When we learn Social Studies we come to know certain themes of the human story. All of us have a story. When we can understand these themes in our own personal story then we can begin to understand them in the collective public story of human history. We ask ourselves; What are the GRAPES of history in our lives? GRAPES is an acronymn that stands for 6 major themes .
GEOGRAPHY: Place, movement, environmental interaction, location
RELIGION: belief, philosophy, ritual action, sacred symbolism
ARTIFACTS: objects of meaning, things created, objects of usefulness, art, technology.
POLITICS: power, authority, law, views of government, rights, responsibilities.
ECONOMICS: money, trade, markets, jobs, budgets.
SOCIETY: language, family, school, communication
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Here are some examples from our stories:
GEOGRAPHY
I live in Herndon, Virginia USA. I was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I have traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I like the culture, I like the environment, and I like the weather in Ethiopia. I remember all of my time there with a smile. In the USA there are more opportunities. In Virginia the snow and ice of the winter is too much. I like summer in Virginia because I can go to the beach.
I am from Kazakhstan. I have lived there for 18 years. This is my first year in the United States. My parents are going to University here and I will return to teach English. Kazakhstan is the world’s ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country.
I am from Afghanistan. My father worked with the United States military as an interpretor. I have been in the United States for almost two years. I will return to Afghanistan when I am able but I plan to continue my education in the United Staes and get a steady job here.
My family originally came from Ireland. Both of my parents have grandparents who were immigrants from Ireland. Ireland is the same size as the stae of West Virginia. It is an island nation in Northwest Europe.
I am from Guatemala. We speak may native languages. Gautemala is always hot. It has mountains and volcanoes. It is located in Central America just south of Mexico.
I am from El Salvador. It is on the Pacific coast of Central America to the South and East of Guatemala city and the North and West of Nicaraugua. To the North and East of ElSalvador is Honduras.
I am from Saudi Arabia. I have come here to learn English. Saudi Arabia is a place where many people have money because it is a wealthy nation based on oil.
RELIGION
I try to live with a purpose by trusting my values, and faith and also thinking carefully about truth and justice.
I am Ethiopian Orthodox. Northern Virginia has a strong Ethiopian community. I see the same beliefs with other Christians like Catholics but I also see that my Ethiopian Orthodox religion speaks to my culture, my family and my traditions. Throughout history religion has been a strong way for people to preserve their culture from one generation to another.
I am Muslim. We read the Quran. We have five pillars of action in our faith. We believe in the oneness of God. We pray together at the mosque. We always go Friday but you can go up to five times a day.
I am Catholic Christian. We read the Bible. We pray together at church. Some of us go every Sunday, we can go every day. Our spiritual leader of the global Catholic Church is an American for the first time in history. Pope Leo is from Chicago.
We believe in the values of Family. Love, and Respect at Mountain View School. We believe that these are necessary for true education.
ARTIFACTS
We create culture. We imagine meaning. Some of us have many artifacts of meaning while others do not. Most of us have objects which control our attention beyond our own awareness of it; the cell phone. This is an ever present artifact of the modern age for better and for worse.
Some of us have religious artifacts. Examples include a gold pendant that is blessed and given by a godmother, a rosary from Italy that is prayed daily, and a gold cross given by a mother to her son on his 10th birthday that is worn today.
In my Ethiopian Christianity we wear white flowing dress clothes to church. It reminds us of the purity of baptism.
In this class we have the artifact of “old school” copy books where we write daily with pen or pencil the “Word of the Day”. This helps us practice literacy and is a record of our attendance. We write the date , the # of days of class we have had so far and the # of days remaining. We are making these themes KNOWN through publication on Day #165 of the school year. It is our last full day of class and the word of the day is KNOWN: generally recognized ; received, Named. Specified, Remembered, Learned, Answered
POLITICS
Deep in my roots, Afghanistan is a part of who I am, and I deeply wish for a society with greater freedom, fairness, and opportunities like the U.S, so that people don’t have to leave anywhere else for a better life.
In my country the politics is different because we have a better President that the American President. I think American politics will get better with better leaders. Now I see corruption and division in American politics.
I learned in US Government class about the foundations of the US political system, how political institutions operate, and how citizens interact with their government. You explore core constitutional principles, the functions of the three government branches, civil rights, and the processes behind campaigns and election
In Government class we learn the outline and meaning of the United States Constitution. In history we celebrate the 250th anniversary of a philosophy of equal rights. This nation is a Federal Democratic Republic which means it has a relationship of states with citizens who vote for representatives to speak on their behalf at many levels of government. We look to our own lives as well as to society to see that there is truth and there are lies. The Constitution of truth is the law of the land but our actions do not always match this law just as we sometimes lie to ourselves about what is good and true in our own lives or we deal with the consequences of the lies others have told us. America was founded on true ideals that we are still striving to achieve.
ECONOMICS
My background has shown me that economic conditions can deeply affect families and their daily happy life.
We say that America is a place of free market trade but we realize as we study the economy that it is controlled by many factors of power. Capitalism is not pure. The Global Market is more mixed and complicated than a perfect definition or ideal.
Many of us work to support ourselves and our family as we go to school. There are only 24 hours of power for all of us. Time is a form of economics. We need to prioritize how we use it. How do we invest our time? How is it like wasted currency?
SOCIETY
Society begins in the family. The American family is more diverse than ever. We still struggle for union. Shared language and literacy through education become the building blocks of society. We have the potential to share our language and our learning on a global scale in the 21st century. In our classes this year we shared language , learning and the Global Sustainable Development Goals with students at the International School of Vienna. Austria. PADLET LINK
As a middle child in large family, I have learned how to be a good communicator because in a large family you are known and heard by many but sometimes you really have to speak up and ask good questions. In a large family there is always someone to give you an answer.
Soccer is part of our global society and it is part of my personal story. This suumer is the World Cup. It is the first time a host nation has been at war with a participating nation. I played soccer in my country in a time of war. I injured my ACL. I love to play soccer. No game is perfect. There is always a struggle. There is always pain in the game.
Through social experiences, I have become more aware of diversity and different perspectives.
School creates society. Our school has the values of Family. Love. Respect.My advice to any new student; You should listen carefully to your teachers and keep learning more and more be active, because it is truly fascinating to discover things you didn’t know before.
A good social skill for me in this class was expanding my vocabulary quickly and on a daily basis.