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The preschoolers in Ms. Sharifs class take a walk around the block at outside time. They pass the bodega, a fish store, the pharmacy, a produce stand, and a used clothing store. In front of the produce stand, Adam waves to Mr. and Mrs. Torricelli, the owners, who are piling fruit on the carts. "They live upstairs from me!" Adam announces. Concetta points to the fruit and says, "Manzanasand plátanos" and Ms. Sharif replies, "Yes, apples and bananas." The children talk about the neighborhood places they visit with their families and the people who work there (for example, the man at the shoe store, the money lady [cashier] at the corner store, and the popcorn guy at the movies).
Later that day, at choice time, Adam sets up a fruit store, and the other children make purchases. Ms. Sharif asks for some less common fruits (such as plantains, mangoes, rambutan), and the children talk about the vegetables and fruits they eat at home with their families.
OFTEN YOUNG CHILDREN'S FIRST SENSE OF community outside the home comes from attending an early childhood setting. As children learn to get along, make friends, and participate in decision making, they are engaging in social studies learning. Typically, the social studies curriculum also expands children's horizons beyond the school into the neighborhood and the wider world.
According to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), "the aim of social studies is the promotion of civic competence-the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life" (2010,1). Although state standards for social studies in early childhood vary, they address the following common themes: (1) membership in a democratic classroom community, (2) location and place relationships, (3) similarities and differences in personal and family characteristics, (4) basic economic principles as they relate to children's lives, and (5) apprecia- tion of one's own and other cultures in a diverse society (Gronlund 2006). Early childhood teachers help children begin to understand these concepts so they can later generalize the ideas to school and eventually the larger society.
Social studies draws on several disciplines, including history, geography, economics, and ecology. Although these subjects sound abstract when applied to young children, preschoolers deal with them...