Teaching Social Studies in the Early Childhood Classroom - by Jean Kirshner & Jenny Pettit (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This textbook develops early childhood teachers' capacity to effectively instruct democratic principles to our youngest citizens. As our world experiences political polarization, pandemics, heightened racial tension, and the evolving awareness of gender and LGBTQ issues this textbook addresses those topics as they show up in the early childhood classroom, offering research informed practical guidance for pre- and in-service teachers.

The book is organized around 12 themes, 10 of which are based on the National Council for Social Studies' (NCSS) themes, in addition to the anti-racist/anti-bias curriculum and gender expensive principals from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), closely following social studies content standards from across the United States. The themes covered are: culture and cultural diversity, history, geography, identity, gender roles and gender identity, institutions, power and authority, economics, science and technology, global citizenship and civic ideals and practice. Throughout each chapter you will come to know 5 early childhood classrooms and including profiles of the teachers, students, communities. These five spaces represent a variety of early childhood teachers, different age groups of students, and diverse communities and show how the lesson learned in each chapter can be applied in classroom settings. This book provides developmentally appropriate ways to teach relevant and current social studies content to our very youngest learners, emphasizing the fact that these very children will grow to be the next stewards of our global community.

Review Quotes

I cannot think of another book on teaching social studies in early childhood education contexts that is so good at making complex social-theoretical constructs accessible to early childhood educators who can then make them accessible to their very young students. Among other things, the authors accomplish this remarkable feat by embedding discussions of these constructs within real-life classroom scenarios, by providing their readers with an abundance of children's books that address these constructs, and by providing language teachers can use to have conversations about these constructs with their students. So, whet your appetite for a read that is as foundational as it is original, as pragmatic as it is transformative.

In this engaging text Kirshner and Pettit seamlessly connect the research, theory, and practice around teaching social studies to young learners. Through clear writing they provide an understanding of today's more complex topics for pre-service and in-service teachers. In addition, through children's literature and examples from classrooms, they provide concrete ideas on how to engage young learners in grappling with these potentially new ideas. This would make a great foundational text for pre-service teachers learning to teach social studies, or in-service teachers who need support in strengthening their practice.

Jean Kirshner and Jenny Pettit have renewed my hope for a caring and compassionate society by bringing the complex ideals of democracy into doable actions for our youngest citizens and their teachers. Every early childhood educator needs this book!

About the Author

Jean Kirshner is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Northern Colorado, USA.

Jenny Pettit is Adjunct Professor of Education at Metropolitan State University, Denver, USA.