2020 Colorado Academic Standards - Social Studies

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

1. Recognize change and sequence over time.

LDE Code: SS.P.1.1

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Differentiate between past, present, and future.
b. Recognize family or personal events that happened in the past.
c. Understand that how people live and what they do changes over time.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Ask children to recall events from earlier in the day or from the day before.
2. Provide scaffolding to assist children's recall of prior learning and events.
3. Ask children to identify their plan for center time.
4. Provide opportunities for children to plan for upcoming transitions, events, and activities.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Tell stories of past events.
2. Select examples from pictures that illustrate past, present, and future.
3. Describe how they have grown.
4. Participate in creating a class memory book.
5. Track the height of the classroom plant. Progress photos and measurements are recorded on calendar.

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

1. Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and connections to the world

LDE Code: SS.P.2.1

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Identify aspects of the environment, such as roads, buildings, trees, gardens, bodies of water, and land formations.
b. Develop an awareness of the school, neighborhood, and community.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Involve children in firsthand experiences in their community. For example: exploration of the school, neighborhood, and city.
2. Furnish learning centers with literature, activities, and materials for play based on children's experiences with their community. For example: visit the school office and then create a classroom office.
3. Involve children in discussions about the homes they live in and the different types of homes and buildings in the community. For example: taking neighborhood walks.
4. Have children interpret simple maps of the classroom, playground and neighborhood.
5. Provide materials, literature, and activities that explore different types of homes and aspects of the children's surrounding environment. For example: apartments, single-family homes, motels, modular homes, trees, rivers, mountains, and buildings.
6. Display pictures of familiar community buildings and landmarks in block, writing, or other centers.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Build with blocks or draw various environments.
2. Take pictures of familiar building locations to place on a map of the school. The children glue the pictures on the map while the adult labels the location.
3. Identify and discuss the things they see, such as trees, fountains, streets, etc.

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

1. Individuals have many wants and have to make choices.

LDE Code: SS.P.3.1

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Identify choices that individuals can make.
b. Explain how individuals earn money and use it to make choices among their various wants.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Provide opportunities for children to participate in classroom jobs.
2. Create situations in which children exchange money in a play situation.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Engage in dramatic play, playing various job roles and pretending to perform the work associated with the chosen job.
2. Use pretend money while engaging in dramatic play activities.
3. Pretend to have jobs and be paid for their work.
4. Exchange money for goods through play.

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

2. Identify money and its purpose (PFL).

LDE Code: SS.P.3.2

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Recognize coins and currency as money.
b. Identify how money is used.
c. Discuss why we need money.
d. Sort coins by physical attributes such as color or size.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Provide materials and opportunities for children to dramatize interactions with currency exchange.
2. Read stories related to currency.
3. Set up dramatic play opportunities that involve the use of pretend money. For example: bank, grocery store, or restaurant.
4. Use names of coins and currency when talking about money.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Identify that money is used to buy things.
2. Explain that money can be saved.
3. Use pretend money while engaging in dramatic play activities.
4. Practice exchanging play money for goods.

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

1. Understand one's relationship to the family and community and respect differences in others.

LDE Code: SS.P.4.1

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Recognize membership in family, neighborhood, school, team, and various other groups and organizations.
b. Understand similarities and respect differences among people within their classroom and community.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Through books, class visitors, and field trips, extend children's knowledge of what people do in the community.
2. Engage in one-on-one and small group conversations about similarities and differences among individuals. For example: hair, eyes, skin tone, talents, interests, and food preferences.
3. Provide books, classroom materials, photos, props, music, etc., that support diversity with respect to race, culture, ethnicity, age, ability, and non-stereotyping roles.
4. Encourage children to appreciate individual differences by providing diverse materials, literature and activities. For example: mirrors, height charts, and multicultural paints.
5. Provide opportunities for children to engage in community building, through large-group discussions with problem solving, and cooperative activities such as murals and pair-painting.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Ask each other for help when needing support with a task.
2. Recognize membership in family, neighborhood, school, team and various other groups and organizations.
3. Identify examples of times when people can play different roles and bring unique talents to a variety of groups.
4. Have assigned jobs and contribute to the upkeep of the learning classroom.
5. Share problems and celebrations during large-group time. They come up with solutions to the problems in the classroom.

# Social Studies

## Preschool, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Preschool Learning and Development Expectation:

2. Rules allow groups to work effectively.

LDE Code: SS.P.4.2

#### Indicators of Progress

##### By the end of the preschool experience (approximately 60 months/5 years old), students may:

a. Understand the reasons for rules in the home and classroom and for laws in the community.
b. Show interest in interacting with and developing relationships with others.
c. Recognize that everyone has rights and responsibilities within a group.
d. Demonstrate self-regulated behaviors and fairness in resolving conflicts.

#### Examples of High-Quality Teaching and Learning Experiences

##### Supportive Teaching Practices/Adults May:

1. Discuss rules with children.
2. Explain the purpose of rules such as safety and respect.
3. Begin to introduce games that have rules.
4. Read both fiction and nonfiction books that support following rules. Create a class rules chart.
5. Engage children in class meetings and decision-making.
6. Give children classroom jobs and responsibilities.
7. Provide activities that require cooperative play.

##### Examples of Learning/Children May:

1. Participate in the development of classroom rules.
2. Describe classroom rules.
3. Work cooperatively with other children to achieve an outcome.
4. Participate in group decision-making.
5. Notice the classroom rules and support others in remembering the rules.
6. Allow children to develop a few simple classroom rules.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Ask questions and discuss ideas about the past.

GLE Code: SS.K.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Ask questions about the past using question starters. For example: What did? Where did? When did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did?
b. Identify information from primary and/or secondary sources that answers questions about the past and adds to collective memory.
c. Use correctly the word "because" in the context of personal experience or stories of the past.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships about the past. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
2. Demonstrate curiosity about the past. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is history?
2. What do primary sources tell me about the past?
3. How are lives of people from the past similar and different from our lives today?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers ask and answer questions to guide investigations of people, places, and events in the past.
2. Historical thinkers ask and answer questions about the past.
3. Historical thinkers determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering questions about the past.
4. Historical thinkers communicate conclusions using print, oral, and/or digital technologies to share their ideas about the past with others.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Generate questions and/or answers when presented with historical sources.
2. Interpret what is read through illustrations.
3. Listen to stories to gain information on a main idea.
4. Gather information and present orally.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The sequence of events is important when describing the past.

GLE Code: SS.K.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explore differences and similarities in the lives of children and families of long ago and today.
b. Sequence information using words. For example: present, future, days, weeks, months, years, first, next, last, before, and after.
c. Explain why knowing the order of events is important.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize and describe patterns in the sequence of events from the past. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why is it important to know the order of events?
2. How is your life and/or family different from other children and families?
3. What happened yesterday and today, and what might happen tomorrow?
4. How have you grown and changed over time?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historians arrange events in the order of their occurrence.
2. Historians examine change and/or continuity over a period of time.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts of change and continuity to the study of the past.
2. Gather information and present orally.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Recognize that geographic tools represent places and spaces.

GLE Code: SS.K.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Distinguish between a map and a globe as ways to show places people live.
b. Use geographic tools to describe places. For example: globes, maps, and GPS.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Find information through the use of geographic technologies.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What information can a map tell me about the places and spaces people live?
2. What information can a globe tell me about the places and spaces people live?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers distinguish between a map and globe to show places people live.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use developmentally appropriate technology resources to present learning.
2. Identify vocabulary through illustrations.
3. Interpret what is read through illustrations.
4. Generate questions and/or answers when presented with geographic tools.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. People live in different places around the world.

GLE Code: SS.K.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Compare and contrast how people live in different settings around the world.
b. Give examples of food, clothing, shelter, and how they change in different environments.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Compare attitudes and beliefs as an individual to others.
2. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships between people and their surroundings.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What would it be like to live in another city, state, or country?
2. Why do people belong to different groups?
3. What makes a place special to the people who live there?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers investigate other cultures and how they have been influenced by the climate, physical geography, and cultures of an area.
2. Geographic thinkers understand that people live in different settings and interact with their environment based on location. For example: people living in colder climates wear more clothes, and people in areas where there are floods live on higher ground or in houses on stilts.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use developmentally appropriate technology resources to present learning.
2. Identify vocabulary through illustrations.
3. Interpret what is read through illustrations.
4. Pose and respond to questions and contribute to the discussion about a topic or text in order to advance the dialogue.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Individuals make choices based on wants.

GLE Code: SS.K.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify the costs and benefits of a choice an individual makes when acquiring an item.
b. Recognize and engage in ways to use another individual's items. For example: asking for permission to share and taking turns.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created when making choices. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the benefits and costs of ownership?
2. If you want to use someone else's item what must you do?
3. What happens when someone wants to use something that belongs to you?
4. What do we do if there is not enough of something we all want (scarcity)?
5. What are things that everyone collectively owns?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers study ownership as a key principle of economics.
2. Economic thinkers understand that some items are more desired than others and are more in demand.
3. Individuals interact with each other and the concept of ownership on a daily basis. For example, people purchase items for their use, donate items for others to use, and ask for permission to use someone else's items.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts such as decision-making techniques to make a choice.
2. Show the responsibility for the well-being of oneself.
3. Technology is used to indicate and keep track of ownership. For example: pets may have microchips implanted and libraries use barcodes to keep track of their books.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Describe choices people make about how to use the money they earn (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.K.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Recognize choices people make.
b. Explain how decisions are made.
c. Give examples of the difference between spending income on something you want versus something you need.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make personal financial decisions based on spending options. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self Direction)
2. Determine how to spend money depending on values and choices. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness)
3. Demonstrate curiosity, imagination and eagerness to learn more. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are wants and needs?
2. How do people make choices when they want something?
3. How do people balance between wants and needs?
4. What is the difference between a want and a need?
5. How can money help people to meet their wants and needs?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals differentiate between wants and needs.
2. Financially capable individuals make choices about purchasing to serve wants and needs. For example: parents pay bills prior to purchasing movie tickets or toys.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
2. Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions that people make.
3. Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Understand that civic participation takes place in multiple groups and in various forms.

GLE Code: SS.K.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Differentiate among examples of civic participation. For example: voting, debating, running for office, protesting, and volunteering.
b. Explain the qualities of an informed and engaged citizen.
c. Practice citizenship skills including, courtesy, honesty, equity, and fairness when working with others.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Compare one's attitudes and beliefs about civic participation to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Identify and reflect upon personal connections to community systems. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What would it look like to have no rules?
2. How can we solve conflict in a fair manner?
3. Why do we consider voting fair?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals know the importance of fairness and conflict resolution.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand that decisions are made cooperatively. For example: families vote on which movie to see and classes vote on which project they will do.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
2. Participate in collaborative discussions by coming to discussions prepared.
3. Follow rules for discussions, set goals, fulfill roles in collaborative groups.

# Social Studies

## Kindergarten, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Participate in making fair and reasoned decisions using democratic traditions.

GLE Code: SS.K.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain why rules are needed.
b. Create and follow classroom rules.
c. Explain how a class rule may promote fairness and resolve conflict, and compare against a rule that does not.
d. Contribute to making and maintaining class community decisions.
e. Explain the difference between democratic decision-making and decisions made by authorities. For example: a parent, teacher, principal, and a police officer.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Within democratic traditions, articulate personal strengths and challenges using information and communication technologies to express themselves. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Communication).
2. Recognize how personal actions have had a positive or negative impact with feedback as needed. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What qualities make people responsible and engaged citizens?
2. Why would people want to have friends from different groups?
3. What can you do to be an active and helpful member of your class and school?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals study citizen participation and structures that bring security and stability to community life.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand that individual actions can make the community better. For example: people clean up highways or volunteer in shelters.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Interpret what is read through illustrations.
2. Listen and participate as a member of the classroom community.
3. Follow rules for discussions, set goals, fulfill roles in collaborative groups.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Ask questions and discuss ideas about patterns and chronological order of events from the past.

GLE Code: SS.1.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Arrange life events in chronological order.
b. Use words related to time, sequence, and change. For example: past, present, future, change, first, next, and last.
c. Identify the organizational components of a calendar. For example: year, months, weeks, days, and notable events.
d. Determine events from the past, present, and future using the components of a calendar.
e. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources.
f. Identify information from primary and/or secondary sources that answer questions about patterns and chronological order of events from the past.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns from the past. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Demonstrate curiosity about patterns from the past. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why is it important to know the order of events?
2. How do we organize time?
3. What has happened in your life and what does that tell you about yourself?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers examine change and/or continuity over a period of time.
2. Historical thinkers record events in sequential order to increase understanding, see relationships, understand cause and effect, and organize information.
3. Cultural groups use similar tools for the organization of sequential information in order to communicate in a clear manner.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts of change and continuity to the study of the past.
2. Read and/or listen to historical fiction.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The diverse perspectives and traditions of families from many cultures have shaped the United States.

GLE Code: SS.1.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify similarities and differences between themselves and others.
b. Discuss common and unique characteristics of different cultures using multiple sources of information.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Compare one's attitudes and beliefs to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
2. Identify and explain several cultural perspectives that constitute our diverse society. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What symbols are representative of our multicultural and democratic way of life?
2. What is a culture?
3. How are these cultures different and similar to one another?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers understand the importance of comparing and contrasting to identify patterns within and between cultures.
2. Historical thinkers use sources to make interpretations about cultural groups from the past.
3. Historical thinkers recognize symbols as cultural artifacts that can be interpreted to make meaning of both the past and present.
4. Historical thinkers compare multiple perspectives of people and groups of people in order to draw conclusions about both the past and the present.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concept of perspective-taking to the study of the past.
2. Identify self-perspective.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Locate places and spaces using geographic tools.

GLE Code: SS.1.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain that maps and globes are different representations of Earth.
b. Describe locations using terms related to direction and distance. For example: forward and backward, left and right, near and far, is next to, and close.
c. Recite and address including city, state, and country, and explain how those labels help find places on a map.
d. Distinguish between land and water on a map and globe
e. Create simple maps showing both human and natural features.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify key attributes of a variety of geographic tools. For example: globes, maps, and GPS.
2. Find information through the use of geographic technologies.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How would an individual describe how to get somewhere without an address?
2. What if we had no geographic tools?
3. How could a flat map truly represent a round globe?
4. Why do people not carry globes to help find their way?
5. Why is an address necessary?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to study and represent places.
2. Spatial thinkers use geographic terms, tools, and technology in work and play to describe and find places. For example: pilots use maps to make flight plans, hikers use compasses to determine directions, and vacationers use maps to find unfamiliar places.
3. Spatial thinkers memorize addresses to help locate places. For example: knowing an address is necessary for an ambulance to find it or for an individual to receive mail.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concept of perspective to identify and reflect upon personal connections and their place in the world.
2. Integrate multimedia as effective tools for presenting and clarifying information.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Describe the characteristics of a community and how they are influenced by the environment.

GLE Code: SS.1.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Provide examples of how individuals and families interact with their environment.
b. Analyze how weather, climate and environmental characteristics influence individuals and the cultural characteristics of a family.
c. Compare and contrast at least two different families with respect to schools, neighborhoods, and culture.
d. Describe a family tradition and explain its cultural significance with regard to other groups and the environment.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify and reflect upon personal connections to one or more families within the community.
2. Make observations and draw conclusions about the relationship between groups of people and their surroundings.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How are places like communities similar to and different from where you live?
2. How do people celebrate traditions?
3. How do people use resources in the local community?
4. How do individuals in the community use the environment?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers study resources and their availability and use as a key to understanding human interactions with their environment and each other.
2. Geographic thinkers study human and environmental interactions and consequences of those interactions.
3. Geographic thinkers understand that people from various cultures are both similar and different and these differences are reflected in clothing, language, and culture, etc.
4. Spatial thinkers understand that boundaries and the need for boundaries affect everyday life. For example: boundary lines determine who owns a piece of property.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use disciplinary vocabulary in sentences.
2. Identify maps, graphs, charts and diagrams as sources as information.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Individuals work in different types of jobs to earn an income.

GLE Code: SS.1.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify the goods and/or services that different types of businesses produce in the community.
b. Give examples of different types of jobs held by family members and/or individuals in the local community.
c. Compare at least two different job choices that individuals have with respect to the benefits and costs of each job.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Ask questions to learn more about careers and other life pursuits. (Professional Skills: Career Awareness)
2. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions such as jobs. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How are businesses different?
2. What are the different types of jobs and their roles in a community?
3. Why do people choose different jobs?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers investigate the influence of different jobs and businesses in their community.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts such as decision-making to determine the benefits and costs of a particular choice.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Plan how to spend, share, and save money (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.1.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Discuss ways to earn or receive money.
b. Identify types of currency and how currency is used.
c. Define types of transactions such as deposit, purchase, borrow, and barter.
d. Identify coins and find the value of a collection of two coins.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Consider how to spend, share, and save money knowing funds in any scenario are limited. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Determine different choices they can make with their money and how those choices may affect others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
3. Demonstrate curiosity, imagination and eagerness to learn more. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does an individual earn money?
2. Why do people donate to charity?
3. What are different methods of payment?
4. Are all items purchased with money?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals understand that financial goals can be met through planning. For example: an individual divides income between current expenses, saving for the future, and philanthropic donations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
2. Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
3. Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Effective groups have responsible leaders and team members.

GLE Code: SS.1.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe the characteristics of responsible leaders.
b. Identify the attributes of a responsible team member.
c. Demonstrate the ability to be both a leader and team member.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings with regard to leadership. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self-Direction)
2. Recognize emotional responses to ideas that differ from one's own when working in a group setting. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
3. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other, considering personal contributions as applicable. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do you know if you are a responsible team member?
2. How do you know if you are a responsible leader?
3. What qualities make a responsible leader and can they change?
4. How do you know when you are working with an effective team?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals know how to be a good leader and team member.
2. Civic-minded individuals work together as a team toward a collective goal that honors the views of its members.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

# Social Studies

## First Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Notable people, places, holidays, and civic symbols.

GLE Code: SS.1.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify and explain the relevance of notable civic leaders from different community groups.
b. Identify and explain the meaning of various civic symbols important to diverse community groups. For example: the American flag, the National Anthem, Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Liberty Bell, and a yellow sash (i.e., for women's rights).
c. Identify and explain the relevance of significant civic places. For example: the state and national Capitol, the White House, and sites within the local community.
d. Explain the significance of major civic holidays. For example: Veteran's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Independence Day, Earth Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Cesar Chavez Day.
e. Identify the American flag and the Colorado flag.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Compare attitudes and beliefs as an individual to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
2. Recognize diversity among notable people, places, holidays, and civic symbols that constitute multiple perspectives within society. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why do we have national, community, and local celebrations and holidays?
2. Who are notable people in the development of our country?
3. How are new national symbols, songs, or holidays created?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Responsible community members see communities as multidimensional entities.
2. Symbols, songs, holidays, traditions, places, and people help to provide identity for the community and nation.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
2. With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Ask questions and discuss ideas taken from primary and secondary sources.

GLE Code: SS.2.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain that the nature of history involves stories of the past preserved in various sources.
b. Explain the past through primary and secondary sources. For example: images, and oral or written accounts.
c. Explain the information conveyed by historical timelines.
d. Identify community and regional historical artifacts and generate questions about their functions and significance.
e. Create timelines to understand the development of important community traditions and events.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify key attributes of a variety of information products. For example: books, newspapers, online or print articles, social media. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Demonstrate curiosity about events and people from the past using primary and secondary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How can two people understand the same event differently?
2. Why is it important to use more than one source for information?
3. How can putting events in order by time help describe the past?
4. What kinds of tools and sources do historical thinkers use to investigate the past?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers gather firsthand accounts of history through a variety of sources, including differing accounts of the same event.
2. Historical thinkers use primary sources to investigate the past.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts such as perspective to create accounts of the past.
2. Listen for main idea and sequence of events in a social studies text.
3. Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. People of various cultures influence neighborhoods and communities over time.

GLE Code: SS.2.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Organize historical events of neighborhoods and/or communities chronologically.
b. Compare and contrast neighborhoods and/or communities, both past and present, through their people and events.
c. Give examples of people and events that brought important changes to a neighborhood and/or community.
d. Compare and contrast the differences within one neighborhood and/or community.
e. Analyze the interactions and contributions of various people and cultures that have lived in or migrated to neighborhoods and/or communities.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Recognize and describe patterns within and between neighborhoods and communities. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
3. Investigate to make observations and draw conclusions about neighborhoods and communities. (Entrepreneurial Skills/Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the cultural attributes of a neighborhood or community?
2. How can understanding the past impact decision-making today?
3. How have events and ideas from the past shaped the identity of communities and neighborhoods today?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers investigate relationships between the past and present.
2. Historical thinkers organize findings in chronological order as one way to examine and describe the past.
3. Historical thinkers examine concepts of change, continuity, and causation in order to explain the past.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts such as change, continuity, and causation to create accounts of neighborhoods and communities in the past.
2. Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology.
3. Begin to identify differing perspectives.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic terms and tools to describe places and spaces.

GLE Code: SS.2.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Use map keys, legends, symbols, intermediate directions, and a compass rose to locate and describe spaces and places.
b. Identify and locate various physical features on a map.
c. Identify the hemispheres, equator, and poles on a globe.
d. Identify and locate cultural, human, political, and natural features using map keys and legends.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify key attributes of a variety of geographic tools. For example: globes, maps, and GPS.
2. Find information through the use of geographic technologies. For example: GPS and satellite imagery.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do you define, organize, and think about the space around you?
2. What is a human feature versus a physical feature?
3. Why do we use geographic tools such as maps, globes, grids, symbols, and keys?
4. How would you describe a setting without using geographic words?
5. How can using the wrong geographic tool or term cause problems?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use visual representations of the environment.
2. Spatial thinkers identify data and reference points to understand space and place.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Construct maps, graphs and other representations of familiar places.
2. Describe spaces and places and the relationships and interactions that shape them using geographic tools. For example: maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations.
3. Use maps, globes and other geographic models to identify cultural and environmental characteristics of places.
4. Analyze and use information presented visually in a text (for example, graphs, charts, flowcharts, diagrams, models, tables) that support the words in a text.
5. Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. People in communities manage, modify, and depend on their environment.

GLE Code: SS.2.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain how communities manage and use nonrenewable and renewable resources.
b. Explain how community is defined by physical boundaries and resources.
c. Explain why people settle in certain areas.
d. Identify examples of how human activity influences cultural and environmental characteristics of a place over time.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize problems within a community related to the environment and their respective solutions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving).
2. Make observations and draw conclusions about the relationship between a community and their environment. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do available resources and their uses create change in a community?
2. Are renewable and nonrenewable resources managed well? How do you know?
3. Why are physical features often used as boundaries?
4. What are the various groups in a community and how are they alike and different?
5. How do you choose if you should recycle, reduce, reuse, or throw something away?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers compare information and data and recognize that environmental factors influence change in communities.
2. Geographic thinkers study the uneven distribution and management of resources.
3. Geographic thinkers recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created.
4. Geographic thinkers identify and reflect upon personal connections to community systems.
5. Geographic thinkers understand that they must manage resources in the environment such as conserving water, safeguarding clean air, managing electricity needs, and reducing the amount of waste.
6. Geographic thinkers, within communities, collaborate to modify, manage, and depend on the environment. For example: elected officials decide how to manage resources, and communities may limit hunting, water usage, or other activities.
7. Geographic technology is used to gather, track, and communicate how resources might be managed or modified. For example: ski areas track snowfall rates, analyze data for avalanche danger and even create snow.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Describe how human activities affect the cultural and environmental characteristics of spaces or places.
2. Generate questions to guide research, gather information from print and digital sources, determine biases and credibility of sources, cite sources accurately, and use evidence to answer their research question.
3. Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology.
4. Synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Resources are scarce, so individuals may not have access to the goods and services they want.

GLE Code: SS.2.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain scarcity.
b. Identify goods and services and recognize examples of each.
c. Give examples of choices people make when resources are scarce.
d. Identify possible solutions when there are limited resources and unlimited wants.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions.(Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
2. Recognize problems that arise from scarcity and their respective solutions. (Entrepreneurial Skills:Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does scarcity affect purchasing decisions?
2. What goods and services do you use?
3. How are resources used in various communities?
4. What are some ways to find out about the goods and services used in other communities?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers analyze choices that individuals make to predict patterns and determine demand.
2. Economic thinkers analyze how goods and services are produced and priced.
3. Economic thinkers analyze scarcity of resources and its impact on the cost of goods and services.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Apply disciplinary concepts such as decision-making, exchange, and markets to determine the benefits and costs of a particular choice.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Investigate costs and benefits to make informed financial decisions (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.2.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Assess priorities when making financial decisions.
b. Classify goals as short-term or long-term.
c. Differentiate the monetary value for a variety of goods and services.
d. Acknowledge that non-monetary value varies from person to person for goods and services.
e. Predict positive and negative consequences when making financial decisions.
f. Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems about making financial decisions.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify consequences (positive and negative) of a financial decision. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Understand how to reduce risk depending on the financial choices they make (Entrepreneurial Skills: Risk-Taking)
3. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to different financial decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do individuals make and analyze the consequences of financial decisions?
2. What strategies can help individuals achieve their short-term goals and long-term goals?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals use good decision-making tools in planning their spending and saving.
2. Financially capable individuals make financial decisions based on responsible evaluation of the consequences.
3. Financially capable individuals make purchase decisions based on such things as quality, price, and personal goals. For example, you decide whether to spend money on candy or the movies.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
2. Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
3. Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
4. Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Advocate for ideas to improve communities.

GLE Code: SS.2.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Compare ways that people may express their ideas and viewpoints in ways that are effective and respectful to others.
b. Analyze how people in diverse groups monitor and influence decisions in their community.
c. Describe ways in which you can take an active part in improving your school or community.
d. Identify and compare examples of civic responsibilities that are important to privileged and marginalized individuals, families, and communities. For example: voting and representation.
e. Describe the characteristics that enable a community member to responsibly and effectively engage in the community.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify and reflect upon personal connections to community systems. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)
2. Model positive behaviors for others. (Professional Skills: Leadership)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are beliefs that help people live together in communities?
2. What civic responsibilities do you think are important?
3. How can different cultures and beliefs influence a community?
4. What are responsible ways to advocate ideas in a community?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals show responsibility for the well-being of oneself, family, and school community.
2. Civic-minded individuals listen and participate as a member of a group.
3. Civic-minded individuals collaborate to responsibly advocate for the ideas they think will improve society. For example: a group lobbies the city council to create a new park or employ more firefighters.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts and ideas.
2. Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.
3. Write opinion pieces in which students introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
4. Write informative/explanatory texts in which students introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
5. Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.

# Social Studies

## Second Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Identify and compare multiple ways that people understand and resolve conflicts and differences.

GLE Code: SS.2.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze ways that diverse individuals, groups and communities work through conflict and promote equality, justice, and responsibility.
b. Compare examples of power and authority and identify strategies that could be used to address an imbalance. For example: anti-bullying, mediation, and deliberation.
c. Identify and give examples of appropriate and inappropriate uses of power and the consequences.
d. Demonstrate skills to understand and resolve conflicts or differences.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Compare attitudes and beliefs as an individual to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
2. Appropriately express a range of emotions to communicate personal ideas/needs. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What happens when someone uses power unwisely?
2. What are good ways to solve differences?
3. What do equality, justice, and responsibility look like in the world?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals examine how culture influences the disposition of rules, laws, rights, and responsibilities.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand that power and authority shape individual participation.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Begin to identify differing perspectives.
2. Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts and ideas.
3. Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Compare primary and secondary sources when explaining the past.

GLE Code: SS.3.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Compare primary sources with works of fiction about the same topic.
b. Use a variety of primary sources such as artifacts, pictures, and documents, to help determine factual information about historical events.
c. Compare information from multiple sources recounting the same event.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Articulate the most effective kinds of historical sources to access information needed for understanding historic events. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Ask questions to develop further understanding of reliability of various kinds of historical sources.(Professional Skills: Self-Advocacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do historical fact, opinion and fiction uniquely influence an individual's understanding of history?
2. How do historical thinkers determine the accuracy of history?
3. What types of questions do historians ask about the past?
4. Why do historians use multiple sources in studying history?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers use primary sources to distinguish fact from fiction.
2. Historical thinkers distinguish fact from fiction when used to make informed decisions. For example: consumers must critically analyze advertisements for facts, and nonfiction writers must verify historical accuracy.
3. Historical thinkers compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.
4. Historical thinkers infer the intended audience and purpose of a historical source from information within the source itself.
5. Historical thinkers use information about a historical source, including the author, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose to judge the extent to which the source is useful.
6. Historical thinkers make inferences about the intended audience and purpose of a primary source from information within the source itself.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
2. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
3. Use distinctions between fact and opinion to determine the credibility of multiple sources.
4. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author.
5. Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
6. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
7. Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.
8. Communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. People in the past influence the development and interaction of different communities or regions.

GLE Code: SS.3.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Compare past and present situations and events.
b. Give examples of people, events, and developments that brought important changes to a community or region.
c. Describe the history, interaction, and contribution of the various peoples and cultures that have lived in or migrated to a community or region and how that migration has influenced change and development.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other and interact to influence the development of their communities. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How have different groups of people both lived together and interacted with each other in the past?
2. What types of questions do people ask to learn about the past?
3. How has the region changed and yet remained the same over time?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers ask questions to guide their research into the past.
2. Historical thinkers analyze the interaction, patterns, and contributions of various cultures and groups in the past.
3. Historical thinkers use context and information from the past to make connections and inform decisions in the present. For example: the development and traditions of various groups in a region affect the economic development, tourist industry, and cultural makeup of a community.
4. Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.
5. Historical thinkers explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
2. Introduce a topic or text, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
3. Provide reasons that support the opinion.
4. Provide a concluding statement or section.
5. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
6. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
7. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
8. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
9. Communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools to develop spatial thinking.

GLE Code: SS.3.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Read and interpret information from geographic tools and formulate geographic questions.
b. Locate oceans and continents, major countries, bodies of water, mountains, urban areas, the state of Colorado, and neighboring states on maps.
c. Describe the natural and man-made features of a specific area on a map.
d. Identify geography-based problems and examine the ways that people have tried to solve them.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Articulate the most effective geographic tools to access information needed for developing spatial thinking. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What questions do geographers ask?
2. How does the geography of where we live influence how we live?
3. How do physical features provide opportunities and challenges to regions?
4. How have the cultural experiences of groups in different regions influenced practices regarding the local environment?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use and interpret information from geographic tools to investigate geographic questions.
2. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to answer questions about places and locations such as where to locate a business or park, and how to landscape a yard.
3. Spatial thinkers develop the skills to organize and make connections such as reading a map and understanding where you are, where you want to go, and how to get to the destination.
4. Geographic thinkers use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use information gained from illustrations such as maps and photographs, as well as the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text. For example: where, when, why, and how key events occur.
2. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
3. Find information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The concept of region is developed through an examination of similarities and differences in places and communities.

GLE Code: SS.3.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Observe and describe the physical, cultural, and human-made characteristics of a local region. For example: the Eastern Plains, San Luis Valley, Pikes Peak, Northwest, Front Range, South Central, Southwest, and Western Slope.
b. Identify the factors that make a region unique. For example: cultural diversity, industry and agriculture, and landforms.
c. Give examples of places that are similar and different from a local region.
d. Characterize regions using different types of features such as physical, political, cultural, urban and rural attributes.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Investigate a variety of places and communities and draw conclusions about regions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Are regions in the world more similar or different?
2. Why do people describe regions using human or physical characteristics?
3. What are geographic characteristics of a region?
4. How do cultures lead to similarities and differences between regions?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers analyze connections among places.
2. Geographic thinkers compare and contrast characteristics of regions when making decisions and choices such as where to send children to school, what part of town to live in, what type of climate suits personal needs, and what region of a country to visit.
3. Geographic thinkers can explain how natural and human-made catastrophic events in one place affect people living in other places.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use information gained from illustrations such as maps and photographs, as well as the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text. For example: where, when, why, and how key events occur.
2. Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
3. Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
4. Find information through the use of technologies

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Producers and consumers exchange goods and services in different ways.

GLE Code: SS.3.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe the difference between producers and consumers and explain how they need each other.
b. Describe and give examples of forms of exchange. For example: monetary exchange and barter.
c. Describe how the exchange of goods and services between businesses and consumers affects all parties.
d. Recognize that different currencies exist and explain the functions of money. For example: medium of exchange, store of value, and measure of value.
e. Cite evidence to show how trade benefits individuals, businesses, and communities and increases interdependency.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other through exchanging goods and services, considering personal exchange behaviors. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)
2. Identify and explain the perspectives of all parties participating in an exchange. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why do people exchange goods and services?
2. What would happen if there was no such item as money?
3. What would happen if consumers did not want what a producer made?
4. What would the world look like if there was no transportation that could move goods more than 50 miles?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers analyze trade and the use of money.
2. Economic thinkers describe and study the importance of exchange in a community.
3. Economic thinkers understand that goods and services are exchanged in multiple ways and are a part of everyday life such as purchasing or trading items.
4. Economic thinkers realize that production, consumption, and the exchange of goods and services are interconnected in the world. For example: vegetables from California are sold at a Colorado markets and an ice storm in Florida affects orange juice supplies for the world.
5. Economic thinkers can explain why people voluntarily exchange goods and services when both parties expect to gain as a result of the trade.
6. Economic thinkers understand why people specialize and trade, and how that leads to increased economic interdependence in the world economy.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
2. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
3. Begin to identify differing perspectives.
4. Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.
5. Identify examples of the variety of resources that are used to produce goods and services. For example: human capital, physical capital, and natural resources.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Create a plan to meet a financial goal (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.3.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Give examples of short-term spending and savings goals.
b. Identify jobs that children can do to earn money to reach personal financial goals.
c. Differentiate the role of income and expenses when creating a budget.
d. Create a plan with specific steps to reach a short-term financial goal.
e. Model strategies to achieve a personal financial goal using arithmetic operations.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Define the problem (something they want to buy) using a variety of strategies of how to reach their financial goal. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Demonstrate flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in taking on tasks and activities that will help them reach their financial goal. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Risk-Taking)
3. Set goals and develop strategies to remain focused on learning and reaching their financial goals. (Personal Skills: Perseverance/Resilience)
4. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other, considering personal contributions as applicable, when creating and completing a plan to reach a financial goal. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)
5. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions they make regarding reaching a financial goal. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
6. Articulate task requirements and identify deadlines when developing a plan to meet a financial goal. (Professional Skills: Task/Time Management)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What would happen if an individual spent all earnings on entertainment?
2. Why do individuals give away money?
3. Why is personal financial goal setting important?
4. How does an individual know when a good short-term goal is well-written?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals create goals and work toward meeting them.
2. Financially capable individuals understand the cost and the accountability associated with borrowing.
3. Financially capable individuals understand that personal financial goal setting is a lifelong activity and short-term goal setting is essential to that process.  For example: saving for a fish aquarium or skateboard.
4. Financially capable individuals understand that an analysis of various options and creating short- and long-term goals for borrowing is a lifelong skill. For example: adults borrow money to buy a car or go on a vacation.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
2. Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
3. Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Respect the views and rights of others.

GLE Code: SS.3.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify and apply the elements of civil discourse. For example: listening with respect for understanding and speaking in a respectful manner.
b. Identify important personal rights in a democratic society and how they relate to others' rights.
c. Give examples of the relationship between rights and responsibilities.
d. Restate the view or opinion of others with their reasoning when it is different from one's own.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Appropriately express one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and identify how they influence behavior. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness)
2. Regulate reactions to differing perspectives. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
3. Identify and explain a different perspective when exploring events or ideas. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
4. State a position and reflect on possible objections to assumptions and implications of the position. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the essential elements of compromise that enable conflict to be transformed into agreement?
2. Why is personal advocacy important in a community with diverse views?
3. What would a community be like if individuals from various groups did not respect each other's rights and views?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals take the opportunity to make positive changes in their community.
2. Civic-minded individuals recognize the value of respecting the rights and views of others.
3. Civic-minded individuals understand that a respect for the views of others helps to learn and understand various perspectives, thoughts, and cultures. For example: environmentalists, industry, and government work together to solve issues around energy and other resources.
4. Civic-minded individuals understand that virtues, such as honesty, mutual respect, cooperation, and attentiveness to multiple perspectives, should be used when they interact with each other on public matters.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
2. Demonstrate positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.
3. Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts and ideas.
4. Provide opportunities to use technology to research multiple views on issues to better understand the evolution of rights. For example: lawyers research court findings and individuals engage in civic discourse regarding issues of the day through the internet.
5. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
6. Present a summary of arguments and explanations to others outside the classroom using print and oral technologies.

# Social Studies

## Third Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The origins, structures, and functions of local government.

GLE Code: SS.3.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify the origins, structures, and functions of local government.
b. Identify and explain the services local governments provide and how those services are funded.
c. Identify and explain a variety of roles leaders, citizens, and others play in local government.
d. Describe how local government provides opportunities for people to exercise their rights and initiate change.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Connect knowledge from personal experiences in schools and communities to civic engagement. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How are local governments and citizens interdependent?
2. How do individuals get involved in their local government?
3. How do local governments and citizens help each other?
4. Why do people create governments?
5. How do people, places, and events help us understand the ideals of democratic government?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals are involved in their local government.
2. Civic-minded individuals know how personal advocacy and involvement can lead to change in communities.
3. Civic-minded individuals have a knowledge of the origins, structures, and functions of local government which enables participation in the democratic process. For example: groups and governments work together to create a safe environment in the community.
4. Civic-minded individuals understand the important institutions of their society and the principles that these institutions are intended to reflect.
5. Civic-minded individuals use a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions about and act on civic problems in their classrooms and schools.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
2. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
3. Identify main idea and sequence of events in a social studies context.
4. Present information orally and in writing.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze primary and secondary sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of the history of Colorado.

GLE Code: SS.4.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Draw inferences about Colorado history from primary sources such as journals, diaries, maps, etc.
b. Identify cause-and-effect relationships using primary sources to understand the history of Colorado's development.
c. Explain, through multiple perspectives, the cause-and-effect relationships in the human interactions among people and cultures that have lived in or migrated to Colorado. For example: American Indians, Spanish explorers, trappers/traders, and settlers after westward expansion.
d. Identify and describe how major political and cultural groups have affected the development of the region.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify and explain the perspectives of the various groups important in Colorado history when exploring the development of the state. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships in the history of Colorado. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How have past events influenced present-day Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region?
2. Why is it important to know the sequence of events and people in Colorado history?
3. How can primary sources help us learn about the past or create more questions about our state's history?
4. What social and economic decisions caused people to locate in various regions of Colorado?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers seek accounts of history from multiple perspectives and from multiple sources.
2. Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes throughout time.
3. Historical thinkers use primary sources as references for research.
4. Historical thinkers recognize important events in Colorado and can put them in chronological order to understand cause and effect such as migration west and clashes with Native Americans; discovery of gold and the Gold Rush; the growth of cities and towns and the development of law; the development of the state Constitution; and prohibition of slavery.
5. Historical thinkers can explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
3. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
4. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
5. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
6. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
7. Begin to discuss historical perspectives.
8. Communicate information through the use of technologies.
9. Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
10. Find information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in Colorado history and their relationship to key events in the United States within the same historical period.

GLE Code: SS.4.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Construct a timeline of the major events in Colorado history.
b. Explain the relationship between major events in Colorado history and events in United States history during the same era.
c. Describe both past and present interactions among the people and cultures in Colorado. For example: American Indians, Spanish explorers, trappers/traders, and settlers after westward expansion.
d. Describe the impact of various technological developments. For example: changes in mining technologies, transportation, early 20<sup>th</sup> century industrial developments, and mid- to late-20<sup>th</sup> century nuclear, and computer technologies.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships within Colorado history and draw conclusions about how various events and people affected the development of the state. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. In what ways have geographic, economic, cultural, and technological changes influenced Colorado today?
2. Why did people of various cultures migrate to and settle in Colorado?
3. To what extent have unity and diversity shaped Colorado?
4. How have various individuals, groups, and ideas affected the development of Colorado?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes across time periods.
2. Historical thinkers use context and information from the past to make connections and inform current decisions. For example: Colorado has had a history of boom and bust cycles that have influenced the decisions of city and state planners.
3. Historical thinkers realize that technological developments continue to evolve and affect the present. For example: environmental issues have had an impact on Colorado from the Gold Rush to modern pollution.
4. Historical thinkers compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.
5. Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
6. Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
3. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
4. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
5. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
6. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
7. Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
8. Find information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools to research and answer questions about Colorado geography.

GLE Code: SS.4.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Answer questions about Colorado regions using maps and other geographic tools.
b. Use geographic grids to locate places on and answer questions about maps and images of Colorado.
c. Create and investigate geographic questions about Colorado in relation to other places.
d. Illustrate, using geographic tools, how places in Colorado have changed and developed over time due to human activity.
e. Describe similarities and differences between the physical geography of Colorado and its neighboring states.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Articulate the most effective tools to access information about the geography of Colorado. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Ask questions to develop further understanding about the geography and development of Colorado. (Professional Skills: Self-Advocacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Which geographic tools are best to locate information about a place?
2. Why did settlements and large cities develop where they did in Colorado?
3. How are the regions of Colorado defined by geography?
4. How does the physical location of Colorado affect its relationship with other regions of the United States and the world?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers gather appropriate tools to formulate and answer questions related to space and place.
2. Spatial thinkers use tools to compare and contrast geographic locations.
3. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to answer questions about the state and region to make informed choices. For example: a family reads a weather map and researches road conditions to inform their decision to go to the mountains in the winter.
4. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to collect and analyze data regarding an area where people live.
5. Geographic thinkers identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions.
6. Geographic thinkers use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
2. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose.
3. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
4. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
5. Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
6. Access relevant information needed for a specific purpose.
7. Find and communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Connections are developed within and across human and physical systems.

GLE Code: SS.4.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe how the physical environment provides opportunities for and places constraints on human activities.
b. Explain how physical environments influenced and limited immigration into the state.
c. Analyze how people use geographic factors in creating settlements and have adapted to and modified the local physical environment.
d. Describe how places in Colorado are connected by movement of goods, services, and technology.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Define the problems faced by people in Colorado because of the physical environment they encountered. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What physical characteristics led various cultural groups to select the places they did for settlement in Colorado?
2. How did Colorado settlers alter their environment to facilitate communication and transportation?
3. How does the physical environment affect human activity?
4. How does human activity affect the environment?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
2. Geographic thinkers evaluate how physical features affect the development of a sense of place.
3. Geographic thinkers consider geographic factors when making settlement decisions. For example: Colorado Springs has a dry climate that is favorable for computer companies, and ski resorts developed in the Rocky Mountains.
4. Geographic thinkers can describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in specific places or regions in Colorado.
5. Geographic thinkers explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.
6. Geographic thinkers explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
2. Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
3. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
4. Introduce a topic clearly and group-related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
5. Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
6. Explain how supporting questions help answer compelling questions in an inquiry.
7. Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
8. Find information through the use of technologies.
9. Communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. People respond to positive and negative incentives.

GLE Code: SS.4.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Define positive and negative economic incentives and describe how people typically respond when given positive or negative incentives.
b. In a given situation, create a plan of appropriate incentives to achieve a desired result. For example: offering a prize to the person who picks up the most trash on the playground.
c. Give examples of the kinds of goods and services produced in Colorado in different historical periods and their connection to economic incentives.
d. Explain how productive resources (natural, human, and capital) have influenced the types of goods produced and services provided in Colorado.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Set goals and develop strategies which take into account positive and negative incentives in order to remain focused on learning goals. (Personal Skills: Perseverance/Resilience)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why are different goods and services important at different times in Colorado's history?
2. How have science and technology changed the economy of Colorado?
3. How have natural, human, and capital resources had both positive and negative impacts on the development of Colorado?
4. How can you explain why people or communities make the decisions that they do?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers study positive incentives and how they influence behavior predictably over time. For example: responsible individuals save for the future and move for better job opportunities.
2. Economic thinkers study how negative incentives influence behavior predictably over time. For example: people move or refuse to relocate due to poor climate or resource shortages.
3. Economic thinkers investigate alternative ways to use the resources in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.
4. Economic thinkers use both positive and negative incentives to affect behavior. For example: the tourism industry uses incentives to attract tourists and government agencies use tickets to discourage speeding and fines for not following regulations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
2. Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
3. Identify main idea, sequence of events, and cause and effect in a social studies context.
4. Present information orally and in writing.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Determine the opportunity cost when making a choice (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.4.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Define choice and opportunity cost.
b. Determine the relationship between long-term goals and opportunity cost.
c. Analyze scenarios of choices including opportunity cost. For example: how to spend allowance money or purchase school supplies.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to apply and/or test solutions when making a purchase. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations when making a purchase. (Personal Skills: Personal Responsibility)
3. Ask questions to develop further personal understanding of how to make informed purchases. (Professional Skills: Self-Advocacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What different ways does an individual have to get information when deciding between purchase options?
2. How do you know when a good decision has been made about a purchase?
3. How do you know when a bad decision has been made about a purchase?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers analyze opportunity costs associated with making decisions.
2. Economic thinkers analyze data to forecast possible outcomes.
3. Economic thinkers understand that the relationship between choice and opportunity cost leads to good decision-making. For example: a business may have an opportunity to purchase inexpensive land, but the cost may be in the travel time.
4. Economic thinkers compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
5. Economic thinkers identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
2. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Identify, investigate, and analyze multiple perspectives on civic issues.

GLE Code: SS.4.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Give examples of issues faced by the state of Colorado and develop possible solutions.
b. Provide supportive arguments for both sides of a current public policy debate.
c. Discuss how various individuals and groups influence the way an issue affecting the state is viewed and resolved.
d. Identify and use appropriate sources to investigate and analyze multiple perspectives of issues.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Regulate reactions to differing perspectives. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
2. Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring issues faced by the state of Colorado. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
3. Participate in social or community activities.

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How can government answer questions about issues in a state in various ways?
2. How do diverse opinions enrich a community?
3. How does an individual's experience and background influence perception of an issue?
4. Why is it important to research issues and engage in civil debates?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals understand that virtues, such as honesty, mutual respect, cooperation, and attentiveness to multiple perspectives, should be used when they interact with each other on public matters.
2. Civic-minded individuals recognize opportunities to study the effectiveness of various ways to influence state public policy.
3. Civic-minded individuals understand the relationships between state government and citizens.
4. Civic-minded individuals study the art of debate, critical reasoning, and active listening to foster informed choices. For example: school boards review the pros and cons of an issue such as dress code and then make a policy decision.
5. Civic-minded individuals identify the beliefs, experiences, perspectives, and values that underlie their own and others' points of view about civic issues.
6. Civic-minded individuals critique arguments and provide explanations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
2. Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
3. Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
4. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
5. Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
6. Present information orally and in writing.
7. Use technology to efficiently and effectively access information.

# Social Studies

## Fourth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The origins, structures, and functions of the Colorado government.

GLE Code: SS.4.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain the historical foundation and events that led to the Colorado Constitution and the formation of the three branches of Colorado government.
b. Identify and explain a variety of roles leaders, citizens, and others play in state government.
c. Identify and explain the services state government provides and how those services are funded.
d. Describe how the decisions of the state government affect local government and interact with federal law.
e. Describe how a citizen might engage in state government to demonstrate their rights or initiate change.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other to make decisions and enact change. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What would state government look like if one of the branches had more power than the others?
2. What would Colorado be like without a state government?
3. To what extent were various individuals and organizations in the state important in the development of Colorado's government?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals understand the importance of the processes and rules by which groups of people make decisions, govern themselves, and address public problems.
2. Civic-minded individuals know the origins, structure, and functions of Colorado's government and how it provides for participation, influence and benefits. For example, individuals can vote on ballot issues that affect taxes.
3. Civic-minded individuals investigate resources and ask for government support and services. For example: someone wanting to open a restaurant can visit the Department of Health website to get information.
4. Civic-minded individuals can explain different strategies and approaches that students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict possible results of their actions.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
2. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
3. Present information orally and in writing.
4. Use technology to efficiently and effectively access information.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of chronology.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze primary and secondary sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of early United States history.

GLE Code: SS.5.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Recognize how historical context can affect the perspective of historical sources.
b. Examine significant historical documents. For example: the Stamp Act, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.
c. Interpret timelines of eras and themes in North America from European colonization through the establishment of the United States Government.
d. Analyze cartoons, artifacts, artwork, charts, and graphs related to eras and themes in North America from European colonization through the establishment of the United States Government.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make observations and draw conclusions from a variety of sources when studying American history. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring events, ideas, issues in United States history. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do sources with varied perspectives help us to understand what happened in the past?
2. Why is important to understand the historical context of events?
3. How might history be different without the Declaration of Independence?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources to make inferences about various time periods and show cause-and-effect relationships.
2. Historical thinkers seek people, places, and events that tell the story of history from multiple perspectives.
3. Historical thinkers examine data for point of view, historical context, distortion, or propaganda.
4. Historical thinkers apply the historical method of inquiry to continuously interpret and refine history. For example, political cartoonists portray multiple perspectives of events, and newspapers may be biased in coverage of events throughout time.
5. Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
6. Historical thinkers explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
7. Historical thinkers explain connections among historical contexts and people's perspectives at the time.
8. Historical thinkers summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.
9. Historical thinkers gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
10. Historical thinkers use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
2. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
3. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
4. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
5. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
6. Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
7. Communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in North America from European colonization through the establishment of the United States Government.

GLE Code: SS.5.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify and explain cultural interactions between the European colonists, American Indians, and enslaved individuals. For example: the Columbian Exchange, and various trade networks.
b. Identify and describe the significant individuals and groups of American Indians and European colonists before the American Revolution.
c. Explain the development of political, social and economic institutions in the British American colonies.
d. Explain important political, social, economic, and military developments leading to and during the American Revolution.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring events, ideas, issues in United States history. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How did historical events and individuals contribute to diversity in the United States?
2. How did important American documents shape American beliefs and values?
3. To what extent did individuals and their ideas contribute to the establishment of the United States government?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers use chronology to organize and study cause-and-effect relationships across time.
2. Historical thinkers study people, places, and events to tell the story of history from multiple perspectives.
3. Historical thinkers examine the context and information from the past to make connections and inform decisions in the present. For example: the concept of liberty continues to be defended by lawyers and citizens; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens continue to evolve through the work of policy makers, legislators, judges, lawyers, and individuals.
4. Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
5. Historical thinkers explain connections among historical contexts and people's perspectives at the time.
6. Historical thinkers summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.
7. Historical thinkers use evidence to develop a claim about the past.
8. Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
3. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
4. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
5. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
6. Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
7. Communicate information through the use of technologies.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools and sources to research and answer questions about United States geography.

GLE Code: SS.5.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Answer questions about regions of the United States using various types of maps.
b. Use geographic tools to identify, locate, and describe places and regions in the United States and suggest reasons for their location.
c. Describe the influence of accessible resources on the development of local and regional communities throughout the United States.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Investigate geographic resources to form hypotheses, make observations, and draw conclusions about communities in the United States. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How can various types of maps and other geographic tools communicate geographic information incorrectly?
2. How do you think differently about data when it is displayed spatially?
3. How and why do we label places?
4. How have places and regions in the United States been influenced by the physical geography of North America over time?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to evaluate data in order to answer geographic questions.
2. Spatial thinkers locate places and identify resources, physical features, regions, and populations using geographic tools.
3. Spatial thinkers use geographic technologies to enhance the ability to locate and analyze maps to answer questions. For example: historians use maps to help re-create settings of historical events, and individuals use maps to learn about different geographic areas.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
2. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
3. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
4. Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Causes and consequences of movement.

GLE Code: SS.5.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify variables associated with discovery, exploration, and migration.
b. Explain migration, trade, and cultural patterns that result from interactions among people, groups, and cultures.
c. Describe and analyze how specific physical and political features influenced historical events, movements, and adaptation to the environment.
d. Analyze how cooperation and conflict among people contribute to political, economic, and social divisions in the United States.
e. Give examples of the influence of geography on the history of the United States.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Consider purpose, formality of context and audience, and distinct cultural norms when planning the content, mode, delivery, and expression of analysis of historical events and movements. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Communication)
2. Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring ideas about conflict in the United States. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What human and physical characteristics have motivated, prevented, or impeded migration and immigration over time?
2. How can migration and immigration be represented geographically?
3. How has the movement of people and their belongings affected the environment both positively and negatively?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers study patterns of human movement.
2. Geographic thinkers understand how technology has influenced movement to, colonization of, and the settlement of North America.
3. Geographic thinkers examine how the migration of individuals affects society including economic and environmental impacts.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Draw evidence from geographic tools or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
2. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Trade shaped the development of Early America.

GLE Code: SS.5.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify examples of the productive resources and explain how they are used to produce goods and services. For example: land, labor, and capital.
b. Compare ways in which people and communities exchanged goods and services. For example: barter and monetary exchange.
c. Identify the goods and services that were traded among different cultures and regions.
d. Describe how patterns of trade evolved within Early America.
e. Explain some of the challenges that American colonists faced that would eventually lead them to the creation of commercial banks.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Investigate to form hypotheses, make observations and draw conclusions about the development of the systems of exchange in the United States. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis).
2. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other through trade and exchange. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How did different cultures or communities in Early America interact with each other?
2. Why do people trade?
3. Why do most modern societies choose to use money?
4. How are financial institutions important to society?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers analyze trade and the use of money.
2. Economic thinkers describe and study the importance of exchange in a community.
3. Economic thinkers understand the actions of financial institutions in a market economy.
4. Economic thinkers make decisions about how to use scarce resources to maximize the well-being of individuals and society.
5. Economic thinkers voluntarily exchange goods and services when both parties expect to gain as a result of the trade.
6. Economic thinkers understand that the principles of markets apply to markets for goods and services, labor, credit, and foreign exchange.
7. Economic thinkers understand why people specialize and trade, and how that leads to increased economic interdependence in the world economy.
8. Economic thinkers gather information from a variety of sources and evaluate the relevance of that information when constructing opinions, explanation, or arguments.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
2. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
3. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
4. Identify cause and effect, and fact versus opinion.
5. Conduct research by locating, gathering, and organizing information using online and print resources.
6. Explain content through the use of maps, graphs, charts, diagrams.
7. Use content specific technology tools to support learning.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Examine how individuals use financial institutions to manage personal finances (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.5.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Differentiate between saving and investing.
b. Establish the function of banking.
c. Distinguish between different types of financial institutions such as banks and credit unions, and the services provided. For example: checking accounts, savings accounts, investments, and loans.
d. Create a way to keep track of money spent and money saved.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to apply and/or test solutions when choosing a financial institution or financial product. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Express one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and identify how they influence behavior when making decisions regarding choosing a financial institution or financial product. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness)
3. Ask questions to develop further personal understanding when choosing financial institutions and financial products. (Professional Skills: Self-Advocacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What risks and benefits are associated with spending versus saving and investing?
2. How can a checking account help to decide how to spend and save?
3. Why do people use financial institutions rather than self-banking?
4. How do people choose a financial institution?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals research, analyze, and make choices regarding their needs when using financial institutions.
2. Financially capable individuals identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
3. Financially capable individuals use technology to track and graph the interest accrued on "virtual" investments, checking and savings accounts, investments, and loans.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
2. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Construct an understanding of the foundations of citizenship in the United States.

GLE Code: SS.5.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe and provide sources and examples of individual rights.
b. Give examples of group and individual actions that illustrate civic ideals in the founding of the United States. For example: freedom, rule of law, equality, civility, cooperation, respect, responsibility, and civic participation.
c. Explain the reasons for the settlement of the American colonies.
d. Define the criteria and process for becoming a citizen.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Recognize how members of a community rely on each other through a variety of ways when creating rules and norms. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)
2. Connect knowledge of the foundations of citizenship in the United States to personal ideas/understandings. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How might citizens view an issue differently because of their backgrounds?
2. What is the most important right of a citizen?
3. What is the most important responsibility of a citizen?
4. How does government meet its responsibility to citizens?
5. Who is government?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals understand that civic virtues such as civility, cooperation, respect, and responsible participation are foundational components of our society.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand the significance of peaceful assembly by groups and respectful behavior during a performance or speech.
3. Civic-minded individuals understand that the foundations of citizenship in the United States ensure that citizens' rights are being protected. For example: the rule of law applies to everyone in society and all individuals and groups are treated with respect.
4. Civic-minded individuals analyze critical historical documents to investigate the development of the national government.
5. Civic-minded individuals understand the responsibilities of the national government to its citizens.
6. Civic-minded individuals understand that in order to act responsibly and effectively, citizens must understand the important institutions of their society and the principles that these institutions are intended to reflect.
7. Civic-minded individuals gather information from a variety of sources and evaluate the relevance of that information when constructing opinions, explanation, or arguments.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
2. Conduct research by locating, gathering, and organizing information using online and print resources.

# Social Studies

## Fifth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The origins, structures, and functions of the United States government.

GLE Code: SS.5.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain the historical foundation and the events that led to the establishment of the United States government. For example: the colonial experience, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.
b. Identify political principles of American democracy and how the Constitution and Bill of Rights reflect and preserve these principles.
c. Explain the origins, structures, and functions of the three branches of the United States government and the relationships among them.
d. Describe how the decisions of the national government affect local and state government.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring the events leading to the creation of the United States government and the principles of American democracy. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are democratic ideals and practices and their historic origins?
2. Were the founding fathers correct in keeping the Constitution open for flexibility and interpretation? Why?
3. How have historical documents defined and distributed power?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals understand the concept of individual rights as a cornerstone to American democracy.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand the relationships between individual rights and personal responsibility.
3. Civic-minded individuals know that the origins, structure, and function of the United States government are studied to create an informed, civically literate, and responsible society. For example: fundamental principles and liberties are still evolving as judges interpret the Constitution, and legislators make laws and local city councils and boards create regulations.
4. Civic-minded individuals understand that in order to act responsibly and effectively, citizens must understand the important institutions of their society and the principles that these institutions are intended to reflect.
5. Civic-minded individuals understand that civics teaches the principles—such as adherence to the social contract, consent of the governed, limited government, legitimate authority, federalism, and separation of powers—that are meant to guide official institutions such as legislatures, courts, and government agencies.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
3. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
4. Identify and discuss primary and secondary sources.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources to ask and research historical questions about the Western Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.6.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify ways different cultures record history in the Western Hemisphere.
b. Analyze multiple primary and secondary sources while formulating historical questions about the Western Hemisphere. For example: art, artifacts, eyewitness accounts, letters and diaries, artifacts, real or simulated historical sites, charts, graphs, diagrams and written texts.
c. Gather, organize, synthesize, and critique information to determine if it is sufficient to answer historical questions about the Western Hemisphere.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to research historical questions. (Strategic Learning: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving)
2. Engage in novel approaches, moves, directions, ideas, and/or perspectives while using inquiry and primary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Examine various resources, to look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
4. Utilize primary and secondary sources to examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What questions help us understand the development of the Western Hemisphere and the interactions of people in the region?
2. Why do sources on the same topic vary, and how do we determine which ones will help us effectively interpret the past?
3. What key primary sources help us to understand the Western Hemisphere?
4. How is the bias of the author of a source reflected in the source itself?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers evaluate historical sources for purpose, audience, point of view, context, reliability, and authenticity.
2. Historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to develop and evaluate hypotheses and interpretations of historical events and figures that are supported by evidence.
3. Historical thinkers identify points of view, seek multiple sources, and develop and defend a thesis with evidence.
4. Historical thinkers use technology to explore and evaluate for accuracy of information.
5. Historical thinkers use context and content from the past is used to make connections to the present.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources
2. Conduct research by locating, gathering, organizing information and data, and evaluating online and print resources.
3. Evaluate information critically and competently.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes within regions of the Western Hemisphere and their relationships with one another.

GLE Code: SS.6.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain how people, products, cultures, and ideas interact and are interconnected in the Western Hemisphere and how they have impacted modern times.
b. Determine and explain the historical context of key people, events, and ideas over time including the examination of different perspectives from people involved. For example: Aztec, Maya, Inca, Inuit, early Native American cultures of North America, major explorers, colonizers of countries in the Western Hemisphere, and the Columbian Exchange.
c. Identify examples of the social, political, cultural, and economic development in key areas of the Western Hemisphere.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to research historical questions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Engage in novel approaches, moves, directions, ideas, and/or perspectives while using inquiry and primary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges within the Western Hemisphere using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
4. Examine various resources, to look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why have civilizations succeeded and failed?
2. To what extent does globalization depend on a society's resistance to and adaptation to change over time?
3. What factors influenced the development of civilizations and nations in the Western Hemisphere?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes across time.
2. Historical thinkers study the people, places, ideas, and events in the Western Hemisphere to construct the story of history from multiple perspectives.
3. Historical thinkers use chronology to organize time.
4. Historical thinkers examine, interpret, and evaluate data for point of view, historical context, or propaganda and use it to inform decisions on the current world today.
5. Historical thinkers investigate how philosophies and ideas from the Aztec, Maya, Inca, and others in history continue to inform and affect the present.
6. Historical thinkers research how technological developments continue to evolve and affect the present.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.
2. Identify propaganda, censorship, and bias in the media.
3. Demonstrate positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.
4. Cite textual evidence from content-specific texts to demonstrate understanding and support an analysis of the text, conduct an experiment, or perform a task.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools and resources to research and make geographic inferences and predictions about the Western Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.6.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Use geographic tools to identify, locate and describe places and regions in the Western Hemisphere, to solve problems. For example: latitude, longitude, scale on maps, globes, and other resources such as GPS and satellite imagery.
b. Collect, analyze, and synthesize data from geographic tools to compare regions in the Western Hemisphere.
c. Examine geographic sources to formulate questions and investigate responses.
d. Interpret, apply, and communicate geographic data to justify potential solutions to problems in the Western Hemisphere at the local, state, national, and global levels.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply knowledge to set goals, make informed decisions and transfer to new contexts. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self-Direction)
2. Engage in novel approaches, directions, ideas, and/or perspectives while using inquiry and primary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges, within the Western Hemisphere, which are appropriate to their contexts using multiple disciplinary perspectives, such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
4. Using geographic tools and resources, demonstrate task management attributes associated with producing high quality products including the abilities to: (a) Work positively and ethically; (b) Manage time and projects effectively; (c) Multi-task, and; (d) Clearly communicate with others. (Professional Skills: Task/Time Management).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How can geographic tools be used to solve problems in the future?
2. Why does where we live influence how we live?
3. How do populations, physical features, resources, and perceptions of places and regions change over time
4. How have geographic factors influenced human settlement, economic activity, and land acquisition?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to develop spatial thinking and awareness skills.
2. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to help to solve problems in daily life. For example: a car GPS is used to find a location, maps are used by tourists, and directions are found on the internet.
3. Geographic thinkers evaluate patterns that connect people in the Western Hemisphere to the rest of the world.
4. Geographic thinkers explore how technology is used by individuals and businesses to answer geographic problems such as the spread of disease, migration patterns, and distribution and loss of resources like water supplies.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate visual information such as charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps, with other information in print and digital texts.
2. Explain and justify decisions and shared content through the use of online maps, graphs, charts, data and diagrams.
3. Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources.
4. Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.
5. Generate questions to guide research, gather information from print and digital sources, determine biases and credibility of sources, cite sources accurately, and use evidence to answer their research question

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Regional differences and perspectives in the Western Hemisphere impact human and environmental interactions.

GLE Code: SS.6.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Classify and analyze the types of human and geographic connections between places.
b. Identify physical features of the Western Hemisphere and explain their effects on people who reside in the region.
c. Analyze positive and negative interactions of human and physical systems in the Western Hemisphere and give examples of how people have adapted to their physical environment.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others in the Western Hemisphere. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
2. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges within the Western Hemisphere which are appropriate to their contexts using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
3. Apply knowledge to set goals, make informed decisions and transfer to new contexts. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self-Direction)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are different ways to define the Western Hemisphere based on human and physical systems?
2. How have people interacted with the environment over time in a positive or negative way?
3. How has globalization affected people and places?
4. In what ways are places on Earth interdependent?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers examine places and regions and the connections among them.
2. Geographic thinkers study how human and physical systems vary and interact to make better choices, decisions, and predictions. For example: resource distribution or trade is based on geographic features and environmental changes which affect business decisions.
3. Geographic thinkers analyze data regarding physical and human systems to make informed choices regarding production, trade, and resource acquisition.
4. Geographic thinkers use geographic information about human and physical systems to make decisions such as establishing trade routes, locating cities, trade centers and capitals, and establishing outposts and security systems like forts and walls.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text.
2. Demonstrate positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.
3. Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand.
4. Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Investigate how societies create different economic systems in the Western Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.6.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe how economic systems in the Western Hemisphere (such as traditional, command, market, and mixed) allocate resources.
b. Use economic reasoning to explain how specialization of production can result in more interdependence. For example: international trade patterns.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global economic system challenges that are appropriate to their contexts using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Look for and find value in different economic perspectives expressed by others in the Western Hemisphere. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
3. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to research economic questions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do different systems address the production of goods?
2. How are scarce resources distributed in different types of economic systems?
3. How do different economies control the means of production and distribution of goods and services?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers study how and why individuals make decisions about purchases and in different locations.
2. Economic thinkers study the effects of different types of economies on global interdependence.
3. Economic thinkers explore how economic development varies and can be compared across countries in the Western Hemisphere including levels of education and average income.
4. Economic thinkers investigate how governments and the private sector cooperate to distribute goods and services, specialize, and are interdependent in the global economy.
5. Economic thinkers explain how career opportunities are influenced by the type of economic system.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Support claim(s) with clear reasons and relevant evidence, using credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
2. Read to identify cause-and-effect relationships, compare and contrast information, fact vs. opinion, and author bias.
3. Use content-specific technology tools to support learning and research.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Investigate the role of consumers within the Western Hemisphere (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.6.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain the roles of buyers and sellers in product, labor, and financial markets.
b. Describe the role of competition in the determination of prices and wages in a market economy.
c. Explore how consumer spending decisions and demand impact market economies.
d. Analyze how external factors might influence spending decisions for different individuals.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal financial decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
2. Identify and explain multiple perspectives (cultural and global) when exploring economic events, ideas, and issues within the Western Hemisphere. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
3. Assess personal strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism, and a growth mindset. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How did different societies in the Western Hemisphere define the roles of buyers and sellers in the various markets?
2. What role did the distribution of resources play in personal financial decisions?
3. What role has competition and wages played in different cultures?
4. Why is it important to analyze the various levels of a culture before understanding how individuals in that culture would make financial decisions?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals determine how history, location, and the distribution of resources have impacted financial decisions.
2. Financially capable individuals understand that competition and wages are not just American concepts. These concepts have applied to individual financial decisions long before the birth of the nation.
3. Financially capable individuals understand that populations within various cultures have made individual financial decisions differently throughout time and location.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop.
2. Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.
3. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question
4. Integrate multimedia as effective tools for presenting and clarifying information.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze the relationships of different nations in the Western Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.6.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of living in an interconnected world.
b. Examine changes and connections in ideas about citizenship in different times and places in the Western Hemisphere.
c. Describe how groups and individuals influence governments within the Western Hemisphere.
d. Explain how political ideas and significant people have interacted, are interconnected, and have influenced nations.
e. Analyze political issues from national and global perspectives over time.
f. Identify historical examples illustrating how people from diverse backgrounds in the Western Hemisphere perceived and reacted to various global issues.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Examine how individuals in the Western Hemisphere interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.(Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges, in the Western Hemisphere, which are appropriate to their contexts, using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
3. Look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others in the Western Hemisphere. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What does it mean to live in an interconnected world?
2. How can you be a productive member of the global community and a contributing citizen of the United States?
3. Why are there greater challenges and opportunities when multiple groups interact?
4. Why do national and global viewpoints sometimes differ?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals discuss and analyze how various government decisions impact people, places, and history.
2. Civic-minded individuals analyze how the actions of individuals and groups can have a local, national, and international impact.
3. Civic-minded individuals analyze the relationship between rights and responsibility in national and global contexts.
4. Civic-minded individuals explain how nations are interconnected and affect each other on a daily basis. For example: businesses are affected by the laws, regulations, nations; and markets are damaged by drought, earthquakes and other natural disasters throughout the world.
5. Civic-minded individuals demonstrate how technology provides daily information regarding the interaction between the United States government and other nations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, and causally).
2. Communicate and present information orally, in writing, and through the development of multimedia presentations, and other forms of technology in an effective manner.

# Social Studies

## Sixth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Systems of government in the Western Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.6.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe different systems of government in the Western Hemisphere.
b. Identify how different systems of government relate to their citizens in the Western Hemisphere.
c. Compare the economic components of the different systems of government in the Western Hemisphere.
d. Compare the various governments and citizens' liberties in the Western Hemisphere.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges, in the Western Hemisphere, which are appropriate to their contexts, using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
3. Look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others in the Western Hemisphere. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
4. Apply ethical perspectives/concepts to an ethical question/situation/scenario. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do you define good government?
2. What evidence can you find of effective and ineffective governments in the past and the present?
3. What would a government look like if you created it?
4. What are the consequences if a government does not provide for the common good?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals discuss and evaluate how personal and national actions have global consequences.
2. Civic-minded individuals identify ways in which lives are enriched and challenged because of the interconnected nature of a global society.
3. Civic-minded individuals demonstrate how different forms of government affect daily life. For example: employees work in international corporations and tourists visit countries with different laws, rules, and regulations.
4. Civic-minded individuals share how civic education is essential for understanding the implications of events around the world.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies.
2. Evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, and bias of online and print sources.
3. Synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use a variety of primary and secondary sources from multiple perspectives to formulate an appropriate thesis supported by evidence.

GLE Code: SS.7.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Utilize primary and secondary sources to explain the interdependence and uniqueness among peoples in the Eastern Hemisphere during significant eras or events; including their influence on modern society. For example: the Silk Road and cultural diffusion, and the Chinese inventions of gunpowder and compass.
b. Examine primary and secondary sources to identify points of view while formulating historical claims and questions. For example: art, eyewitness accounts, letters and diaries, artifacts, historical sites, charts, graphs, diagrams, and written texts.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to generate a thesis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Engage in novel approaches, ideas, and/or perspectives while using inquiry and primary and secondary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Look for different historical perspectives expressed in primary and secondary sources.(Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why is continued questioning of historical events beneficial?
2. How can various primary and secondary perspectives in history be beneficial in understanding past and current issues?
3. Why is it advantageous to identify historical roots of change?
4. How can an artifact be utilized to interpret history?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers construct history through the gathering and analysis of historical sources.
2. Historical thinkers construct the story of the past by interpreting events from multiple points of view and various perspectives.
3. Historical thinkers defend a supported position with appropriate resources.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine the main idea(s) or relevant information of a primary or secondary source.
2. Analyze multiple points of view to establish a comparative approach to interpretation.
3. Utilize valid reasoning to develop a supported position on a historic matter.
4. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
5. Evaluate the reliability, accuracy, relevance, and bias of online and print sources.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The historical context of significant current events, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes within regions of the Eastern Hemisphere and their relationships with one another.

GLE Code: SS.7.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify and explain the historical context of key people, regions, events, and ideas; including the roots of current issues. For example: Mansa Musa, the conflicts in the Middle East, the Black Death, and Confucianism.
b. Investigate and evaluate the social, political, cultural and technological development of regions in the Eastern Hemisphere. For example: the river valley civilizations, Hammurabi's Code, the Hellenistic period, and the printing press.
c. Describe the interactions and contributions of various peoples and cultures that have lived in or migrated within/to the Eastern Hemisphere. For example: conflicts over land and resources between countries, the foundations of world religions, East/West contact, settlement patterns, and the historical roots of current issues.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does the rise or collapse of a government affect surrounding societies over time?
2. How have ideas fundamentally changed various cultures in the Eastern Hemisphere?
3. How has technology shaped the development of civilizations?
4. What key ideas from ancient Eastern Hemisphere eras continue to demonstrate importance in modern times?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes throughout time to understand current events.
2. Historical thinkers construct history using a variety of sources.
3. Historical thinkers consider multiple points of view to interpret history and outcomes.
4. Historical thinkers use chronology to organize time.
5. Historical thinkers examine data for contextual meaning and various interpretations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Utilizing textual evidence, analyze the development and changes of people, events and ideas.
2. Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, and orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools and resources to research topics in the Eastern Hemisphere to make geographic inferences and predictions.

GLE Code: SS.7.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Use maps and geographic tools to find patterns in human systems and/or physical features.
b. Collect, classify, and analyze data to make geographic inferences and predictions.
c. Apply inquiry and research utilizing geographic tools. For example: GPS and satellite imagery.
d. Interpret maps to make inferences and predictions.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Test hypotheses/prototype with planned process for getting feedback. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis).
2. Evaluate information through the use of spatial technologies. (Professional Skills: Use Information/Communication Technologies).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How are different types of maps important in understanding various types of information?
2. How could geographic data be used for both positive and negative results?
3. What is the importance of using various geographic tools to analyze topics?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use geographic tools to discover and investigate geographic patterns.
2. Spatial thinkers use knowledge about the environment to study its influence on individuals and groups.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source.
2. Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
3. Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
4. Conduct an inquiry-based research project that applies critical-thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Regional differences and perspectives in the Eastern Hemisphere impact human and environmental interactions.

GLE Code: SS.7.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Determine how physical and political features impact cultural diffusion and regional differences. For example: modern environmental issues, cultural patterns, trade barriers, and economic interdependence.
b. Examine the geographic location and distribution of resources within a region to determine the economic and social impact on its people. For example: Middle Eastern water rights, the acceptance of refugees from other countries, and the Salt Trade.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Look for and find value in different perspectives expressed by others. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
2. Plan and evaluate complex solutions to global challenges using multiple disciplinary perspectives such as cultural, historical, and scientific. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do geographers apply information from a variety of sources?
2. How can a location be in different regions at the same time?
3. How do regional issues affect larger areas?
4. How do geographic characteristics impact regional issues?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers study cultural groups in order to explain how they view a region and evaluate the use of resources in a region to predict and propose future uses.
2. Geographic thinkers study the various definitions of regions.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze informational text(s) to better understand and evaluate the author's perspective and purpose.
2. Evaluate the reasons and evidence that authors use to support their arguments and specific claims in informational text(s).
3. Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
4. Identify propaganda, censorship, and bias in texts and other forms of media.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Describe how economic systems in the Eastern Hemisphere address the problem of scarcity.

GLE Code: SS.7.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe how different societies developed economic systems. For example: the barter system, traditional, command, market, and mixed.
b. Evaluate the different economic systems in the Eastern Hemisphere, utilizing economic data. For example: economic growth, per capita income, and standard of living.
c. Explain how trade affects the production of goods and services in different regions.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Innovate from failure, connect learning across domains, and recognize new opportunities. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Risk-Taking)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do different types of economic systems affect societies?
2. How can economic systems be reflected using data?
3. When goods and services are scarce what might happen to price? Why?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers study the relationship between local consumers and global producers.
2. Economic thinkers investigate and inform government actions to reduce or solve social issues.
3. Economic thinkers compare different economics systems to determine their impact on producers and consumers.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
2. Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
3. Explain how a question represents key ideas of a discipline.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Investigate the role of consumers within the Eastern Hemisphere (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.7.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Define resources from an economic and personal finance perspective.
b. Summarize how the distribution of resources impacts consumerism.
c. Compare and contrast choices available to consumers within different cultures as they developed in the Eastern Hemisphere throughout history.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
2. Identify and explain multiple perspectives (cultural and global) when exploring events, ideas, issues. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the similarities and differences between different markets in the Eastern Hemisphere?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals understand that financial decisions have been impacted by the history, location, and distribution of resources of a place.
2. Financially capable individuals study various factors that influence production such as resources, supply and demand, and price, which affect individual consumer choices over time.
3. Financially capable individuals understand that the distribution of resources influences cultural growth and development over time and have impacted many of the different early civilizations around the world.
4. Financially capable individuals understand that competition and wages are not just American concepts. These concepts have applied to individual financial decisions long before the birth of the nation.
5. Financially capable individuals understand that populations within various cultures have made individual financial decisions differently throughout time and location.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.
2. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop.
3. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze the civic similarities and differences within governmental systems in the Eastern Hemisphere.

GLE Code: SS.7.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe civic virtues and principles that guide governments and societies. For example: citizenship, civic participation, and rule of law.
b. Analyze the opportunities and limitations of civic participation in societies in the Eastern Hemisphere.
c. Give examples illustrating the interactions between nations and their citizens. For example: Apartheid, human rights violations, and one-child policy of China)
d. Identify public problems and research ways in which governments address those problems. For example: hunger, disease, poverty, and pollution.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Follow a process identified by others to help generate ideas, negotiate roles and responsibilities, and respect consensus in decision making. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork)
2. Participate in social or community activities. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do international laws and organizations help encourage ethical governmental practices?
2. How do the aggressive actions of a nation influence other nations and international organizations?
3. What factors lead to cooperation, competition, or aggression between societies?
4. Why do governments form alliances and join international organizations?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals know the components of various systems of government.
2. Civic-minded individuals develop criteria to apply standards of ethics and quality in evaluating the effectiveness of government.
3. Civic-minded individuals understand the connections and complexities of interactions among nations.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
2. Summarize the points an author/speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence.
3. Conduct research by locating, gathering, organizing information and data, and evaluating online and print resources.
4. Demonstrate positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.

# Social Studies

## Seventh Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Nations in various regions of the Eastern Hemisphere interact with international organizations, govern, organize, and impact their societies in different ways.

GLE Code: SS.7.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain the origins, functions, and structure of different governments. For example: dictatorship, totalitarianism, democracy, socialism, and communism.
b. Evaluate and analyze how various governments and organizations interact, resolve their differences, and cooperate. For example: the African Union (AU), treaties, and diplomacy.
c. Investigate examples of collaboration and interdependence between international organizations and countries. For example: the Red Cross, World Health Organization, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply ethical perspectives/concepts to an ethical question/situation/scenario. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are fundamental human rights?
2. How can governmental policy lead to problems or help solve problems?
3. What is the purpose of government?
4. How can governments encourage interaction between societies and international organizations?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals can interact, resolve their differences, and cooperate.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand that governments have different functions.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use technology for problem solving, self-directed learning, and extended learning activities.
2. Use knowledge and research skills to engage in conversation and debate around issues of common concern.
3. Present claims and findings, emphasizing main points in a focused manner with relevant descriptions, facts, details, and examples.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Investigate and evaluate primary and secondary sources about United States history from the American Revolution through Reconstruction to formulate and defend a point of view with textual evidence.

GLE Code: SS.8.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Use and interpret documents and other relevant primary and secondary sources pertaining to United States history from multiple perspectives.
b. Analyze evidence from multiple sources including those with conflicting accounts about specific events in United States history.
c. Critique data for point of view, historical context, distortion, or propaganda and relevance to historical inquiry.
d. Construct a written historical argument supported by evidence demonstrating the use or understanding of primary and secondary sources.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret information as historians and draw conclusions based on the best analysis using primary and secondary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Synthesize ideas as historians in original and surprising ways examining multiple perspectives from the American Revolution through Reconstruction. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Make predictions as historians and design data/information collection to analyze conflicting perspectives. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How has the Declaration of Independence influenced other nations?
2. Which primary documents have had the greatest impact on the people of the United States?
3. Should and can historians be completely impartial when writing about history?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers interpret history through the use of primary and secondary sources to cite specific evidence to support analysis.
2. Historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to evaluate and create hypotheses of historical events and include supporting evidence to defend their claim.
3. Historical thinkers analyze modern and historical maps, through geographic tools, to explain how historical events are shaped by geography.
4. Historical thinkers use technology to produce and present primary and secondary sources clearly and efficiently.
5. Historical thinkers use the context and content from the past to make connections to the present. For example: connecting the Civil War to current social and political issues, and the boom and bust cycle of economics with the Gold Rush and railroads.
6. Historical thinkers use the historical method of inquiry to interpret and refine history and serves as a model for inquiry. For example, historians and communities preserve historical documents, artifacts, and buildings.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Seek information from varied sources and perspectives to develop informed opinions and creative solutions.
2. Answer a historical question through the interpretation of primary sources.
3. Develop a clear sense of historical time, past, present and future in order to identify the sequence in which events occurred.
4. Conduct research by locating, gathering and organizing information to present orally and in writing by using appropriate technology resources to support learning.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction.

GLE Code: SS.8.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Determine and explain the historical context of key people and events from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction including the examination of different perspectives. For example: grievances from the colonists against Parliament, the Constitutional Convention, causes and effects of the Civil War.
b. Evaluate continuity and change over the course of United States history by examining various eras and determining major sources of conflict and compromise.
c. Examine factors that motivated the military and economic expansion from the American Revolution through Reconstruction.
d. Evaluate the impact of gender, age, ethnicity and class during this time period and the impact of these demographic groups on the events of the time period.
e. Analyze causes and effects of major conflicts from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction.
f. Analyze ideas that are critical to the understanding of American history. For example: ideals involved in major events and movements, such as representative democracy, federalism, capitalism, abolition, temperance, nativism, and expansionism.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret information as historians and draw conclusions based on multiple perspectives about the United States. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Synthesize ideas as historians in original and surprising ways about historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Make predictions as historians and design data/information collection and analysis strategies to recognize continuity and change through time. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How have the basic values and principles of American democracy changed over time and in what ways have they been preserved?
2. To what extent are the ideas of the American Revolution and the United States Constitution still affecting the world today?
3. What would the United States be like if the British had won the American Revolution?
4. To what extent was the Civil War an extension of the American Revolution?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers interpret history through the use of primary and secondary sources to cite specific evidence to support analysis.
2. Historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to evaluate and create hypotheses of historical events and include supporting evidence to defend their claim.
3. Historical thinkers analyze modern and historical maps, through geographic tools, to explain how historical events are shaped by geography.
4. Historical thinkers use technology to produce and present primary and secondary sources clearly and efficiently.
5. Historical thinkers use the context and content from the past to make connections to the present.
6. Historical thinkers use the historical method of inquiry to interpret and refine history and serves as a model for inquiry. For example: historians and communities preserve historical documents, artifacts, and buildings.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Seek information from varied sources and perspectives to develop informed opinions and creative solutions.
2. Answer a historical question through the interpretation of primary sources.
3. Develop a clear sense of historical time, past, present and future in order to identify the sequence in which events occurred.
4. Conduct research by locating, gathering and organizing information to present orally and in writing by using appropriate technology resources to support learning.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools to research and analyze patterns in human and physical systems in the United States.

GLE Code: SS.8.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Interpret maps and other geographic tools as a primary source to analyze a historic issue.
b. Describe the nature and spatial distribution of cultural patterns.
c. Recognize the patterns and networks of economic interdependence.
d. Explain the establishment of human settlements in relationship to physical attributes and important regional connections.
e. Calculate and analyze population trends.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret information and draw conclusions using demographic information based on the best analysis to understand patterns of change in human and physical systems. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Synthesize ideas in original and surprising ways to demonstrate understanding of demographic patterns of movement and their impact upon the physical systems of the United States. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Organize geographic information through the use of technologies to develop greater understanding of a historical event or action. (Professional Skills: Use Information and Communication Technologies).
4. As a geographer, demonstrate ways to adapt and reach workable solutions as a geographer when considering the use of limited resources and their impact upon political and historical events. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How has human settlement including migration influenced and been influenced by changes in physical systems and culture?
2. How can geographic tools help explore patterns in human and physical systems?
3. How have people and the environment interacted to produce changes over time?
4. How is human activity limited by the environment?
5. How has the environment influenced human activity?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers use habits of mind which include recognition of concepts of space, interpretation, and analysis of spatial representations.
2. Spatial thinkers apply spatial reasoning to understand historical events and recognize.
3. Spatial thinkers use cognitive skills fundamental to spatial thinking by combining spatial visualization, spatial orientation, and spatial relation including recognition of spatial distributions and patterns to connect locations and associate and correlate spatially distributed phenomena.
4. Geographic thinkers respond to historical and spatial literature to understand issues from a spatial perspective.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
2. Apply reading and writing strategies to construct and express knowledge.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Competition for control of space and resources in early American History.

GLE Code: SS.8.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human population, interdependence, cooperation and conflict.
b. Compare how differing geographic perspectives apply to a historic issue.
c. Interpret from a geographic perspective the expansion of the United States by addressing issues of land, security, access, and sovereignty.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret information and draw conclusions as geographers based on the best analysis to recognize and understand the processes that interact in shaping human population patterns and historical events. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving).
2. Synthesize ideas in original and surprising ways while comparing differing geographic perspectives. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
3. Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to analyze and explain interdependence, cooperation and conflict over space and resources in Early American History. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Risk Taking)
4. Demonstrate ways to adapt and reach workable solutions in understanding differing perspectives over use of resources and space. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How will the location of resources lead to cooperation or conflict in the future?
2. How has conflict over space and resources influenced human migration?
3. How have differing perspectives regarding resource and land use, occupancy, and ownership led to cooperative policies or conflict?
4. How would human settlement patterns be different if people did not trade resources with others?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic thinkers evaluate the allocation of resources and the use of space to understand relationships.
2. Geographic thinkers recognize that different perspectives affect cooperation and conflict over space and resources.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
2. Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
3. Read to identify cause-and-effect relationships, compare and contrast information, fact vs. opinion, and author bias.
4. Evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, and bias of online and print sources.
5. Identify propaganda, censorship, and bias in the media.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Economic freedom, including free trade was important for economic growth in early American History.

GLE Code: SS.8.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Give examples of international and regional differences in resources, productivity, and costs that provide a basis for trade.
b. Describe the factors that lead to a nation or a region having a comparative and absolute advantage in trade.
c. Explain effects of domestic policies on international trade.
d. Explain why nations sometimes restrict trade by using quotas, tariffs, and nontariff barriers.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies concerning economic policy through evaluation of historical events. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Apply knowledge and skills as an economist and citizen to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others in order to inform public policy. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
3. Educate and inspire others using sound economic understandings to evaluate economic policy and inform economic decisions based upon consideration of past experiences. (Professional Skills: Leadership)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do societies benefit from trade and exchange?
2. Why is it important for nations to control trade and exchange?
3. What are the benefits and challenges of trade at the international, national, state, local, and individual levels?
4. How does where and how you purchase products affect the social, economic, and environmental conditions?
5. What impact upon productivity results from taxation?
6. What concerns do citizens have with taxation?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers choose wisely to get the most from limited resources. They understand that trade and collaboration within a market economy is important to business and individual success.
2. Economic thinkers understand that economic actions have indirect as well as direct effects and it is important to analyze positive and negative impacts of trade agreements as critical to a nation's success.
3. Economic thinkers understand that technological advances aid businesses in operating efficiently.
4. Economic thinkers analyze the components of economic growth in market economies because economic theories can be used to predict consequences.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Gather information by taking notes, making outlines, and creating graphic organizers.
2. Read texts by using reading strategies (i.e., prior knowledge, key vocabulary words, context clues, main ideas, supporting details, and text features: pictures, maps, text boxes).
3. Formulate appropriate research questions.
4. Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflections, and research.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Examine the role of consumer decisions and taxes within the market economies of early American History (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.8.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Calculate how the value of money has changed over time impacting earning, spending, borrowing, and investing. For example: inflation and recession.
b. Explain factors that have impacted borrowing and investing over time. For example: currency stability, war, and banking practices.
c. Analyze the changes in the development of human capital over time. For example: gaining knowledge and skill through education, apprenticeship, and work experience.
d. Analyze the impact of taxes on the people of the United States over time.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Investigate to form hypotheses, make observations and draw conclusions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What role did taxes play in the birth of our nation?
2. What would countries look like without taxes?
3. How has the value of money changed over time and what is the impact on consumerism?
4. How did inventions impact personal financial options?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals apply the economic way of thinking which assumes that people make particular choices because they are responding to the underlying incentives.
2. Financially capable individuals study factors that lead to increased economic interdependence, increased productivity, and improved standard of living for the individuals in a society.
3. Financially capable individuals understand that there is an economic role for government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of the text.
2. Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.
3. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.
4. Analyze and use information presented visually in a text (for example, graphs, charts, flowcharts, diagrams, models, tables) that support the words in a text.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Construct an understanding of the changing definition of citizenship and the expansion of rights of citizens in the United States.

GLE Code: SS.8.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe instances in which major political, social, economic, or cultural changes occurred and the reasons for the changes.
b. Analyze the changing definition of citizenship and give examples of the expansion of rights.
c. Describe examples of citizens and groups who have influenced change in United States government and politics. For example: Women, American Indians, African Americans, and people in the unsettled territories.
d. Evaluate the result of various strategies for political change over time.
e. Analyze primary sources supporting democratic freedoms and the founding of our government. For example: the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights; and explain how they provide for both continuity and change.
f. Examine ways members of society may effectively voice opinions, monitor government, and bring about change nationally.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections as citizens between information gathered and personal experiences to apply and/or test solutions to analyze citizenship and examine the individual role in government. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Apply knowledge as citizens to set goals, make informed, decisions and transfer to new contexts about the roles and responsibilities of individual citizens. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self-Direction)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is a patriot?
2. What are the duties and responsibilities for citizens?
3. What are the various roles of government?
4. How have various people from different eras in our nation's history promoted change in the face of opposition and what democratic principles were advanced?
5. How have the meanings of American ideals remained the same and changed over time?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of government and non-governmental contexts.
2. Civic-minded individuals explain specific roles played by citizens. For example: voters, jurors, taxpayers, members of the armed forces, petitioners, protesters, and office-holders.
3. Civic-minded individuals examine the origins, purposes, and impact of constitutions, laws, treaties and international agreements.
4. Civic-minded individuals explain the powers and limits of the three branches of government, public officials, and bureaucracies at different levels in the United States and in other countries.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use content-specific technology tools to support learning and research.
2. Use effective decision-making and problem-solving skills in public and private life.
3. Accept responsibility for the well-being of oneself, family, and the community.
4. Conduct research by locating, gathering, organizing information and data, and evaluating online and print resources.
5. Demonstrate positive social and ethical behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.

# Social Studies

## Eighth Grade, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. The purpose and place of rule of law in a constitutional system.

GLE Code: SS.8.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Discern various types of law.
b. Evaluate the strengths of rule of law.
c. Describe and engage in various means of conflict management.
d. Explain the role and importance of the Constitution.
e. Discuss the tensions between individual rights, state law, and national law.
f. Explain how the state and federal courts' power of judicial review is reflected in the United States' form of constitutional government.
g. Use a variety of resources to identify and evaluate issues that involve civic responsibility, individual rights, and the common good.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make connections as citizens between information gathered and personal experiences to apply and/or test solutions to analyze the structures and functions of government. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Connect knowledge as citizens from personal ideas/understandings to civic engagement about the origins, structures and functions of governments. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is the "common good"?
2. What are key court cases and historical events in the development of the United States?
3. How have landmark Supreme Court cases impacted society?
4. What are examples of successful and unsuccessful conflict resolution in United States history and why?
5. How has the United States balanced individual rights and law?
6. Which is more effective, the rule of law or the rule of man? Why?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic minded individuals read diverse sources to create understanding, critically analyze issues, and place them in historical context.
2. Civic minded individuals understand and discuss the dynamic nature of national government and the individual's role in the process.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Use content specific technology tools to support learning and research.
2. Use effective decision-making and problem-solving skills in public and private life.
3. Accept responsibility for the well-being of oneself, family, and the community.
4. Apply social studies content and skills to real life situations.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use the historical method of inquiry to formulate compelling questions, evaluate primary and secondary sources, analyze and interpret data, and argue for an interpretation defended by textual evidence.

GLE Code: SS.HS.1.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Formulate compelling and supporting questions after evaluating primary sources for point of view and historical context.
b. Gather and analyze historical information to address questions from a range of primary and secondary sources containing a variety of perspectives.
c. Gather and analyze historical information from a range of qualitative and quantitative sources. For example: demographic, economic, social, and political data.
d. Construct and defend a historical argument that evaluates interpretations by analyzing, critiquing, and synthesizing evidence from the full range of relevant historical sources.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts, including multilingual. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Communication)
2. Interpret, analyze, and draw conclusions using historical sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
3. Synthesize ideas in original and innovative ways. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does the point of view of a historian affect how history is interpreted?
2. Do historians come to agreement on the historical significance of events? If so, how?
3. What if the history of a war was told by someone other than the winners?
4. Why are historical questions important?
5. How do historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to formulate historical arguments?
6. How might historical inquiry be used to make decisions on contemporary issues?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.
2. Historical thinkers evaluate historical sources for audience, purpose, point of view, context, and authenticity.
3. Historical thinkers use primary and secondary sources to evaluate and develop hypotheses and diverse interpretations of historical events and figures and patterns and trends.
4. Historical thinkers evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.
5. Historical thinkers use information and context to interpret, evaluate, and inform decisions or policies regarding such issues which societies find contentious or worthy of debate and discussion.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of a text as a whole.
2. Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
3. Analyze in detail how a complex primary and/or secondary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
4. Evaluate historians' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
5. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
6. Individually and with others, students construct compelling questions, and explain points of agreement and disagreement about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.
7. Explain how compelling questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
8. Interpret, analyze, and detect bias in historical sources.
9. Write content-specific arguments in which they state a claim, provide evidence from texts and sources to support the claim, and organize the evidence in well-reasoned, meaningful ways.
10. Integrate multimedia as effective tools for presenting and clarifying information.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Key concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, complexity, unity and diversity, and significant ideas in the United States from Reconstruction to the present.

GLE Code: SS.HS.1.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze continuity and change in eras over the course of United States history.
b. Investigate causes and effects of significant events throughout United States history. For example: world and regional conflicts, urbanization and suburbanization, economic cycles, and popular and countercultures.
c. Analyze the complexity of events throughout United States history. For example: the Civil Rights Movement, migration, immigration and displacement, mass media, landmark Supreme Court cases, and the war on terror.
d. Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity from Reconstruction to present. For example: the systemic impact of racism and nativism, role of patriotism, expansion of rights, and the role of religion.
e. Investigate the historical development and impact of major scientific and technological innovations in the Industrial Age, the Space Age, and the Digital Age. For example: Ford's assembly line, NASA, personal computing.
f. Evaluate the historical development and impact of political thought, theory and actions. For example: the development of political parties, suffrage, reform, activist groups, and social movements.
g. Analyze the origins of fundamental political debates and how opposing perspectives, compromise, and cooperation have shaped national unity and diversity. For example: suffrage, human and civil rights, and the role of government.
h. Analyze ideas critical to the understanding of American history. For example: populism, progressivism, isolationism, imperialism, anti-communism, environmentalism, liberalism, fundamentalism, and conservatism.
i. Describe and analyze the historical development and impact of the arts and literature on the culture of the United States. For example: the writings of the Muckrakers, political cartoons, the Harlem Renaissance, and protest songs and poems.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies to test historical hypotheses. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex national problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civics/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does society decide what is important in United States history?
2. What ideas have united the American people over time?
3. How does diversity affect the concept of change over time? Is change over time a matter of perspective?
4. What if the belief "all men are created equal" had not been written in the United States Declaration of Independence?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex relationships among change, diversity, and unity throughout United States history, is an essential attribute for success in a more interconnected world.
2. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex interrelationship among political, social, and cultural institutions throughout United States history, is essential to participation in the economic life of a free society and our civic institutions.
3. Historical thinkers analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
4. Historical thinkers analyze how historical events and spatial diffusion of ideas, technology, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
2. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
3. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
4. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
5. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
6. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
7. Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using contemporary media to contribute to a content related knowledge base to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 1. History

### Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

### Grade Level Expectation:

3. Key concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, complexity, unity and diversity, and significant ideas throughout the world from the Renaissance to the present.

GLE Code: SS.HS.1.3

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Evaluate continuity and change over the course of world history. For example: social and political movements related to nationality, ethnicity, and gender; revolutions; the World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War; and independence movements/decolonization.
b. Investigate causes and effects of significant events throughout world history. For example: the Renaissance; the Protestant Reformation; the Industrial Revolution; the French, Russian, and Chinese Revolutions; the World Wars; genocides; and the Arab Spring movement.
c. Analyze the complexity of events throughout world history. For example: religious rifts such as the Protestant Reformation and the Shiite/Sunni split in Islam; independence movements in Africa, the Americas, and Asia; and globalization and the rise of modern terrorist organizations.
d. Examine and evaluate issues of unity and diversity throughout world history. For example: migration and immigration, nationalist movements, revolutions, colonialism, world conferences/international agreements, human rights issues, and the resulting changes in political geography.
e. Discuss the historical development and contemporary impact of philosophical movements and major world religions. For example: the Enlightenment, the development and expansion of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Taoism.
f. Investigate the historical development and impact of major scientific and technological innovations in the Industrial Age, the Space Age, and the Digital Age. For example: the British factory system, Sputnik, and the miniaturization of technology.
g. Describe and analyze the historical development and impact of the arts and literature on the cultures of the world. For example: the Renaissance, Modernism, propaganda, and the use of art and literature as forms of resistance.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies to test historical hypotheses. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civic Interpersonal: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How have different cultures influenced world history?
2. How do historians work from/with cultural assumptions to decide what is important in world history?
3. What ideas transcend cultural, political, economic, and social differences in world history?
4. How does cultural, political, economic and social diversity affect perceptions of change over time?
5. How are human rights respected and defended in a world of different nations and cultures?

##### Nature and Skills of History:

1. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to negotiate the complex relationships among change, diversity, and unity throughout world history is an essential attribute for success in a more interconnected world.
2. Historical thinkers understand that the ability to analyze the significance of interactions among eras, ideas, individuals, and groups is an essential skill in an increasingly globalizing world.
3. Historical thinkers analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
4. Historical thinkers analyze how historical events and spatial diffusion of ideas, technology, and cultural practices have influenced migration patterns and the distribution of human population.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
2. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
3. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
4. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
5. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
6. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
7. Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using contemporary media to contribute to a content related knowledge base to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools and resources to analyze Earth's human systems and physical features to investigate and address geographic issues.

GLE Code: SS.HS.2.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze variations in spatial patterns of cultural and environmental characteristics at multiple scales while gathering geographic data from a variety of sources. For example: maps, GIS, graphs, charts.
b. Create and interpret maps to display and explain the spatial patterns of cultural and environmental characteristics using geospatial and related technologies.
c. Evaluate relationships between the locations of places and regions and their political, cultural, and economic relationships using maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret geographic information and draw conclusions based on the geo-spatial reasoning.(Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Apply results of analysis to make a tangible and useful contribution to the community. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Risk-Taking)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is the significance of spatial orientation, place, and location?
2. How have the tools of a geographer changed over time?
3. What can various types of data tell us about a place?
4. How can you support an argument with geographic evidence?
5. Why is "where" important?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Geographic reasoning brings societies and nature under the lens of spatial analysis, and aids in personal and societal decision making and problem solving.
2. Spatial thinkers gather, display, and analyze geographic information using geographic tools.
3. Spatial thinkers use absolute and relative location, mental maps, and spatial orientation in studying geographic questions.
4. Spatial thinkers predict how human activities will help shape Earth's surface and ways that people might cooperate and compete for use of Earth's resources.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.
2. Determine what text states; make inferences; cite specific textual evidence.
3. Formulate appropriate research questions.
4. Conduct research by gathering, organizing, and evaluating the credibility and bias of information from a variety of online, print, and non-print sources.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Geographic variables influence interactions of people, places, and environments.

GLE Code: SS.HS.2.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Identify, evaluate, and communicate strategies to respond to constraints placed on human systems by the physical environment.
b. Analyze interpret, and predict the influences of migration and the distribution of human population based on reciprocal patterns. For example: historical events, the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, and cultural practices.
c. Analyze patterns of distribution and arrangements of settlements and the processes of the diffusion of human activities. For example: urban/rural, regional, and transportation patterns.
d. Explain how altering the environment has brought prosperity to some places and created environmental dilemmas for others.
e. Research and interpret multiple viewpoints on issues that shape policies and programs for resource use and sustainability. For example: immigration, resource distribution, and universal human rights.
f. Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply geographic knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable ideas to address complex geographic interactions using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Interpret geographic variables and draw conclusions based on geo-spatial analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
3. Design data/information collection and analysis strategies to facilitate geographic inquiry. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How might the physical geography of Earth change in the future?
2. How might people and societies respond to changes in the physical environment?
3. What are the maximum limits of human activity the environment can withstand without deterioration?
4. Why might people choose to move or stay in the original location?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers study how the physical environment is modified by human activities, including how human societies value and use natural resources.
2. Spatial thinkers evaluate major areas of environmental and societal interaction.
3. Geographic thinkers understand that individual actions affect the local environment and global community such as the impact of recycling and consumption of resources.
4. Geographic thinkers understand how technology can support invention and influence how humans modify the environment in both positive and negative ways. For example, the renovation of existing buildings to "green" technologies, the prevention and prediction of natural hazards and disasters, and the use of satellite imagery to track water availability in the Middle East.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.
2. Determine what text states; make inferences; cite specific textual evidence.
3. Read for specific purpose. For example: detect cause-and-effect relationships, compare and contrast information, identify fact vs. opinion, and author bias.
4. Process and effectively communicate and present information orally, in writing, and through development of websites, multimedia presentations, and other forms of technology.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 2. Geography

### Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

### Grade Level Expectation:

3. The interconnected nature of the world, its people and places.

GLE Code: SS.HS.2.3

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain how the uneven distribution of resources in the world can lead to conflict, competition, or cooperation among nations, regions, and cultural groups.
b. Explain that the world's population is increasingly connected to and dependent upon other people for both human and natural resources.
c. Explain how migration of people and movement of goods and ideas can enrich cultures, but also create tensions.
d. Analyze how cooperation and conflict influence the division and control of Earth. For example: international agreements, political patterns, and national boundaries.
e. Make predictions and draw conclusions about the global impact of cultural diffusion/assimilation. For example: human rights, language, religion, and ethnicity.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply knowledge and skills to implement sophisticated, appropriate, and workable solutions to address complex global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives independently or with others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues in the interconnected nature of the world for effective civic participation. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement & Character)
3. Interpret geographic information and draw conclusions based on geo-spatial analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does globalization influence the interactions of people on Earth?
2. How do cooperation and conflict influence the division and control of the social, economic, and political spaces on Earth?
3. What does it mean to support human rights?
4. What predictions can be made about human migration patterns?
5. How do technologies result in social change? For example: social networking and the speed of modern "movements"?
6. What is your role in the world?

##### Nature and Skills of Geography:

1. Spatial thinkers evaluate global systems such as culture, diffusion, interdependence, migration, population pyramids, regional alliances, development of competition and trade, and the impact of population changes on society.
2. Spatial thinkers study the interconnection between physical processes and human activities that help shape the Earth's surface.
3. Spatial thinkers analyze how people's lives and identities are rooted in time and place.
4. Spatial thinkers understand that the world is geographically interconnected, affecting daily life in such ways as the spread of disease, global impact of modern technology, and the impact of cultural diffusion.
5. Geographic thinkers understand that the responsible use of technology creates new life choices, new interconnections between people, new opportunities, and unintended consequences.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.
2. Determine what text states; make inferences; cite specific textual evidence.
3. Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.
4. Synthesize information from a range of sources such as texts, experiments, and simulations into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Productive resources (natural, human, capital) are scarce; therefore, choices are made about how individuals, businesses, governments, and nonprofits allocate these resources.

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Explain the economic way of thinking: the condition of scarcity requires choice and choice has a cost (opportunity cost).
b. Analyze how positive and negative incentives influence the choices made by individuals, households, businesses, government and nonprofits.
c. Explain how effective decision-making requires comparing the additional (marginal) costs of alternatives with the additional (marginal) benefits.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply knowledge and skills to analyze how individuals, businesses, governments, and nonprofits deal with the challenges of scarcity. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Identify the incentives that influence individuals, businesses, government, and nonprofits and draw conclusions based on cost-benefit analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does the condition of scarcity affect our decision-making, whether individually or collectively?
2. How might policy makers incentivize responsible personal financial behavior among its citizens?
3. How might policy makers incentivize potential entrepreneurs to address issues of scarcity through innovation and creativity?
4. How is marginal thinking used to make decisions?
5. How are incentives influenced by values? For example: ethics, religious beliefs, cultural values.

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers realize that, due to scarcity, we must make choices which involve the prioritization of alternatives.
2. Economic thinkers assume that every choice, whether by governments, businesses, nonprofits or individuals, has an opportunity cost.
3. Economic thinkers understand that, using the economic way of thinking, individuals analyze how the benefit of using productive resources for a particular purpose compares with the opportunity cost of this resource use.
4. Economic thinkers apply the economic way of thinking we assume that people make particular choices because they are responding to the underlying incentives.
5. Economic thinkers realize that the proper analysis to use in decision-making is the marginal benefit and the marginal cost.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Read for a specific purpose (i.e., detect cause-and- effect relationships, compare and contrast information, identify fact vs. opinion, and author bias).
2. Process or synthesize information through writing using note taking, graphic organizers, summaries, proper sequencing of events, and/or formatting thesis statements that examine why as well as how.
3. Create, interpret, and analyze graphs, charts, and diagrams.
4. Process and effectively communicate and present information orally, in writing, and through development of websites, multimedia presentations and other forms of technology.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Economic systems, market structures, competition, and government policies affect market outcomes.

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Compare and contrast economic systems in terms of their ability to achieve economic goals. For example: command, socialism, communism, and market capitalism.
b. Use supply and demand analysis to explain how competitive markets efficiently allocate scarce resources.
c. Scrutinize what happens in markets when governments impose price controls (price ceiling and price floors).
d. Compare and contrast the market outcomes created by various market structures that are not purely competitive: monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.
e. Explore the role of government in addressing market failures. For example: monopoly power/antitrust legislation, public goods, negative/positive externalities, the environment, property rights, regulation, and income distribution.
f. Compare and contrast different types of taxing. For example: progressive, regressive, proportional, and marginal versus average tax rates.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Manipulate and interpret the tools of supply and demand. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Demonstrate ways different economic systems can answer the basic economic questions of what, how, and for whom to produce goods and services. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)
3. Interpret information and draw conclusions about markets based on the supply and demand analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How do various economic systems make decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods and services?
2. What functions do prices serve in a market economy?
3. What are some costs and benefits of embracing a system of supply and demand as a basic allocation mechanism for society?
4. How does competition affect the choices consumers have in an economy?
5. What criteria might you use in creating a tax system?
6. What are the pros and cons of various tax systems?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers compare economic systems by analyzing how each addresses the broad economic goals of the society.
2. Economic thinkers use supply and demand analysis to understand how resources are allocated and prices are determined.
3. Economic thinkers analyze the effects of government interference in the market through application of the demand and supply model.
4. Economic thinkers analyze the impact that "imperfectly competitive" markets have on consumers.
5. Economic thinkers investigate the underlying cause of market failures and how to best use government policy to correct the failures.
6. Economic thinkers recognize the importance of evaluating tax structures by examining how taxes paid change with the tax base.
7. Economic thinkers understand that the average tax rate captures the burden of a tax, but that behavior is more likely to be impacted by changes in the marginal tax rate.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
2. Process and effectively communicate and present information orally, in writing, and through development of websites, multimedia presentations and other forms of technology.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

3. The business cycle affects the macroeconomy, and government policies can be used in an attempt to stabilize the economy.

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.3

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe how Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provides a measure of the aggregate output of the economy.
b. Explain how inflation and unemployment vary with the business cycle.
c. Describe how fiscal policy (tax and government spending, which is controlled by Congress and the President) can be used to stabilize the economy.
d. Describe how monetary policy can be used by the Federal Reserve to stabilize the economy.
e. Examine the sources of economic growth and the importance of improvements in productivity (output per hour of work).

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions about the future course of the economy by interpreting economic data. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis, Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Design economic interventions to address economic challenges. (Personal Skills: Adaptability/Flexibility)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. In what ways is the US standard of living different from past generations?
2. What considerations should be taken into account when deciding to reduce the rate of inflation in an economy?
3. How might economics and politics intermingle when policymakers attempt to stabilize an economy?
4. How desirable are economic growth and improvements in productivity for a society?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers recognize the value and the limitations of GDP as a measure of economic well-being.
2. Economic thinkers understand how inflation and unemployment are calculated and used, and recognize the potential imperfections of these measures.
3. Economic thinkers study when and how to apply fiscal and/or monetary policy to stabilize the macroeconomy.
4. Economic thinkers gather and analyze data to explore trends and predictions of the macroeconomy.
5. Economic thinkers study the relationship between fiscal and monetary policies and the impact on the economy.
6. Economic thinkers track productivity trends to better understand the underlying path of economic growth.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Process or synthesize information through writing using note taking, graphic organizers, summaries, proper sequencing of events, and/or formulating thesis statements that examine why as well as how.
2. Develop questions and plan inquiries.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.

### Grade Level Expectation:

4. Globalization and international trade affect the allocation of goods, services, and resources.

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.4

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze the role of comparative advantage in international trade of goods and services.
b. Describe worldwide import/export patterns.
c. Recognize how exchange rates affect economic activity.
d. Explain how trade policies affect international trade and domestic markets. For example: free trade, tariffs, quotas, and subsidies.
e. Explore the effects of current globalization trends and policies. For example: economic growth, labor markets, the rights of citizens, and the environment in different nations.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Apply knowledge and skills to analyze trade policy and its global complexities. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)
2. Make predictions about the effects of different trade policies. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. Why do people trade?
2. How important is international trade to the economies of various countries around the world?
3. What are some costs and benefits of globalization and international trade for various parties?
4. What opportunities might attract entrepreneurs into the international trade arena?
5. How defensible are the criticisms of free trade?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Economic thinkers recognize the importance of the theory of comparative advantage in determining the pattern of trade between countries.
2. Economic thinkers use the tool of demand and supply to better understand movements in exchange rates.
3. Economic thinkers recognize that fiscal and monetary policies affect people through various channels to include the impact on financial markets, the impact on exchange rates and the cost of travel, and the effect of interest rates on the cost of borrowing money.
4. Economic thinkers study why tariffs, quotas and other trade policies are enacted by examining the winners and losers from such protectionism.
5. Economic thinkers use an economic way of thinking to study factors that lead to increased economic interdependence, increased productivity, and an improved standard of living for individuals in a society.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Create, interpret, analyze and detect bias in maps, graphs, charts, diagrams.
2. Process or synthesize information through writing using note taking, graphic organizers, summaries, proper sequencing of events, and/or formulating thesis statements that examine why as well as how.
3. Formulate appropriate research questions.
4. Conduct research by gathering, organizing, and evaluating the credibility and bias of information from a variety of online, print, and non-print sources.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

5. Determine factors that impact an individual's earning capability (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.5

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Predict the potential impact of education and skill development choices on future earning capability and financial well-being.
b. Analyze the impact of economic conditions and cost of living factors on income and purchasing power.
c. Calculate a sustainable household income based on financial obligations for different lifestyle scenarios.
d. Analyze the monetary and non-monetary value of employee benefits in addition to pay. For example: employer-matched retirement fund contributions, paid time off, insurance, professional development, personal sense of accomplishment, sense of community.
e. Describe factors that impact take-home pay and personal income tax liability.
f. Develop income earning potential with intentional choices. For example: post-secondary education and professional development.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis).
2. Set personal goals and take responsibility for those goals through reflection upon prior outcomes. (Professional Skills: Task/Time Management).
3. Demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and personal awareness of how their dreams and interests translate into career fulfillment and career pathways available in local, regional, national and global arenas. (Professional Skills: Career Awareness).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is the role of education and earning capability in building financial security?
2. What potential barriers might impede an individual's work routine, hinder the ability to get a job, or prevent career advancement, and how can an individual overcome the barriers?
3. How much money is enough for financial security? How much money is enough for retirement?
4. What is the return on investment of post-secondary educational opportunities?
5. How do employment decisions and career planning fit into an individual's comprehensive financial plan?
6. What resources are available to individuals seeking help with career, employment and training?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals consider the value of professional development, income earning potential, value of workplace benefits, and labor market trends as part of a lifetime comprehensive financial plan.
2. Financially capable individuals plan for income tax liability.
3. Financially capable individuals consider opportunity costs when making decisions about professional development and career changes.
4. Financially capable individuals analyze economic cycles and make predictions regarding economic trends.
5. Financially capable individuals calculate the sustainable household income given specific market conditions and lifestyle circumstances which provides consumers with income earning goals when deciding employment, career path, and professional development.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
2. Describe the consequences of competition in specific markets.
3. Use economic indicators to analyze the current and future state of the economy.
4. Explain how current globalization trends and policies affect economic growth, labor markets, rights of citizens, the environment, and resource and income distribution in different nations.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

6. Establish personal investment objectives (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.6

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Select financial investments that align with financial goals, risk tolerance, and personal values at different life stages.
b. Explore long-range comprehensive financial planning strategies. For example: diversification, automation, and monitoring.
c. Determine how financial investments impact income tax obligations.
d. Analyze how financial markets react to changes in market conditions, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and information. For example: the business cycle.
e. Explain the role of government related to investing regulation, and consumer protection.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Set personal goals and take responsibility for those goals through reflection upon prior outcomes. (Professional Skills: Task/Time Management)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does a consumer choose between investment options?
2. How might changes in the economic cycle and market conditions affect future earnings on an individual's investments?
3. What are some ways that individuals might rate the security, accuracy, and relevancy of financial information?
4. How does investing fit into an individual's comprehensive financial plan?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals consider the value that investing plays as part of a lifetime comprehensive financial plan.
2. Financially capable individuals carefully consider the amount of financial risk that they can tolerate based on life stage, and they plan for changes in the economic cycles.
3. Financially capable individuals create plans based on sound economic principles to maximize their standard of living over time.
4. Financially capable individuals analyze market conditions and make predictions regarding economic trends.
5. Financially capable individuals know how to perform time value of money calculations allowing investigation of rate of return, future value of investments, and present value of long-term financial goals.
6. Financially capable individuals understand the relationship between variables in a function which allows people to use functions to model relationships in the real world such as the impact of compound interest.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of the sources.
2. Use economic indicators to analyze the current and future state of the economy.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

7. Apply consumer skills to spending, saving, and borrowing decisions (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.7

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Analyze how inflation and cost of living impact consumer purchasing and saving power.
b. Summarize factors to consider when selecting borrowing options, including costs, relevance, payoffs and tradeoffs. For example: comparing student loan options, auto loan options, and payday lending options.
c. Analyze consumer and financial information for relevance, credibility, and accuracy.
d. Investigate consumer responsibilities, rights, and protections when entering into contracts and engaging in commerce. For example: discrimination laws, credit reporting laws, loan contracts, and online purchases.
e. Explain how an individual's credit history can affect borrowing power.
f. Design a spending plan/budget that covers financial obligations and integrates saving for future goals.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Make predictions and design data/information collection and analysis strategies. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
2. Take responsibility for spending decisions and borrowing decisions. (Personal Skills: Initiative/Self-Direction).
3. Set personal goals and take responsibility for those goals through reflection upon prior outcomes. (Professional Skills: Task/Time Management).

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How does a consumer determine the accuracy and relevancy of consumer information?
2. How might changes in the economic cycle and market conditions affect a household spending plan?
3. How might changes in lifestyle, income, or life circumstances affect a household spending plan?
4. When might it make sense to take on debt? When does it not make sense?
5. How much will today's purchase cost tomorrow?
6. What resources are available to individuals seeking help with financial hardships?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals demonstrate effective decision-making by comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits.
2. Financially capable individuals plan and monitor spending and saving to fulfill financial obligations and achieve goals as part of a comprehensive financial plan.
3. Financially capable individuals know their rights and obligations when using credit.
4. Financially capable individuals understand that there is an economic role for government in a market economy whenever the benefits of a government policy outweigh its costs.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, and assess the credibility and accuracy of the sources.
2. Describe the consequences of competition in specific markets.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 3. Economics

### Prepared Graduates:

6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).

### Grade Level Expectation:

8. Choose risk management strategies for protection from the financial risk of lost income, lost or damaged property, health issues, or identity fraud (PFL).

GLE Code: SS.HS.3.8

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Evaluate strategies for consumers to avoid financial risk, reduce risk, accept risk, or transfer risk to others through insurance.
b. Explain the purpose of insurance and how insurance works. For example property insurance, health insurance, and disability insurance.
c. Analyze the cost of insurance as a method to offset the financial risk of a situation.
d. Examine types of individual and external factors that impact insurance costs for individuals. For example, insured profile, number and size of claims, frequency and costs of natural disasters.
e. Outline steps to monitor and safeguard personal financial data and resolve identity theft or fraud issues.
f. Explain the role of government related to insurance regulation, fraud protection, and disaster response.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
2. Develop, plan, and organize self-behavior. (Personal Skills: Personal Responsibility)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. How are individuals, groups of consumers, and markets impacted by unexpected financial obligations due to property loss or damage, loss of income, health care issues, and fraud?
2. What should a consumer consider when choosing insurance for particular situations?
3. How will your insurance needs change during your lifetime?
4. How does probability relate to obtaining insurance and the cost of insurance?
5. How can consumers decrease insurance costs?
6. How does insurance fit into an individual's comprehensive financial plan?

##### Nature and Skills of Economics:

1. Financially capable individuals mitigate the financial risks associated with everyday life through planning for the unexpected, saving for emergencies, and acquiring insurance.
2. Financially capable individuals consider insurance as a part of a lifetime comprehensive financial plan.
3. Financially capable individuals demonstrate effective financial decision-making by comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits.
4. Financially capable individuals understand that probability allows informed decision-making, such as whether the cost of insurance is less than the expected cost of illness, when the deductible on car insurance is optimal, or whether an extended warranty justifies the cost.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Read and comprehend complex informational texts (e.g., insurance policies).
2. Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

1. Research and formulate positions on local, state, and national issues or policies to participate in a civil society.

GLE Code: SS.HS.4.1

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Engage in civil discourse, including discussing current issues, advocating for individual or group rights, civic duty, and civic participation.
b. Evaluate how individuals and groups can effectively use the structure and functions of various levels of government to shape policy.
c. Explain the roles and influence of individuals, groups, and the press as checks on governmental practices. For example: direct contact with elected officials, participation in civic organizations, use of social media, and attendance at local governance meetings.
d. Identify which level of government is appropriate for various policies and demonstrate an ability to appropriately engage individually and/or in groups with that level of government.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Participate in civil society at any of the levels of government, local, state, tribal, national, or international. (Civic Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement).
2. Use interpersonal skills to learn and work with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds in order to understand or impact a policy. (Civic Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration/Teamwork).
3. Analyze both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purposes in order to support a stance or opinion on an issue. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What is the meaning of civic participation in a democratic republic?
2. How can citizens act individually and collectively as a "check" on government?
3. What strategies can citizens use most effectively to influence public policy?
4. How do people remain civil and engage in discourse when there is dissonance?
5. Why should you participate in government?
6. What kinds of participation would be most effective on the policy issues you care about the most?
7. In what ways can you actively engage in American democracy and impact its system of government?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals research civic issues and act appropriately using a variety of sources from multiple perspectives and communicating views in a respectful manner.
2. Civic-minded individuals write letters to stakeholders using logical reasoning with relevant, accurate data and evidence to influence policy.
3. Civic-minded individuals can verbally express their position on issues involving their community and/or nation in meaningful and thoughtful ways. For example: citizens speak at a school board meeting or running for office.
4. Civic-minded individuals can listen to multiple perspectives in a respectful manner, as part of civil discourse.
5. Civic-minded individuals can work effectively individually, and in groups, to influence public policy and the actions of government.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Decision-making involves researching an issue, listening to multiple perspectives, and weighing potential consequences of alternative actions. For example: citizens study the issues before voting.
2. Participation in a local, state, tribal, or national issue involves research, planning, and implementing appropriate civic engagement.
3. Social media can be a tool for researching civic issues, advocating for ideas, and expressing views to elected officials.
4. Conduct research by gathering, organizing, and evaluating the credibility and bias of information from a variety of online, print, and non-print sources.
5. Seek information from varied sources and perspectives to develop informed opinions and creative solutions.
6. Demonstrate the ability to locate, evaluate, and apply sources in order to formulate descriptive evidence, including but not limited to the use of social media as a form of communication.
7. Demonstrate ability to use 21&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; century media as a tool for civic participation.
8. Critically analyze messages in the media to detect propaganda, censorship, and bias.
9. Demonstrate appropriate behaviors when using technology and discuss consequences of inappropriate use.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

### Grade Level Expectation:

2. Purposes, roles and limitations of the structures and functions of government.

GLE Code: SS.HS.4.2

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Describe the origins, foundations, purposes, and limitations of government and include the contribution of key philosophers, American historical figures and documents.
b. Identify the structure, function, and roles of current members of American government and their relationship to democratic values.
c. Analyze and explain the importance of the principles of democracy and the inherent competition among values. For example: freedom and security, individual rights and common good, general welfare, and rights and responsibilities.
d. Analyze the role of the founding documents of the United States and the evolution of their interpretation through governmental action and court cases. For example: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights.
e. Understand the role of the American judicial system and evaluate the effectiveness of the justice system in protecting life, liberty, and property for all persons in the United States.
f. Analyze how current global issues impact American foreign policy. For example: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, immigration, or foreign trade agreements.
g. Compare and contrast how other systems of government function. For example: authoritarian regimes and parliamentary systems.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills regarding the role and responsibilities of different levels and types government. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Communication)
2. Interpret information and draw conclusions about the origins of the structures of America's governmental institutions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
3. Apply knowledge of government to develop appropriate and workable solutions that address complex local, state, national and global problems using interdisciplinary perspectives. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the most important democratic ideals and practices?
2. What are the various levels and roles of the U.S. system of government?
3. What would society look like if several landmark court cases had been decided differently?
4. How does government best protect individual rights and the rights of minorities, yet have majority rule?
5. In what ways can you actively engage in American democracy and impact its system of government?
6. What would United States government look like with no checks and balances or another mix of those limitations?
7. How has American federalism evolved and changed over time?
8. How has the concept of American Democracy developed throughout history?
9. How have domestic and foreign policy impacted American Democracy?
10. Why should U.S. citizens be informed of issues related to foreign governments?
11. Who are the elected officials who impact your life and how?
12. What are a U.S. citizen's rights and responsibilities?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals know the facts and subject matter of the United States Citizenship test, the test that all foreign nationals must pass before becoming a U.S. citizen.
2. Civic-minded individuals understand the concept of "rule of law" and its role in policies and practices of the government.
3. Civic-minded individuals know the political theories that contributed to the foundation and development of the structures of government and their meaning today.
4. Civic-minded individuals understand how the U.S. system of government functions at the local, state, tribal, and federal level in respect to separation of powers and checks and balances and their impact on policy.
5. Civic-minded individuals understand the effectiveness of government institutions and the limits on government in addressing social and political problems.
6. Civic-minded individuals gather and analyze data from multiple sources to look for patterns and create hypotheses regarding national and foreign policy.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Ask meaningful questions to analyze and evaluate information and ideas.
2. Determine central ideas in a text to provide an accurate summary and connect the relationship between key details and ideas.
3. Cite specific textual evidence to support the analysis of primary and secondary sources to gain insight into the text as a whole.
4. Integrate multiple perspectives to gain a coherent understanding of the whole.
5. Seek information from varied sources and perspectives to develop informed opinions and creative solutions.
6. Use media literacy skills to locate multiple valid sources of information regarding the foundations, structures, and functions of government.
7. Write content-specific arguments in which they state a claim, provide evidence from texts and sources to support the claim, and organize the evidence in well-reasoned, meaningful ways.
8. Synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic.
9. Delineate a speaker's argument, identify specific claims, and distinguish if claims are supported by reasons and evidence.

# Social Studies

## High School, Standard 4. Civics

### Prepared Graduates:

7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

### Grade Level Expectation:

3. Evaluate the impact of the political institutions that link the people to the government.

GLE Code: SS.HS.4.3

#### Evidence Outcomes

##### Students Can:

a. Assess how members of a civil society can impact public policy on local, state, tribal, national, or international issues. For example: voting, participation in primaries and general elections, and contact with elected officials.
b. Examine and evaluate the effectiveness of political parties, interest groups, suffrage, and social movements as a way for people to participate and influence government.
c. Analyze the impact of federal policies on campaigns and elections, and why these policies are debated by multiple parties on the political spectrum. For example: PACs, campaign finance, state and federal voting laws and regulations, and the Federal Election Commission.
d. Analyze how court decisions, legislative debates, and various groups have helped to preserve, develop, interpret, and limit the individual rights and ideals of the American system of government.
e. Examine how people in other systems of government can participate to influence policy.

#### Academic Context and Connections

##### Colorado Essential Skills:

1. Analyze both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purpose. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
2. Participate effectively in civic life through the use of linkage institutions. For example: media, political parties, campaigns, interest groups. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement).
3. Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues in many contexts including the access and use of information. For example: campaign finance laws, and Freedom of Information Act. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)

##### Inquiry Questions:

1. What are the different ways citizens can impact public policy as individuals or through groups?
2. How have voting rights evolved over time?
3. What current issues surround voting rights?
4. What are interest groups and how do they influence policy?
5. How have federal elections changed over time and how do the political parties view these changes?
6. How have political parties responded to societal changes over time?
7. How has the participation of different demographic groups changed over time in the U.S. and how has this influenced American politics and the system of government?

##### Nature and Skills of Civics:

1. Civic-minded individuals use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings, such as caucuses, civic organizations, or advocating for change at the local, state, tribal, national or international levels.
2. Civic-minded individuals analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
3. Civic-minded individuals evaluate citizens' and institutions' effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international levels.
4. Civic-minded individuals evaluate social and political systems in different contexts, times, and places, that promote civic virtues and enact democratic principles.
5. Civic-minded individuals analyze how people can use civic organizations, and social networks, including media to challenge local, state, tribal, national, and international laws that address a variety of public issues.
6. Civic-minded individuals analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
7. Civic-minded individuals evaluate multiple procedures for making and influencing governmental decisions at the local, state, tribal, national, and international levels in terms of the civic purposes achieved.
8. Civic-minded individuals can work effectively, both individually and in groups, to influence public policy and the actions of government.

##### Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

1. Understand strategies that are used by political and civic entities to impact public opinion. For example: interest groups, lobbying, political party platforms, social media networks, etc.
2. Identify how political issues are covered by the media, and how the media can influence public policy.
3. Identify ways in which 21&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; century media can be evaluated for authenticity, validity, and reliability.
4. Evaluate the use of social media and crowdsourcing in political movements and campaigns.
5. Analyze content-specific texts to distinguish the factual evidence offered, reasoned judgments made and conclusions drawn, and speculative ideas offered in the text.
6. Synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic.
7. Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.