SOCIAL STUDIES
Curriculum Topics, Programs, and Strategies
Grade 3
Unit Topics
Characteristics of
Places and Regions
Economics
Government
Map and Globe
Skills
Key Learning
Geography, climate, and
natural resources affect
the way people live and
work.
The exchange of goods
and services provides
choices through which
people can fill their basic
needs and wants.
Unit EQ: How does
economics affect my
life?
Our government is a
democracy.
Maps and globes help
locate places and provide
information about the
world we live in.
Unit EQ: What is
government and how
does it work?
Unit EQ: How do maps
and globes help us to
better understand our
world?
Nystrom Exploring Where
and Why
LEQ 1: Unit 5 - Mapping
the World (information
about the globe); Unit 1,
lessons 4-5, Map Keys and
Symbols; Distance and
Location, (information
about maps); Unit 3,
lessons 1-2: Symbols and
Features, and Landforms;
lessons 4-5: Cardinal
Directions, In-Between
Directions
LEQ 2:
Unit EQ: How does the
way we live depend on
where we live?
Programs/
Resources
Essential (E)
Nystrom Exploring Where
and Why (3)
LEQ 1: Unit 5 Mapping
the World
LEQ 2: Unit 2, lesson 4 A
ccmmunity history
LEQ 3:
Nystrom Exploring Where
and Why (2/3)
LEQ 1: (2nd grade) Unit
1, lesson 1 – What are
needs and wants?
LEQ 2:
LEQ 3: Unit 2, lesson 1,
Workers and Goods
LEQ 4: Unit 2, lesson 1,
Workers and Goods
LEQ 5:
LEQ 6: (2nd grade) Unit
2, lesson 5, Earning
Money
LEQ 7:
Important (I)
Nystrom Exploring Where
and Why (3)
LEQ 1:
LEQ 2:
LEQ 3: Unit 4, lesson 4
U.S. Government
LEQ 4: Unit 4, lesson 4
U.S. Government
LEQ 5:
Compact (C)
Unranked (U)
SOCIAL STUDIES
Curriculum Topics, Programs, and Strategies
Grade 3
Unit Topics
My Community
Rights and
Responsibilities of
Citizenship
United States History
Key Learning
Communities are influenced by
people, economics, resources,
and geography.
Government is for the people and
by the people.
United States is shaped by the
people and events from its past.
Unit EQ: What makes a
community unique?
Unit EQ: What rights and
responsibilities does every
citizen have?
Nystrom Exploring Where and
Why
LEQ 1: Unit 2, lesson 2 Local
Government (p. 73)
LEQ 2:
LEQ 3: See the Constitution/Bill
of Rights
LEQ 4: Unit 2, lesson 3 Local
Government
LEQ 5:
Unit EQ: What important people
and events helped to define our
country?
Nystrom Exploring Where and Why
(2)
LEQ 1:
LEQ 2:
LEQ 3:
LEQ 4:
LEQ 5:
LEQ 6:
LEQ 7:
LEQ 8: (2nd grade) Unit 3, lesson 2,
Symbols of Our Country
LEQ 9:
Programs/
Resources
Essential (E)
Nystrom Exploring Where and
Why
LEQ 1:
LEQ 2: Unit 5, lesson 3
Hemispheres (world address, p.
194); Unit 4, lesson 1 Land Use
LEQ 3:
Important (I)
Compact (C)
Unranked (U)