Connecticut State Department of Education

Connecticut Core Standards

Units - Social Studies

Units for Grades K-5

Grade Title
K Literacy in Social Studies - Thinking About Families
K Being a Good Kindergarten Citizen
K How My Family Lives in America
K America the Beautiful – Using Music and Art to Develop Vocabulary
1 Content Literacy - People Who Work for Justice
1 Listening Strand – Fables and Stories
2 Biography
2 Newspaper Reporting
2 Listening & Learning Domain 12 Anthology "Fighting for a Cause"
3 Newspaper Reporting and Interviewing
3 Seeking the Power of Education and Reading (Module 1, Unit 1)
3 Building the Power of Reading (Module 1, Unit 2)
3 Opinions Matter – Pre-Revolution Boston
3 Reading Informational Texts – The Declaration of Independence and the First Fourth of July
4 Through An Artist’s Eyes - Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series
4 Writing and Speaking about the Importance of Voting: Why Vote?
4 Coming to America – A Nation of Immigrants (1820-Present)
4 Perspectives on the American Revolution - Building Background Knowledge
4 Moving Toward Acceptance Through Picture Books and Two-Voice Texts
5 Storytelling in the Social Studies Classroom
5 Building Background Knowledge on Human Rights
5 Considering Perspectives and Supporting Opinions – Sports and Athletes’ Impact on Culture

Units for Grades 6-8

Grade Title
6 Literacy in English Language Arts - Writing Editorials
6 Building Evidence-Based Arguments – Energy Crossroads
7 Children Have a Right to...
7 Investigating the Holocaust – A Collaborative Inquiry Project
7 Building Background Knowledge - Who Changes Working Conditions?
7 Reading Closely and Writing to Learn – Journeys and Survival
8 Research to Make a Point
8 Choices in Little Rock
8 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston
8 Persuasion in a Digital World – Finding Solutions to Food Waste
8 Voices from Little Rock – Understanding the Civil Rights Movement through Primary Sources
8 Building Background Knowledge – War Coming Close to Home
8 Making Evidence-Based Claims – Truth, Chisholm, Williams

Units for Grades 9-12

Grade Title
9 Making Evidence-Based Claims - Plato’s Apology
9 Building Evidence-Based Arguments – “What is the virtue of a proportional response?”
9 Making It Visual for ELL Students – Teaching History Using MAUS
9-10 Writing Effective Research Papers - All Content Areas
9-10 Primary Source Exemplar- Human Rights, Conflict and Social Change
9-10 Reading Closely for Textual Details – “Brain Gain”
9-10 Reading Closely for Textual Details – “Modern Battlefield”
9-10 Building Historical Background Knowledge - The Road to Revolution 1754-1776
9-12 Baseball, Race and Ethnicity – Rounding the Bases
10 Building Evidence-Based Arguments – Search Warrant
10 Making Evidence-Based Claims – “Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and “A Just and Lasting Peace” [Nobel Lecture] President Barack Obama
11 Building Evidence-Based Arguments – “Cuplae poena par esto - Let the punishment fit the crime.”
11 Literacy in Social Studies - Research Paper
11 Cold War - What Caused McCarthyism
11 Making Evidence-Based Claims – “The Souls of Black Folk” W.E.B. DuBois
11 Copyright Infringement or Not? The Debate over Downloading Music
11 The Art of Persuasion and the Craft of Argument
11-12 Writing Research Papers
11-12 Reading Closely for Textual Details – “Life Steps Almost Straight”
11-12 Reading Closely for Textual Details – “Lay Down All My Joys”
11-12 Reading Closely for Textual Details – We, as a people, will get to the promised land!
12 Building Evidence-Based Arguments – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
12 Making Evidence Based Claims - Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton