Unit Plan 25 (Grade K Social Studies): Work and Jobs in the Past and Today

Focus: Help children explore jobs and tools people use to help others, and how these have changed over time. Students learn to identify goods and services, use simple pictures and stories about the past, and compare a job “long ago” with the same or similar job today.

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Subject Area: Social Studies (Economics • History • Inquiry)

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

I. Introduction

In this unit, students become “Job Detectives” as they learn about work and jobs in their community and how those jobs looked long ago. Using simple stories, pictures, and sorting activities, they compare tools and jobs from the past (e.g., old fire trucks, hand tools, wagons) with jobs and tools today (modern fire engines, power tools, cars). They also learn to tell whether a worker provides a good (something you can hold) or a service (something someone does to help you) and practice retelling who, where, and what they learned about a job from the past.

Essential Questions

• What are some jobs people do to help others?
• What is the difference between goods and services?
• How were jobs and tools long ago different from jobs and tools today?
• How can we use pictures and stories to learn about jobs in the past and tell others what we learned?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Name and describe at least two community jobs and say whether each provides a good or a service.
2. Use simple pictures or stories to learn about how one job was done long ago (e.g., farmer, firefighter, mail carrier).
3. Compare a job long ago vs. today by naming at least one tool or way of working that has changed.
4. Retell who did the job, where they worked, and one key detail about what they used or did.
5. Create a simple comparison drawing or mini-poster showing a job “long ago” and “today,” and share it with the class.

Standards Alignment — Kindergarten (C3-based custom)

• K.C3.Econ.2 — Identify goods and services and who provides them.
• K.C3.Hist.5 — Use simple sources to learn about the past and retell key details.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can tell if someone gives us a good or a service.
• I can name a job and say how it helps people.
• I can tell how one job was done long ago and how it is done today.
• I can use a picture or story to tell who, where, and what happened.
• I can show my learning with a drawing and talk about it with the class.