Third Grade Social Studies - Part I - Communities

During this semester-long course, students will learn all about communities.  We will start by learning about communities around us.  We will learn what makes communities different and also discuss similarities amongst communities.  We will then learn about urban, suburban, and rural communities.  We will study geography, focusing on regions of the United States.  We will learn about human geography and our changing environment.  We will end the course with a study of communities over time by learning about the United States's history.

Course Outline:  

Week One:  Introduction to the Class and What is a Community?
Week Two: Communities are Different
Week Three:  Urban Communities
Week Four:  Suburban Communities
Week Five:  Rural Communities
Week Six:  Geography of the United States
Week Seven: Regions of the United States
Week Eight:  Our Changing Environment  
Week Nine:  Caring for Our Environment
Week Ten: Communities Through Time
Week Eleven:  Communities Long Ago
Week Twelve: The First Communities
Week Thirteen:  Building Communities
Week Fourteen:  Fighting for Freedom

At the beginning of each week, students will receive a packet.  The packet will include readings, an activity, and a quiz.  The live class will build off the information in the packets.  Each live class will be filled with interaction through discussions, slides, and play.  

There will also be four projects to completed throughout the course.  The students will receive a theme and will be able to choose from various projects such as family interviews, book reports, visual arts, videos, and many more.  

Students do not need to have any prior knowledge for this class.  There is not a required textbook.  Information will be supplied within the packets each week.

When learning about the history of communities in United States, images and first-hand accounts will be used from the following resources:
https://americanindian.si.edu  
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/native-americans/
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/