Early Childhood Standards of Quality for ... - State of Michigan

ELE: EARLY LEARNING IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES2. Early Learning Expectation: Children begin to recognize thatmany different influences shape people’s thinking and behavior.[HSCOF-SS 6.5.2]Children typically:1. Can talk about personal information; e.g., name; family members; and byfour, knowledge of personal traits, address, telephone number.2. Begin to recognize themselves as unique individuals and become awareof the uniqueness of others.3. Show an understanding of family and how families are alike and different.4. Talk about ways members of a family can work together to help oneanother.5. Begin to recognize that people celebrate events in a variety of ways.6. Grow in understanding of and respect for differences among culturalgroups, as well as their contributions to society.7. Participate in creating their own classroom celebrations.Examples of Experiences and Strategies• Adults model the kind of respectful behaviors they would expect andvalue in children and other adults.• Each child’s culture is included in the program on a continuous basisthrough song, language, pictures, play things, and dance.• Children are encouraged to develop working theories for making sense ofthe natural, social, physical and material worlds.• Children learn about differences and similarities (through stories,activities, think-alouds) without judgmental comparisons.• Children learn what a ‘celebration’ is and have opportunities to have littlecelebrations of meaning in their own classroom.• Adults help to build upon each child’s interest.• Adults take time to observe individual children and come to know theirpreferences and uniqueness and respond appropriately.• Teachers and parents communicate with each other in order to attain aconsistent, approach to the care and learning of their children.Questions for Reflection1. To what extent do adults ask open-ended questions?2. In what ways and how well is the curriculum genuinely connected tothe families and their respective cultures? How is this visible in theclassroom?128 Michigan Department of Education