Curriculum and Instruction - Social Studies

Welcome

Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities aimed at promoting civic competence. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. The ESM social studies program provides a coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. Social studies also plays an integral role in literacy development, as students read social studies texts, analyze historical documents, acquire content specific vocabulary, and respond to issues through speaking, writing, and crafting digital responses aligned with Next Generation Standards.

Social Studies Practices

The Social Studies Practices represent the social science and historical thinking skills that students should develop throughout their K-12 education in order to be prepared for civic participation, college, and careers. The six practices below are spiraled vertically from Kindergarten through Grade 12 and are infused within the Social Studies content. These practices were created based on the existing New York State Social Studies Learning Standards, the National Geography Standards, the historical thinking skills articulated within the new Advanced Placement World History Curriculum Framework, the Disciplinary Tools of Dimension 2 of the C3 Framework, National Council for the Social Studies Standards, and Habits of the Mind published by the National Council for History Education:

1. Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence
2.  Chronological Reasoning and Causation
3. Comparison and Contextualization
4. Geographic Reasoning
5. Economics and Economic Systems
6. Civic Participation

Overview

Our elementary curriculum was developed by Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES Curriculum & Instructional Services in alignment with New York State Social Studies Standards. Students in our K-6 classrooms learn about geography; historical people, places, issues and events; local, state and federal government; politics; economics; civics and citizenship; rural, urban and suburban communities; and cultures around the world.

Our elementary social studies program integrates content, concepts, and skills that are essential for later learning and living in a democracy. These skills include gathering, using, and presenting information; considering different points of view and interpretations of events; participating in interpersonal and group relationships; and managing oneself.

Throughout the elementary program, students are introduced to primary source documents, such as photos, editorial cartoons, charts, and graphs. This helps them develop the skills they need to construct meaning and understanding.

Next York State Science Learning Standards

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 2: World History

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: Geography

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live – local, national, and global – including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the earth’s surface.

Standard 4: Economics

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources; how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies; and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and non-market mechanisms.

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

NYSED K-8 Social Studies Framework

NYSED K-12 Social Studies webpage

National Council for the Social Studies C3 Framework

Next Generation Reading and Writing Standards

Content Overview

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 4

Grade 2

Grade 5

Grade 3

Grade 6

Content Overview

Grade 7

Grade 10

Grade 8

Grade 11

Grade 9

Grade 12

SOCIAL STUDIES ELECTIVES

• US Presidents: An In Depth Study
  
• Anthropology & Archaeology
  
• Exploration of Civics
  
• Government & Genocide
  
• Long Island History and Geography
  
• Psychology
  
• Topics in Psychology
  
• *LIU Criminal Justice H

ADVANCED PLACEMENT

•  AP World History
  
• AP US History and Government
  
• AP European History
  
• AP Government and Politics
  
• AP Human Geography
  
• AP Macroeconomics
  
• AP Psychology