K-5 Social Studies

Key Components of the Social Studies Framework include:

1. Grade‐level Key Ideas, Conceptual Understandings, and Content Specifications

2. K‐12 Social Studies Practices

3. K‐12 Common Core Literacy Skills

4. K‐12 Unifying Themes

These components work interdependently in both instruction and assessment. Through an inquiry‐based approach, students develop thematic and conceptual understanding while applying disciplinary practices and literacy skills in the context of content.

Standard 1: HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND NEW YORK

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 2: WORLD HISTORY

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: GEOGRAPHY

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live – local, national, and global – including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the earth’s surface.

Standard 4: ECONOMICS

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources; how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies; and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and non-market mechanisms.

Standard 5: CIVICS, CITIZENSHIP, AND GOVERNMENT

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation

The New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework is designed to prepare students for college, career and civic life with courses that are rigorous and aligned to New York State Learning Standards, both Common Core and Social Studies. This framework integrates existing New York State Learning Standards and the New York State Core Curriculum for Social Studies into a single 3-part document. It is intended to serve as a guide for local districts to develop their Social Studies curriculum. It incorporates the New York State Common Core Learning Standards and recommends the use of the C3 Inquiry Arc as instructional methodology. Social studies practices are identified, as well as the key ideas, conceptual understandings and content specifications.

The following links will bring you to the New York State Next Generation Social Studies Framework:

• Framework Overview
• Framework for Grades K-8

"The Social Studies Practices represent the social science and historical thinking skills that students should develop throughout their K‐12 education in order to be prepared for civic participation, college, and careers. Similar to the Mathematical Practices within the Common Core Learning Standards, the Social Studies Practices should be infused with the Social Studies content contained within the Key Ideas and Conceptual Understandings. The Practices were created based on the existing New York State Social Studies Learning Standards, the National Geography Standards, the historical thinking skills articulated within the new Advanced Placement World History Curriculum Framework, the Disciplinary Tools of Dimension 2 of the C3 Framework, National Council for the Social Studies Standards, and Habits of the Mind published by the National Council for History Education.” (NYSED Framework)

The six practices below are spiraled vertically from Kindergarten through Grade 12.

1. Gathering, Using, and Interpreting Evidence
2. Chronological Reasoning and Causation
3. Comparison and Contextualization
4. Geographic Reasoning
5. Economics and Economics Systems
6. Civic Participation