Time, Continuity, and Change
Unit description: In this unit students will learn about how each community or culture has a unique history, including heroic figures, traditions, and holidays. Students will be exposed to legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical narratives and investigate how communities use these to transmit cultural histories from one generation to the next. In addition, students will also explore arts, music, dance, and literature of select world communities.
Customize this unit
Download the complete Grade 3 Social Studies – Time, Continuity, and Change framework to customize for your own planning.
Essential Outcomes of the Unit
Standards
- Standard 1- U.S. & N.Y. History
- Standard 2- World History
Essential Questions and Big Ideas
Big idea of the unit: Traditions and stories tell us a lot about the history of a community.
- Why are stories so important for history and recording change over time?
- Legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical narratives keep stories of the important individuals and events of each selected world community.
- Legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical narratives to transmit cultural histories from one generation to the next.
- What other traditions carry on through community history?
- Arts, music, dance, and literature develop through a community’s history.
Prerequisite Skills
Teachers should select at least three communities that represent different regions of the world, types of communities (urban, suburban, and rural), and governmental structures. The communities selected should reflect the diversity of the local community. The key ideas, conceptual understandings, and content specifications guide the study of communities while exploring the major themes of social studies. The various world communities, Key Ideas and social studies practices may be presented in any order.