3-6 HISTORY OVERVIEW

History is the study of the past. It begins with the present and it looks at what has come
before.

For the young child, sense of time can be quite difficult. They have a hard time
understanding yesterday and tomorrow. However, most children understand their
grandparents and you can relate the past to one of their grandparents. The young child
also has difficulty understanding that an adult was once a child. You can therefore
discuss how they have a daddy how their daddy is an adult, but that he was once a
child. Then discuss how he has a daddy and he too was a child once.

The information in regards to history is given orally and informally during some of the
geography Exercises. For example, many of the flag stories can incorporate history of
the flag and of the country.

There are many different statements or questions you can ask to have the child begin
to think about history. Two examples are:
– The world was not always as it is today…
– A long time ago…there was no electricity.

There are also a few materials and Exercises that go along with history.

History Table

You can have a history table with the items you have discussed in class that relate to
history. For example, if you have been talking about how there used to be no electricity,
you can discuss what might have been used to give light. You can then have a candle
on the history table. This gives the child the opportunity to think about how people did
not always live as we do today.

History Cards

These cards will deal with the needs of man (eight needs can be represented). These
needs could include: shelter, clothing, work, leisure, and transportation. Each set
should have three cards. These will be periods distant enough to show contrast. For
example, start with the needs of today. The second set should be images of a period of
time distinct enough from today. The third set should be the needs of the people even
further back in history. For example, if you were in America, you could do the needs of
today, the needs of Colonial times, and the needs of the Indians.

Diagrams

You can also have diagrams. You would place the home country puzzle piece in the
center of the mat. You can place images of the different needs of today in a circle
around the puzzle piece and discuss them. Later, you can use the second set and place
these a little further back from the puzzle piece. Discuss the different from the two
times. The third set can be used in the same way and then compared to the other two
sets. Other cards can be added as well. This gives the child a visual sense of time and
the differences in time.

Another diagram is the vertical arrangement. Place, for example, an image of houses
from today. Above it place an image from a period a little in the past above the first
image. Repeat so the further the cards are from you, the further back in history the
images show of housing. You will want to present one set at a time.

Another diagram is the horizontal arrangement. Start with one set and place the
present image on a mat. You will place each of the images to the right of the previous
picture.

Calendar

The measurement of time can be done by the use of a calendar. This shows the days
go by which gives them the idea of yesterday and tomorrow. The date can also be
discussed. It is therefore important to have a calendar that can be used to mark the
passing of time and the date for each day the children are in school.

Months of the Year

Another exercise will be to have material to show the cycle of months throughout the
year. This can be through the use of different images that show the different months of
the year. A different picture should be used for each month. You can teach the names
of the months and using the picture, you can discuss the particulars of each month.
Remember that each child has a special month in relation to his birthday! You can then
teach the order of the months by using labels, which go with the pictures. Once
finished teaching the months of the year, you can show the child a long strip of paper
and have them mount pictures of each month in the correct order with the names of
each underneath. Place the labels of the months in order and then unroll the strip to
check the child’s work. As a further activity, put away the loose cards an labels and
using the long strip of paper, show the child that the year is a cycle of time and that
once December ends, January begins. This can be done by standing the strip on its side
and make it into a cylinder. Games can then be played with this. For example, have the
child point to the month when they have their birthday. Have them then find the
month of the current date. Ask the child, “In how many months until your birthday?”
They can then count the months until their next birthday. This can be done with any
special even.

Days of the Week

This is done in a similar fashion as with the Months of the Year.

Clock

The hours are taught first. Begin by looking at the clock face and note the numbers that
represent the numbers of a day. Then note the hands, the long hand and the short
hand. Discuss what each means. The short hand always points to the hours and the
long hand points to the minutes. Discuss how when it is exactly the hour, the long hand
points up and the short hand points to the exact hour of the day. When the child can
find and make the hours you dictate, you can show him minutes beyond the hour. All
of these lessons should be taught with a Three-Period Lesson. For independent work,
you can make cards for the child to use and a clock faces stamp, decide on a time to
make and have him write it in numerals. Then he can draw in the hands on the clock
face. The child can also draw pictures of what he does at specific hours of the day. You
can also show the cycle of the day as in the Months of the Year.

Personal Timeline

The child can create a personal timeline with the numbers 1 – 5 (or however old he is)
and draw what he was doing at each specific age.

Birthdays

The Events Board is a good idea for birthday celebration. Before dismissal, you can also
sing happy birthday to that child. It is important to not let the parents interrupt the
classroom because it can be disturbing to the classroom environment.