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

• Chronology organizes people and events and helps explain historical relationships.

• Historians use primary and secondary sources to ask and answer questions about the past and present (historical inquiry).

• Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.

• Physical processes shape the earth's surface.

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

• Applying knowledge of geography helps explain changes in places over time.

• Maps, globes and other geographic tools are used to locate information about places.

• Technology has changed societies throughout history. 

• Human activity changes and is changed by the physical environment.

• Resources are used to produce and distribute goods and services.

• Societies are diverse and change over time.

• Beliefs of individuals and groups have powerful effects on societies.

• Individuals and groups make, enforce and apply rules and laws (government).

• Citizens have rights, roles, and responsibilities.

• People and nations interact politically.

• Decisions must be made about the use of scarce resources.

• The exchange of goods and services leads to trade and interdependence.

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

• What is Social Studies? How are people and events in history organized?

• How do people learn about the past? What sources do we use to find out about the people of Colorado Springs?
  What types of questions do people ask to learn about the past?

• What are the physical and human characteristics of the Pikes Peak region?  

• How has the earth's surface been changed in the Pikes Peak region?

• Who migrated and settled in the Pikes Peak region and why?

• Why was General Palmer and what events happened in his lifetime that were important to the region?

• Where did the original city of Colorado Springs begin and why?

• How did changes in technology change history in this region?

• How did the railroads affect the region?

• What are the rights, roles and responsibilities of citizens in Colorado Springs?

• How did railroads help distribute goods and services?

• How did the people who settled here interact with each other?

• What were their visions for Colorado Springs (economic, religious)?

• How did Colorado Springs change as people moved here? (I.e., size, environment, make up of population).

• Who were the influential people, both prominent and common, in Colorado Springs? How can important events in their lives be placed in chronological order? What effects of their work can we still see today?

• How did people get the goods and services needed?

• How did people get and use power?

• Who works at city hall? How are they elected/appointed?

• How do people interact when dealing with problems?

• What resources are used to provide public services in our community?

• How, why, and for whom are services provided? How are they paid for?

• How does our economy work?

• Why do prices change?

Standards and Benchmarks

Standard 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 1A: Students now the general chronological order of events and people in history.

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

Benchmark 2A: 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.                                                                                                       

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

Benchmark  3 B:  Students understand the history of social organization in various societies.

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

Benchmark H4A: Students understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on individuals and societies. 

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

Benchmark H5C: Students know how political power has been acquired, maintained, used, and/or lost throughout history.

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

Benchmark H6B: Students know how societies have been affected by religions and philosophies.

Standard 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.      

Standard 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 2A: Students know the physical and human characteristics of places

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

Benchmark G3A: Students know the physical processes that shaped earth's surface patterns.

Standard 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.

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

Benchmark5 B: Students know physical systems affect human systems.

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

Benchmark C2B: Students know how power, authority, and responsibility are distributed, shared, and limited.

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

Benchmark C4C: Students know how citizens can exercise their rights. 

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

Benchmark E1A: 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). 

Standard 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 2A: Students understand that different economic systems employ different means to produce, distribute, and exchange goods and services.

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

Benchmark 3A: 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:   Early Pikes Peak Region Unit Lessons
• Quarter 2:   Economic Opportunities Unit Lessons
• Quarter 3:   Settlements Unit Lessons
• Quarter 4:   Modern Growth and Change Unit Lessons

Parent Resources

You might want to talk to your child about the difference between a neighborhood or community and a town or city. Be sure your neighborhood can be named, as well as the city of Colorado Springs. Discuss why this area would be called the Pikes Peak region and how it is different from the western or northern regions of the state. It is a good time to begin talking about how rules in your home and rules in the school differ from laws in the city. Visiting the Pioneers Museum or spending time at Rock Ledge Ranch would help your child learn about the early history of the city and region.

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.