Third Grade Social Studies

Kansas Standard by Grade Level

for

Civics-Government, Economics, Geo graphy, and History

CIVICS-GOVERNMENT     - 3rd Grade
Civics-Government Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of governmental
systems of the United States and other nations with an emphasis on the U. S. Constitution, the necessity for the rule of law, the civic values of the American republican government, and the rights, privileges, and responsibilities to become active participants in the democratic process.

Benchmark 1: The student understands the rule of law as it applies to family, school, local, and state governments.

Indicators:
The student:
3. names the capital of Kansas and the United States and defines the purpose of a capital. 

Benchmark 4: The student identifies and examines the rights, privileges, and responsibilities in becoming an active civic participant.

Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. understands the responsibilities and rights of the individual in groups; such as, family, peer group, class, school, and local, and state governments. 
6 D 2. knows that effective informed citizenship is a duty of each citizen (i. e., jury service, voting, running for office, community service).

Benchmark 5: The student understands various systems of governments and how nations and international
organizations interact.

Indicators:
The student:
1. describes the basic purposes of local government (using powers to provide and enforce rules for a society to live by, protect rights).

ECONOMICS – 3rd Grade
Economics Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of major economic concepts,
issues, and systems of the United States and other nations; and applies decision making skills as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen in an interdependent world.

Benchmark 1: The student understands how scarcity of resources requires choices.
Indicators:
The student:
° 1. knows that there are not enough productive resources to satisfy all wants for goods and services.
2. identifies examples of how natural, capital, and human resources are used in production of goods or services (e. g., land resources [natural] are used to produce wheat [goods] which is harvested by skilled farmers [human] using combines [capital]).
° 3 traces the production, distribution, and consumption of particular goods.
6 D 4. compares the cost to the benefit of making a choice. (illustration: doing homework has both a cost and a benefit; cost is the time spent, the benefit is what is learned from the assignment).
8 D 5. knows that economic specialization occurs when people produce a narrower range of goods and services than they consume.
6. gives an example of economic interdependence (illustration: state of Kansas depends on states like Florida, Texas, and California for some fruits and vegetables).

Benchmark 2: The student understands how the market economy works in the United States.
Indicators:
The student:
° 1. explains how barter or money are used to exchange goods and services.
2. knows that a market occurs when buyers and sellers exchange goods and services.
3. identifies the entrepreneur as a human resource and describes at least one characteristic of an entrepreneur (e. g., risk taker, takes initiative to produce a product, is an innovator). 

Benchmark 5: The student makes effective decisions as a consumer, producer, saver, investor, and citizen.
Indicators:
The student:
1. determines how wants for goods and services are met through spending and saving.
2. identifies examples of borrowing and lending.

GEOGRAPHY – 3rd Grade

Geography Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of the spatial organization of Earth's surface and relationships among people, places, and physical and human environments in order to explain the interactions that occur in our interconnected world.

Benchmark 1: Maps and Location: The student uses maps, graphic representations, tools, and technologies to locate, use, and present information about people, places, and environments.
Indicators: The student:
1. uses map legends, scale, and distance to answer geographic questions.

° 2. uses grid systems to locate places on maps and globes (e. g., basic alpha-numeric, latitude/ longitude coordinates).

3. identifies major landforms and bodies of water (e. g., continents, mountains, plains, islands, peninsulas, rivers, oceans) on maps, globes, and aerial photos to answer simple geographic questions related to their relative locations.
5. observes and compares patterns of land use in urban, suburban, and rural areas.

° 6. analyzes the locations of places to suggest why particular locations are used for certain
human activities (e. g., residential, commercial, recreational, community services, agricultural, industrial).  

Benchmark 4: Human Systems: The student understands how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict.

Indicators:
The student:
° 1. describes the types and characteristics of territorial/ political units (e. g., city, county, state, country, province, boundaries, laws, autonomy).
° 2. describes and compares cultural characteristics and patterns within the U. S. (e. g., beliefs, customs, food preferences, ways of earning a living, technology, and gender/ age roles).
° 3. identifies factors important in the location of economic activities (e. g., population concentration, environmental resources, transportation access, technology, market, labor pool).
° 4. explains why people compete for control of Earth's surface and how they resolve con-flicts that arise.

Benchmark 5: Human-Environment Interactions: The student understands the effects of interactions
between human and physical systems.

Indicators:
The student:
° 1. identifies the positive and negative impacts of past, present, and future human activities on the physical environment (e. g., loss of habitat, mining, farming, chemical uses, community development, improved transportation).
° 2. identifies ways in which human activities are enhanced or constrained by the physical environment (e. g., housing, clothing, recreation, jobs, resource availability, effects of weather and climate).
3. identifies and suggests responses to critical present-day issues related to the use of natural resources (e. g., depletion, conservation, pollution).

KANSAS HISTORY – 3rd Grade

History Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world,
utilizing essential analytical and research skills.

Benchmark 2: The student understands the significance of events, holidays, documents, landmarks, and
symbols which are important in Kansas history.

Indicators:
The student:
1. explains how important buildings, statues, monuments, and place names are associated with the state's history.
2. describes regional folk heroes, stories, or songs that have contributed to the development of the history of Kansas and the United States.
3. uses local resources to explain the origin of his/ her community.

Benchmark 3: The student understands the variety of ways land has been used in Kansas over time.
Indicators:
The student:
1. compares the changes in land usage of his/ her town and/ or county in Kansas since settlement using local documents.
2. compares and contrasts land use in his/ her community to other areas in Kansas.

Benchmark 4: The student understands the impact of exploration and migration upon the history of Kansas.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. describes the experiences of explorers who came to Kansas before statehood (i. e., Lewis and Clark, Pike, Coronado, Long). 
8 D 2. compares and contrasts the purposes of the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (i. e., commercial, immigration).
5. describes the development of trails, railroads, and highway systems to connect Kansas to the rest of the country.  

Benchmark 5: The student understands the significance of famous individuals and their contributions in
history.

Indicators:
The student:
1. researches the contributions made by notable Kansans in history (e. g., Dwight David Eisenhower, Alf Landon, Amelia Earhart, George Washington Carver, Carry A. Nation, Black Bear Bosin, Gordon Parks, Clyde Cessna, local notables).

UNITED STATES AND WORLD HISTORY –3rd Grade

History Standard: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world,
utilizing essential analytical and research skills.

Benchmark 3: The student understands the significance of events, holidays, documents, and landmarks,
which are important in United States history.

Indicators: The student:
1. identifies important documents in U. S. history (e. g., the Declaration of Independence, the U. S. Constitution, Mayflower Compact).
2. describes the historical events that led to important U. S. holidays (e. g., Columbus Day, Independence Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day).
6 D 3. recognizes and locates national and local landmarks and historic sites (i. e., Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Plymouth Rock, U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument, White House).
4. explains why we have landmarks and historic sites.

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