Elementary Social Studies Content Focus

 

 

Kindergarten- The Community Around Us

Kindergarten students will begin their social studies experience by examining ways they are part of a classroom community and all of the social studies concepts involved in that community. By comparing themselves with classmates, mapping their classroom, and exploring classroom wants and needs with their teacher, kindergarten students will start to use skills of a social studies thinker. Instruction should utilize the specific thinking skills of a historian, geographer, economist, and political scientist developed for kindergartens. The progression of developmentally appropriate thinking skills begins in kindergarten and builds with each year of social studies instruction. The disciplinary skills, themes, and content knowledge work together to support the goals of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

Grade 1: Life in South Carolina

Grade one students continue their social studies experience by examining ways their community is a part of the state of South Carolina. By studying different geographic and economic features of the state, students will use skills of a social studies thinker when inquiring into the diversity of the state. Instruction should utilize the specific thinking skills of a historian, geographer, economist, and political scientist, developed for grade one. The progression of developmentally appropriate thinking skills begins in kindergarten and builds with each year of social studies instruction. The disciplinary skills, themes, and content knowledge work together to support the goals of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

Grade 2: Life in the United States

Students in grade two will employ social studies skills as they begin to explore how South Carolina is a part of a larger entity with many similar customs, physical features, and economic and political concerns. Instruction should utilize the specific thinking skills of a historian, geographer, economist, and political scientist, developed for grade two. The progression of developmentally appropriate thinking skills begins in kindergarten and builds with each year of social studies instruction. The disciplinary skills, themes, and content knowledge work together to support the goals of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

Grade 3: World Geography

In grade three, students explore the spatial distribution of Earth’s physical and human features and how these features interact to make Earth their home. Earth’s natural features and resources have both presented opportunities and constraints for how and where people have lived on Earth, in turn influencing the development of different cultural expressions. A geographic and skills-based study of the physical and human characteristics of places bridges the skills practiced in the primary grades to the subsequent content and thinking skills of later grades.

Grade 4: United States & South Carolina Studies Part I

In grade four, students study the history of the United States and South Carolina, beginning with the colonization of the United States and continuing through Reconstruction. South Carolina’s role is integrated into the study of the exploration of the United States. Students will explore how the United States and South Carolina cultivated common societies through the interaction among different groups of people, the colonization of North America, independence from Great Britain, founding principles, and the identity of a new nation. They will also investigate how cooperation and conflict among people brought about change, led to the expansion of boundaries and territories, a nation became divided in the Civil War, and how the nation and state dealt with the consequences of the Civil War which resulted in Reconstruction.

Grade 5: United States & South Carolina Studies Part II

In grade five, students continue their study of the history of the United States and South Carolina, beginning with the industrialization of the United States and continuing through the present day. South Carolina’s role is integrated into the exploration of the history of the United States. Students study the industrialization of the United States and South Carolina, the impact immigrants had on the cultural and economic landscape, the rise of the United States as a world power, the nation’s involvement in world affairs in the 20th century, and the nation’s leadership role after World War II, during and after the Cold War, and into the 21st century. They also learn about how citizens dealt with urbanization and increased population, women’s suffrage and civil rights for all Americans, economic depression and recovery, and challenges in foreign diplomacy.

*This information was taken from the 2019 South Carolina Social Studies College and Career Ready Standards.