This information will help you get organized and prepared to homeschool your child using the Core Knowledge Kindergarten History and Geography curriculum.
Free Resources
How-to Videos: Watch the videos to learn to use the CKHG curriculum to homeschool kindergarten.
Unit-Specific Prep Checklist: Review and download the Kindergarten CKHG Unit-Specific Prep Document. This checklist includes notes for each unit of the curriculum including which activity pages to print, library books that may be needed, required advanced preparation broken out by lesson, as well as a list of additional unit-specific supplies.
Daily Schedule: Review and download the free daily schedule for homeschooling Kindergarten using the Core Knowledge curriculum and MEP Math curriculum.
Primary Materials
Units: There are 4 units in the Kindergarten CKHG curriculum (Let’s Explore Our World, Native Americans, Exploring and Moving to America, and Mount Rushmore Presidents). All students start with Unit 1 and progress through the units in order. You will download each unit separately from the CK website. Each unit will be downloaded as a file folder containing multiple files including the Teacher’s Guide and Student Reader. Click here to view the how-to download CK curriculum video. Kindergarten CKHG Units:
- Let’s Explore Our World
- Native Americans
- Exploring and Moving to America
- The Mount Rushmore Presidents
Teacher’s Guide: This is the primary resource for kindergarten history and geography lessons. When you are ready to start a lesson with your student, you will simply open the PDF file for the Teacher’s Guide on your tablet or laptop, navigate to the lesson indicated on the daily schedule, and work through the instructions in the Teacher’s Guide for that lesson. You can print the Teacher’s Guide if desired but it is not necessary to do so.
Student Reader: This reader contains engaging images and text and will be read aloud to your student most school days. This reader can be accessed as a PDF file on your student’s device.
Online Resources Website: Most lessons call for accessing this website which contains additional lesson resources:
https://www.coreknowledge.org/curriculum/history-geography/ckhg-online-resources/
The resource available include video tours, art images, famous songs, and more. To find a specific resource, click on the name of the unit and click on the chapter number. Save this website so you can access it easily during lessons.
Getting Organized
Activity Pages: Activity pages (and the answer key) for each unit are found in the back of the Teacher’s Guide for each unit. More information will be available in the unit specific prep checklists. Activity pages are often used over multiple school days. Save all activity pages until you have completed the unit. Tip: Print all the activity pages for all four units at the beginning of a school year and place them in a binder. This will keep them organized and save you time during the year.
Assessment Documents: Each unit ends with a day for student assessment. The assessment document and answer key are found in the back of the Teacher’s Guide in the Teacher Resources section. You will need to print the assessment pages. Assessments are not required but are useful. These assessments in particular are well designed, typically fun for the student, and they do help you double check your student’s strengths and weaknesses related to the material. This information can then be helpful when choosing which cumulative activities to use (see below) and/or can be used as items to review with the student as they move into the next unit.
Culminating Activities: 2-3 days at the end of each unit is set aside for culminating activities. These are fun days that typically consist of simple projects and activities. Please review the culminating activities when first starting a unit so you can gather any needed supplies in advance. The CA section of the Teacher’s Guide will guide you through a number of options. Remember you only need to choose one or maybe a handful of these activities. Alternatively, these days can be used to catch up on lessons. Completing the culminating activities is not required for your student to move on to the next unit.
Most units end with a culminating activity that includes making a booklet showing off what the student has learned during the unit. There are some color illustrated pages in the back of the teacher’s guide that you can print for this task. But you can also simply have the student make a booklet by folding printer paper in half and they can illustrate the pages with their favorite parts of the unit.
Performance Activity: Each unit’s Teacher’s Guide contains an opportunity for students to work on a Performance Activity at the end of the unit. This activity is not scheduled but can be used if your student needs additional reinforcement of the material.
Time Traveler Passport Files: Each unit folder contains Time Traveler Passport activity files. The back of each unit’s Teacher’s Guide lays out how to use these files. These tasks are not scheduled but you can use them to further reinforce unit content if desired.
Important Tips
Library Books: Whenever possible please select several of the recommended books from the unit’s resource list (located in the introduction section of the Teacher’s Guide) and request them from the library in advance. These books can be used as time allows, when specifically called for in a lesson, or can be left out for your child to read on their own in their free time. If library books are not an option, YouTube often has videos of books being read aloud and these can be used as an alternative.
Art History: Several lessons call for displaying and discussing a piece of art with the student. These art images can be Googled or if you prefer a hard copy, Core Knowledge sells a Kindergarten art pack for each grade level that includes high quality prints on card stock.
Globe and Maps: Many lessons suggest using a globe, world map, and/or US map. If you do not have one, most CKHG Teacher’s Guides have at least one world map in the back with the student pages. Units covering US history typically have a US map in the back of the Teacher’s Guide. Alternatively, you can Google map images and save the links for future use.
White Board: Many lessons suggest using a white board, chalk board, or board/chart paper. If you do not have one available, you can use a plain piece of paper to write out or draw the information called for in the activity.
Classroom-Based Activities: Some activities in this program are clearly designed for a classroom setting. Please adjust the activity as needed for your situation. For example, for an activity that suggests students work in teams, you can act as your student’s teammate. For activities that involve putting on a play or presentation, your student can present one part of the information or you can make the activity a family activity and involve siblings, etc.
Topic Duplication: You may notice what appears to be duplication between topics in the CKHG lessons and the CKLA lessons. This is intentional and provides the opportunity to reinforce key concepts by approaching them from multiple perspectives. For example, a student will have a language arts lesson about Native Americans one day and then later in the school year will also study Native Americans in their history lessons.
Kindergarten CKHG Unit-Specific Prep Checklist
This checklist will help you prepare for each new unit of the Core Knowledge Kindergarten History and Geography curriculum. Please refer to the specific unit list prior to starting a new unit. It will guide you through what what documents to print, when a library book is needed, unit-specific supplies that should be gathered, and special notes for lessons in that unit.
Unit 1: Let’s Explore Our World!
- Read the Unit Introduction: Teacher’s Guide pg. 1-12
- Print the Activity Pages: Teacher’s Guide pg. 143-153
- Answers found on: Teacher’s Guide pg. 154
- Review the Unit-Specific Notes:
- Chapter 4: Advance preparation required. Print images of the endangered species of North America found on the CKHG Online Resources Website.
- Chapter 5: Advance preparation required. Print images of the endangered species of South America found on the CKHG Online Resources Website.
- Chapter 7: Advanced preparation required. Print the coloring book pages and the images of the endangered species of Africa found on the CKHG Online Resources Website.
- Chapter 8: Advance preparation required. Print images of the endangered species of Asia found on the CKHG Online Resources Website.
- Chapter 9: Advance preparation required. Print images of the endangered species of Australia and Antarctica found on the CKHG Online Resources Website. Also need half-moon shaped construction paper cut-outs (see TG pg. 103).
- Gather the Unit-Specific Supplies:
- Road maps, preferably your own state plus also regional or multiple state maps; can use digital maps as an alternative (Chapter 2)
- Wall map of the continents (Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9)
- Tape or sticky putty (Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9)
- Building blocks or other building toys such as magnetic tiles, snap-together plastic bricks, etc. (Chapter 6)
Unit 2: Native Americans
- Read the Unit Introduction: Teacher’s Guide pg. 1-10
- Print the Activity Pages: Teacher’s Guide pg. 101-105
- Answers found on: Teacher’s Guide pg. 106
- Review the Unit-Specific Notes:
- Chapter 5: Optional, activity suggests using the library book Raven (McDermott), please see the suggested book list on TG pg. 9 for more information on this title.
- Art images referenced can be Googled or an Art Pack can be purchased from the Core Knowledge website.
- Gather the Unit-Specific Supplies:
- Shoe box (Chapter 1)
- Pipe cleaners or popsicle sticks (Chapter 1)
- Ear of corn (Chapter 3, optional)
- Weighted cans (Chapter 7)
Unit 3: Exploring and Moving to America
- Read the Unit Introduction: Teacher’s Guide pg. 1-11
- Print the Activity Pages: Teacher’s Guide pg. 117-122
- Answers found on: Teacher’s Guide pg. 12
- Gather the Unit-Specific Supplies:
- Cinnamon sticks or a container of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ground pepper (Chapter 1)
- Pieces of silk cloth (Chapter 1, optional)
- Silk or wool scarves (Chapter 2)
Unit 4: The Mount Rushmore Presidents
- Read the Unit Introduction: Teacher’s Guide pg. 1-11
- Print the Activity Pages: Teacher’s Guide pg. 93-100
- Answers found on: Teacher’s Guide pg. 101
- Review the Unit-Specific Notes:
- Chapter 1: Requires advance preparation. Print the White House coloring pages found on the CKHG Online Resources website.
- Chapter 4: Requires advance preparation. Print the Lincoln’s log cabin coloring pages found on the CKHG Online Resources website.
- Gather the Unit-Specific Supplies:
- U.S. postage stamps or coins that feature famous or historical figures (Chapter 1)
- Several U.S. quarters and a dollar bill (Chapter 2)
- Several nickels and/or a two-dollar bill (Chapter 3)
- Several Lincoln pennies and a five-dollar bill (Chapter 4)
- Log building sticks (Chapter 4, optional)
- Teddy bear (Chapter 5, optional)
The Core Knowledge Foundation is a non-profit organization and has generously made their curriculum free to download. If you are able to, please consider making a donation to support their ongoing curriculum development efforts.
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Core Knowledge, CKLA, CKHG, and CKSci are registered trademarks of the Core Knowledge Foundation.
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MEP Math has been made available through the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching.
