AL.3. Standard: Geographical and Historical Studies—People, Places, and Regions

Third grade students will learn geographic information regarding areas of the United States as well as the world. Students in Grade 3 learn from concrete experiences and benefit from resources such as pictures, graphs, maps, globes, and information technology that help make abstractions more concrete.

3.1

• 3.1.1 Students will:

  Locate the prime meridian, equator, Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer, International Date Line, and lines of latitude and longitude on maps and globes (Geography).

• 3.1.2 Students will practice:

  • Using cardinal and intermediate directions to locate
    on a map or globe an area in Alabama or the world
  • Using coordinates to locate points on a grid
  • Determining distance between places on a map using a scale
  • Locating physical and cultural regions using labels,
    symbols, and legends on an Alabama or world map
  • Describing the use of geospatial technologies

  • Grade Level Example:

    Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information system (GIS)

  • Interpreting information on thematic maps

  • Grade Level Example:

    population, vegetation, climate, growing season, irrigation

  • Using vocabulary associated with maps and globes, including megalopolis, landlocked, border, and elevation

3.2

• 3.2.1 Students will:

  Locate the continents on a map or globe (Geography).

• 3.2.2 Students will practice:

  • Using vocabulary associated with geographical features of Earth, including hills, plateau, valley, peninsula, island, isthmus, ice cap, and glaciers
  • Locating major mountain ranges, oceans, rivers, and lakes throughout the world

3.3

• 3.3.1 Students will:

  Describe ways the environment is affected by humans in Alabama and the world (Economics, Geography).

  • Grade Level Example:

    crop rotation, oil spills, landfills, clearing of forests, replacement of cleared lands, restocking of fish in waterways

• 3.3.2 Students will practice:

  Using vocabulary associated with human influence on the environment, including irrigation, aeration, urbanization, reforestation, erosion, and migration

3.4

• 3.4.1 Students will:

  Relate population dispersion to geographic, economic, and historic changes in Alabama and the world (Economics, History, Geography).

  • Grade Level Example:

    geographic—flood, hurricane, tsunami
    economic—crop failure
    historic—disease, war, migration

• 3.4.2 Students will practice:

  Identifying human and physical criteria used to define regions and boundaries

  • Grade Level Example:

    human—city boundaries, school district lines
    physical—hemispheres, regions within continents or countries

3.5

• 3.5.1 Students will:

  Compare trading patterns between countries and regions (Economics, Geography).

• 3.5.2 Students will practice:

  • Differentiating between producers and consumers
  • Differentiating between imports and exports

  • Grade Level Example:

    imports—coffee, crude oil
    exports—corn, wheat, automobiles

3.6

• 3.6.1 Students will:

  Identify conflicts within and between geographic areas involving use of land, economic competition for scarce resources, opposing political views, boundary disputes, and cultural differences. (Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government).

• 3.6.2 Students will practice:

  • Identifying examples of cooperation among governmental agencies within and between different geographic areas

  • Grade Level Example:

    American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), World Health Organization (WHO)

  • Locating areas of political conflict on maps and globes
  • Explaining the role of the United Nations (UN) and the United States in resolving conflict within and between geographic areas

3.7

• 3.7.1 Students will:

  Describe the relationship between locations of resources and patterns of population distribution (Economics, Geography).

• Grade Level Example:

  presence of trees for building homes, availability of natural gas supply for heating, availability of water supply for drinking and for irrigating crops

• 3.7.2 Students will practice:

  • Locating major natural resources and deposits throughout the world on topographical maps
  • Comparing present-day mechanization of labor with the historical use of human labor for harvesting natural resources

  • Grade Level Example:

    present-day practices of using machinery to mine coal and harvest cotton and pecans

  • Explaining the geographic impact of using petroleum, coal, nuclear power, and solar power as major energy sources in the twenty-first century

3.8

• 3.8.1 Students will:

  Identify geographic links of land regions, river systems, and interstate highways between Alabama and other states (Economics, Geography, Civics and Government).

• Grade Level Example:

  Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Interstate Highway 65 (I-65), Natchez Trace parkway

• 3.8.2 Students will practice:

  • Locating the five geographic regions of Alabama
  • Locating state and national parks on a map or globe

3.9

• 3.9.1 Students will:

  Identify ways to prepare for natural disasters (Economics, Geography).

• Grade Level Example:

  constructing houses on stilts in flood-prone areas, buying earthquake and flood insurance, providing hurricane or tornado shelters, establishing emergency evacuation routes

3.10

• 3.10.1 Students will:

  Recognize functions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (History, Civics and Government).

• 3.10.2 Students will practice:

  • Describing the process by which a bill becomes law
  • Explaining the relationship between the federal government and state governments, including the three branches of government
  • Defining governmental systems, including democracy, monarchy, and dictatorship

3.11

• 3.11.1 Students will:

  Interpret various primary sources for reconstructing the past, including documents, letters, diaries, maps, and photographs. (History, Geography).

• Grade Level Example:

  Comparing maps of the past to maps of the present

3.12

• 3.12. Students will:

  Explain the significance of representations of American values and beliefs, including the Statue of Liberty, the statue of Lady Justice, the United States flag, and the national anthem. (History).

3.12

• 3.12.1 Students will:

  Describe prehistoric and historic American Indian cultures, governments, and economics in Alabama (Economics, History, Geography, Civics and Government).

• Grade Level Example:

  prehistoric American Indians—Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian
  historic American Indians—Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek

• 3.12.2 Students will practice:

  Identifying roles of archaeologists and paleontologists