3rd Grade Social Studies Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students will develop an understanding of communities and will learn how to locate their communities on a map.

Mae Jemison was the first African American female astronaut to enter space! Use the Who Is Mae Jemison? lesson plan to get to know this prominent scientist and entrepreneur. Students will read about Mae and then answer questions about her.

This lesson plan teaches kids about W.E.B. Du Bois through video and a short informational text. Students will compare/contrast their findings and create a poster in small groups showing what they learned.

Kinesthetic and visual learners will greatly enjoy this playful lesson. Using symbols and gestures, students explore the characteristics of various United States landforms.

Let's scout out the states in the United States! In this jigsaw lesson, students will explore individual states, create a state collage, and share their knowledge with other students in the class.

This lesson will introduce students to intermediate map directions northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast. It also offers practice writing functional texts using transitional words as well as both cardinal and intermediate directions.

Our community relies on different kinds of resources to operate successfully. In this lesson, your students will learn how capital, human, and natural resources are all important for the functioning of a productive society.

Students journey on a scavenger hunt around the school to put their knowledge of the Five Themes of Geography to the test!

In this hands on activity students will explore the advantages and disadvantages of specialization and interdependence through their creation of paper bugs.

In this lesson, your students will learn about their roles as consumers and producers in a community through engaging activities and discussion.

Through creative and engaging activities, your students will explore and learn about landforms. In this lesson, they will make their own mini dictionary of landforms.

In this lesson, your students will use their imaginations to picture why all communities need laws. Help them brainstorm the important role that laws and rules play in a variety of communities through these engaging activities.

What do you use to make what you need? Resources! Students will explore the three kinds of resources producers use to create the products the use and sell.

In this lesson, students collaborate to create a class-wide behavior contract. With your guidance, your class will develop and implement their own set of classroom rules.