Third Grade:

Alaska - Past, Present & Future

Course Description:

Learners will focus on Alaska: past, present, and future. Learners will compare and contrast various cultures and regions within the state. They will also focus on the study of Alaska’s history, geography, culture, civics, economics, and government. Learners will explore the Indigenous cultures of Alaska, including why and how the first Alaska Natives and other people came to the area, the United States’ purchase of Alaska, and how Alaska became a state. The learners will also explain the history and importance of natural resources to Alaska’s people and economies.

Graduate - Level Competency:

Communication

GL.1 The learner will demonstrate the ability to read a variety of texts fluently and critically by using a variety of strategies in order to evaluate arguments, biases, intended audience, and purpose.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.1 The learner will be able to share and discuss current events within their community and their state.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Identify facts and opinions, and also explain why each is a fact or opinion, in order to maintain awareness of current events in their community and inform their choices and actions as citizens.

    • Identify multiple perspectives in historic and current events.

    • Actively participate in classroom meetings and community.

    • Be a good citizen of the classroom by working independently and cooperatively.

Standards:

NCSS

II.d, V.g,

VI.d-e, IX.b, f,

X.c-d, i

AK Digital Literacy

3-5.GC.2

AASL

II.C.1-2

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

Graduate - Level Competency:

Civics

GL.2 The learner will apply the principles and structures of representative democracy and other political systems by analyzing historical and current issues in order to evaluate the relationship between the individual, government, and other groups.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.2 The learner will understand and be able to identify their place in the community and state.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Identify problems and propose solutions in the local community, state, nation, or world.

    • Identify ways people can influence their local community and organize solutions through their actions (e.g., letters to community leaders and legislators, testimony to city councils and/or the School Board, letters to the editor, responsible use of social media platforms).

Standards:

NCSS

IV.a-d, f-h, V.a-b,

VI.e, VII.d,

IX.b

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

    • Alaska holidays and events (e.g., Seward Day, Alaska Day, Iditarod, Yukon Quest, Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, Indigenous People’s Day)

    • Kids Voting (https://www.k12northstar.org/Page/8808)

    • Voting for Student Council

    • Visit Borough Assembly chambers and/or have city and borough mayors visit classroom

    • Invite an elder or pioneer to speak to the class.


Graduate - Level Competency:

Historical

GL.3 The learner will understand how historical events impact the modern era by applying historical inquiry skills in order to understand the forces of change and make informed decisions.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.3 The learner can demonstrate an understanding of past events and their connection to the present and future.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Describe ways that life in Alaska has changed and stayed the same over time; explain why these changes have occurred.

    • Explain the differences between historic and present day objects in Alaska, evaluating how the use of the object and the object itself has changed over time (e.g., compare modes of transportation used in past and present exploration in order to evaluate the impact and events of those changes).

    • Learn about Indigenous land acknowledgements as a recognition of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the land, historically and current.

Standards:

NCSS

II.c, e-f, V.b,

VI.e, VIII.c,

IX.a, f

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.4 The learner can demonstrate an understanding of how and why cultures continue to change over time.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Identify how location influences cultural traits across various regions of Alaska (e.g., compare clothing, food, architecture, and art in relation to location).

    • Describe the contributions of various cultural groups to our state and country, both past and present.

    • Identify ways in which culture in Alaska has changed over time.

Standards:

NCSS

I.c, e, II.e,

V.b, f, VII.f,

VIII.a, c, IX.a

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

    • University of Alaska – Fairbanks Museum of the North

    • Interview an older family or community member to see how their community and lifestyle changed over time (changes in technology or other events).

    • Alaska Native Education Program

    • Alaska Room

    • Invite an elder or pioneer to speak to the class

    • Host a potlatch

    • Village Journey by Justice Thomas Berger

    • Alaska Native kits (http://destiny.k12northstar.org/)

    • Study and create art inspired by Alaska Native artifacts

    • Present a wax museum on an Alaskan pioneer

    • UAF Sustaining Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Arts, and Teaching (SILKAT) (https://sites.google.com/alaska.edu/silkathome?scrlybrkr=69b1fedb)

Graduate - Level Competency:

Social Studies Processes, Knowledge, and Skills

GL.4 The learner will develop research skills by selecting, evaluating, and synthesizing information from varied sources in order to effectively communicate using reasoning and sufficient evidence, both orally and in writing.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.5 The learner will acquire strategies for reading social studies materials and for increasing social studies vocabulary at the appropriate grade level.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Recount stories including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures. The learner will determine the central message, lesson, or moral, and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

    • Describe the relationship between a series of historical events using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause and effect.

    • Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, and hyperlinks) to efficiently locate information relevant to a given topic.

    • Identify different types of primary and secondary sources, and understand the benefits and limitations both bring to the study of history (e.g., interviews, biographies, magazine articles, eyewitness news accounts).

    • Identify expressions of culture in Alaska through analysis of various modes, such as poems, songs, dances, stories, sculptures, and photographs.

    • Read and interpret historic maps and timelines.

    • Construct and read a variety of effective representations of Earth, such as maps, globes, and photographs.

    • Use grid systems to locate places on maps and globes, including circumpolar maps that focus on the arctic region.

Standards:

AKSS

RL.3.2, .3, .5

NCSS

II.a-d

AK Digital Literacy

3-5.KC.2

AASL

IV.B.1-4

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.6 The learner will use current technology responsibly to demonstrate their understanding of geography, culture, history, government, and/or current events.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

    • Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

    • Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

    • Practice and encourage others in safe, legal, and ethical behavior when using technology and interacting online, with guidance from an educator.

Standards:

AKSS

W.3.2, 3.7, 3.8

AK Digital Literacy

3-5.DC.2

NCSS

II.a, c, V.f,

VI.g, IX.a, f

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

    • Arctic Today news blog (https://www.arctictoday.com)

    • FNSBSD Picturing Fairbanks

    • FNSBSD Goldmines and Pipelines

    • Create a 3D map of Alaska and paint water and landforms.

    • Look at a variety of maps, and classify them according to purpose.

    • Create and color a physical and political map of Alaska.

    • Explore Google Earth

    • Timelines

    • Library of Congress primary resource website (https://www.loc.gov/)

    • Art Center – Art Kits

        • Benny Benson & My Personal Flag

        • Fairbanks Centennial Bridge

    • Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich by Annie Boochever and Roy Peratrovich Jr.

    • Alaska: A Land in Motion by Nancy Warren Ferrell

    • BrainPOP

    • BrainPOP Jr.

    • Molly of Denali

    • Pen Pals (written, Skype, voice thread) from other schools (rural Alaska)

    • AK Digital Citizenship Week (https://education.alaska.gov/digital-citizenship)

    • Google - Be Internet Awesome (https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us)


Graduate - Level Competency:

Civic Engagement

GL.5 The learner will gain an understanding of their role in the community by planning and implementing a civic action or service-learning project based on local, state, national, or international needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of civic participation.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.7 The learner will understand and be able to demonstrate what it means to be a responsible citizen within their community, including government.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Describe and define the rights, principles, and responsibilities of citizenship in the United States and the state of Alaska (e.g., right to vote, the responsibility to obey the law).

    • Describe how rules and laws are created in the state of Alaska.

    • Identify key documents on which state and U.S. laws are based, and where to find them (e.g., Alaska State Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution of the United States).

    • Identify state government leaders and the three branches of state government, and explain their basic functions.

    • Describe how government decisions impact and/or relate to their lives, and how they can influence these decisions as citizens of the state.

Standards:

NCSS

II.f, V.c,

VI.a-b, d-e, VIII.e,

X.a-b, d-j

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

Graduate - Level Competency:

Geography

GL.6 The learner will understand their place in the world and interdependent relationships by using geographic reasoning and thinking skills in order to evaluate global problems and propose solutions.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.8 The learner will be able to compare and contrast their community with other communities statewide.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

  • Compare and contrast key communities in Alaska (e.g., Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, Nome).

Standards:

NCSS

I.a, e, IV.e,

V.d, e, VI.b

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.9 The learner will be able to discuss and recognize state geography and geographical problems through the use of different resources.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Study factors such as landforms, weather, population distribution, land use, climate, and transportation to identify regional differences and similarities in Alaska.

    • Explain how climate and physical features impact the ways of life in different regions of Alaska.

    • Recognize patterns in settlement, migration, and land use in Alaska, and connect them to the geographical features and environment.

Standards:

NCSS

I.b, d, III.a-f, h-j,

VI II.b-c, IX.d-e

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

    • Molly of Denali

    • Alaska: A Land in Motion

    • Alaska region study of geography, climate, and people

    • Learn about the Alaska Railroad, ALCAN Highway, pipeline, and/or Valdez oil spill

    • Art Center – Art Kits (http://destiny.k12northstar.org/)

        • Alaskan Animals

        • Birch Poetree

        • Caribou on the Tundra

        • Chena River Appreciation

        • Fairbanks River Travel

        • Raven Sculptures


Graduate - Level Competency:

Economics

GL.8 The learner will assess personal, national, and global economic decisions by applying financial literacy knowledge and economic principles in various systems in order to make informed budgetary decisions.

Course/Grade Competency:

3C.10 The learner will develop financial skills with an understanding of making choices with limited resources.

Content Objectives:

The learner will:

    • Identify resources of the state of Alaska, and how these resources have changed over time.

    • Identify the types of decisions that are made about resources, and how decisions about managing scarce resources are made at the individual, local, tribal, and state levels.

Standards:

NCSS

III.g-h, j-k, VI.c, h,

VII.a-e, g-j. VIII.c-d,

IX.d-e, X.g

Suggested Activities, Materials, and Resources:

See the appendix for additional Alaska history resources.