Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 113 - TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES › Subchapter A - ELEMENTARY › Section 113.14 - Social Studies, Grade 3, Adopted 2018

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Introduction.
(1) In Grade 3, students learn how diverse
				  individuals have changed their communities and world. Students study the
				  effects inspiring heroes have had on communities, past and present. Students
				  learn about the lives of heroic men and women who made important choices,
				  overcame obstacles, sacrificed for the betterment of others, and embarked on
				  journeys that resulted in new ideas, new inventions, new technologies, and new
				  communities. Students expand their knowledge through the identification and
				  study of people who made a difference, influenced public policy and decision
				  making, and participated in resolving issues that are important to all people.
				  Throughout Grade 3, students develop an understanding of the economic,
				  cultural, and scientific contributions made by individuals.
(2) To support the teaching of the essential
				  knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such as
				  biographies, founding documents, poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged.
				  Motivating resources are available from museums, historical sites, presidential
				  libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
(3) The eight strands of the essential
				  knowledge and skills for social studies are intended to be integrated for
				  instructional purposes. Skills listed in the social studies skills strand in
				  subsection (b) of this section should be incorporated into the teaching of all
				  essential knowledge and skills for social studies. A greater depth of
				  understanding of complex content material can be attained when integrated
				  social studies content from the various disciplines and critical-thinking
				  skills are taught together. Statements that contain the word "including"
				  reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase
				  "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(4) Students identify the role of the U.S.
				  free enterprise system within the parameters of this course and understand that
				  this system may also be referenced as capitalism or the free market
				  system.
(5) Throughout social
				  studies in Kindergarten-Grade 12, students build a foundation in history;
				  geography; economics; government; citizenship; culture; science, technology,
				  and society; and social studies skills. The content, as appropriate for the
				  grade level or course, enables students to understand the importance of
				  patriotism, function in a free enterprise society, and appreciate the basic
				  democratic values of our state and nation as referenced in the Texas Education
				  Code (TEC), §28.002(h).
(6)
				  Students understand that a constitutional republic is a representative form of
				  government whose representatives derive their authority from the consent of the
				  governed, serve for an established tenure, and are sworn to uphold the
				  constitution.
(7) State and federal
				  laws mandate a variety of celebrations and observances, including Celebrate
				  Freedom Week.
(A) Each social studies class
				  shall include, during Celebrate Freedom Week as provided under the TEC,
				  §29.907, or during another full school week as determined by the board of
				  trustees of a school district, appropriate instruction concerning the intent,
				  meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
				  Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, in their historical contexts. The
				  study of the Declaration of Independence must include the study of the
				  relationship of the ideas expressed in that document to subsequent American
				  history, including the relationship of its ideas to the rich diversity of our
				  people as a nation of immigrants, the American Revolution, the formulation of
				  the U.S. Constitution, and the abolitionist movement, which led to the
				  Emancipation Proclamation and the women's suffrage movement.
(B) Each school district shall require that,
				  during Celebrate Freedom Week or other week of instruction prescribed under
				  subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, students in Grades 3-12 study and recite
				  the following text from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these Truths
				  to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by
				  their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
				  Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments
				  are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the
				  Governed."
(8) Students
				  discuss how and whether the actions of U.S. citizens and the local, state, and
				  federal governments have achieved the ideals espoused in the founding
				  documents.