IN.2. The Local and Regional Community

2.1. History: Students differentiate between events that happened in the past and recently, recognize examples of continuity and change in local and regional communities, and consider ways that people and events of the past and present influence their lives.

Historical Knowledge

2.1.4. Identify and describe community celebrations, symbols and traditions and explain why they are important.

2.2. Civics and Government: Students explain why communities have government and laws, demonstrate that people in the United States have both rights and responsibilities, and identify individual actions that contribute to the good of the community and nation.

Foundations of Government

2.2.1. Explain that the United States government is founded on the belief of equal rights for its citizens.

Functions of Government

2.2.2. Understand and explain why it is important for a community to have responsible government.

Roles of Citizens

2.2.4. Describe how people of different ages, cultural backgrounds and traditions contribute to the community and how all citizens can respect these differences.

2.2.5. Identify people who are good citizens and describe the character traits that make them admirable.

2.3. Geography: Students locate their community, state and nation on maps and globes; identify major geographic characteristics of their local community; explore geographic relationships between the physical and environmental characteristics of their community, and compare neighborhoods in their community to those in other parts of the world.

The World in Spatial Terms

2.3.2. Locate the equator and the poles on a globe and identify the local community, state and the United States on maps.

Human Systems

2.3.6. Identify and describe cultural or human features on a map using map symbols.

2.4. Economics: Students describe how people in a community use productive resources, create a variety of businesses and industries, specialize in different types of jobs, and depend on each other to supply goods and services.

2.4.2. Identify productive resources used to produce goods and services in the community.

2.4.2.1. Productive Resources: human resources, natural resources, and capital resources used to produce goods and services.

2.4.5. Research goods and services produced in the local community and describe how people can be both producers and consumers.

2.4.6. Define opportunity cost and explain that because resources are limited in relation to people’s wants (scarcity), people must make choices as to how to use resources.

2.4.6.1. Opportunity costs: term used in economics, to mean the value of the best alternative that would have been chosen instead. For example, a city is deciding between building a hospital or a parking garage on some vacant land. If they choose the hospital, the opportunity cost is the next best option (a parking garage) that might have been done with that same land instead.

2.4.8. Explain why people trade for goods and services and explain how money makes trade easier.

2.4.9. Explain the concept of savings and why this is important for individuals and for our economy.