Students will learn the constitutional principles and the democratic foundations of national, state, and local systems and institutions. Further, students will learn how to exercise the rights and responsibilities of participation in civic life and to analyze and evaluate public policies. This understanding entails insight into political power, how it is distributed and expressed, the types and purposes of governments, and their relationships with the governed. Political relationships among the United States and other nations are also included in this content area.
CA. RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PARTICIPATION
Students will understand the rights and responsibilities of civic life and will employ the skills of effective civic participation. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Identify and practice classroom rights and responsibilities.
EXAMPLE
Participate in a process to determine classroom rules that protect the rights and property of each student in the class, and establish guidelines for individual and cooperative learning.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Identify important individual rights (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, ownership of property).
2. Explain why certain responsibilities of democratic society are important.
3. Identify the functions of government at school, locally, and at the state level.
CB. PURPOSE AND TYPES OF GOVERNMENT
Students will understand the types and purposes of governments, their evolution, and their relationships with the governed. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Understand that all nations have governments.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Describe why we need governments (e.g., law and order, defense, roads, schools).
2. Describe the basic structure of local and state governments.
CC. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTIONS
Students will understand the constitutional principles and the democratic foundations of the political institutions of the United States. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Understand that the United States has a constitution.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Explain how the Constitution protects individual rights (e.g., Bill of Rights).
CD. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Students will understand the political relationships among the United States and other nations. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Recognize that there are other nations with different traditions and practices.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Identify examples of how the United States interacts with other countries (e.g., trade, treaties).
2. Compare a foreign culture to that of the United States. Include an analysis of how decisions are made.
Students will learn to analyze the human experience through time, to recognize the relationships of events and people, and to identify patterns, themes, and turning points of change using the chronology of history and major eras. In interpreting current and historical events, students will evaluate the credibility and perspectives of multiple sources of information gathered from technology, documents, artifacts, maps, the arts, and literature.
HA. CHRONOLOGY
Students will use the chronology of history and major eras to demonstrate the relationships of events and people. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Place individual and family experiences in historical time and place.
2. Distinguish similarities and differences among historical events.
EXAMPLE
After reading or hearing a folk tale, biography, or historical narrative, retell or dramatize the story with the events in the correct sequence.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Identify similarities and differences in the characteristics of individuals who have made significant contributions to society in different eras.
2. Place in chronological order, significant events, groups, and people in the history of Maine.
EXAMPLE
Given a set of photographs of the same community, taken from the same vantage point at twenty-year intervals, examine them in order to make a list of changes which occurred between each pair of pictures. Speculate on how their own lives might have been different if they attained their current age during any of the periods represented.
HB. HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTS, AND PATTERNS
Students will develop historical knowledge of major events, people, and enduring themes in the United States, in Maine, and throughout world history.
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the similarities between families now and in the past, including daily life today and in other times.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of cultural origins of customs and beliefs in several places around the world.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Make connections between and among events in their personal lives and those occurring in the community.
2. Demonstrate an awareness of major events and people in United States and Maine history:
Who lives here? How did they get here? (immigrants, demographics, ethnic and religious groups)
Important people in United States and Maine history.
Different kinds of communities in Maine, the United States, and selected world regions.
HC. HISTORICAL INQUIRY, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, artifacts, maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current historical events. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Use artifacts and documents to gather information about the past.
EXAMPLE
Given a "history box" containing artifacts belonging to a specific time, make deductions concerning form and use of the objects and what they tell us about life in the past.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Identify changes currently occurring in their daily lives and compare these to changes in daily life during a specific historic era.
EXAMPLE
Construct a time capsule in which students place artifacts and documents which they feel would serve as an accurate guide to life in the late twentieth century for future students.
In order to understand and analyze the relationships among people and environments, students will learn how to construct and interpret maps and how to use globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, regions, and environments. In an integrated way, students will study people and the physical characteristics and processes of the earth's surface to understand causes and effects, ecosystems, human behavior, patterns of population, interdependence, resources, cooperation and conflict, and how these are shaped by economic, political, and cultural systems.
GA. SKILLS AND TOOLS
Students will know how to construct and interpret maps and use globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, regions, and environments. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Use and construct maps and other visuals to describe geographic location, direction, size, and shape.
EXAMPLE
Use maps of world climatic regions to discuss the types of clothing, housing, outdoor activity, etc., which might be found in a specific area.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Construct and compare maps of Maine, the United States, and regions of the world to interpret geographical features and draw conclusions about physical patterns.
2. Locate major cities of the world and discuss why they emerged in that particular region.
GB. HUMAN INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENTS
Students will understand and analyze the relationships among people and their physical environment. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Describe the human and physical characteristics of the immediate environment.
EXAMPLE
Using a variety of visual materials, data sources, and/or narratives, describe the human and physical characteristics of a region.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Demonstrate an understanding of why certain areas of the world are more densely populated than others.
2. Explain ways in which communities reflect the backgrounds of their inhabitants.
3. Use a variety of materials and geographic tools to explain how the physical environment supports and constrains human activities.
EXAMPLE
Explain how the founders of a settlement might have evaluated a site, in terms of its resources and environmental characteristics, relative to their needs.
Students will learn and apply basic economic concepts of production, distribution, and consumption to make decisions as effective participants in an international economy. Students will understand the development, principles, institutions, relationships to culture, and change over time of economic systems in the United States and elsewhere. Students will also understand how these concepts apply to individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies which make decisions based on the availability of resources, as well as on costs and benefits of choices. These concepts also help to explain the patterns and results of trade, interdependence, and distribution of wealth in local, regional, national, and world economies.
EA. PERSONAL AND CONSUMER ECONOMICS
Students will understand that economic decisions are based on the availability of resources and the costs and benefits of choices. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Identify goods and services, giving examples.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Describe barter and money and how each is used in the exchange of resources, goods, and services.
2. Identify a situation in which a personal decision is made about the use of scarce resources (e.g., deciding to use allowance to go to the movies instead of buying a gift for a family member).
EB. ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES
Students will understand the economic system of the United States, including its principles, development, and institutions. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Explain the terms, "consumer" and "product."
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Identify the three basic economic questions all economic systems must answer: What to produce? how? and for whom?
2. Explain how the economy of Maine affects families and communities.
EC. COMPARATIVE SYSTEMS
Students will analyze how different economic systems function and change over time. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Explain how selected cultures or countries meet basic human needs.
ED. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE
Students will understand the patterns and results of international trade. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Explain where products come from and how we use them.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Describe, with examples, how the exchange of goods and services helps to create economic interdependence between people in different places and countries.