Minnesota Academic Standards 3rd Grade Social Studies Activities

MN.3. Grade 3: Foundations of Social Studies

3.1. Citizenship and Government

3.1.1. Civic Skills

3.1.1.1. Democratic government depends on informed and engaged citizens who exhibit civic skills and values, practice civic discourse, vote and participate in elections, apply inquiry and analysis skills and take action to solve problems and shape public policy.

3.1.1.1.1. Identify ways people make a difference in the civic life of their communities, state, nation or world by working as individuals or groups to address a specific problem or need.

3.1.2. Civic Values and Principles of Democracy

3.1.2.3. The United States is based on democratic values and principles that include liberty, individual rights, justice, equality, the rule of law, limited government, common good, popular sovereignty, majority rule and minority rights.

3.1.2.3.1. Explain the importance of civic discourse (including speaking, listening, voting and respecting diverse viewpoints) and the principles of majority rule and minority rights.

3.1.4. Governmental Institutions and Political Processes

3.1.4.7. The United States government has specific functions that are determined by the way that power is delegated and controlled among various bodies: the three levels (federal, state, local) and the three branches (legislative, executive, judicial) of government.

3.1.4.7.2. Identify the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) and their primary functions.

3.2. Economics

3.2.2. Personal Finance

3.2.2.2. Personal and financial goals can be achieved by applying economic concepts and principles to personal financial planning, budgeting, spending, saving, investing, borrowing and insuring decisions.

3.2.2.2.1. Describe income as the money earned from selling resources and expenditures as the money used to buy goods and services.

3.2.3. Fundamental Concepts

3.2.3.5. Individuals, businesses and governments interact and exchange goods, services and resources in different ways and for different reasons; interactions between buyers and sellers in a market determines the price and quantity exchanged of a good, service or resource.

3.2.3.5.2. Explain that consumers have two roles—as sellers of resources and buyers of goods and services; explain that producers have two roles—as sellers of goods and services and buyers of resources.

3.3. Geography

3.3.1. Geospatial Skills

3.3.1.1. People use geographic representations and geospatial technologies to acquire, process and report information within a spatial context.

3.3.1.1.1. Use maps and concepts of location (relative location words and cardinal and intermediate directions) to describe places in one’s community, the state of Minnesota, the United States or the world.

3.3.1.1.2. Create and interpret simple maps of places around the world, local to global; incorporate the "TODALS" map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information.

3.3.3. Human Systems

3.3.3.6. Geographic factors influence the distribution, functions, growth and patterns of cities and human settlements.

3.3.3.6.1. Identify landforms and patterns in population; explain why human populations are unevenly distributed around the world.

3.4. History

3.4.1. Historical Thinking Skills

3.4.1.2. Historical inquiry is a process in which multiple sources and different kinds of historical evidence are analyzed to draw conclusions about how and why things happened in the past.

3.4.1.2.1. Examine historical records, maps and artifacts to answer basic questions about times and events in history, both ancient and more recent.

3.4.1.2.2. Compare and contrast two different accounts of an event.

3.4.1.2.3. Compare and contrast various ways that different cultures have expressed concepts of time and space.

3.4.1.3. Historical events have multiple causes and can lead to varied and unintended outcomes.

3.4.1.3.1. Explain how an invention of the past changed life at that time, including positive, negative and unintended outcomes.

3.4.2. Peoples, Cultures and Change Over Time

3.4.2.5. History is made by individuals acting alone and collectively to address problems in their communities, state, nation and world.

3.4.2.5.1. Identify examples of individuals or groups who have had an impact on world history; explain how their actions helped shape the world around them.

3.4.3. World History

3.4.3.8. The development of interregional systems of communication and trade facilitated new forms of social organization and new belief systems. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE- 600 CE)

3.4.3.8.1. Identify methods of communication used by peoples living in ancient times in three different regions of the world. (Classical Traditions, Belief Systems and Giant Empires: 2000 BCE- 600 CE)