Updated Spring 2021

Kindergarten - Grade 5 Curriculum Maps

Historical Context and Future Reference:

In 2019, the South Carolina Social Studies College-and-Career-Ready Standards were adopted. During the 2019-20 school year, we began studying the standards and creating curriculum maps in district-wide professional learning community sessions. In the 2020 -21 school year, we began full implementation of the standards and are continuing to revise our mapping process as we learn more about how to effectively pace. We will continue to learn through district and state professional learning opportunities and will update this document based on new information.

Standards Format

Expectations for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment:

The standards are organized around themes, key concepts, and deconstructed skills. The skills have either a historical, geographical, government, or economics focus (depending on grade level or course). 

Grades 4, 5 are history-based courses and the historical thinking skills are aligned to each indicator.

In grades 3, the course is geography-based. The indicators are aligned to the themes in geography, and the geography skills are embedded within the themes. 

In grades, K-2, each of the four standards are aligned to a particular theme of either history, geography, government/civics or economics. 

For each theme, teachers will incorporate the particular skills that align to the theme. 

There are currently no state assessments in social studies for students in Grades K-5. 
 

Social Studies Instruction

The social studies classroom should be a place of inquiry and analysis. The discipline of history is “a way of thinking that encourages students to analyze historical evidence, evaluate it, and then demonstrate their understanding of that evidence. Teaching and learning history requires repeated practice with those essential elements of the discipline” (p. 1 SCDE standards). Discipline-specific skills are necessary across the social studies for student’s understanding of the content to be taught at each grade level. The study of history, economics, geography, and civics and government each require unique, discipline-specific practices. The identification of disciplinary skills for the social studies was critical to the development of the standards. See SCDE Website for more information.

See skills and themes linked below:
Historical Thinking Skills 
Geography Skills 
Geography Themes 
K-2 Skills Progression for Each theme

Kindergarten: The Community Around Us

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
Kindergarten Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

1st Grade: Life in South Carolina

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
1st Grade Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

2nd Grade: Life in the United States (Revised June 2021)

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
2nd Grade Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

3rd Grade: World Geography (Revised June 2021)

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
3rd Grade Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

4th Grade: United States and South Carolina Studies Part I (Revised June 2021)

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
4th Grade Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

5th Grade: United States and South Carolina Studies Part II 

2019 South Carolina Social Studies Standards
5th Grade Alignment Guide
Standards By Quarter Map

Parents: Check out these sites, too!

Learn about Rock Hill Schools' 5th Grade Field Study at our very own Carroll School Website

Get a kid's view of daily life in countries around the world with Culture Grams.

Other Online Resources:

South Carolina State Department of Education

National Council for History Education

South Carolina History: Skiway

SC ETV Resources

DiscusSC  Website for Research StudySC.org Website: Great for SC History Research

Facing History

Library of Congress

Chronicling America

SC African American Historic Sites Map

National Geographic