Social Studies Curriculum for Clover Park Schools
The Social Studies curriculum is composed of ideas and content contained in History, Civics, Geography and Economics. Since each of those disciplines has a number of concepts in common, we have combined these concepts and content into six themes for our Social Studies document. These are topics used to organize similar content so that the entire document will be easier for teacher to use. The themes are:

• Investigative Process
• Culture
• Scarcity
• Change
• Problems and Resolutions
• Interdependence

Investigative Process
Within this theme, students will:

• investigate, research, analyze and synthesize date
• use and construct maps, charts and other resources

This theme is interdependent with Goal 3 of the Language Arts curriculum which contains instructional information about the information management process.

• A kindergartner might compare the shape of the earth with similarly shaped objects such as oranges or balls.
• A third grader might compare historical biographies or stories written about historical events by contrasting the facts included or omitted in each and the point of view of the author of each selection.
• A seventh grader might explain why many ancient civilizations developed along rivers or bodies of water.
• An eleventh grader might use appropriate critical thinking skills in recreating a famous court decision (as a classroom presentation), such as Brown v. Board of Education with students representing both sides to be presented to the class.

Culture
Within this theme, students will:

• examine cultural characteristics, transmission, diffusion and interaction
• examine the influence of culture on the world, U.S. and Washington State history
• identify the characteristics that define the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim as regions
• identify and examine people's interaction with and impact on the environment
• understand the function and effect of laws

Activities may include:

• A kindergartner might explain how classroom rules make school safe.
• A third grader might explain how a region's environment impacts its culture, such as Eskimos in the Arctic region.
• A seventh grader might identify and discuss the first civilization to establish a codified rule of law.
• An eleventh grader might analyze how communications technologies and historical narratives can impact cultural understandings in 20th century society.

Scarcity
Within this theme, students:

• understand key economic concepts and systems, including taxes and international trade
• understand major types of businesses and compare and contrast related careers
• understand the concept of money and how an individual's economic choices involve costs and consequences
• examine how government policies influence the economy
• analyze how the environment and environmental changes affect people

Activities may include:

• A kindergartner might list the jobs within a school, e.g. principal, teacher, custodian, cook, bus driver, secretary, etc.
• A third grader might describe different ways money can be saved and identify the "best" way to save.
• A seventh grader might explain the concept of a monopoly, using the "guild practice" of the Middle Ages as an example.
• An eleventh grader might explain the collapse of the Soviet Union as it relates to the scarcity of good and services and the quality of distribution in the USSR.

Change
Within this theme, students:

• understand historical time and how events occur in time and place
• understand the origin and impact of ideas and technological developments on history and social change, including their
• impact on the organization of people, resources and culture
• analyze how historical conditions shape ideas and how ideas change over time
• describe the patterns humans make on places and regions

Activities may include:

• A kindergartner might construct a monthly calendar of birthdays and holidays.
• A third grader might identify changes within the neighborhood and community and offer some explanations as to why the changes took place.
• A seventh grader might explain how science and technology have altered people's perceptions e.g. how did Renaissance scientific thinking impact the Reformation?
• An eleventh grader might analyze why the meaning of ideas change over time and between cultures by selecting examples such as spirituality, progress, and governance.

Problems & Resolutions
Within this theme, students:

• analyze turning points and interpret major ideas in U.S., World and Washington State history
• understand how the world is organized and how nations interact
• recognize factors and roles that affect the development of foreign policy by the United States, other nations and multi-national organizations

Activities may include:

• A kindergartner might identify problems which arise in the school environment and ways of dealing with them, e.g. taking turns, sharing, etc.
• A third grader might explain that the world is divided into many different nations with each one having its own government.
• A seventh grader might explain the interests that motivated the principle parties of an historically significant incident or war e.g. the Hundred Years War, the Mongol invasion of China, etc.
• An eleventh grader might analyze the effectiveness of U.S foreign policy, post-civil war to 1917.

Interdependence
Within this theme, students will:

• Understand the key ideals of U.S. democracy, including the major ideas in the foundational documents
• Understand and explain the purposes and functions of government in general and U.S. representative government in particular
• Compare various forms of democracy with other forms of government
• Understand individual rights and their accompanying responsibilities, including responsibility in problem solving and decision making at the local, state, national and international level
• Identify and demonstrate the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship related to school, local, state, national and international issues
• Describe the natural characteristics of places and regions

Activities may include:

• A kindergartner might explain the significance of the Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, etc.
• A third grader might give two ways that other governments might be different from U.S. Democracy.
• A seventh grader might compare the governments of the ancient city states of Greece or the republican government of Rome with the U.S. government, noting similarities and differences.
• An eleventh grader might compare the advantages and disadvantages of replacing the republic of democracy with "direct democracy" in today's American Society.