What Your Child is Learning in Unit 1: "The World Past and Present"

This unit prepares your child to begin a study of human history by examining three key ideas. The first key idea is that history shapes the present. The second key idea is that geography has always influenced how people live. The third key idea is that the ways people view the past continues to change.

Activities You Can Do at Home to Support Your Child's Learning

Chapter 1 Peoples of Our World

• If your local library has news magazines from the year your child was born, have him or her look through one to see how clothing, cars, and prices have changed since that year.

Chapter 2 People and Places

• Have your child make two different maps of your neighborhood. One map should show his or her favorite places. The other map should show the route he or she takes to school. Talk with your child about the ways in which the maps look different based on their different uses.

Chapter 3 Learning About the Past

• Working separately, you and your child each make a list of five objects you would put into a time capsule to show the main events of your lives. Then compare lists, telling each other why you choose each item and how it represents your life.

• Watch a television program with your child that shows people interacting in a family, neighborhood, or work setting. Discuss in the ways the program would be an accurate and inaccurate source of information for future historians.

• Help your child set up interviews with three neighbors or family members who each remember the same historic event. It could be something famous like the first human landing on the moon, or some family event, like your child's birth. After the interviews, have your child describe the different ways each person remembered the event.