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Social Studies

Students writing with quills

Director of Humanities

Dr. Nicole Chiesa

Email:
nchiesa@medford.k12.ma.us

The Medford Public Schools Social Studies Department  is committed to providing all students with the academic and problem-solving skills essential for personal development, responsible citizenship and life-long learning. The Social Studies Department’s curriculum goals for all grades are as follows:

  • To provide authentic perspectives in all aspects of historical context
  • To provide the educational foundation to prepare students to hold “the office of citizen”
  • To recognize our binding heritage in a democratic vision of liberty, equality, justice, and the belief that a society can undertake to govern itself though the will of its people
  • To promote and nurture respect among students for each other, their school, and greater community
  • To develop awareness, appreciation and understanding of democratic values, precepts and practices
  • To foster in students the knowledge, skills and commitment to strengthen their community, state, country, and world beyond their school years

Guiding Principles

The following are the Social Studies Department’s guiding principles, as outlined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education:

  • An effective history and social science education teaches students about the legacy of democratic government.
  • An effective history and social science education incorporates diverse perspectives and acknowledges that perceptions of events are affected by race, ethnicity, culture, religion, education, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and personal experience.
  • Every student deserves to study history and social science every year, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.
  • An effective history and social science education teaches students to think historically.
  • An effective history and social science education integrates knowledge from many fields of study.
  • An effective history and social science education builds students’ capacities for research, reasoning, making logical arguments, and thinking for themselves.
  • An effective history and social science education improves reading comprehension by increasing students’ content knowledge.
  • An effective history and social science education incorporates the study of current events and news/media literacy.
  • An effective history and social science education teaches students about using data analysis and digital tools as research and presentation techniques in the social sciences.
  • An effective history and social science education develops social and emotional skills.

Frameworks

Access the DESE website for Social Science Framework

Curriculum Overview

Throughout their elementary school experience, students will be exposed to four different fields within social studies.  These include civics, geography, history and economics.  Below is an outline of each grade’s curriculum, as supported by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  Medford Public Schools’ Social Studies Department has created specific pacing guides for each of these grade levels.  The pacing guides include a large and diverse source of resources in order to ensure that multiple historical perspectives are presented at each grade level.

Kindergarten: Many Roles in Living, Learning, and Working Together

Grade 1: Leadership, Cooperation, Unity, and Diversity

Grade 2: Global Geography: Places and Peoples, Cultures and Resources

Grade 3: Massachusetts, Home to Many Different People

Grade 4: North American Geography and Peoples

Grade 5: United States History to the Civil War and the Modern Civil Rights Movement

Student in a Revolution Costume