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Elementary in Social Studies Curriculum

Department of Social Studies

TBA, District Director of Humanities

516 434-4038

 

PK – 6th Grade Level Social Studies Curriculum: Content Understandings

 

Level PK: Self as an Individual

  • Basic awareness of self as an individual
  • Describes how each person is unique and important
  • Identifies family members, family characteristics and functions
  • Describes his/her own community
  • Demonstrates awareness and appreciation of their own culture and other cultures
  • Demonstrates an understanding of roles, rights and responsibility at home, school and in the community

Level K: Self and Others

  • Myself and others
  • My family and other families
  • My school and community
  • My neighborhood
  • Location of home, school, neighborhood, and community on maps and globes
  • Basic human needs and wants
  • People helping one another to meet needs and wants
  • Symbols of citizenship
  • Rights, responsibilities and roles of citizenship
  • People making and changing rules and laws
  • People making rules that involve consideration of others and benefit all

Grade 1: My Family and Other Families, Now and Long Ago

  • My family and other families
  • History of my family
  • My community local region
  • Places in my community and local region
  • Challenge of meeting needs and wants
  • Economic decision making
  • Symbols of citizenship
  • Rights, responsibilities and roles of citizenship
  • People making and changing rules and laws

Grade 2: My Community and Other United States Communities

  • My community and region today
  • People depending on and modifying the physical environment
  • Challenge of meeting needs and wants
  • People using human, capital, and natural resources
  • Economic decision making
  • Symbols of citizenship
  • Rights, responsibilities and roles of citizenship
  • People making and changing rules and laws

Grade 3: Communities Around the World—Learning About People and Places

  • Cultures and civilizations
  • Communities around the world
  • The location of world communities
  • Physical, human, and cultural characteristics of world communities
  • People depending on and modifying the physical environment
  • Challenge of meeting needs and wants in world communities
  • Economic decision making in world communities
  • Symbols of citizenship in world communities
  • People making and changing rules and laws
  • Governments around the world

Grade 4: Local History and Local Government

  • Native American Indians of New York State
  • Three worlds (Europe, the Americas, Africa) meet in the Americas
  • Colonial and Revolutionary periods
  • The Revolutionary War in New York State
  • The new nation
  • Industrial growth and expansion
  • Urbanization: economic, political and social impacts
  • Government
  • Purposes of government
  • Local and state governments

Grade 5: The United States, Canada, and Latin America

  • History of the United States, Canada, and Latin America
  • Geography of the United States, Canada, and Latin America
  • The economies of the United States, Canada, and Latin American nations
  • The governments of the United States, Canada, and Latin American nation

 

Grade 6:  The Eastern Hemisphere

 

  • History of Eastern Hemisphere nations
  • Geography of Eastern Hemisphere nations
  • Economies of Eastern Hemisphere nations
  • Governments of Eastern Hemisphere nations

 

 

From www.nysed.gov