3rd grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 3rd grade social studies in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- 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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Money, Business & Voting
Earning, spending, saving and donating money, simple budgets, supply and demand, scarcity, costs and profit, and voting as a civic responsibility.
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.
Changemakers & Good Citizens
Traits of good citizens, how people work for change in their communities, primary and secondary sources, and reading timelines.
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 Texas 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 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 3rd grade social studies units include Needs Around the World, Working Together Fairly, Ask, Find & Record, People Who Built Communities, Heroes, Writers & Artists, Maps, Scale & Grids.
Free printable 3rd grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.