So I asked friend what her 8 yo gifted PS DD was studying in history and she said....

[Halcyon]

NOTHING! No history!! Is this normal? Her 8 yo daughter is bright and was placed into the gifted program. Yet they do no history. None.

 

Tell me--is this standard? :confused: I find it hard to believe that most PS 3rd graders aren't studying history.

[missmoe]

Maybe they call it something other than history. Social studies, perhaps?

[jenL]

I was just talking to an elementary school teacher today, 5th grade, I believe, and I asked her what they study for history, and she said, "We don't; we incorporate it into our reading." They focus on reading and math in her school, and that's pretty much it. Science and "social studies" are part of the reading, but there's not a real focus on it. I guess that's better than nothing though!

 

As for the nothing... that's not the first time I've heard they don't get history until maybe state history in 4th and then scattered history from 5-8.

[QueenCat]

My kids went to ps for elementary. K-2nd social studies focused on the local community. Neighborhood for K, city/county for 1st/2nd. 3rd was state history. 4th and 5th grade was American history. The class was always called "social studies".

[KidsHappen]

I don't know if it is normal or not but I have to admit that our school system has an excellent history program. I have learned more than I ever cared to know about the civil war from my 5th grader (we are in TN). My 7th grader did ancient history in 6th grade last year and I thought they did a pretty thorough job. This year she has geography and it is pretty in depth as well. She is currently learning all the . . .stans.

[Perry]

Our elementary schools don't do history. They do social studies, which is a joke. They spend weeks making dioramas of silly things, like the neighborhood movie store and police station. They learn about holidays and write poems about themselves.

Every.

Year.

 

They don't start history till 9th grade.

[mom2denj]

When my dd was in ps, the gifted kids only focused on one subject per year for the earlier grades and then upper elementary focused on 2 subjects. For the rest of the subjects they were in thier regular classes.

[mrs.m]

Very much so! It is social studies in grade school as Cathie says. Only my DD didn't do state history last year. She doesn't remember actually studying it so it must have been built in somewhere because she knows a lot about government, geography, and communities.

 

The gifted program that my DD is still enrolled in does offer actual history units though. But she only goes (or went when she was in PS) to that once per week. And they offer a variety of other challenging courses for the children to choose.

[LibraryLover]

When older kids were in elementary school, focused history started in third grade with ancients. I can't recall exactly after that, except that 6th grade started deep in American History. I know 4th graders read Snow Treasure, and that's modern history/WWII. They overlapped English with History. It's been a few years. I do recall trips to Plimouth Pantation etc in 1st grade, and the Asian Exhibit at the Boston of Museum of Science about 2 nd grade.

Edited February 1, 2010 by LibraryLover

[3littlekeets]

In our PS system, both History and Science are "supposedly" worked into reading. I SHUDDER at the thought....

[hsmom3tn]

I don't know because my kids don't go to school. I only know that when I went to school we did not study history at all until high school. And even then it was only US history.

 

Same here.

I had Social Studies only, until 8th grade when I had one year of American History. Then we had to have one year of either World History or World Geography to graduate, so I signed up for World History in 12th grade. Got stuck with the basketball coach for a teacher and he was never in the room to teach us anything. He put notes on transparencies for us to copy every day and then on Fridays he checked to make sure we had copied it. That was all we did in that class for the entire year.

[LibraryLover]

Same here.

I had Social Studies only, until 8th grade when I had one year of American History. Then we had to have one year of either World History or World Geography to graduate, so I signed up for World History in 12th grade. Got stuck with the basketball coach for a teacher and he was never in the room to teach us anything. He put notes on transparencies for us to copy every day and then on Fridays he checked to make sure we had copied it. That was all we did in that class for the entire year.

 

 

I remember doing a semester- long study/project on Ancient Greece in 7th grade --that I loved!

[joannqn]

Social studies for 2nd grade here is VERY basic. It's mostly about being a good citizen and the basic workings of cities and neighborhoods.

[hsmom3tn]

I remember doing a semester- long study/project on Ancient Greece in 7th grade --that I loved!

 

That would have been fun to do. The closest I got to learning any history was a semester of mythology and a semester of etymology. I enjoyed those, but still wish I could have learned more history.

[Halcyon]

Our elementary schools don't do history. They do social studies, which is a joke. They spend weeks making dioramas of silly things, like the neighborhood movie store and police station. They learn about holidays and write poems about themselves.

Every.

Year.

 

They don't start history till 9th grade.

 

 

Oh golly. I bet that's what she does. I am ALL for learning about your community--I think it's critical! But I think it's equally important to learn about the world at large, its diversity and its history. :glare:

[Halcyon]

In our PS system, both History and Science are "supposedly" worked into reading. I SHUDDER at the thought....

 

I SO don't get this. Science for us is experiments, and lab notes and reading and drawing. How in the world is that covered by just reading?

[gardening momma]

When I went to school, I didn't have history (that I can recall) until 4th grade. It was called social studies, and that included history.

[MBM]

NOTHING! No history!! Is this normal? Her 8 yo daughter is bright and was placed into the gifted program. Yet they do no history. None.

 

Tell me--is this standard? :confused: I find it hard to believe that most PS 3rd graders aren't studying history.

 

Yes, many third-graders don't learn history but social studies. Sometimes even that is not taught or taught that well.

 

My son's school has an excellent history curriculum that is tied in with literature, but this is not typical, IME.

[Melinda in VT]

Third grade is when history really starts in our school, but it's not chronological. By the time they are out of elementary school, they've done units on immigration, state history, and a really long, in-depth unit on Ancient Greece. There used to be a unit on medieval times as well. I'm not sure if dropping that for my son's class was a one-time thing or if it has been cut permanently.

 

They also do a fair bit of geography in elementary school. In 3/4 they work on all the states and capitals, as well as the counties, rivers, mountains, etc., of our state. In 5/6 they work on world geography, focusing on one continent at a time.

[2squared]

I'm sure they are doing/have done units that coorelate the school calendar - Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, etc. My guess is that their history is buried in the other subjects. Honestly, I would be totally OK with that at those young ages. My oldest is in 2nd, and we haven't started official history yet. I don't see the need at her age. She gets exposure in an unschooling way, but nothing formal. I'm pondering American history for next year, but I'm not sure about that. If we can get the 3Rs covered well and hit science hard, then we might do some history. I suppose it goes back to your educational priorities.

[EKS]

They get no history until 4th in our district, when they do state history (or at least state studies). Around 6th they do colonial America. I think in 7th they do ancient. In 8th they get geography. One year of world and one year of American is required to graduate.

 

They do have some science throughout though.

[Heather in WI]

That would not happen in a public school in Wisconsin (or it would definitely be an outlier). We have specific state standards on the teaching of history-social studies-geography.

 

4th grade concentrates on Wisconsin history, 5th grade concentrates on US history, and sixth grade concentrates on world history, for example.

[TravelingChris]

When I went to school in VA, we did history or geography every year except first grade when it was things like Pilgrims at THanksgiving, CHristmas around the world, service workers, etc. Second grade we were doing early American History and Israeli culture. Third grade was western expansion, I think. Fourth grade was ancient Greece and India. Fifth grade was world history, I think. SIxth grade, I went to a different school and had more of an economics focus. I learned quite a bit in elementary school and learned even more by reading extra material on my own.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I don't know because my kids don't go to school. I only know that when I went to school we did not study history at all until high school. And even then it was only US history.

 

:iagree:

I recall the same pretty much. I might have had a smattering of US History. When I went to a prep high school we did have history, but it would have been much easier if I had been exposed to history as SWB recommends.

[Perry]

Here are the social studies standards for our local school district. They are vague, and after reading them you still don't really know what your child is learning. Compare them to Massachusetts' very specific and clear history and social science standards. I'll have to post those separately or this will be too long.

Third Grade Social Studies Standards and Expectations

The learner will understand:

STANDARD A: Culture

3.A.2 how language, stories, music, and folktales serve as expressions of culture and influence the behavior

of people living in a particular culture.

3.A.4 the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across groups.

STANDARD B: Time, Continuity, and Change

3.B.2 events in relation to time periods and explain examples of cause and effect relationships.

3.B.5 through use of a variety of sources, that people in different times and places view the world differently.

STANDARD C: People, Places, and Environments

3.C.1 the Five Themes of Geography (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement and region).

3.C.2 various representations of Earth, such as globes, pictures, and maps.

3.C.3 a variety of resources and geographic tools such as mental maps, sketch maps, atlases, charts, graphs,

and maps to describe, interpret, estimate, and communicate about geography.

STANDARD D: Individual Development and Identity

3.D.1 personal connections to community surroundings.

STANDARD F: Power Authority and Government

3.F.2 the purpose of city government and give examples of how government meets the needs and wants of its

citizens.

STANDARD G: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

3.G.2 the differences between wants/needs and goods/services by identifying examples of these concepts in

their own lives.

STANDARD H: Science, Technology, and Society

3.H.1 how science and technology have changed the lives of people throughout history, i.e. transportation,

communication, etc.

STANDARD J: Civic Ideal and Practices

3.J.2 citizen’s rights and responsibilities.

3.J.3 and describe public issues from two points of view.

 

 

Fourth Grade Social Studies Standards and Expectations

The learner will understand:

STANDARD A: Culture

4.A.1 similarities and differences among individuals, groups, societies, and cultures and how they respond to

human needs and concerns.

STANDARD B: Time, Continuity, and Change

4.B.2 and interpret events in relation to time periods and explain examples of cause and effect relationships.

STANDARD C: People, Places, & Environments

4.C.1 and use mental maps of the community, regions, and the world, demonstrating an understanding of the

five themes of geography (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region).

4.C.2 use, and distinguish various representations of the Earth, such as globes, atlases, and maps.

4.C.3 and use a variety of resources and geographic tools such as pictures, chart, graphs, and maps to

describe, interpret, estimate, and communicate about geography.

4.C.5 various landforms and geographic features such as mountains, plateaus, islands, and oceans.

4.C.7 relationships between culture, ideas, design of living spaces, and geographic location.

4.C.8 the interaction of people and their physical environment and the social and economic effect of

environmental changes over time upon selected locales and regions.

STANDARD E: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

4.E.4 examples of how groups and institutions can both promote and prevent furthering the common good.

STANDARD F: Power, Authority, and Governance

4.F.2 and explain the purpose of government.

4.F.3 examples of how government meets the needs and wants of citizens, provides security and maintains

order.

4.F.4 describe the relationships among local, state, and national government and identify leaders and their

roles in agencies at these three levels.

STANDARD G: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

4.G.9 and explain local and national events using economic concepts.

STANDARD H: Science, Technology, and Society

4.H.1 examples in which science and technology have changed the lives of people, i.e. transportation,

communication, etc.

STANDARD I: Global Connections

4.I.1 how art, music, and communication reflect differences across people, cultures, and physical

environments and explain how these differences can cause conflict as well as understanding.

4.I.2 and share examples of conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and

nations.

STANDARD J: Civic Ideals And Practices

4.J.2 and identify examples of citizens’ rights and responsibilities.

4.J.4 and explain how civic action influences local, state, and national policy.

 

 

Fifth Grade Social Studies Standards and Expectations

The learner will be able to:

STANDARD A: Culture

5.A.2 describe how language, stories, music, and folktales serve as expressions of culture and influence the

behavior of people living in a particular culture.

5.A.3 compare and contrast ways in which people from different cultures think about and respond to their

physical environment and social conditions.

5.A.4 give examples and describe the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across groups.

STANDARD B: Time, Continuity, and Change

5.B.2 describe and interpret events in relation to time periods and explain examples of cause and effect

relationships.

5.B.4 use various sources to reconstruct the past, including primary sources such as, diaries, interviews, and

historical documents.

5.B.5 construct representations that demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places

view the world differently.

STANDARD C: People, Places, & Environments

5.C.1 construct and use mental maps of the community, regions, and the world, demonstrating an

understanding of the five themes of geography (location, place, human-environment interaction,

movement, and region).

5.C.3 use a variety of resources and geographic tools such as globes, atlases, chart, graphs, and maps to

describe, interpret, estimate, and communicate about geography.

5.C.5 locate and describe varying landforms and geographic features such as mountains, plateaus, islands,

and oceans.

STANDARD D: Individual Development & Identity

5.D.4 identify and describe ways family, groups, and community affect personal choices and responsibilities.

STANDARD E: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

5.E.4 identify and describe examples of how groups and institutions can both promote and prevent furthering

the common good.

STANDARD F: Power, Authority, and Governance

5.F.2 explain the purpose of government.

5.F.3 give examples of how government meets the needs and wants of citizens, provides security and

maintains order.

STANDARD G: Production, Distribution, and Consumption

5.G.1 provide examples that show how scarcity and choice determine our economic decisions.

5.G.5 describe how we depend upon workers with specialized jobs and the ways they contribute to our

economy.

STANDARD H: Science, Technology, and Society

5.H.1 describe examples in which science and technology have changed the lives of people, i.e.

transportation, communication, etc.

STANDARD I: Global Connections

5.I.2 share examples of conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.

STANDARD J: Civic Ideals And Practices

5.J.1 demonstrate an understanding of the ideals of the democratic form of government, such as liberty,

justice, and equality by describing their application in specific situations.

5.J.2 identify examples of citizens’ rights and responsibilities.

5.J.3 identify and describe public issues from multiple points of view.

.

[Perry]

Here is a snip of Massachusetts' history and social science standards.

 

 

Grade 4

 

 

 

North American Geography

 

 

 

 

 

with Optional Standards for One Early Civilization

 

 

 

 

 

In grade 4, students study the geography and people of the United States today. Students learn geography by addressing standards that emphasize political and physical geography and embed five major concepts: location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and regions. In addition, they learn about the geography and people of contemporary Mexico and CanadA. Teachers may choose to teach the standards on the geography and social characteristics of the nations in Central America and the Caribbean Islands. Teachers may also choose to have students study in the first half of the school year one early civilization. We recommend China because it is not studied in grade 7 and can be easily connected to the English language arts curriculum through its myths, legends, and folktales.

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The grade 5 MCAS will cover only the U.S. history, geography, economics, and civics standards, concepts, and skills of grades 4 and 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grade 4 Concepts and Skills

 

Students should be able to:

 

Apply concepts and skills learned in previous grades.

 

History and Geography

1. Use map and globe skills to determine absolute locations (latitude and longitude) of places studied. (G)

 

2. Interpret a map using information from its title, compass rose, scale, and legend. (G)

 

3. Observe and describe national historic sites and describe their function and significance. (H, C)

 

 

 

Civics and Government

 

4. Give examples of the major rights that immigrants have acquired as citizens of the United States (e.g., the right to vote, and freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and petition). ©

 

5. Give examples of the different ways immigrants can become citizens of the United States. ©

 

Economics

6. Define and give examples of natural resources in the United States. (E)

 

7. Give examples of limited and unlimited resources and explain how scarcity compels people and communities to make choices about goods and services, giving up some things to get other things. (E)

 

8. Give examples of how the interaction of buyers and sellers influences the prices of goods and services in markets. (E)

 

 

 

 

Grade 4 Learning Standards

Building on knowledge from previous years, students should be able to:

 

 

Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE

 

 

 

4.1 On a map of Asia, locate China, the Huang He (Yellow) River and Chang Jiang (Yangtze) Rivers, and the Himalayan Mountains. (G)

 

4.2 Describe the topography and climate of eastern Asia, including the importance of mountain ranges and deserts, and explain how geography influenced the growth of Chinese civilization. (G, E)

 

4.3 Describe the ideographic writing system used by the Chinese (characters, which are symbols for concepts/ideas) and how it differs from an alphabetic writing system. (H)

 

4.4 Describe important technologies of China such as bronze casting, silk manufacture, and gunpowder. (H, E)

 

4.5 Identify who Confucius was and describe his writings on good government, codes of proper conduct, and relationships between parent and child, friend and friend, husband and wife, and subject and ruler. (H, C)

 

4.6 Describe how the First Emperor unified China by subduing warring factions, seizing land, centralizing government, imposing strict rules, and creating with the use of slave labor large state building projects for irrigation, transportation, and defense (e.g., the Great Wall). (H, C, E)

 

4.7 After visiting a museum, listening to a museum educator in school, or conducting research in the library, describe an animal, person, building, or design depicted in an ancient Chinese work of art. (H, G)

Grade 4 Learning Standards

 

North America

 

Anguilla (U.K.), Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba (Neth.), Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda (U.K.), British Virgin Islands (U.K.), Canada, Cayman Islands (U.K.), Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Greenland (Den.), Grenada, Guadeloupe (Fr.), Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique (Fr.), Mexico, Montserrat (U.K.), Netherlands Antilles (Neth.), Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico (U.S.), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St.-Pierre and Miquelon (Fr.), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (U.K.), United States, Virgin Islands (U.S.)

 

 

 

 

There's more, but it's too long and I can't post it all here.

[Rhonda in TX]

With the emphasis on testing, some teachers don't have time for those subjects. If math and reading are going to be tested, that's what they will emphasize, sometimes to the detriment of other subjects.

 

I overheard a 4th grade teacher saying that her students were begging for science. It was February and they hadn't done any science all year. She said they had to get ready for the TAKS, and didn't have time for science. She was taking pity on them, though, and had scheduled a week of science for them.

[mrsrevmeg]

When my kids were in the city school system, they had history. When we moved to the boondocks (about 20 minutes away) they were in the county system, which only does math and language arts for elementary school. The "only math and language arts" approach is a joke. They are behind in math compared to my homeschool kids and the city school systems. Their "language arts" is just reading a bunch of babyish phonics books. My middle son went to first grade in the county school. He went from loving reading and reading very fluently, to slow robot sounding reading. He hated school.

[Sara R]

That would not happen in a public school in Wisconsin (or it would definitely be an outlier). We have specific state standards on the teaching of history-social studies-geography.

 

4th grade concentrates on Wisconsin history, 5th grade concentrates on US history, and sixth grade concentrates on world history, for example.

 

She asked about an 8 year old, which would be 2nd or 3rd grade. In most places, that's still community (i.e. take a field trip to the post office).

[sleepymommy]

We had social studies, Va state history was incorporated into that in 3rd and 4th grade. Then it 8th grade we had Civics. In 11th, Government. I don't recall ever learning any world history and I remember being sad about that since I loved reading about world history.

[Sara R]

This change came about with the educational progressive movement of the 1920s and 30s. Children were deemed to be incapable of understanding other times and places, so they needed to start with studying the family and expand outward year by year. Before that children in early grades were exposed to history through stories, kind of like SOTW. For more information, read Diane Ravitch's Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reform.

 

Unlike math and reading, where the pendulum has swung back and forth, this change in history teaching pretty much just stuck.

 

Here's Utah's sequence as I understand it:

K-2 "community" (map reading, community jobs)

3rd city (which winds up being pretty much the same thing functionally as community)

4th state

5th US (memorize the states and capitals)

6th world

7th STATE HISTORY AGAIN. They waste a whole year on it, again. I mean, Utah has only been settled for 160 years. And a lot of it overlaps with Mormon history, and the Mormon students (only 60% of the population) already learn a lot of this as part of church. Plus the public school system can't get too much into the religious stuff, which is crucial for understanding the state's history. Seems like a waste of a year to me.

8th US

9th world

11th US

12th govt/econ

 

So they graduate with only 2 years of world history, one of which was in elementary school. What can you understand in that amount of time, other than "first there were ziggurats, then pyramids, then Greeks, then knights, then explorers--oops, it's the end of the year so I guess we won't study anything after 1900." Maybe at best students do a couple of in-depth projects on a narrow topic, but you can't learn the breadth of world history in this limited time.

 

This is one reason that I like the Core Knowledge charter schools in elementary school. They do teach history from Kindergarten on.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Sara R