Social Studies
Social studies is taught by using thematic content at each grade level to answer a set of “Big Questions.” The “Big Questions” addressed at Solomon Schechter are:
- How do people create or change power, authority, and governance?
- What are a citizen’s rights and responsibilities as a member of a community?
- How can people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services?
- What factors influence and affect cultural and geographic diversity? How do geography, religion, or political ideals influence culture?
- How does history influence who we are and who we will become? How are current events linked to the past? Has basic human nature changed over time?
- How do nations depend on and affect one another? How can different kinds of societies understand diverse perspectives and commonalities?
Social studies is often integrated with other curricular areas such as reading, writing, Jewish studies and science. The thematic content taught by grade level include:
- Kindergarten: Me and My Family
- First Grade: Community
- Second Grade: U.S. Regions and History
- Third Grade: Around the World
- Fourth Grade: New Mexico History and Ancient Civilizations
- Fifth Grade: United States History
Because many classes at Solomon Schechter are multi-age classrooms, the teachers alternate the Social Studies themes from one year to the next so that all students have the opportunity to learn about the content within those themes.