Standards

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Chronology organizes people and events and helps explain historical relationships.

• Historians use primary and secondary sources to ask and answer questions about the past and present (historical inquiry).

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• Who were the influential people, both prominent and common, in Colorado Springs? 
• How can important events in their lives be placed in chronological order? 
• What effects of their work can we still see today?
• Who were the common people of the town? 
• How did they get the goods and services needed?

Standards and Benchmarks

Standard 1: Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationship.
Benchmark A: Students know the general chronological order of events and people in history. 
District Indicator: Chronological Organization: Organize events and people in history.
Standard History 2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.
Benchmark H2 A: Students know how to formulate questions and hypotheses regarding what happened in the past and to obtain and analyze data to answer questions and test hypotheses.
District Indicator: Use primary and secondary sources to ask and answer questions (who, what, when, why, how) about the past and present, and to determine cause and effect relationships.

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

Lesson 1: Lesson 1 Title
Duration: @ 1 class period

Integrated Reading and Writing:

Parent Resources

If you have not yet taken your child to the top of Pikes Peak or to the Garden of the Gods, this is a perfect time to do so. Your child will see many of the physical and human characteristics of this region of Colorado. Point out the different features and ask your child to share what he or she has learned about how the features were formed and how they might have changed over time. It is a good time to begin talking about how rules in your home and rules in the school differ from laws in the city. Visiting the Pioneers Museum or spending time at Rock Ledge Ranch would help your child learn about the early history of the city and region.

ABCs of Elementary Years: These ABC Tips are designed to help you support your child’s learning in social studies during their years in elementary school.