Social Studies

“If you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams.”

- Booker T. Washington

Units studied during third grade social studies include:

• Our Native American Past
• Cultures in Our Community - Cultural Diversity
• Geography - Making Global Connections

The Washington State Standards require third graders to learn from these EALRs:

• History
• Geography
• Economics
• Civics

In our classroom, we will meet these expectations with the following project-based learning units while learning a lot of technology skills and research skills:

• Native American Tribe PhotoStory - we will study four tribes and create a movie about our learning
• My Culture Slide Show - students will use CultureGrams and MicroSoft PowerPoint during this unit of study
• Winds of Trade - students will study the Puget Sound and world geography while studying a unit on Trade with a the use of a Web Quest

Washington State EALRs:

1.   CIVICS   The student understands and applies knowledge of government, law, politics, and the nation's fundamental documents to make decisions about local, national and international issues and to demonstrate thoughtful, participatory citizenship. 

2.   ECONOMICS   The student applies understanding of economic concepts and systems to analyze decision-making and the interactions between individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies. 

3.   GEOGRAPHY  The student uses a spatial perspective to make reasoned decisions by applying the concepts of location, region, and movement and demonstrating knowledge of how geographic features and human cultures impact environments. 

4.   HISTORY   The student understands and applies knowledge of historical thinking, chronology, eras, turning points, major ideas, individuals, and themes in local, Washington State, tribal, United States, and world history in order to evaluate how history shapes the present and future. 

5.   SOCIAL STUDIES SKILLS   The student understands and applies reasoning skills to conduct research, deliberate, form, and evaluate positions through the processes of reading, writing and communicating.