3rd grade Social Studies
11 units matched to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Kids see this subject as “Our World”.
Focus areas
- History: how individuals, events and ideas shape communities, past and present
- Geography: directions, map scale and grids, and how people adapt to and change the land
- Economics: earning, saving and donating, budgets, supply and demand, and profit
- Government, citizenship and culture: levels of government, heroes, writers, artists and inventors
Units
Unit 1
Needs Around the World
Everyone needs food, water, shelter and clothing. How people in different places meet these needs using what the land and climate offer, and why caring for the land matters.
TEKS student expectation: 3.3(B) · how people in different places adapt to their environment to meet their needs
Unit 2
Working Together Fairly
Practices group skills: sharing ideas, decisions and responsibilities, being fair and respectful, considering other people's views, listening actively and choosing ways to present information.
TEKS student expectation: 3.16(A); 3.16(B) · making decisions together and solving problems step by step
Unit 3
Ask, Find & Record
Practices the first steps of social studies research: gathering information from oral, visual, material, print and electronic sources, organizing and recording it in charts and maps, naming sources, choosing tools and forming research questions.
TEKS student expectation: 3.14(A); 3.14(C) · asking questions, gathering information about the community and sorting it
Unit 4
People Who Built Communities
Why people form communities, and the people the Texas standards name: Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, Benjamin Banneker, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Boone and the Founding Fathers; entrepreneurs Henry Ford and Sam Walton; and Jonas Salk, Cyrus McCormick, Bill Gates and Louis Pasteur. Also decades and centuries.
TEKS student expectation: 3.1(A); 3.1(B); 3.1(C); 3.2(A); 3.6(D); 3.13(A); 3.13(B); 3.15(C) · people who shaped and created communities, why communities form, entrepreneurs and inventors, and decades and centuries
Unit 5
Heroes, Writers & Artists
Good citizens and heroes the Texas standards name (Helen Keller, Clara Barton, Ruby Bridges, Hector P. Garcia, James A. Lovell, the Four Chaplains, Harriet Tubman and Todd Beamer) and writers and artists such as Kadir Nelson, Tomie dePaola, Carmen Lomas Garza and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
TEKS student expectation: 3.9(B); 3.11(A); 3.11(B); 3.12 · good citizens, state and national heroes and first responders, and writers and artists
Unit 6
Maps, Scale & Grids
Cardinal and intermediate directions, using a map scale to find distances, letter-number grids, and the title, compass rose, legend and scale of a map, with places in Texas.
TEKS student expectation: 3.4(A); 3.4(B); 3.4(C) · cardinal and intermediate directions, map scale and distance, and map elements including a grid system
Unit 7
Land & People
Landforms, climate, resources and natural hazards, how people in deserts, forests, plains and wetlands adapt to or change their surroundings, and the effects of building, conservation and pollution, with Texas regions.
TEKS student expectation: 3.3(A); 3.3(B); 3.3(C) · differences in physical environments, how communities adapt to or change them, and how human activity shapes the land
Unit 8
Rules, Laws & Government
How local, state and national government are set up, how officials are chosen, the services each level provides, the purposes of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and consent of the governed.
TEKS student expectation: 3.7(A); 3.7(B); 3.7(C); 3.8(A); 3.8(B) · the structure, officials and services of local, state and national government, founding documents and consent of the governed
Unit 9
Money, Business & Voting
Earning, spending, saving and donating money, simple budgets, supply and demand, scarcity, costs and profit, and voting as a civic responsibility.
TEKS student expectation: 3.5(A); 3.5(B); 3.6(A); 3.6(B); 3.6(C); 3.9(C) · earning, spending, saving and donating, budgets, supply and demand, scarcity and profit, and civic responsibility
Unit 10
Culture & Celebrations
What culture is, the ethnic and cultural celebrations of Texas communities and others, and how they compare. Cultures and religions are described factually.
TEKS student expectation: 3.10(A); 3.10(B) · the significance of ethnic and cultural celebrations, compared across communities
Unit 11
Changemakers & Good Citizens
Traits of good citizens, how people work for change in their communities, primary and secondary sources, and reading timelines.
TEKS student expectation: 3.9(A); 3.14(B); 3.15(B) · characteristics of good citizenship, primary and secondary sources, and timelines
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