Social Studies

Today we played Candy Land with NO RULES. It wasn't any fun. Then we played it with the rules, and it was great. We did this to introduce the concept of law. We talked about laws she is familiar with - I drew pictures of a stop sign, speed limit sign, and stop light, and we talked about what would happen if people didn't follow those laws. Then we talked about the 10 Commandments. We went over the 3 branches of our government in a representational democracy, and then talked about dictatorships with good dictators and bad dictators. In the kingdom of God, God is the one and only ruler - a supremely good dictator. Our country is the USA, and it is a rep democracy. We talked about how we have reps at a state and national level, and worked our Melissa and Doug state map to draw her connections between state government and something she is already familiar with - states. Did we really do all of that??? Seems like a lot for a 4 year old when I write it out, but she seemed to really follow it.