Grade 3

Describe how individuals, events, and ideas have changed communities, past and present.

Identify individuals, including Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, Benjamin Banneker, and Benjamin Franklin, who have helped to shape communities.

Describe how individuals, including Daniel Boone and the Founding Fathers have contributed to the expansion of existing communities or to the creation of new communities.

Identify reasons people have formed communities, including a need for security and laws, religious freedom, and material well-being.

Compare ways in which people in the local community and other communities meet their needs for government, education, communication, transportation, and recreation.

Describe similarities and differences in the physical environment, including climate, landforms, natural resources, and natural hazards.

Identify and compare how people in different communities adapt to or modify the physical environment in which they live such as deserts, mountains, wetlands, and plains.

Describe the effects of human processes such as building new homes, conservation, and pollution in shaping the landscape.

Use cardinal and intermediate directions to locate places on maps and globes in relation to the local community.

Use a scale to determine the distance between places on maps and globes.

Identify, create, and interpret maps of places that contain map elements, including a title, compass rose, legend, scale, and grid system.

Identify ways of earning, spending, saving, and donating money.

Create a simple budget that allocates money for spending and saving.

Explain how supply and demand affect the price of a good or service.

Define and identify examples of scarcity.

Explain how the cost of production and selling price affect profits.

Identify individuals, past and present, such as Henry Ford and Sam Walton who have started new businesses.

Describe the basic structure of government in the local community, state, and nation.

Identify local, state, and national government officials and explain how they are chosen.

Identify services commonly provided by local, state, and national governments.

Identify the purposes of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.

Describe the concept of "consent of the governed. ".

Identify characteristics of good citizenship, including truthfulness, justice, equality, respect for oneself and others, responsibility in daily life, and participation in government by educating oneself about the issues, respectfully holding public officials to their word, and voting.

Identify figures such as Helen Keller, Clara Barton, and Ruby Bridges who exemplify good citizenship.

Identify and describe individual acts of civic responsibility, including obeying laws, serving and improving the community, serving on a jury, and voting.

Identify examples of nonprofit and/or civic organizations such as the Red Cross and explain how they serve the common good.

Use voting as a method for group decision making.

Explain the significance of various ethnic and/or cultural celebrations in the local community and other communities.

Compare ethnic and/or cultural celebrations in the local community with other communities.

Identify and describe the heroic deeds of state and national heroes and military and first responders such as Hector P. Garcia, James A. Lovell, and the Four Chaplains.

Identify and describe the heroic deeds of individuals such as Harriet Tubman, Todd Beamer, and other contemporary heroes.

Identify how various writers and artists such as Kadir Nelson, Tomie dePaola, Carmen Lomas Garza, and Laura Ingalls Wilder and their stories, poems, statues, and paintings contribute to the cultural heritage of communities.

Identify individuals who have discovered scientific breakthroughs or created or invented new technology such as Jonas Salk, Cyrus McCormick, Bill Gates, Louis Pasteur, and others.

Describe the impact of scientific breakthroughs and new technology in computers, pasteurization, and medical vaccines on various communities.

Gather information, including historical and current events and geographic data, about the community using a variety of resources.

Differentiate and compare the information about a specific issue or event provided in primary and secondary sources.

Interpret oral, visual, and print material by sequencing, categorizing, identifying the main idea, distinguishing between fact and opinion, identifying cause and effect, comparing, and contrasting.

Interpret and create visuals, including graphs, charts, tables, timelines, illustrations, and maps.

Identify the central claim in a primary or secondary source.

Develop and communicate a claim and supporting evidence visually, orally, or in writing related to a social studies topic.

Use social studies terminology correctly.

Create and interpret timelines.

Apply the terms year, decade, and century to describe historical times.

Express ideas orally based on knowledge and experiences.

Create written and visual material such as stories, pictures, maps, and graphic organizers to express ideas.

Apply foundational language skills to engage in civil discourse about social studies topics, including those with multiple perspectives.

Use democratic procedures to simulate making decisions on school, local, or state issues.

Use problem-solving and decision-making processes to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.