Kansas Standard by Grade Level for Civics-Government, Economics, Geography, and History
CIVICS-GOVERNMENT – 6th 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, state and national governments.
Indicators:
The student:
1. explains the possible consequences of the absence of government,
rules, and laws (e. g., issues of community safety, courtesy, rules and
referees of games, playground rules).
° 2. understands the function of the state and national capitals (e.
g., lawmaking, seat of government, home of leader, home of supreme
courts).
Benchmark 2: The student understands the shared ideals and the
diversity of American society and political
culture.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. describes the principles embodied in the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution of the U. S., including the Bill of
Rights.
3. recognizes the consequences of violating the rights of others.
6 D 4. explains the principles and ideals of the American republican
system (i. e., liberty, justice, equality of opportunity, human
dignity).
° 5. recognizes important founding fathers and their contributions (e.
g., George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams, John Adams).
Benchmark 3: The student understands how the U. S. Constitution
allocates and restricts power and responsibility in the government.
Indicators: The student:
6 D 1. defines federalism.
6 D 2. defines democracy and republic.
6 D 5. explains the functions of the three branches of government.
Benchmark 4: The student identifies and examines the rights,
privileges, and responsibilities in becoming an active civic
participant.
Indicators: The student:
° 1. distinguishes between rights, privileges, and responsibilities.
8 D 2. identifies criteria and processes to attain naturalized
citizenship (i. e., residence requirements, proof of moral character,
required knowledge and skills).
8 D 3. identifies the privileges of U. S. citizenship (i. e., right to
vote, hold public office, serve on a jury).
8 D 4. compares the methods by which we elect government officials (i.
e., Electoral College, popular vote).
8 D 5. examines the steps necessary to become an informed voter (i. e.,
recognize issues and candidates, stands taken by candidates on issues,
personal choice, voting).
Benchmark 5: The student understands various systems of governments and
how nations and international organizations interact.
Indicators: The student:
6 D 1. understands that the type of government and its functions
influence the treatment of its citizens (i. e., republic, democracy,
monarchy, dictatorship).
ECONOMICS – 6th 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. illustrates how scarcity of resources requires choices at both the
personal and societal levels.
6 D 2. determines how unlimited wants and limited resources lead to
choices that involve opportunity cost.
3. describes how labor productivity can be increased as a result of
specialization, division of labor, and more capital goods.
6 D 4. gives examples of economic interdependence of at least two of
the following levels: local, state, regional, national and
international.
Benchmark 2: The students understands how the market economy works in
the United States.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 3. identifies the entrepreneur as the one who organizes other
economic resources to produce goods and services.
Benchmark 3: The student analyzes how different economic systems,
institutions, and incentives affect people.
Indicators:
The student:
° 1. explains the function of banks for individuals and businesses (e.
g., borrowing, saving, interest, profit).
2. gives examples of positive and negative incentives.
6 D 3. recognizes the economic conditions under which trade takes place
between nations.
6 D 4. predicts how competition affects price.
Benchmark 4: The student analyzes the role of the government in the
economy.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. describes revenue sources for different levels of government (i.
e., personal income taxes, property taxes, sales tax, interest,
borrowing).
2. describes goods and services provided by the different levels of
government.
Benchmark 5: The student makes effective decisions as a consumer,
producer, saver, investor, and citizen.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. determines the costs and benefits of a spending, saving, or
borrowing decision.
2. explains that budgeting requires trade-offs in managing income and
spending.
6 D 3. compares the opportunity cost of consumer spending decisions.
GEOGRAPHY – 6th 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:
6 D 1. explains and uses map essentials (i. e., scale, directional
indicators, symbols, legend, latitude, longitude).
6 D 2. locates major physical and political features of Earth from
memory (see Appendix 2 for assessment items).
° 3. constructs maps and globes from memory showing the relative
locations of major physical and political features of Earth.
6 D 4. explains the past and present spatial patterns and densities of
places and features on Earth's surface (i. e., mountain ranges, river
systems, agricultural land, urban areas, transportation routes).
Benchmark 2: Regions: The student analyzes the spatial organization of
people, places, and environments
that form regions on Earth's surface.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. identifies and compares the physical and human characteristics
of the Eastern United States, Canada, Mexico and the centers of early
world civilizations (i. e., location, topography, climate, vegetation,
resources, people, religion, language, customs, government,
agriculture, industry, architecture, arts, learning; Eastern
Mediterranean, Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome, Middle America,
Western Europe, West Africa, Japan).
6 D 2. explains the diffusion of people and ideas from the early center
of civilization to other regions of the world (i. e., trade, conquest,
migration; government, religion, language, food, technology, customs,
arts).
3. identifies types of regions (e. g., school district, legislative, U.
S., states, climatic, economic, cultural).
4. describes how places and regions may be identified by cultural
symbols (e. g., Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Acropolis in Athens, Corn
Belt in the Midwest, Muslim minaret, Indian sari).
Benchmark 3: Physical Systems: The student understands Earth's physical
systems and how physical processes shape Earth's surface.
Indicators:
The student:
° 1. explains features and patterns on Earth's surface in terms of
physical processes (e. g., weathering, erosion, water cycle, soil
formation, mountain building).
2. explains how Earth-Sun relationships produce day and night, seasons,
and major climatic variations.
6 D 3. explains the distribution patterns of ecosystems within
hemispheres (i. e., desert, mountain, prairie, forest, wetland,
tundra).
8 D 4. identifies renewable and nonrenewable resources and their
patterns of distribution (i. e., fossil fuels, minerals, fertile soil,
waterpower, forests).
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. explains reasons for variation in population distribution (e. g.,
environment, migration, government policies, birth and death rates).
6 D 2. analyzes the causes and effects of human migration on places and
population (i. e., war, famine, oppression, opportunity; population
shifts, conflict, acculturation, diffusion of ideas, diseases, crops,
culture).
° 4. explains the distribution patterns of economic activities and how
changes in technology, transportation, communication, and resources
affect the location of those activities (illustration: advancement in
irrigation allowed expansion of communities).
Benchmark 5: Human-Environment Interactions: The student understands
the effects of interactions between human and physical systems.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. explains the impact of human modifications to the physical
environment (i. e., changes in one place often lead to changes in
another place).
2. describes the impact of natural hazards on people and their
activities (e. g., tornadoes, floods, droughts, earthquakes,
hurricanes, volcanic eruptions).
3. explains varying viewpoints regarding resource use (e. g.,
conservationist vs. developer, American Indian vs. European settler).
6 D 4 identifies the relationship between the advances in technology
and the acquisition and use of resources.
UNITED STATES HISTORY – 6th Grade
* Please note page 43 and 44 on Using the History Standards for the
primary focus of U. S. history at this level.
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 1: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and turning points in the
exploration, colonization, and settlement of the United States (to
1763).
Indicators: The student:
1. retells the stories of explorers (e. g., Leif Erikson, Columbus,
Ponce de Leon, Cortes, DeSoto, Hudson, Balboa, LaSalle, and Pizzaro).
2. explains the experience and importance of early settlements (e. g.,
Jamestown, Plymouth, Williamsburg, New Amsterdam, St. Augustine,
Quebec).
5. explains the experience and significance of indentured servants and
slaves.
Benchmark 2: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and turning points in the
American Revolution and the United States becoming a nation (1763 to
1800).
Indicators: The student:
6 D 1. describes the importance of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John Hancock,
Paul Revere, George III, and Lafayette on events of this era.
Benchmark 3: The student engages in historical thinking skills.
Indicators:
The student:
° 2. uses primary and secondary sources of historical data to construct
historical accounts.
° 4. explains why historical accounts of a specific event sometimes
differ and relates the explanation to the evidence presented and the
point of view of the author.
WORLD HISTORY – 6th 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 1: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, eras,
developments, and turning points in the history of the world from
prehistoric times through
the pre-classical civilizations.
Indicators:
The student:
1. explains the importance of the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution (e.
g., food production, changing technology, domestication of animals,
settled village life).
2. describes how historians and archeologists use different methods to
study the past (e. g., artifacts, written records).
6 D 3. defines the term civilization as a society with advanced levels
of economic, political, religious, intellectual, and artistic
accomplishments.
4. explains the origin and accomplishments of major Middle Eastern
civilizations (e. g., Mesopotamia and Egypt: writing systems,
Hammurabi's Code, the alphabet, organized government).
5. explains the origin and major beliefs of Judaism as the world's
first monotheistic religion (e. g., belief in one God, a code of
ethics).
6. analyzes the role of social class and gender in Ancient
Civilizations( e. g., different treatment in Code of Hammurabi,
traditions of arranged marriage).
Benchmark 2: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, eras, developments, and turning points in
the history of the world during the period of the great classical
civilizations of Greece, Rome, India, and China.
Indicators: The student:
6 D 1. describes key aspects in the civilization of Classical Greece
(i. e., contrasts the governments of Sparta and Athens, the
contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the role of Alexander
the Great in spreading Greek culture and civilization).
2. explains the significance of the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars.
3. examines the strengths and weaknesses of Greek democracy.
4. explains the significance of selected instances of Greek
accomplishments in culture (e. g., Hippocrates, Archimedes, Greek drama
and comedy, Olympics, Illiad, Odyssey, Aesop's Fables, mythology).
5. describes the mythical and historical figures during the rise and
fall of the Roman Republic (e. g., Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus,
Hannibal and Scipio, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Octavian).
6 D 6. describes the structure and nature of the government of the
Roman Republic (i. e., Senate, consuls, tribunes, written law,
dictators, distaste for monarchy).
7. analyzes the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
8. evaluates the significance of the Roman legacy in art and
architecture, technology and science, literature, language, and law.
° 9. compares and contrasts the origins, customs, writings, and beliefs
of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism (e. g., Christianity:
belief in one God, code of ethics, Messiah. Judaism: Mosaic Law, Torah.
Hinduism: reincarnation, karma, castes. Buddhism: Four Noble Truths,
reincarnation, lack of castes).
10. describes the political achievements of the emperor Asoka and his
talents as an orator.
11. evaluates the significance of Indian accomplishments (e. g.,
Sanskrit literature, the Hindu-Arabic numerals, the zero).
12. explains the fundamental ideas of Confucianism and Taoism.
13. describes the role of Shi Huangdi in unifying China under the Qin
dynasty (e. g., Great Wall of China).
Benchmark 3: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, eras, developments, and turning points in
the history of the rising new civilization (500-1450).
Indicators: The student:
6 D 1. describes the political, social, and economic institutions and
innovations of Medieval Europe (i. e., feudalism, Magna Carta,
Christendom, rise of towns and trade).
2. describes the Crusades and their significance.
3. describes basic political and military elements of life in Feudal
Japan (e. g., Japanese feudalism, samurai warriors, ritual suicide).
° 4. describes the origin, writings, and beliefs of Islam (e. g., one
God, the Koran, Five Pillars of Faith, Mohammed).
5. describes the accomplishments of the empires of sub-Saharan Africa
(e. g., Ghana, Mali, Songhai).
Benchmark 4: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of
individuals, groups, ideas, eras, developments, and turning points in
the history of the world during the emerging global age (1400-1600).
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. explains how the Renaissance was a transition period from the
Medieval to the modern age.
2. identifies major Renaissance artists and the nature of their works
(e. g., Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Shakespeare,
Gutenburg, the shift from religious to humanist subject matter, the
mastery of perspective).
6 D 4. describes the advances in technology of the Mayan, Aztec, and
Inca societies in the Americas (i. e., calendar, sundial, aqueducts,
bridges, pyramids, terracing, mathematics).
Benchmark 5: The student engages in historical thinking skills.
Indicators:
The student:
6 D 1. studies historical events and persons within a given time frame
in order to create a chronology and identify related cause-and-effect
factors.
° 2. identifies artifacts and documents from which historical accounts
are constructed as either primary or secondary sources of historical
data.
° 3. chronologically arranges historical materials relating to a
particular region, society, or theme to analyze changes over time.
° 4. explains why historical accounts of the same event sometimes
differ and will relate this explanation to the evidence presented or
the point of view of the author.