Subject Area Social Studies Grade Level 1
Mission Statement: It is the mission of the Elba Central School District to actualize the phrase “Elba Equals Educational Excellence for Everyone.” We are committed to providing both quality and equity. Every student will have the opportunity to develop to the best of his/her ability.
Elba Standards: In addition to the knowledge and basic skills they need in order to participate in society, graduates of Elba Central School will develop:
1. Empowering skills: decision making, goal setting, creative thinking and problem solving abilities;
2. Communication and social interaction skills;
3. Technological literacy;
4. Total wellness (social, physical, emotional health and self-esteem);
5. The values necessary to participate in society.
As a result of achieving these outcomes, our students will embrace lifelong learning.
New York State Standards: 1. Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and NY.
2. Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
3. Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- local, national, and global- including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.
4. Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the U.S. and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision- making units function in the U.S. and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and non-market mechanisms.
5. Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and the other nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.
National Standards:
People, Places and Environments
People, Places and Environments * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of people, places, and environments.
* In early grades, young learners draw upon immediate personal experiences as a
basis for exploring geographic concepts and skills.
* During middle school, students relate their personal experiences to happenings
in other environmental contexts.
* In high school, students apply geographic understanding across a broad range
of fields.
Individual Development and Identify
Individual Development and Identify * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of individual development and identity.
* Personal identity is shaped by one's culture, by groups, and by institutional
influences.
Individuals, Groups and Institutions
Individuals, Groups and Institutions * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.
* Schools, churches, families, government agencies, and the courts all play an
integral role in our lives.
* Students should know how institutions are formed, what controls and
influences them, how they control and influence individuals and culture, and
institutions can by maintained or changed.
Power, Authority and Governance
Power, Authority and Governance * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and
governance.
* Learners develop an understanding of how groups and nations attempt to
resolve conflicts and seek to establish order and security.
Production, Distribution and Consumption
Production, Distribution and Consumption * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of
goods and services.
* People have wants that often exceed the limited resources available to them. A
variety of ways have been invented to decide upon answers to four fundamental
questions: What should be produced? How is production to be organized?
How are goods and services to be distributed? What is the most effective
allocation of the factors of production (land, labor, capital, and management)?
Science, Technology and Society
Science, Technology and Society * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of relationships among science, technology, and society.
* Technologies form systems, which are intertwined with our daily lives.
* Students should explore the complex relationships among technology, human
values, and behavior.
* Students need to think about how we can manage technology so that we control
it rather than the other way around.
Global Connections
Global Connections * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of global connections and interdependence.
* Analysis of tensions between national interests and global priorities contributes
to the development of possible solutions to persistent and emerging global
issues in many fields.
Civic Ideals and Practices
Civic Ideals and Practices * Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of the ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic.
* An understanding of civic ideals and practices is critical to full participation in
society and is a central purpose for social studies.
New York State Standards:
Performance Indicators: Description of the levels of student achievement pertaining to standard.
STANDARD 1: HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND NEW YORK
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.
Standard 1: Key Idea 1. The study of New York State and United States history requires an analysis of the development of American culture, its diversity and multicultural context, and the ways people are unified by many values, practices, and traditions. Students:
3. explore the meaning of American culture by identifying the key ideas, beliefs and patterns of behavior, and traditions that help define it and unite all Americans.
4. interpret the ideas, values, and beliefs contained in the Declaration of Independence and the New York State Constitution and the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other important historical documents.
Key Idea 2. Important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and traditions from New York State and United States history illustrate the connections and interactions of people and events across time and from a variety of perspectives.
Performance Indicators: Students:
describe the reasons for periodizing history in different ways
investigate key turning points in New York State and United States history and explain why these events or developments are significant.
Understand the relationship between the relative importance of United States domestic and foreign policies over time.
Analyze the role played by the United States in international politics, past and present.
Key Idea 3.
Study about the major social, political, economic, cultural, and religious developments I New York State and United States history involves learning about the important roles and contributions of individuals and groups. Performance Indicators:
Students:
complete well-documented and historically accurate case studies about individuals and groups who represent different ethnic, national, and religious groups, including Native Americans, in New York State and the United States at different times and in different locations.
gather and organize information about the important achievements and contributions of individuals and groups living in New York State and the United States.
describe how ordinary people and famous historic figures in the local community, State, and the United States have advanced fundamental democratic values, beliefs, and traditions expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the New York State and United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other important historical documents.
classify major developments into categories such as social, political, economic, geographic, technological, scientific, cultural, or religious.
Key Idea 4: The skills of historical analysis include the ability to: explain the significance of historical evidence; weigh the importance, reliability, and validity of evidence; understand the concept of multiple causation; understand the importance of changing and competing interpretations of different historical developments.
Performance Indicators: Students:
consider the sources of historic documents, narratives, or artifacts and evaluate their reliability.
understand how different experiences, beliefs, values, traditions, and motives cause individuals and groups to interpret historic events and issues from different perspectives.
compare and contrast different interpretations of key events and issues in New York State and United States history and explain reasons for these different accounts.
describe historic events through the eyes and experiences of those who were there.
STANDARD 2: WORLD HISTORY
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
Standard 2 Key Idea 1:
The study of world history requires an understanding of world cultures and civilizations, including an analysis of important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs and traditions. This study also examines the human condition and the connections and interactions of people across time and space and the ways different people view the same event or issue from a variety of perspectives.
Performance Indicators: Students:
know the social and economic characteristics, such as customs, traditions, child-rearing practices, ways of making a living, education and socialization practices, gender roles, foods, and religious and spiritual beliefs that distinguish different cultures and civilizations.
know some important historic events and developments of past civilizations.
interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history.
Key Idea 2:
Establishing timeframes, exploring different periodizations, examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning points in world history help organize the study of world cultures and civilizations.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Develop timelines by placing important events and developments in world history in their correct chronological order.
Measure time periods by years, decades, centuries, and millennia.
Study about major turning points in world history by investigating the causes and other factors that brought about change and the results of these changes.
Key Idea 3: Study of the major social, political, cultural, and religious developments in world history involves learning about the important roles and contributions of individuals and groups.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Investigate the roles and contributions of individuals and groups in relation to key social, political, cultural, and religious practices throughout history.
Interpret and analyze documents and artifacts related to significant developments and events in world history
Classify historic information according to the type of activity or practice: social/cultural, political, economic, geographic, scientific, technological, and historic.
Key Idea 4:
The skills of historical analysis include the ability to investigate differing and competing interpretations of the theories of history, hypothesize about why interpretations change over time, explain the importance of historical evidence, and understand the concepts of change and continuity over time.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Explain the literal meaning of a historical passage or primary source document, identifying who was involved, what happened, where it happened, what events led up to these developments, and what consequences or outcomes followed.
Analyze different interpretations of important events and themes in world history and explain the various frames of reference expressed by different historians.
View history through the eyes of those who witnessed key events and developments in world history by analyzing their literature, diary accounts, letters, artifacts, art, music, architectural drawings, and other documents.
Investigate important events a developments in world history by posing analytical questions, selecting relevant data, distinguishing fact from opinion, hypothesizing cause-and-effect relationships, testing those hypotheses, and formulating conclusions.
STANDARD 3: GEOGRAPHY
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live - local, national, and global - including the distribution of people, place, and environments over the Earth's surface.
Key Idea 1: Geography can be divided into six essential elements which can be used to analyze important historic, geographic, economic, and environmental questions and issues. These six elements include: the world in spatial terms, places and religions, physical settings (including natural resources), human systems, environment and society, and the use of geography.
Performance Indicators: Students:
map information about people, places, and environments.
understand the characteristics, functions, and applications of maps, globes, aerial and other photographs, satellite-produced images, and models.
investigate why people and places are located where they are located and what patterns can be perceived in these locations.
describe the relationships between people and environments and the connections between people and places.
Key Idea 2 Geography requires the development and application of the skills of asking and answering geographic questions; analyzing theories of geography; and acquiring, organizing, and analyzing geographic information.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Formulate geographic questions and define geographic issues and problems.
Use a number of research skills (e.g., computer databases, periodicals, census reports, maps, standard reference works, interviews, surveys) to locate and gather geographical information about issues and problems.
Present geographic information in a variety of formats, including maps, tables, graphs, charts, diagrams, and computer-generated models.
Interpret geographic information by synthesizing data and developing conclusions and generalizations about geographic issues and problems.
STANDARD 4: ECONOMICS
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the U.S. and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.
Key Idea 1: The study of economics requires an understanding of major economic concepts and systems, the principles of economic decision-making, and the interdependence of economics and economic systems throughout the world.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Explain how societies and nations attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by utilizing scarce capital, natural, and human resources.
Define basic economic concepts such as scarcity, supply and demand, markets, opportunity costs, resources, productivity, economic growth and systems.
Understand how scarcity requires people and nations to make choices; which involve costs and future considerations.
Understand how people in the United States and throughout the world are both producers and consumers of goods and services.
Investigate how people in the United States and throughout the world answer the three fundamental economic questions and solve basic economic problems.
Describe how traditional, command market, and mixed economies answer the three fundamental economic questions.
Explain how nations throughout the world have joined with one another to promote economic development and growth.
Key Idea 2: Economics requires the development and application of the skills needed to make informed and well-reasoned economic decisions in daily and national life.
Performance Indicators: Students:
Identify and collect economic information from standard reference works, newspapers, periodicals, computer databases, textbooks, and other primary and secondary sources.
Organize and classify economic information by distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, placing ideas in chronological order, and selecting appropriate labels for data.
Evaluate economic data by differentiating fact from opinions and identifying frames of reference.
Develop conclusions about economic issues and problems by creating broad statements; which summarize findings and solutions.
Present economic information by using media and other appropriate visuals such as tables, charts, and graphs to communicate ideas and conclusions.
Assessment
:
Acceptable Performance Level
Class discussion and questioning
Teacher observation and exposure
Participates in class activities/projects
Teacher observation and exposure
Scope: The grade 1 social studies program focuses on helping students learn about their roles as a member of a family, neighborhood, and school community. All people have basic needs and wants. Through the celebration of American holidays, students learn about special events and important people in our history.
Sequence: 1. Families
All about me
You grow and learn
Families are special
Families change
Families have rules
Families do things together
Families in other lands
People in families have jobs/careers
Neighborhood School
2. Needs and Wants
I have needs and wants
People have needs (food, clothing, shelter, and love)
People have wants
Working for needs and wants
Needs and wants in other lands
5. Our Country’s History
The story of the 1st Americans
The story of Christopher Columbus
The story the pilgrims
Our country’s holidays
Important people in our history
Our country’s symbols
6. Special Americans
Johnny Appleseed
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Ruby Bridges (Black History Month)
Betsy Ross
Current president of the United States
You (citizenship)
5. Holidays/Special Days
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veteran’s Day
Election Day
Hannukah
Christmas/Christmas Around the World
New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King Day
Groundhog’s Day
Valentine’s Day/Friendship
President’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day
Easter
Memorial Day
Mother’s Day
Flag Day
Father’s Day
4th of July
Birthdays
Methodology:
1. Social Studies Big Book Chart
2. Weekly Reader
3. Art projects
4. Children’s trade books
5. Internet
6. Whole group instruction
7. Graphic organizers