New Mexico State Standards for Social Studies: Grade 3

NM.I. History: Students are able to identify important people and events in order to analyze significant patterns, relationships, themes, ideas, beliefs, and turning points in New Mexico, United States, and world history in order to understand the complexity of the human experience.

I-A. New Mexico: Describe how contemporary and historical people and events have influenced New Mexico communities and regions.

I-A.1a. Describe how the lives and contributions of people of New Mexico influenced local communities and regions. 7
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard I-A.1a.

I-B. United States: Understand connections among historical events, people, and symbols significant to United States history and cultures.

I-B.1a. Describe local events and their connections to state history. 7
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard I-B.1a.

I-C. World: Students will identify and describe similar historical characteristics of the United States and its neighboring countries.

I-C.1a. Identify and compare components that create a community in the United States and its neighboring countries. 17
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard I-C.1a.

I-D. Skills: Understand time passage and chronology.

I-D.1a. Interpret information from multiple resources and contexts to determine chronological relationships. 30
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard I-D.1a.

NM.II. Geography: Students understand how physical, natural, and cultural processes influence where people live, the ways in which people live, and how societies interact with one another and their environments.

II-A. Understand the concept of location by using and constructing maps, globes, and other geographic tools to identify and derive information about people, places, and environments.

II-A.1a. Identify and use the mapping tools of scale, compass rose, grid, symbols, and mental mapping to locate and draw places on maps and globes. 17
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-A.1a.

II-B. Distinguish between natural and human characteristics of places and use this knowledge to define regions, their relationships with other regions, and patterns of change.

II-B.1a. Describe how human and natural processes can sometimes work together to shape the appearance of places (e.g., post-fire reforestation). 28
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-B.1a.

II-B.2a. Explore examples of environmental and social changes in various regions. 12
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-B.2a.

II-C. Be familiar with aspects of human behavior and man-made and natural environments in order to recognize their impact on the past and present.

II-C.1a. Identify personal behaviors that can affect community planning. 10
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-C.1a.

II-C.2a. Identify ways in which people have modified their environments (e.g., building roads, clearing land for development, mining, and constructing towns and cities). 18
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-C.2a.

II-C.3a. Describe the consequences of human modification of the natural environment (e.g., use of irrigation to improve crop yields, highways). 35
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-C.3a.

II-D. Understand how physical processes shape the Earth's surface patterns and biosystems.

II-D.1a. Identify the components of the Earth's biosystems and their makeup (e.g., air, land, water, plants, and animals). 45
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-D.1a.

II-D.2a. Describe how physical processes shape features on the Earth's surface. 50
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-D.2a.

II-E. Describe how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, and their interdependence, cooperation, and conflict.

II-E.1a. Describe how patterns of culture vary geographically. 16
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-E.1a.

II-E.2a. Describe how transportation and communication networks are used in daily life. 23
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-E.2a.

II-E.3a. Describe how cooperation and conflict affect neighborhoods and communities. 8
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-E.3a.

II-F. Describe how natural and man-made changes affect the meaning, use, distribution, and value of resources.

II-F.1a. Identify the characteristics of renewable and nonrenewable resources. 29
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard II-F.1a.

NM.III. Civics and Government: Students understand the ideals, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship and understand the content and history of the founding documents of the United States with particular emphasis on the United States and New Mexico constitutions and how governments function at local, state, tribal, and national levels.

III-A. Know the fundamental purposes, concepts, structures, and functions of local, state, tribal, and national governments.

III-A.1a. Explain the basic structure and functions of local governments. 3
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-A.1a.

III-A.2a. Describe and give examples of public good. 3
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-A.2a.

III-A.3a. Explain how New Mexico helps to form a nation with other states. 31
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-A.3a.

III-B. Identify and describe the symbols, icons, songs, traditions, and leaders of local, state, tribal, and national levels that exemplify ideals and provide continuity and a sense of community across time.

III-B.1a. Explain how symbols, songs, icons, and traditions combine to reflect various cultures over time. 11
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-B.1a.

III-C. Become familiar with the basic purposes of government in New Mexico and the United States.

III-C.1a. Describe how the majority protects the rights of the minority. 2
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-C.1a.

III-C.2a. Explain how rules/laws are made and compare different processes used by local, state, tribal, and national governments to determine rules/laws. 5
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-C.2a.

III-D. Understand rights and responsibilities of good citizenship as members of a family, school and community.

III-D.1a. Explain the significance of participation and cooperation in a classroom and community. 4
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-D.1a.

III-D.2a. Understands the impact of individual and group decisions on communities in a democratic society. 1
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-D.2a.

III-D.3a. Explain the significance and process of voting. 1
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard III-D.3a.

NM.IV. Economics: Students understand basic economic principles and use economic reasoning skills to analyze the impact of economic systems (including the market economy) on individuals, families, businesses, communities, and governments.

IV-A. Understand that individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies make decisions that affect the distribution of resources and that these decisions are influenced by incentives (both economic and intrinsic).

IV-A.1a. Explain that people want more goods and services than is possible to produce. 1
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-A.1a.

IV-A.2a. Define and categorize resources (e.g., human, financial, natural). 37
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-A.2a.

IV-A.3a. Identify a variety of products that use similar resources. 3
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-A.3a.

IV-B. Understand that economic systems impact the way individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies make decisions about goods and services.

IV-B.1a. Recognize that a market system exists whenever buyers and sellers exchange goods and services. 1
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-B.1a.

IV-B.2a. Understand how businesses operate in the United States' free enterprise system. 2
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-B.2a.

IV-B.3a. Identify examples of economic systems.

IV-C. Understand the patterns and results of trade and exchange among individuals, households, businesses, governments, and societies, and their interdependent qualities.

IV-C.1a. Understand the purposes of spending and saving money. 1
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-C.1a.

IV-C.2a. Identify currency, credit, debit, and checks as the basic mediums of exchange in Western society. 5
Suggested Titles for New Mexico Social Studies State Standard IV-C.2a.