3rd grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 3rd grade social studies in the Alabama Course of Study, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Course: Alabama in American History and Government I: Geography and Settlement
- Alabama's land, regions and resources
- Earning, spending and trade
- Indigenous peoples of Alabama, and European exploration
Easy ways to practice social studies at home
- Look at a map of your community and find places you visit.
- Ask an older relative or neighbor what the area was like when they were young.
- Read stories from many communities, including Indigenous authors, and talk about what is the same and different.
- Talk about how rules and jobs help a community work.
What each unit covers
Maps of Our World
Using maps and globes to find continents, oceans and countries, physical and human features, and why people settle near water and flat land.
Map Tools & Grids
Using a legend, compass rose and map scale; the Equator, Prime Meridian, International Date Line and tropics; latitude and longitude; and working out real distances with a map scale.
Alabama's Land Regions
Alabama's neighbors and land regions (Highland Rim, Cumberland Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Piedmont, Black Belt, Upper and Lower Coastal Plain), their landforms, resources and climate, and how they connect Alabama to other states.
Alabama's Rivers
Alabama's major rivers (Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Perdido, Tallapoosa, Tennessee and Tombigbee), where they begin and end, and how rivers shaped towns and trade.
Parks, Symbols & Landmarks
Alabama's state symbols, state and national parks in Alabama and why they are preserved, and landmarks and monuments in Alabama and the nation.
People & the Environment
Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts and their effects on Alabama over time, and how people have helped and harmed Alabama's environment (forests, rivers, pollution and conservation).
Digging Up the Past
What anthropologists, archaeologists and paleontologists do, and how life changed in the Southeast through the Paleo, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian periods, including Moundville and Russell Cave.
Native Nations of Alabama
The homelands, towns, governments and trade of Native nations in Alabama, each with its own ways, and the nations today, including the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Alabama's federally recognized tribe. Written in the present tense for living nations.
Explorers & Encounters
Why Europeans explored the Americas, the routes of early explorers, Hernando de Soto's march through Alabama and its effects on Native peoples, and early colonies such as St. Augustine, Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth.
French Alabama
French colonization of Alabama: the LeMoyne brothers, Mobile (1702), Fort Toulouse (1717) and Fort Condé, the deerskin trade, and relations between the French, Spanish, English and Native nations.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Alabama report card guide.
Common questions
Look at a map of your community and find places you visit. Ask an older relative or neighbor what the area was like when they were young. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Alabama Course of Study 3rd grade social studies units include Maps of Our World, Map Tools & Grids, Alabama's Land Regions, Alabama's Rivers, Parks, Symbols & Landmarks, People & the Environment.
Free printable 3rd grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.