Unit Plan 24 (Grade K Social Studies): Family History and Culture
Explore how families grow, change, and celebrate traditions as students create simple timelines and share cultural practices through questions, drawings, and stories.
Focus: Help children explore who is in their family, how their families have grown and changed, and what traditions they celebrate. Students create very simple family timelines and share cultural traditions (foods, songs, special days) while learning to ask and answer questions about family history in a respectful, age-appropriate way.
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Subject Area: Social Studies (History • Culture • Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 20–30 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students become “Family History Explorers” as they think about their own families, how they have grown over time, and the special traditions that make each family unique. Through simple stories, pictures, and guided conversations, children create a three-step family timeline and share at least one family or cultural tradition with the class. They also practice asking gentle questions like, “What did I like when I was a baby?” or “What do we do for our special day?”
Essential Questions
- Who is in my family, and how has my family changed as I grew?
- What traditions and celebrations are important to my family?
- How are our families similar and different from one another?
- What kinds of questions can we ask to learn more about our family history and culture?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Name and draw key family members and describe one way their family cares for them.
- Create a very simple family timeline (three events) showing how they have grown (e.g., baby → starting school → now).
- Describe at least one family or cultural tradition (food, song, celebration, routine) and note one similarity or difference with a classmate’s tradition.
- Practice asking and answering simple questions about family and traditions (who, what, when).
- Share their family timeline and tradition with the class using words, drawings, and labels.
Standards Alignment — Kindergarten (C3-based custom)
- K.C3.Hist.4 — Describe family and cultural traditions; note similarities and differences.
- K.C3.Inq.1 — Ask and answer questions about people, places, and rules.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell about who is in my family.
- I can make a simple family timeline that shows me growing.
- I can share one family tradition and say how it is the same or different from someone else’s.
- I can ask and answer questions about family and celebrations.
- I can show and explain my family history and culture using pictures and words.