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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To clarify a few things mentioned:
1. [u]Social studies standards[/u]: DC has social studies standards for PK-12th grade. They were last revised and adopted in 2006, but the DC State Board of Education has a working group exploring whether to update the standards. The social studies standards primarily include the disciplines of history, civics/government, geography, and economics. 
2. [u]Social studies curriculum[/u]: DCPS provides a social studies curriculum for Kindergarten through 5th grade that has been developed in collaboration between teachers and the central office. This curriculum provides guidance to teachers/schools on how to use the DC state social studies standards to organize the year into units of study, with recommendations for assessments, lessons, and resources to support teaching. Teachers have had opportunities to learn about the curriculum since it rolled out in 2017-2018 and they can access detailed Unit Guides with linked resources via the Canvas learning management system that houses all DCPS curriculum. Parents can check out the Parent Curriculum Guides to learn more about the DCPS curriculum for social studies and other content areas by clicking here: https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/parent-curriculum-guides
3. [u]Social studies scheduling[/u]: DCPS guidance for elementary grades requires that social studies be taught to all students beginning in Kindergarten. The guidance has recently shifted to include more separate time for social studies (and science) beginning in Kindergarten and separate from an ELA block given that research increasingly points to the importance of knowledge-building for reading comprehension. In grades K-2, students in DCPS are required to receive English/Language Arts (120 minutes/day), Math (75 minutes/day), Science (45 minutes/day, for the equivalent of at least one semester), social studies (45 minutes/day, for the equivalent of at least one semester). For grades 3-5, students in DCPS are required to receive English/Language Arts (90 minutes/day), Math (90 minutes/day), Science (30 minutes/day for the full year), social studies (45 minutes/day, for the full year). While social studies and science topics are often addressed in the ELA units and literacy practices are integrated into science and SS instruction, they are supposed to be taught separately given the different instructional methods and curriculum for each discipline.

Teachers and principals can often clarify questions about the schedule, standards, and curriculum, or more information can be found on the DCPS website. [/quote]

Thank you for posting this.  At my ES school we just wrapped up the first part of a Social Studies Inquiry Group where we had a few representatives from each grade dig into the units on Canvas and try to identify the themes we can align through the grades.  Starting in January after break we're building lesson plans to try out in the Spring and then hopefully roll out more in 2020/21.  [/quote]

DCPS is definitely in a phase of expanding and improving what's happening with social studies in elementary grades, so it's great to hear schools are tackling this work thoughtfully. [/quote]

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