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Social Studies Education Resources: Home

This guide has lesson plan resources related to social studies in the Pre-K-12 classroom.

Associations/Organizations

Association of American Geographers: Education
The Association of American Geographers (AAG) has a number of resources on their Education webpage which are intended to help educators teach geography, earth science, and climate change to their students.
Grades: K - 12
National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE)
Find standards, lists of publications and other geography-related activities at the website of the National Council for Geographic Education.
Grades: K - 12
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
The mission of the National Council for the Social Studies is to "provide leadership, service, and support for all social studies educators."
Grades: K - 12
 
New Jersey Council for the Social Studies (NJCSS)
The NJCSS is a statewide association in New Jersey with 950 members devoted solely to social studies education.
National Geographic Society: Education
The National Geographic Society's website features an Education section which includes resources for educators, such as lesson plans, units, activities, and educational games. These resources can all be filtered by age group and/or subject.
Grades: K - 12
Practicalmoneyskills.ocm
This website has a section for educators, which provides money management lesson plans for all grade levels and students with special needs. Additionally, students can download (in PDF format), a budget worksheet to learn how to build a weekly budget.
Grades: 1 - 12

Standards for Social Studies

C3 Framework for Social Studies
The C3 (College, Career & Civic Life) Framework was developed by the National Council for the Social Studies to help states and school districts strengthen their social studies programs. C3 Framework is intended to increase rigor, "build critical thinking, problem solving and participatory skills to become engaged citizens" and align social studies to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Free PDF available from this link.
Grades: K - 12
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards
The C3 Framework was the result of a collaborative effort of many social studies teaching organizations to help states and local districts to update their standards. Its objectives were to increase the rigor of social studies education, build critical thinking skills and align programs to the Common Core Standards.
Grades: K - 12
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
Revised in September 2010 by the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies is not available online. Only the Executive Summary, Preface, Introduction and the Ten Themes of Social Studies are available from this website. A print copy is available from the CMC of the Cheng Library.
Grades: PreK - 12
National Standards for History
Developed in 1996 by the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of the National Council for History Standards, the National Standards for History for grades 5-12 are divided into three strands. Standards for K-4 are also available through this website, as well as an alignment to the Common Core Standards.
Grades: K - 12
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards-- Social Studies
Standard 6 of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards focuses on Civics, Geography, Economics, and History. The 2014 standards reflect minor changes from the 2009 standards and reflects the adoption of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts.
Grades: PreK - 12
U.S. National Geography Standards
Originally published in 1994 the U.S. National Geography standards are available through the Xpeditions section of the National Geographic website. Lesson plans, teaching activities and an Interactive Learning Museum are available to help teachers teach to the standards.
Grades: K - 12
Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics
The 2nd edition of the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics is available as a pdf from this website. Published in 2010 by the Council for Economic Education, the 20 economics content standards include the most important and enduring ideas, concepts, and issues in economics. Links to online lessons are available.
Grades: K - 12

Librarian

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Neil Grimes
Contact:
Education & Curriculum Materials Librarian
Office, Room 114c
David and Lorraine Cheng Library
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, NJ 07470
973-720-3184