Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Societies are diverse and change over time.

• People migrate and settle in different places for a variety of reasons.

• Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
• Chronology organizes people and events and helps explain historical relationships.
• Processes and resources of historical inquiry lead to asking and answering questions about the past and present.
• In government, people acquire and use power and authority.
• Individuals and groups make, enforce and apply rules and laws (government).
  Rules, laws and governments develop and change over time.
• Citizens have rights, roles and responsibilities.
• People and nations interact politically.
• Exchange of goods and services leads to trade and interdependence.
• Decisions must be made about the use of scarce resources.
• Resources are used to produce and distribute good and services.
• Maps, globes and geographic tools are used to locate information about places.
• Developments in technology have changed societies throughout history.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• How are people who live in our community alike? How are they different?

• Why do people settle and live in different places?

• How do physical characteristics help to define urban, suburban and rural communities?

• How can you organize the events in the history of a community in the order they happened?

• What types of sources are used to provide information about communities? How can we use them to learn about communities?

• How do communities choose leaders?

• Who are the people and groups who make, enforce, and apply rules and laws? Why are rules and laws needed?

• What does a good citizen do?

• How do people and communities help each other?

• Why do people in a community depend on each other?

• Why must we make choices about scarce resources?

• How are goods made and delivered?

• What information can be learned from reading a map?

• What evidence of science and technology is found in schools in Colorado Springs and in Kenya?

• How does the way of life in Kenya compare to the way of life in communities of Colorado Springs for young people? What are the roles of students in each place?

Standards and Benchmarks

History 1: Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.

Benchmark A: Students now the general chronological order of events and people in history.

History 2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.

Benchmark A: Students know how to formulate questions and hypotheses regarding what happened in the past and how to obtain and analyze historical data to answer questions and test hypotheses.                                                                                                       

History 3: Students understand that societies are diverse and change over time.

Benchmark  B:  Students understand the history of social organization in various societies.

History 4: Students understand how science, technology, and economic activity have developed, changed, and affected societies throughout history.

Benchmark A: Students understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on individuals and societies. 

History 5: Students understand political institutions and theories that developed and changed over time.

Benchmark C: Students know how political power has been acquired, maintained, used, and/or lost throughout history.

History 6: Students know that religious and philosophical ideas have been powerful forces throughout history.

Benchmark B: Students know how societies have been affected by religions and philosophies.

Geography 1: Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments.

Benchmark A: Students know how to use maps, globes, and other geographic tools to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.      

Geography 2: Students know the physical and human characteristics of places, and use this knowledge to define and study regions and their patterns of change.

Benchmark A: Students know the physical and human characteristics of places

Geography 3: Physical processes shaped the earth's surfaces.

Benchmark A: Students know the physical processes that shaped earth's surface patterns.

Geography 4: Students understand how economic, political, cultural and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation and conflict.

Benchmark4 A: Students know the characteristics, location, distribution, and migration of human populations.

Geography 5: Students understand the effects of interactions between human and physical systems and changes in meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

Benchmark B: Students know physical systems affect human systems.

Civics 2: Students know how to use structure and function of local, state, and national government and how citizen involvement shapes public policy

Benchmark B: Students know how power, authority, and responsibility are distributed, shared, and limited.

Civics 4: Students understand how citizens exercise the roles, rights, and responsibilities of participation in civic life at all levels.

Benchmark C: Students know how citizens can exercise their rights. 

Economics 1: Students understand that because of the condition of scarcity, decisions must be made about the use of scarce resources.

Benchmark A: Students know that economic choices are made because resources are scarce and that the act of making economic choices imposes opportunity costs (e.g., using land for farming and ranching, forests for recreation or lumber). 

Economics 2: Students understand how different economic systems impact decisions about the use of resources and the production and distribution of goods and services.

Benchmark A: Students understand that different economic systems employ different means to produce, distribute, and exchange goods and services.

Economics 3: Students understand the results of trade, exchange, and interdependence among individuals, house holds, businesses, governments, and societies.

Benchmark A: Students understand that the exchange of goods and services creates economic interdependence and change.

Elementary Social Studies D-11 Indicators, K-5

History

1. Chronological Organization: Organize events and people in history chronologically (time lines, lists, sequencing).


2. Historical Inquiry: Use primary and secondary sources to ask and answer questions (who, what, when, why, how) about the past and present, and to determine cause and effect relationships.


3. Diverse and Changing Societies: Describe cultural similarities, differences and interactions among various groups in both past and present.
4. Science, Technology, and Economic Activity: Identify and explain changes in technology (scientific achievements and inventions) and how they changed history.
5. Political Institutions and Theories: Describe how and why rules and laws (government) have been made and enforced.
   6.Religious and Philosophical Ideas: Identify beliefs of individuals and groups and their effects on societies

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

• Quarter 1:  What is a Community?
• Quarter 2:  Local Communities: Past and Present
• Quarter 3:  Community Relationships
• Quarter 4:  Comparison of Colorado Springs and Kenya

Parent Resources

The country of comparison for second grade is Kenya. Again, helping your child find Kenya in Africa on a globe or map of the world sparks your child's curiosity and makes geography a daily pursuit. There are many interesting television documentaries that support learning about life in Kenya. Making comparisons to life there and life here is important for your child and help them understand how communities work. The focus of Social Studies in second grade has moved a bit further out from the child's closest local communities of family, neighborhood, and school to the broader community, past and present. Stories from parents, grandparents, and other extended family members or neighbors can help your child gain perspective of what our community used to be like compared with how it is now. You will be helping your child build perspective and understanding of the world outside the walls of your home.

Read I Didn't Know There Were Cities in Africa! This article challenges children's and adults' misperceptions about the African continent.

ABCs of Elementary Years: These ABC Tips are designed to help you support your child’s learning in social studies during their years in elementary school.