Academics — Social Studies
The Social Studies program provides students with hands-on activities,
literature and real life experiences as they learn about the family as
the basic unit of society, the need for laws, rules and the values guiding
our life and work together. Each year, the focus and area of concentration
for the program expands. In the beginning, students are introduced to the
continent of North America and our neighboring countries. Then students
are introduced to economic and civic learning, neighborhoods and communities.
Study then becomes more focused on the civic, geographic, economic and
political features of communities. Based on what was learned at the community
level, attention is then turned to applying that knowledge to the national
level. The focus then becomes America as part of a global society. The
program culminates in providing the opportunity to develop a geographical
and chronological understanding of the world by learning about peoples,
regions, cultures and major events.
Throughout each phase of learning, the program uses five themes of geography: location, place, region, movement and human-environment interactions. Children use the computer and the Internet for research, view videos and read and discuss current events. During class, students develop skills to use and interpret maps, globes, atlases and graphs. Students are encouraged and expected to use and apply skills taught in other subjects to produce both written and oral projects and reports.
