Social Studies

Guiding Principles

District-Provided Resources

Overarching Goals of Social Studies

Social studies education contributes to developing responsible citizens in a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. Social studies equips students to understand their own power and their own responsibility as citizens of the world and it equips them to make sound judgments and to actively contribute to sustaining a democratic society, to good stewardship of the natural environment, and to the health and prosperity of their own communities.

Focus on Enduring Understanding

The GLEs focus on the big ideas in civics, economics, geography, and history that will help students understand and analyze the world. Facts are critically important – but facts should be the building blocks for understanding trends, ideas, and principles, not stand-alone bits of memorized data.

Promote authentic intellectual work

Students should have the opportunity to engage in disciplined inquiry, to construct their own knowledge through independent research and analysis, and to develop skills and understandings that have value beyond school.

Strike the right balance between depth and breadth

It would be impossible to teach students about every important topic in social studies and, at the same time, to provide students with the in-depth learning experiences they need to become skilled researchers, analysts, and practitioners of democratic values.

Incorporate multiple perspectives and cultural awareness

Students in our schools come from a wealth of cultural backgrounds. All students must find relevance to their own frame of reference, and respect for their group’s historical perspective in the social studies curriculum. Moreover, all students should learn to identify and analyze the perspectives of the authors they read.

INQUIRY TASK REQUIREMENT

Students in grades 3-5 are required by the state to have social studies learning opportunities through inquiry tasks. These tasks were formerly called Classroom-Based Assessments or CBAs for short.

Click here for details about and resources to support the inquiry task requirement.

DISTRICT-PROVIDED SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCES

Schoolwide Reading Fundamentals: My Place in the World

This teacher resource is a binder with interactive read-alouds and mini-lessons integrated with grade-level social studies content. Mentor texts included:

  • Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O'Connor
  • Helpers in My Community by Bobbie Kalman
  • A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman
  • Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney
  • Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney
  • Whose Hat Is This?: A Look at Hats Workers Wear - Hard, Tall, and Shiny by Sharon Katz Cooper

BookFlix

BookFlix contains paired fiction and nonfiction videos and texts on related topics. Titles related to kindergarten EPS social studies content include:

  • We Are Citizens
  • We Help Out at School
  • Kindness and Generosity: It Starts with Me
  • Let's Vote on It!
  • A Day with Librarians
  • Welcome to the Library
  • A Day with Librarians
  • Welcome to the Library

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

Schoolwide Reading Fundamentals: Communities, Families, and Traditions

This teacher resource is a binder with interactive read-alouds and mini-lessons integrated with grade-level social studies content. Mentor texts included:

  • Be My Neighbor by Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko
  • Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules
  • Fathers, Mothers Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems by Mary Ann Hoberman
  • Follow That Map!: A First Book of Mapping Skills by Scott Ritchie
  • Madlenka by Peter Sis
  • My Family by Sheila Kincade

BookFlix

BookFlix contains paired fiction and nonfiction videos and texts on related topics. Titles related to first grade EPS social studies content include:

  • This is the Way We Eat Our Food
  • This Is the Way We Play
  • This is the Way We Help at Home
  • This is the Way We Go to School
  • Mis Comidas--My Foods
  • Types of Maps
  • Looking at Maps and Globes

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

Schoolwide Reading Fundamentals: Communities: Urban, Suburban, and Rural

This teacher resource is a binder with interactive read-alouds and mini-lessons integrated with grade-level social studies content. Mentor texts included:

  • City Homes by Nicola Barber
  • City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan
  • Community Helpers from A to Z by Bobbie Kalman
  • Farm Community by Peggy Pancella
  • Homes Around the World by Bobbie Kalman
  • The Journey by Sarah Stewart

BookFlix

BookFlix contains paired fiction and nonfiction videos and texts on related topics. Titles related to second grade EPS social studies content include:

  • Mi Barrio--My Neighborhood
  • How things Work: Fire Trucks
  • A Day with Doctors
  • A Very Busy Firehouse
  • Living on Farms
  • Garbage Trucks
  • Police Officers on the Go

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

Countries of the World

Two sets of 27 short books about different world cultures shared by the third grade team:

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam.

CultureGrams

A database with information about the countries and cultures of the world including their histories, lifestyles, governments and more.

Access the CultureGrams through the Libraries/Ebooks/Research folder in ClassLink.

TrueFlix

TrueFlix contains texts, short companion videos , and activity suggestions. Titles related to third grade EPS social studies content include:

  • Several titles about different Native American tribes
  • Several titles about different regions of the Unites States

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

Toolkit Texts: Westward Expansion

This teacher resource is a a spiral-bound set of short nonfiction texts and primary sources that may be reproduced for classroom use aligned to Washington State history including:

  • Growing Up Native American
  • Mr. Jefferson's Expedition
  • Westward Bound
  • Going west with Lewis and Clark
  • Sacagawea: Intrepid Interpreter and Guide
  • York: Brave Explorer
  • Women's Voices from the Trail
  • Swing Your Partner: Frontier Fun

Exploring the West: The Amazing Journey of Lewis and Clark

This student resource is a narrative of the Corps of Discovery including many maps, photographs, and artwork illustrating the expedition and the landscape (six copies per teacher).


Expansion of America: The Oregon Trail

This student resource is an informational text about the Oregon Trail including chapters addressing the call to go west, interactions between pioneers and Native Americans, Missionaries, and migration (six copies per teacher).

A Historical Look at Native Americans: The Nez Perce: People of the Northwest

This student resource is an informational text about the Nez Perce including chapters addressing the history of the Nez Perce, the geography of their homeland, Nez Perce language and culture, and brief biography of Chief Joseph (six copies per teacher).

Travels Across America's Past: The West: Its History and People

This student resource is an informational text about the history of the west including information about the Chinook, overland trails, the transcontinental railroad, logging, and several notable historical figures (six copies per teacher).

TrueFlix

TrueFlix contains texts, short companion videos , and activity suggestions. Titles related to fourth grade EPS social studies content include:

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition
  • The Oregon Trail
  • Westward Expansion
  • Life in the West

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

FreedomFlix

FreedomFlix from Scholastic contains history texts, short companion videos, and activity suggestions. Titles related to fourth grade EPS social studies content include:

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition
  • The Oregon Trail

Access the Flix resources through the Libraries/Ebooks/Research folder in ClassLink.

Toolkit Texts: The American Revolution and the Constitution

This teacher resource is a spiral-bound set of short nonfiction texts and primary sources that may be reproduced for classroom use aligned to early American history including:

  • Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
  • The Wigmaker's Boy and the Boston Massacre
  • Tea Troubles: The Boston Tea Party
  • Just Say No!: The Daughters of Liberty
  • Loyalists in the American Revolution
  • The Wild Colt: Abigail Adams
  • Road to a Constitution

Leveled Texts for Social Studies: Early America

This teacher resource is a s a collection of 15 reproducible short nonfiction texts written at three different reading levels including texts addressing:

  • American Indian Tribes of different regions (East, Plains, West)
  • Different colonial regions (New England, Middle Colonies, Southern Colonies)
  • Slavery in the New World
  • Causes of the American Revolution
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • The American Revolution
  • The Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights

George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides

This student resource is a narrative that explores how George III and George Washington affected the progress and outcome of the American Revolution through a presentation of differing perspectives (six copies per teacher).

We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution

This student resource is a textbook that provides an understanding of how the Constitution came into existence, why it took the form it did, and how it works. questions it helps to answer include:

  • What basic ideas about the government did the founders have?
  • How did the framers write our Constitution?
  • How does the Constitution organize our government?
  • How does the Constitution protect our basic rights?
  • What are the responsibilities of citizens?

(two class sets per school)

FreedomFlix

FreedomFlix from Scholastic contains history texts, short companion videos , and activity suggestions. Titles related to fifth grade EPS social studies content include:

  • The British Colonies in North America
  • African Americans in the Thirteen Colonies
  • The Boston Massacre
  • The Boston Tea Party
  • The Revolutionary War
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • The U.S. Constitution
  • The Branches of Government
  • The Bill of Rights

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.

TrueFlix

TrueFlix contains texts, short companion videos , and activity suggestions. Titles related to fifth grade EPS social studies content include:

  • One book about each of the 13 colonies
  • The Declaration of Independence 
  • The Constitution of the United States
  • The Bill of Rights
  • The Congress
  • The Presidency
  • The Supreme Court
  • Voting

Access the Flix resources through ClassLink.