Title: Unpacking the Early Elementary Social Studies Benchmarks Education Success Starts Early
1Unpacking the Early Elementary Social Studies
Benchmarks Education Success Starts Early
- Concepts and Skills for Early Grades
- Karen R. Todorov
- Michigan Department of Education
2You can not start before the beginning. . .
- The benchmarks contain concepts, vocabulary, and
skills that are necessary prerequisites to
understanding.
3There is no success without you
- Teachers of Kindergarten to Grade 3 are critical
to the success of students in social studies.
4Knowing what to teach is the key
- Unpacking each benchmark is a necessary first
step - Creating conceptual units that build on big ideas
is critical
5Concepts and big ideas for History
- Clocks
- Weeks, months, years
- Past, present future
- Chronological order
- Good character
- Personal virtue
- Stories from the past
- Primary documents
- Point of view
- Facts
- Interpretations
- Evaluate the decisions of others
6Select topics from History Themes for Grade 4
- Prehistoric and Historic Native American cultures
- French in Michigan
- British in Michigan
- Americans come to Michigan
- Settlement and Statehood
- Civil War
- Natural Resources
- Manufacturing
- Depression and the Labor movement
- Arsenal of democracy
- Modern Michigan
7History Themes for Grade 5
- Native Cultures
- Exploration and discovery
- Colonization
- Colonial Development
- African Experiences in America
- Early Conflicts in America
- Causes of the American Revolution
- American Revolution
- Early U.S. Government
- Expansion
8Geography Concepts and Big Ideas
- Human characteristics of place
- Natural characteristics of place
- Environment
- Human wants and needs
- Location
- Community
- Movement
- Region
- Place
- Human-environment interaction
- Country
- Boundary
- Major world event
- River, mountain, desert, bay, island, plain,
lake, peninsula, hill, plateau, valley, ocean,
continent
9Concepts and Big Ideas in Civics
- Authority
- Justice
- Core Democratic Values
- National Event
- Government
- Freedom
- Decisions
- International Event
- Rules
- Conflict
- Influence
10Concepts and Big Ideas in Economics
- Production
- Services
- Markets
- Economic exchanges
- Cash
- Consumption
- Resources
- Market economy
- Coin
- Goods
- Distribution
- currency
11What social studies skills?Classify
- Group data into categories
- Put things in order time and importance
- Put data in charts, graphs or illustrations
12Interpret Information
- State simple relationships between two things.
13Analyze
- Form a simple organization of key ideas related
to a topic
14Summarize
- Create a definition based on information
- Restate major ideas
15Synthesize
- Present visually in a chart, graph, diagram, or
model information presented in another way - Communicate ideas orally and in simple sentences
16Evaluate
- Test the correctness of work or ideas by using a
set of established rules.
17Decision-making
- Identify situations in which a decision is
required - Identify some alternative courses of action and
predict the consequences
18Personal Skills
- Recognize the mutual relationship between human
beings in satisfying one anothers needs
19Group Interaction Skills
- Participate in making rules and guidelines for
group life - Serve as a leader or follower
- Participate in persuading, compromising,
debating,and negotiating in the resolution of
conflicts and differences
20Social and Political Skills
- Identify situations in which social action is
required - Work individually or with others to decide on an
appropriate course of action - Work to influence those in positions of social
power to use core democratic values in decision
making
21Maps, Globes and Graphics
- Orient a map and note directions
- Locate places on map and globe
- Interpret map symbols and visualize what they
mean