Social Studies Department Vision
Know the past. Engage the present. Impact the future.
Social Studies Department Mission Statement
The mission of our department is to prepare our students to become informed and engaged citizens of an increasingly global, interdependent world. Our focus as Social Studies educators is to ensure that experiences in our classrooms are meaningful, real, and authentic for all learners. We challenge our students to engage the world around them and strive to find resolutions to both local and global problems. These are the challenges we equip our students to confront, discuss, and address throughout their lifetime. In the end, Social Studies teachers have the highest expectations for all students; we will instill discipline, hard work, and progressive thought through a rigorous instructional model.
Social Studies Department Goals
- To foster an understanding of the processes which are critical to solving complex problems, and to engage students in the regular practice of those problem-solving skills.
- To enable students, through an interpretation of historical facts, to analyze information, and to fully engage in higher-level thinking.
- To promote knowledge of the core content of historical, political, economic, legal, and social issues of our world, nation, and community.
- To help students see the world from different perspectives- those of the historian, the geographer, the economist, the political scientist, the psychologist, the lawyer, and other social scientists- and employ the different tools and techniques of each discipline in critical thought.
- To guide our diverse student population in realizing their potential as citizens of a democratic nation and members of our local community.
Social Studies Program Map
| Grades 1-3 | Course Title: Themes of Social Studies
Resources: Pearson MyWorld Interactive https://www.savvas.com/index.cfm?locator=PS344n Topics: Developing a social, political, cultural, and economic awareness through the introduction and elaboration of essential themes including self, family, government, needs and wants, financial literacy, traditions, and cultural symbols. |
| Grade 4 | Course Title: Regions of the United States
Resources: Pearson MyWorld Interactive https://www.savvas.com/index.cfm?locator=PS344n Topics: An introduction to the geography and history of the United States. |
| Grade 5 | Course Title: United States History: An introduction to Early American History
Resources: Pearson MyWorld Interactive https://www.savvas.com/index.cfm?locator=PS344n Topics: Colonialization to the American Revolution |
| Grade 6 | Course Title: Civics / World Geography (each taught ½ year)
Resource: Discovery Education: Social Studies TechBook https://www.discoveryeducation.com/programs/social-studies/techbook/ Topics: U.S. Constitution and Active Citizenship Examining African, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America from the perspective of the 5 themes of geography (Location, Place, Human Environment Interaction, Movement, Regions |
| Grade 7 | Course Title: United States History
Resource: Discovery Education: Social Studies TechBook https://www.discoveryeducation.com/programs/social-studies/techbook/ Topics: The American Revolution, Development of a New Nation, Expansion and Reform, Civil War and Reconstruction |
| Grade 8 | Course Title: World History
Resource: Discovery Education: Social Studies TechBook https://www.discoveryeducation.com/programs/social-studies/techbook/ Topics: Beginnings of Human Society to Expanding Exchanges and Encounters |
| Grade 9 | Course Title: World History
Resource: ActiveClassroom- https://go.socialstudies.com/active-classroom DBQ Project- https://www.dbqproject.com Topics: First Global Age to Contemporary Issues |
| Grade 10 | Course Title: United States History I
Resource: ActiveClassroom- https://go.socialstudies.com/active-classroom DBQ Project- https://www.dbqproject.com Topics: Colonization, Revolutionary Era, Early Republic, Antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction, Gilded Age, Industrial Age, Progressive Era, Imperialism, The First World War |
| Grade 11 | Course Title: United States History II
Resource: ActiveClassroom- https://go.socialstudies.com/active-classroom DBQ Project- https://www.dbqproject.com Topics: Roaring Twenties, Great Depression, World War II, Social Development after WWII, Cold War, Post-Cold War Era, The World Today |
| Electives | Elective courses of study are offered for the following topics:
African Studies, Criminal Justice, Holocaust Studies, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology |