Rockingham County Public Schools

Third Grade Social Studies Benchmarks

A Guide for Parent Involvement

1st Six Weeks

 

Ancient civilization; 3.1

Greece and its culture

·          Democratic form of government

·          Direct Democracy- government in which people vote to make their own rules and laws

·          Architecture

·          Parthenon (columns)

·          Sports– Olympics

 

Rome and its culture

·          Republican form of government

·          Representative Democracy- government in which people vote for (elect) a small group of citizens to make rules and laws for everyone

·          Architecture

·          Coliseum (arches)

·          Aqueducts

·          Art– mosaics, sculpture, paintings

 

Contributions of Rome & Greece

·          Olympic games

·          Ideas for U S government

 

Using maps to find location and characteristics; 3.4

·          Locate Greece and Rome on a world map (near the Mediterranean Sea)

 

Physical Characteristics or traits

·          Ancient Greece– surrounded by Mediterranean Sea; mountains and hills with limited rich soil

·          Ancient Rome– next to river; built on many hills with limited rich soil

 

Human Characteristics

·          Greece– farmers, shipbuilders, traders

·          Rome– farmers, road builders, traders

 

Ways adapted to environment

·          Greece- farmed on hillsides, traded on Mediterranean Sea, small independent communities because of many mountains

·          Rome- farmed on hillsides, traded on Mediterranean Sea

 

Economic specialization and interdependence in the production of goods and services; 3.8

Greece and Rome

·          Shipbuilding, farming, making pottery (specialization)

·          Traded their goods with Egypt and other communities (interdependence)

 

Map skills; 3.5

·          7 continents, their location & shape on world map & globe

·          4 oceans, location on world map

·          Hemispheres- created by equator and prime meridian

·          Using grids

 

Geography; 3.6

·          Classifying information

·          Bar & pie graphs

·         Maps, charts & tables

 

 

2nd Six Weeks

 

West African Empire of Mali; 3.2

Oral tradition of storytelling

·          History of Mali came from oral accounts handed down from one generation to the next by Mali storytellers

·          Government- ruled by rich and powerful kings who controlled trade in West Africa

·          Economic development

·          Early Mali, one of the largest & wealthiest empires, important trade center, before Columbus sailed to America

·          Located across trade routes between sources of salt in Sahara Desert & gold mining region of West Africa

·          Salt, a natural resource for desert people, used to preserve food

·          Timbuktu, important Mali city

·          Famous university with large library containing Greek & Roman books

 

Using maps to find location and characteristics; 3.4

·          Locate Mali in western Africa

 

Physical Characteristics or traits

·          Empire of Mali- located near rivers, desert-like conditions, gold mines

 

Human Characteristics

·          Empire of Mali- farmers, miners, traders

 

Ways adapted to environment

·          Empire of Mali- salt, important natural resource, traded for gold

 

Economic specialization and interdependence in the production of goods and services; 3.8

Empire of Mali

·          Some people specialized in protecting the empire, while others specialized in growing food (specialization)

·          People of Mali traded gold for salt with other people (interdependence)

 

Review  Greece and Rome and compare to Mali

 

Map skills; 3.5

·          7 continents, their location & shape on world map & globe

·          4 oceans, location on world map

·          Hemispheres- created by equator and prime meridian

·          Locate Africa, Mali, Timbuktu

·          Using grids

 

Geography; 3.6

·          Classifying information

·          Bar & pie graphs

·          Maps, charts & tables

 

 

3rd Six Weeks

 

Exploration of America; 3.3

Different sponsors motives and successes

·          Christopher Columbus

·          Spain

·          Looking for western sea route to Asia

·          First European to discover sea route to America, discovered New World (landed at San Salvador)

·          Ponce de Leon

·          Spain

·          Wanted to discover riches and conquer land

·          First European to land in Florida (near St. Augustine)

·          Gave Spain claim to Florida

·          Jacques Cartier

·          France

·          Wanted to colonize New World

·          Explored St. Lawrence River valley, Quebec, Canada

·          Gave France claim to North America

·          Christopher Newport

·          England

·          To discover riches, find a western sea route to Asia, & colonize Virginia

·          Brought colonists to Jamestown

·          One of first to reach Fall Line of the James River

 

Map skills; 3.5

·          7 continents, their location & shape on world map & globe

·          4 oceans, location on world map

·          Hemispheres- created by equator and prime meridian

·          Locate Spain, England, France on world map and name continent where located

·          Regions- Locate San Salvador, St. Lawrence River, St Augustine, Florida, Quebec, Canada, Jamestown, Virginia

·          Locate U. S. on continent of North America

·          Using grids

 

Geography; 3.6

·          Classifying information

·          Bar & pie graphs

·          Maps, charts & tables

 

 

REVIEW ALL MAP SKILLS AND SOL’S TAUGHT 1ST THREE SIX WEEKS

 

4th Six Weeks

Government; 3.10

Government and its purpose

·          Government-a group of people who make rules & laws, carry out rules & laws and decide if rules & laws have been broken

·          Governments protect the rights & property of people

·          Government is necessary in the community, school and classroom

·          Community-place where people live, work, and play

·          Rules-what people must live by

·          Laws-rules people live by

·          Rules let people know how they should act or behave

·          Consequences for violating or breaking rules and laws

 

Foundation of our republican form of government; 3.11

·          Unalienable rights

·          Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (privileges born with and cannot be taken away)

·          Justice and equality under the law-all people are treated fairly

·          Citizens who defended our basic principles

·          George Washington

·          Abraham Lincoln

·          Rosa Parks

·          Martin Luther King, Jr.

·          Thomas Jefferson

·          Thurgood Marshall

·          Holidays to honor those who protected our country’s freedoms

·          Veterans Day-Observed in November-to show respect for Americans who served in the military

·          Memorial Day-Observed on May 30-to recognize Americans who died in wars while serving in the military

 

Diversity in the United States; 3.12

Americans are a people of diverse ethnic origins, customs and traditions

 

People united by  shared basic principles of a republican form of government-a representative democracy

 

Benefits of diversity in U.S.

·          Food

·          Clothing

·          Music

 

Map Skills; 3.5

·          Review locations of all continents, oceans, hemispheres, countries and regions studied to date

·          Review map grids

·          Review K-2 map skills- scale, compass rose, legend or key, title, cardinal directions

·          Review location of Virginia, Richmond, Jamestown, Mississippi River,  Rio Grande,  James River, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains , Great Lakes, and  Washington, D. C.

 

Geography; 3.6

·          Review use of maps, tables, charts, graphs

 

Review Holidays from K-2

·          Thanksgiving Day-Nov.

·          Martin Luther King Jr. Day-Jan.

·          President’s Day-Washington and Lincoln-Feb.

·          Independence Day-July 4th

·         Columbus Day-Oct.

5th Six Weeks

Economics –Resources; 3.7

·          Natural resources--Materials from nature--water, soil, wood, coal, oil, natural gas

·          Human resources--People working to produce goods and services

·          Capital resources--Goods made by people and used to produce other goods and services such as machines, tools, buildings

·          Producers--People who use resources to make goods and or provide services

·          Goods--Things that people make or use to satisfy needs and wants

·          Services--Activities that satisfy people’s needs and wants

 

Economic specialization and interdependence in the production of goods and services; 3.8

·          Review specialization and interdependence in Greece, Rome, Mali, and Jamestown

·          Virginia is known for its expertise in shipbuilding (specialization)

·          Virginia sells coal to other countries but depends on other countries for oil (interdependence)

 

Economic Choices; 3.9

·          Economic choice--The choice of or decision among alternatives or possibilities

·          Opportunity cost--The next best choice that is given up when a decision is made

·          People make choices because they cannot have everything they want

·          All choices require giving up something (opportunity cost)

·          Economic decision making requires comparing both the opportunity cost and the monetary cost of choices with benefits

·          Review K-2 economic concepts--scarcity, surplus, demand, barter. cash, credit, consumer

 

Map Skills; 3.5

·          Review locations of all continents, oceans, hemispheres, countries and regions studied from 1-3 six weeks

·          Review map grids

·          Review K-2 map skills- scale, compass rose, legend or key, title, cardinal directions

·          Review location of Virginia, Richmond, Jamestown, Mississippi River, Rio Grande, James River, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian

·          Mountains, Great Lakes, and Washington, D.C.

 

Geography; 3.6

·          Review maps, tables, charts, graphs

 

Review biographies K-3

·          George Washington

·          Betsy Ross

·          Abraham Lincoln

·          Pocahontas

·          Martin Luther King, Jr.

·          Benjamin Franklin

·          George Washington Carver

·          Thomas Jefferson

·          Thurgood Marshall

·          Jackie Robinson

·          Helen Keller

·          Susan B. Anthony

 

 

SOL REVIEW

 

6th Six Weeks

 

SOL TEST REVIEW

 

SOL TEST

 

 

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Study of special interest topics including applications of previous topics, projects and special activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** The numbers throughout the Benchmarks refer to the 2001 Virginia Social Studies Standards of Learning objectives.  For example, “3.4” refers to the Third Grade Social Studies SOL objective number “4”