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February 02, 2008
New Books for Old Brings More than Expected
Last week a diverse group of parents in the Live Oak School District came in dripping from the rain to the cafeteria at Luther Elementary School to hear about the new California Social Studies textbook adoption and to find out how they could help their children learn the subject. It wasn’t difficult to demonstrate some of the first grade learning standards. First graders learn about their neighborhood and their heritage. In the workshop were at least four different backgrounds making up the neighborhood of the school. Some parents shared they were born and raised in Live Oak or in nearby parts of California, others were from Mexico, still others were from India, and one family was from Pakistan. Three interpreters translated in order for us to talk with one another.
Family history, heritage, culture and language were all in evidence in the group. Parveen Bains, the Luther Vice-Principal, was born in the area while her family is from India. She speaks Punjabi and, although she didn’t say so, I imagine her first grade son, Arjun, speaks Punjabi as well. Nicki Llerenas, one of the workshop teachers demonstrating activities parents can do at home, spoke in both English and Spanish for the parents. She would occasionally forget to let the translator give her information in Punjabi as well.
In my part of the workshop on the second grade learning standards about famous people, I included George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The parents added Benito Juarez and Gandhi to the list.
Geography, especially the study of maps, took on a different meaning as we moved into looking at the upper grade curricula. For the early grades we talked about maps of the neighborhood and town where the children live. By third and fourth grade we were talking about the state of California as something they know, but for fifth grade and up, if we were to stay in line with heritage and family history, we couldn’t just talk about the United States map. We had to move to the world map to show the rest of North American, South America, Asia, and Europe. These are the backgrounds of the children at Live Oak and the parents in the workshop. That’s their history. That’s their world.
In school the subject of Social Studies is the heart of our family, community, nation, and the world. You can take a vital role in helping your child understand social studies, by sharing the stories of your family, your background, your traditions and culture while encouraging your child to know and understand the background of their friends in the neighborhood.
Posted by Dr Joni at February 2, 2008 10:17 AM