New
York State Social Studies Curriculum for Third Grade
Communities Around the World:
Learning About People and Places
In the grade 3 social studies program, students study about communities
throughout the world.
The five social studies standards form the basis for this investigation
as students learn about the
social, political, geographic, economic, and historic characteristics
of different world communities.
Students learn about communities that reflect the diversity of the
world’s peoples and cultures.
They study Western and non-Western examples from a variety of
geographic areas.
Students also begin to learn about historic chronology by placing
important events on timelines.
Students locate world communities and learn how different communities
meet their basic needs
and wants. Students begin to compare the roles of citizenship and the
kinds of governments
found in various world communities.
I. Cultures and civilizations
What is a culture? What is a civilization?
How and why do cultures change?
Where do people settle and live? Why?
People in world communities exchange elements of
their cultures.
People in world communities use legends, folktales,
oral histories, biographies, autobiographies,
and historical narratives to
transmit values, ideas, beliefs, and traditions.
People in world communities celebrate their
accomplishments, achievements, and contributions.
Historic events can be viewed through the eyes of
those who were there, as shown in their
art, writings, music, and
artifacts.
II. Communities around the
world - Learning About People and Places
People of similar and different cultural
groups often live together in world communities.
World communities have social, political,
economic, and cultural similarities and differences.
World communities change over time.
Important events and eras of the near and
distant past can be displayed on timelines.
Calendar time can be measured in terms of
years, decades, centuries, and millennia, using
BC and AD as reference
points.
All people in world communities need to learn
and they learn in different ways.
Families in world communities differ from
place to place.
Beliefs, customs, and traditions in world
communities are learned from others and may differ
from place to place.
Different events, people, problems, and ideas make
up world communities.
People in world communities may have different
interpretations and perspectives about
important issues and historic
events.
III. The location of world
communities
World communities can be located on maps and globes
(latitude and longitude).
The spatial relationships of world communities can
be described by direction, location,
distance, and scale.
Regions represent areas of Earth’s surface with
unifying geographic characteristics.
World communities can be located in relation to each
other and to principal parallels and
meridians.
Geographic representations such as aerial
photographs and satellite-produced images can
be used to locate world
communities.
Earth’s continents and oceans can be located in
relation to each other and to principal parallels
and meridians.
IV. Physical, human, and
cultural characteristics of world communities
The causes and effects of human migration vary in
different world regions.
The physical, human, and cultural characteristics of
different regions and people throughout
the world are different.
Interactions between economic activities and
geographic factors differ in world
communities.
The factors that influence human settlements differ
in world communities.
V. People depending on and
modifying their physical environments
People living in world communities depend on and
modify their physical environments in
different ways.
Lifestyles in world communities are influenced by
environmental and geographic factors.
The development of world communities is influenced
by environmental and geographic factors.
VI. Challenge of meeting
needs and wants in world communities
Societies organize their economies to answer three
fundamental economic questions: What
goods and services should be
produced and in what quantities? How shall goods and
services be produced? For whom
shall goods and services be produced?
Human needs and wants differ from place to place.
People in world communities make choices due to
unlimited needs and wants and limited
resources.
People in world communities must depend on others to
meet their needs and wants.
Production, distribution, exchange, and consumption
of goods and services are economic
decisions all societies must make.
People in world communities use human, capital, and
natural resources.
People in world communities locate, develop, and
make use of natural resources.
Resources are important to economic growth in world
communities.
VII. Economic decision making
in world communities
Production, distribution, exchange, and
consumption of goods and services are economic
decisions which all world
communities must make.
Economic decisions in world communities are
influenced by many factors.
VIII. Symbols of citizenship
in world communities
People in world communities celebrate various
holidays and festivals.
People in world communities use monuments and
memorials to represent symbols of their
nations.
IX. People making and
changing rules and laws
People in world communities form governments to
develop rules and laws to govern community
members.
People in world communities may have conflicts over
rules, rights, and responsibilities.
The processes of selecting leaders, solving
problems, and making decisions differ in world
communities.
X. Governments around the
world
Governments in world communities organize to provide
functions people cannot provide as
individuals.
Governments in world communities have the authority
to make, carry out, and enforce laws
and manage disputes among them.
Governments in world communities develop rules and
laws.
Governments in world communities plan, organize, and
make decisions.