Content Suggestion:
The study of the principles of the U.S. Constitution, with emphasis on events, arguments, and movements of the 19th century and their impact today, connections to local history, and extensive use of primary source materials.
1.1 – Significant events and themes in United States history.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 1. Create historical timelines and interpret the data presented in the timelines.
- 2. Analyze examples of conflicts that have been resolved through compromise (e.g. compromises over slavery, social reforms).
- 3. Evaluate the influences that contributed to American social reform movements.
- 4. Explain how the arts, architecture, music and literature of the United States both influence and reflect its history and cultural heterogeneity.
- 5. Analyze how specific individuals and their ideas and beliefs influenced U.S. history.
- 6. Compare and contrast the causes and effects of the American Revolution and the Civil War.
- 7. Examine the significance of Supreme Court precedents established during the Federalist era.
- 8. Analyze the similarities and differences between Manifest Destiny in the 1840s and late 19th century imperialism.
- 9. Evaluate the impact of America’s westward expansion on Native American nations (e.g. Trail of Tears, Dawes Act).
- 10. Evaluate the impact of the compromises made at the Constitutional Convention.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
Communication
2, 3, 4. NCSS 1 “Culture”
4, 5,6,7,8, 9,10 NCSS 2 “Time, Continuity and Change”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.2 – Significant events in local and Connecticut history and their connections to United States history.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 11. Analyze the connections between and among local, state and national historical events (e.g. immigration, Civil War participation, trade, manufacturing).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
Financial literacy
11 NCSS 2 “Time, Continuity and Change”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.3 – Significant events and themes in world history/international studies.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 12. Assess the slave trade’s impact on American social institutions.
- 13. Analyze foreign reactions to the institution of slavery in America (e.g. Amistad, Liberia, English abolition).
- 14. Evaluate U.S. influence on other cultures and world events (e.g. trade, wars, Monroe Doctrine).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Financial Literacy
Global awareness
Civic Literacy
12, 13, 14 NCSS 2 “Time, Continuity and Change”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.4 – Geographical space and place.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 15. Examine how geography influenced the economic and political development of the United States
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Communication
Information Literacy
15. NCSS 3 “People, Places and Environments”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.5 – Interaction of humans and the environment.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 16. Weigh the impact of America’s Industrial Revolution, industrialization and urbanization on the environment.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
16. NCSS 3 “People, Places and Environments”
16. NCSS 7 “Production, Distribution, and Consumption”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.6 – Patterns of human movement across time and place.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 17. Analyze and draw conclusions about the impact of immigration on the United States at different stages in its history.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Information Literacy
Communication
Civic literacy
17. NCSS 3 “People, Places and Environments”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.7 – The purpose, structures and functions of government and law at the local, state, national and international levels.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 18. Differentiate the functions (including checks and balances) of the United States’ three branches of government, using contemporary examples.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
18. NCSS 6 “Power, Authority and Governance”
I&TL: 3
1.8 – The interactions between citizens and their government in the making and implementation of laws.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 19. Evaluate the impact of the U.S. Constitution on the lives of U.S. citizens (e.g. amendments, court cases).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
19. NCSS 10 “Civic Ideals and Practices”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.9 – The rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 20. Analyze U.S. citizens’ rights and responsibilities under the Constitution.
- 21. Assess the impact of court cases that expanded or limited rights and responsibilities enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
- 22. Debate instances where rights and responsibilities of citizens are in conflict (e.g. free speech and public safety, private property and eminent domain).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
Communication
Information Literacy
20. NCSS 6 “Power, Authority and Governance”
21, 22. NCSS 10 “Civic Ideals and Practices”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
1.10 – How limited resources influence economic decisions.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 23. Analyze how technology has influenced productivity (e.g. cotton gin, steam power, interchangeable parts, telegraph, telephone, manned flight, computers).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
ITC Literacy
23. NCSS 7 “Production, Distribution, and Consumption”
23. NCSS 8 “Science, Technology, and Society”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
1.11 – How different economic systems organize resources.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 24. Analyze the relationship between supply and demand and the prices of goods and services in a market economy.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Financial Literacy
24. NCSS 7 “Production, Distribution and Consumption”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
20. NCSS 10, “Civic, Ideals, and Practices”
1.12 – The interdependence of local, national and global
economies.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 25. Identify and analyze specific factors that promoted growth and economic expansion in the United States.
- 26. Outline how trade affected nationalism and sectionalism in U.S. history (e.g. roads, canals, railroads, “cotton culture”).
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Financial Literacy
25. NCSS 5 “Individuals, Groups and Institutions”
26. NCSS 7 “Production, Distribution and Consumption”
I&TL:1,2,3,4,5,6, 7
1.13 – The characteristics of and interactions among culture, social systems and institutions.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 27. Compare similarities and differences of ethnic/cultural groups in the United States (e.g. beliefs, values, traditions) and their impact on American social systems.
- 28. Analyze the contributions and challenges of different cultural/ethnic groups in the United States over time.
- 29. Examine how stereotypes develop and explain their impact on history and contemporary events.
Correlations
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Civic Literacy
Communication
27. NCSS 1 “Culture”
28. NCSS 2 “Time, Continuity and Change”
29. NCSS 5 “Individuals, Groups, and Institutions”
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Standard 2: History/Social Studies Literacy
Competence in literacy, inquiry, and research skills is necessary to analyze, evaluate, and present history and social studies information.
2.1 – Access and gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources including electronic media (maps, charts, graphs, images, artifacts, recordings and text).
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 1. Gather information from multiple print and digital sources.
- 2. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
- 3. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source and provide an accurate summary.
- 4. Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g. how a bill becomes a law, how interest rates are raised or lowered)
- 5. Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events.
- 6. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Correlations
RH-1, 2, 3, 10
RI8-3
WHST- 7, 8
Communication
Information Literacy
ICT Literacy
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
2.2 – Interpret information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, including electronic media (e.g. maps, charts, graphs, images, artifacts, recordings and text).
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 7. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
- 8. Describe how a text presents information (e.g. sequentially, comparatively, causally).
- 9. Delineate and evaluate the argument(s) and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
- 10. Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
- 11. Compare information about the same event using a variety of primary sources.
- 12. Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.
- 13. Assess primary and secondary sources, including Internet sources, to determine accuracy and validity.
- 14. Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g. loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts) and detect and analyze propaganda, censorship and bias.
- 15. Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
- 16. Evaluate the credibility of a speaker (e.g. hidden agendas, slants or biases).
- 17. Analyze maps and charts to support conclusions about historical events.
- 18. Integrate visual information (e.g. in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Correlations
RH-4, 5, 6, 7, 9
RI8- 8, 9
WHST-8 SL8-3
Communication Information Literacy ICT Literacy
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
2.3 – Create various forms of written work (e.g. journal, essay, blog, Web page, brochure) to demonstrate an understanding of historyand social studies issues.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 19. Write arguments using discipline-specific content.
- 20. Create written work (e.g. brochure or political cartoon) that expresses a personal opinion on a historical event or social studies issue and support it with relevant evidence.
- 21. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events.
- 22. Organize and cite evidence from primary and secondary sources to support conclusions in an essay.
- 23. Integrate information from multiple print and digital sources without plagiarism.
Correlations
RH-1
WHST-1, 2, 6, 8
Communication Information
Literacy
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
2.4 – Demonstrate an ability to participate in social studies discourse through informed discussion, debate and effective oral presentation.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 24. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions and debates (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on social studies topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- 25. Orally present information on social studies events or issues and support with primary and secondary evidence.
- 26. Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points, in a focused and coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound reasoning, and well- chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation
Correlations
SL8- 1, 4
Communication
Information Literacy
Flexibility and Adaptability
2.5 – Create and present relevant social studies materials using both print and electronic media (e.g. maps, charts, models, displays).
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 27. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g. print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.
- 28. Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, emphasize salient points, and add interest.
Correlations
RI8-7 SL8-5
Communication
Information Literacy
Standard 3: Civic Engagement
Civic competence in analyzing historical issues and current problems requires the synthesis of information, skills, and perspective.
3.1 – Use evidence to identify, analyze and evaluate historical interpretations.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 1. In a group or team, work together to reach a decision on an issue and explain the reasons for the decision
- 2. Compare and contrast two or more interpretations of a historical event.
- 3. Cite evidence to support and/or critique a historian’s interpretation of an event.
Correlations
Communication
Information Literacy
I&TL:1,2,3,4, 5,6,7
3.2 – Analyze and evaluate human action in historical and/or contemporary contexts from alternative points of view.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 4. Analyze the options available to an individual in a historical or contemporary situation.
- 5. Justify why people might have different points of view on a historical or contemporary issue.
Correlations
Communication
Information Literacy
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
3.3 - Apply appropriate historical, geographic, political, economic and cultural concepts and methods in proposing and evaluating solutions to contemporary problems.
Grade Level Expectations
Students will be able to:
- 6. Develop a plan of action to provide a solution to a local, state or national issue.
- 7. Compare and contrast possible solutions to a current issue citing relevant information.
Correlations
Communication
Information Literacy
I&TL: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7