Humanities is an integrated approach to Social Studies and Reading/Language Arts. Texts are selected based on the Social Studies themes and content being investigated by students. While middle and high school students have different courses for Social Studies and Reading/Language Arts, curriculum is currently being constructed to align and complement one another so that students will have connected experiences in these two courses.

Two Themes K-12

Our students experience a connected curriculum in Naugatuck Public Schools. Two major themes drive the learning and the curriculum:

• Change and Consequence (K-6) which leads to Power and Dominance (7-12)
• Culture and Identity (K-12)

These themes inform how we think about and plan for instruction and learning experiences, and provide context for every year of study.

The Themes Explained

Change and Consequence (K-6): Who Am I? How does the past connect to me and my future? Exploration of self, community, society and the world helps us to understand why change is a constant in our history, our economy, our community and geography. Our decisions and actions affect change, and those changes have consequences for individuals and the societies and cultures in which they live. How do my decisions and actions - and the decisions and actions of others - affect me, where I live, and how I live?

Power and Dominance (7-12): Exploration and colonization are two themes of the study of the U.S. and the world. From the explorers financed by Spain - who sought new trade routes and, later, new lands and its subsequent valuable resources - to rising powers like Great Britain and France, whose reaches into Africa, Asia and the Middle East forever changed the politics, economy and culture of those nations, power and dominance has been a theme since William the Conqueror was victorious at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. How has the desire for power and control shaped our world and current events?

Culture and Identity (K-12): The exploration of literature continually asks the question "Who am I?" Who am I in my family, my community, my culture, my society, my government, my beliefs and values? Culture - the development and destruction of - has played a role in understanding ourselves and others who inhabit the world. How has understanding of other cultures - or lack thereof - influenced national and world economies, policies, politics and how history is recorded, communicated and documented?