsibility.
Focus: Help students build a caring classroom community by practicing cooperation, kindness, and rule-following, and by talking about why rules matter for fairness and safety.
Grade Level: 1
Subject Area: Social Studies (Civics • Inquiry • Community)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this opening unit, students learn that their classroom is a community where everyone has a job to do and everyone deserves to feel safe, included, and respected. Through stories, pictures, simple discussions, and quick role-plays, they explore why rules and routines exist and how they help us learn together. Students practice listening, taking turns, and simple voting as they help create a Class Promise (or charter) that lists how they will treat one another and care for shared spaces.
Essential Questions
- Why do we have rules and routines in our classroom?
- How do rules help us be fair, kind, and safe with each other?
- What does it look and sound like when we are good classroom citizens (listening, sharing, taking turns)?
- How can we ask questions to understand our classroom and how it works better?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Explain in their own words why at least one classroom rule or routine is important for fairness or safety.
- Identify and practice civic participation skills such as listening, raising a hand, taking turns, and simple voting.
- Ask and answer simple “who,” “what,” and “why” questions about classroom rules and problems.
- Help create a Class Promise that includes a few clear, positive rules for kindness, safety, and cooperation.
- Show kind and responsible behavior during class activities by following agreed-upon rules and routines.
Standards Alignment — 1st Grade (C3-based custom)
- 1.C3.Civ.1 — Explain why rules and routines exist; connect to fairness and safety.
- Example: Give a reason for a classroom rule and how it helps everyone.
- 1.C3.Civ.3 — Practice civic participation (listening, taking turns, simple voting, sharing).
- Example: Vote on a class activity and accept the result.
- 1.C3.Inq.1 — Ask and refine questions about community and world.
- Example: “How do rules help everyone at recess?”
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell why we have at least one classroom rule or routine.
- I can show I am a good listener by looking at the speaker and taking turns.
- I can vote and accept the choice that most people pick.
- I can help my class make a Class Promise with ideas about kindness and safety.
- I can ask a question about our classroom rules or how to solve a problem.