Unit Plan 18 (Grade K Social Studies): Midyear Inquiry Project—My World

Focus: Help children pull together what they have learned about maps, places, helpers, weather, and caring for environments by creating a class “My World” book. Each student contributes pages that show their home/school/neighborhood, important helpers, and ways people adapt to and care for places, using simple maps, symbols, labels, and oral sharing.

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Subject Area: Social Studies (Geography • Civics • Inquiry)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 20–30 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students become “World Authors” and illustrators who use everything they’ve learned so far about people, places, maps, helpers, and weather to create a class book called My World. They review familiar places (home, school, neighborhood), practice reading and drawing simple maps, remember helpers and community workers, and think about how people adapt to weather and care for the environment. Each child creates one or more pages that, when combined, become a shared class book they can read and celebrate together.

Essential Questions

• What is “my world” (people, places, and things) like?
• How can we use maps, drawings, and labels to show our world?
• Who are the helpers in our world, and what do they do?
• How do people adapt to weather and care for places where they live and play?
• How can we share what we know with others in a class book?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Ask and answer questions about people, places, and rules in their world (home, school, neighborhood).
2. Gather and sort information about their classroom, school, and neighborhood using observations, simple maps, and picture books.
3. Use simple maps, symbols, and position words to show familiar places in drawings (e.g., classroom or playground map).
4. Identify physical features, weather, and human-made features in their world and give one way people adapt or care for those places.
5. Create and share at least one “My World” book page using drawings, labels, and a short oral explanation.

Standards Alignment — Kindergarten (C3-based custom)

• K.C3.Inq.1 — Ask and answer questions about people, places, and rules.
• K.C3.Inq.2 — Gather information from observations and simple sources (photos, maps, short texts).
• K.C3.Inq.3 — Sort information and tell what is important.
• K.C3.Inq.4 — Share learning with drawings, labels, and short oral reports.
• K.C3.Geo.1 — Identify and describe familiar places (home, school, neighborhood).
• K.C3.Geo.2 — Use simple maps, symbols, and position words to describe routes.
• K.C3.Geo.3 — Describe local physical features and weather patterns.
• K.C3.Geo.4 — Identify human-made features and their purposes.
• K.C3.Geo.5 — Explain how people adapt to and care for places.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can ask and answer questions about my world (people, places, rules).
• I can draw and label a simple map of a place I know.
• I can show helpers and tell how they help.
• I can show at least one weather or physical feature in my world and how people adapt or care for it.
• I can create a page for our My World book and explain it to the class.