3rd Grade Social Studies
Year-at-a-Glance
1st Nine Weeks
2nd Nine Weeks
Unit 1 Communities
Unit 3 Inventions
Classroom Community
Rules and behavior
Campus Community
Characteristics
Shaping Communities
Purpose of Communities
Expansion of Communities
Suggested Literary Connections:
Baer, Edith. This is the way we go to
school: A Book about children around the world.
McLerran, Alice. Roxaboxen.
Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach.
Unit 2 Citizenship and Government
Civic Responsibilities
Voting
Volunteering
Obeying Laws
Individual/Group Decisions and Influence
Civic Organizations
Red Cross
Meals on Wheels
Habitat for Humanity
Historical Figures exemplifying citizenship
Jane Addams
Helen Keller
Harriet Tubman
Local Government
Structure
Services
Financed
State and Federal Government
Governor
President
Founding Fathers
Suggested Literary Connections:
Hurwitz, Johanna. Class President.
McGovern, Ann. Wanted Dead or Alive: The true story
of Harriet Tubman.
Soto, Gary. Off and Running.
Susulu, Elinor Batezat. The Day Gogo Went to Vote:
South Africa, April 1994.
Scientists and Inventors
Louis Daguerre
Cyrus McCormick
Jonas Salk
New Technology
Photography
Farm Equipment
Pasteurization
Medical Vaccines
Modern Innovation
Mass Transit
Advances in communication
Computer technology
Suggested Literary Connections:
Hargrove, Jim. The Story of Jonas
Salk and the Discovery of the Polio Vaccine.
Kay, Verla. Iron Horses
Sabin, Francene. Louis Pasteur: Young Scientist.
Sis, Peter. Starry Messenger.
Unit 4 Physical Environment
Maps and Globes
Cardinal Directions
Latitude and Longitude
Symbols and Legends
Physical Land Features
Adaptation
Modify the environment
Shaping communities
Characteristics of North American Regions
New England, Mississippi Valley
Great Plains, The West, Gulf Coast
Unique physical features around the world
Grand Canyon, Mount Everest
Volcanoes, Amazon and/or Nile
Rivers, Himalayan Mountains
Suggested Literary Connections:
Cone, Molly. Squishy, Misty, Damp and Muddy: The
In-Between World of Wetlands.
Gerberg, Mort. Geographunny: A Book of Global
Riddles.
Gregory, Kristiana. Across the Wide and Lonesome
Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell,
1847.
Lauber, Patricia. Flood: Wrestling with the Mississippi.
3rd Nine Weeks
4th Nine Weeks
Unit 5 Cultural Diversity
Unit 6 Working in a Community
Customs and Traditions
Celebrated and practiced in the
community
Celebrated and practiced in the state
Celebrate and practice in the country
Cultural Heritage
Writers and artists
Selected Ethnic Groups
Heroic Deeds of Real People
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
Heroic Deeds from Folktales and Legends
Pecos Bill
Paul Bunyan
Heroic Deeds of Mythical Characters
Greek and Roman
Heroic Deeds of Fictional Characters
Robinson Crusoe
Suggested Literary Connections:
Altman, Susan, and Susan Lechman. Followers of the
North Star: Rhymes about African American Heroes,
Heroines, and Historical Times.
Freedman, Russel. Immigrant Kids.
Lacapa, Kathleen, and Michael Lacapa. Less than Half,
More than Whole.
Walker, Paul R. Big Men, Big Country: A Collection of
American Tall Tales.
Simple Business Operation
Production Cost/Selling Price/Profit or
Loss
Free Enterprise
Scarcity
Supply/Demand
Production/Distribution/Consumption
Earnings, Spending, Saving
Simple Budgeting
Suggested Literary Connections:
Maestro, Betsy. The Story of Money.
Mitchell, Margaree. Uncle Jed’s Barbershop.
Venderwarker, Peter. The Big Dig.
Unit 7 Communities over Time
Communities in Ancient Times
America’s First Communities
Native Americans
European Settlers
Rural vs. Urban
Growth of Suburbia
Suggested Literary Connections:
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