The World Around Us: Social Studies

by Rosemary Wells

Based on the author's book, Timothy Goes to School, young readers can learn about families and communities in a preschool tale which also features social studies activities designed to develop early map skills and their increase knowledge of holidays. Simultaneous.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Rosemary Wells is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. She often uses animal characters to address real human issues. Some of her most well-known characters are Max & Ruby and Timothy from Timothy Goes To School (both were later adapted into Canadian-animated preschool television series, the former’s airing on Nickelodeon (part of the Nick Jr. block) and the latter’s as part of PBS Kids on PBS).

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first thoughts on The World Around Us was that it is a good book for younger students to begin learning about social studies. But I did not find the book content too interesting. Mrs. Jenkins classroom was just having a conversation which was a little boring to me. The book goes through different aspect relating to the students lives to which also have something to do with social studies. For example, they talk about holidays and what holiday is their favorite. They discuss the 4th of July and how that day is the United States of Americas independence day. This book would be a great recourse to introduce social studies to Kindergarten kids. I especially like the blue boxes at the bottom of each page called the next step. These boxes give you an activity you could do in your own classroom as a teacher. The author incorporated her other stories into this book. Wells brought in Timothy and Yoko from those famous books of hers. This makes the students who love those books more willing to want to read this book too. In this book there are some big words that younger students may not understand though. For example, continents and independence. While reading this book to students either you would need to stop and explain what these words mean or teach what they mean at the end of the book. The way Wells framed the pictures at the beginning of the book shows each picture of the student was taken with a different camera. Introducing the characters like this at the start is helpful so you know who is who and can flip back to that first page at anytime if you forget which character is which. Overall the book would be a great tool for teaching students about themselves and the world around them. Just make sure you know your students and if they would be bored or not reading a book in this type of style. https://www.rosemarywells.com/

[Breighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

grade: kindergarten
genre: informational nonfiction
I liked this book. It was informational and presented some diversity in the illustrations.