In third grade social studies, students explore the concept of communities around the world.
By the end of the school year, all students should be able to:
■ Recognize that communities reflect the diversity of the world’s people and cultures.
■ Find the earth’s continents and oceans on a map or globe.
■ Define the meaning of “culture” and how world communities reflect their cultures.
■ Compare and contrast the cultures, governments, histories, and geographies of the world communities studied.
■ Understand how key individuals and events change communities around the world.
■ Form and explain opinions about current events.
■ Describe ways that geography can affect a world community. For example, describe how living on a continent far from other lands affects the people of Australia.
■ Explore how people develop their natural resources. For example, explain how they use farmland, forests, or water supplies to meet their needs.
■ Understand that people in world communities form governments to develop rules and laws.
■ Know and understand that different world communities have their own rights, responsibilities, and rules.
Learning at Home
With your child, see how many countries and cultures you can find represented on your street. For example, find Greek restaurants; newspapers in Creole, Spanish, or Russian; a doctor or lawyer from India. Talk about how these families might have come to New York.
Visit the United Nations headquarters in Midtown with your child. CyberSchoolBus, the U.N.’s Web site for kids, www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus, offers interactive information about the organization, plus games and other ways for young people to participate in the U.N. community.
Invite your child to help you prepare for a holiday. For example, put out family decorations or cook traditional recipes.
Discuss how a pledge or oath helps members agree to shared values in different kinds of groups, such as nations; clubs, such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts; and religious communities. Encourage your child to write a pledge for your family and talk about it together.