3rd Grade College and Career Social Studies

Geography, Humans, and the Environment 

Time, Continuity, and Change

Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures

Civic Ideals and Practices

Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems

Geographic regions have unifying characteristics and can be studied using a variety of tools.

The location of world communities can be described using geographic tools and vocabulary. 

Geographic factors often influence where people settle and form communities. People adapt to and modify their environment in different ways to meet their needs. 

Each community or culture has a unique history, including heroic figures and traditions.

Communities share cultural similarities and differences across the world.

Communities from around the world interact with other people and communities and exchange cultural ideas and practices.

Governments in communities and countries around the world have the authority to make and the power to enforce laws. The role of the citizen within these communities or countries varies across different types of governments.

The concept of universal human rights suggests that all people should be treated fairly and should have the opportunity to meet their basic needs.

Communities meet their needs and wants in a variety of ways, forming the basis for their economy.

Each community develops an economic system that addresses three questions: what will be produced, how will it be produced, and who will get what is produced?

Earth is comprised of water and large land masses that can be divided into distinct regions.

Globes, maps, photographs, and satellite images contain geographic information. Maps often have a title, legend or key, compass orientation, author, date, grid, and scale. 

3.2a. World communities can be located on globes and maps.

3.2b. World communities can be located in relation to each other and to principle parallels and meridians.

3.3a. Geographic factors influence where people settle and their lifestyle. Some geographic factors make a location more suitable for settlement, while others act as deterrents. 

3.3b. People make adaptations and modifications to the environment. Advancements in science, technology, and industry can bring about modifications to the environment and can have unintended consequences on the environment. People have attempted to take actions to protect the environment.

People in world communities use legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical narratives to transmit cultural histories from one generation to the next.

Arts, music, dance, and literature develop through a community’s history.

The structure and activities of families and schools share similarities and differences across world communities.

Communities around the world can be diverse in terms of their members, languages spoken, customs and traditions, and religious beliefs and practices. People in world communities celebrate various holidays and festivals.

3.6a. Cultural diffusion is the process by which cultures exchange and transmit ideas, beliefs, technologies, and goods over time.

The United States government is based on democratic principles. The fundamental principles of other governments may be similar to or different from those of the United States government.

The process of selecting leaders, solving problems, and making decisions differs across governments in nations and communities around the world.

Different governments have different ways of maintaining order and keeping people safe. This includes making rules and laws and enforcing these rules and laws.

The definition of citizenship and the role of the citizen vary across different types of political systems, and citizens play a greater role in the political process in some countries than in others.

Across global communities, governments and citizens alike have a responsibility to protect human rights and to treat others fairly.

Across time and place, communities and cultures have struggled with prejudice and discrimination as barriers to justice and equality for all people.

When faced with prejudice and discrimination, people can take steps to support social action and change.

3.9a. World communities use human and natural resources in different ways.

3.9b. People in communities have various ways of meeting their basic needs and earning a living.

3.10a. Communities around the world produce goods and provide services. 

3.10b. World communities have needs, wants, and limited resources. To meet their needs and wants, communities trade with others. Technological developments in transportation and communication have influenced trade.

Students will use geographic reasoning to locate and describe oceans and continents on globes and maps.

Students will use comparison and contextualization skills along with maps, photographs, and satellite images to compare the geographic features of locations.

Students will use geographic reasoning to describe the location of selected DoDEA-connected world communities in relation to each other, the equator, and the Prime Meridian using cardinal and intermediate directions.

Students will use geographic reasoning to describe geographic factors that influence the settlement and lifestyles of DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will use geographic reasoning to describe how people in DoDEA-connected world communities make adaptations and modifications to their environment.

Students will use geographic reasoning to describe how human activities in DoDEA-connected world communities affect the environment in positive and negative ways. 

Students will gather, interpret, and use evidence to describe how people transmit cultural histories from one generation to the next. 

Students will gather, interpret, and use evidence to recognize the arts, music, dance, and literature related to DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will use comparison and contextualization skills to compare family and school activities of DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will gather, interpret, and use evidence to identify the characteristics of DoDEA-connected world communities.

Students will use chronological reasoning and causation skills to recognize the ways DoDEA-connected world communities have interacted and exchanged ideas, beliefs, technologies, and goods over time. 

Students will gather, interpret, and use evidence to identify the democratic principles and basic structure of the United States government. 

Students will use comparison and contextualization skills to compare the governmental processes of selecting leaders, solving problems and making decisions in DoDEA-connected world communities with the United States government. 

Students will use civic participation skills to describe how DoDEA-connected world communities make and enforce rules and laws. 

Students will use comparison and contextualization skills to compare the role of citizens in the political process of DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will use civic participation skills to describe how communities and cultures have struggled with prejudice and discrimination and ways they took responsibility to protect human rights and treat others fairly. 

Students will use civic participation skills to identify a need in a global community and explain the steps and potential solution to support social change. 

Students will use an understanding of economics to describe how DoDEA-connected world communities use human and natural resources to meet their basic needs and earn a living.  

Students will use an understanding of economics to identify the goods and services produced by DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will use an understanding of economics to describe the relationship between scarcity and the importing and exporting of products and services of DoDEA-connected world communities. 

Students will use an understanding of economics to identify the technological developments in transportation and communication that have influenced trade in world communities.