Kindergarten through Fifth Grade
The social studies curriculum provides the opportunity for each student to acquire knowledge and develop skills necessary for social, political and economic participation in a diverse, interdependent and changing world.
District-created units of study
Variety of district-selected books
Topics (kindergarten)
A Healthy Self in a Healthy World (understanding self and others in social settings)
* Emotions
* Community environment and the people who occupy it
* Similarities and differences between cultures
* Classroom environment and others within that environment
* School environment
Topics (first grade)
All About Me
* Expressing their ideas about what makes them unique
Home is Where the Heart Is
* Roles and responsibilities of individual family members
* Ways families change over time
Mapping Our Way through First Grade
* Concepts of left, right, up, down, next to and in between
* The four cardinal directions - north, south, east and west
* Labeling and using a map of the school
* Constructing a simple map of the classroom
* Using maps and globes to find locations
Our Global Community
* Beginning to view self as part of an international community
* Language, holidays and literature of China, Mexico and Nigeria
Topics (second grade)
Neighborhoods
* Components of a neighborhood and reasons for location or features of communities
* Comparing and contrasting their neighborhood/community with others
* How wants and needs are responsibly met in the home, school and community
* How people define, build and name places and develop a sense of place
* How neighborhoods change over time
* Accessing information from maps, globes, charts and pictures
* Identifying cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and using them on a globe and desk map
* Major geographical features and regions of the earth's surface
We Are Earth (environmental awareness)
* Positive and negative consequences of environmental situations
* How people have adapted to and modified their environments, and how personal choices or behavior are related to conditions of people in other places
* How the personal use of materials, energy and water impacts the environment
* How American Indians adapted their way of living to their environment
* How places can be damaged, destroyed or improved through human actions or natural processes
* How different people may respond differently to the same event
* Taking informed actions about issues by planning on how to improve the school, community or environment
On the Move - Transportation
* Community interaction in terms of transportation
* Ways in which people move themselves, their products and their ideas around the world
* How changes in transportation technology influence the rates at which people, goods and ideas move from place to place
Communications
* community interaction in terms of communication
* Interpersonal communications and social participation
* How changes in communication technology influence the rates at which people, products and ideas move from place to place
Economics
* Economic terms
* The interdependent and dynamic nature of humans and their social, economic and political communities across cultures, time and space
Neighbors Around the World
* Comparing and contrasting the traditions of the countries studied
Topics (third grade)
Where Am I? Our Local Community
* How people depend on each other in communities
* Economic terms: scarcity, needs, wants, production, interdependence, goods and services, opportunity cost
* How a region changes over time (research survey, observation of community, and compare and contrast chart)
* Comparing rural and urban environments by defining and identifying natural resources
* How human alterations of physical environments have had positive and negative consequences
* Interpreting pictures and using charts, graphs and tables to display data
* Environmental issues in the local community
A Long Time Ago is a Lot Like Today - The Ojibway
* How the process to achieve harmony and balance plays a vital role in American Indian philosophy and in the daily lives of American Indians
* How human beings from different cultures have adapted to and modified their environment
* Unique features of family structures and relationships of American Indians in Minnesota
* How institutions such as family and religion help meet basic needs, today and in the past
Origins and Immigration
* A global perspective of the world as ethnically and culturally diverse
* Individual and group differences locally and nationally
* How human beings from diverse cultures have migrated, adapted to and modified their environments
* Individual rights, freedoms and responsibilities that protect human dignity
Farming
* Immigrant migration to farmland
* Comparison of farms past and present
* Crops grown on Minnesota farms
* Production of corn from farm to processing
* What makes a cheeseburger
* African Americans in agriculture
Fourth Grade
Resources
District developed units of study
Minnesota (From Sea to Shining Sea), Children's Press
Exploring Regions Near and Far, D.C. Heath
Topics
Physical Geography
* The five themes of geography: location, place, interaction, movement and regions
* Geographic terms and abbreviations used to name and describe landforms and bodies of water
* Maps, globes, almanacs, charts, pictures, graphs and tables
* Geographical locations of regions of the United States and selected regions of the world
* Climates on earth and factors that cause differences
* How people from different cultures deal with their physical environment
Geography of the United States and Canada
* Regions in the United States and Canada
* Location, place, region, movement and human/environmental interaction
* How the people of the United States use and modify their physical environment
* Geographic features, economic activities, food, clothing, crafts and rituals of two or more regions of the United States
Minnesota
* Absolute and relative location of cities and waterways within the state
* How regions are defined and regions within Minnesota
* The origins of groups represented in Minnesota
* How Minnesota's in the past and present use, modify or adapt to the physical geography
* Categorizing the state resources as natural, human or capital
* Contributing to the improvement of the community
Fifth Grade
Resources
District-developed units of study
Exploring Our World Past and Present, DC Heath
District-selected biographies
Topics
Introduction to Historical and Geographic Thought
* Describing historical events using the five W's - who, what, where, when and why
* Organizing historical events sequentially using a timeline
* Locating, organizing and presenting information
* Reconstructing an historical account of an event using primary and secondary sources
The Ancient World
* Differences between hunters/gatherers and farmers
* Characteristics of culture and examples of the components of a specific civilization
* Locating, organizing and presenting information
* Contributions of ancient civilizations to their own time and the modern world
* Describing a past event from the point of view of a local community member
* Examples of conflict, cooperation and interdependence among individuals, groups and nations
European History to the 15th Century
* Factors that contributed to the decline, restoration and enhancement of civilization during the Middle Ages and Renaissance
* How technology has changed peoples' lives in home, work, transportation and communication
* Locating, organizing and presenting information
Europe Today
* Maps, globes, charts, graphs and tables
* Geographic terms, symbols and places
* Understanding current events