Alabama K–6 social studies standards

Differentiate between rights and responsibilities of citizens and individuals.

Explain how rules meet needs and provide order, security, and safety in the home, school, and community.

Describe roles of community helpers and leaders.

Describe the purpose of the national anthem (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) and Pledge of Allegiance.

Explain the process of earning, saving, and spending money.

Differentiate between coin, paper, and digital currency in respect to value.

Differentiate between goods and services.

Differentiate between needs and wants.

Explain the purpose and use of maps.

Identify landforms and bodies of water on maps, globes, and satellite and digital images.

Give and follow directions, using terminology that indicates position and direction.

Differentiate among broad categories of time, including long ago, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Compare daily life in homes, schools, and communities of the past and present using primary sources.

Explain ways in which responsible citizens contribute to the common good of the community and state.

Explain how voting enables communities to make choices and decisions.

Identify public offices in the community and state and the duties associated with them.

Explain the concept of using money to acquire goods and services to satisfy needs and wants.

Describe ways occupational and recreational opportunities in the local community and state are affected by the physical environment.

Define natural resources and identify examples in their community and state.

Explain how products are distributed from producers to sellers to consumers.

Name and locate their local community, county, state, and state capital on a political map.

Identify map features, including title, cardinal directions, and key.

Construct maps of familiar places.

Differentiate among landforms, bodies of water, and other physical features on maps, globes, and satellite and digital images.

Construct calendars, timelines, and daily schedules.

Differentiate between primary and secondary sources.

Summarize historical events that have shaped the community and state.

Identify and describe the contributions of significant individuals associated with the community and state in the past and the present.

Identify festivals and observances celebrated in the community and state, and describe their historical origins.

Identify sites of historical importance in the community and describe their significance.

Utilize primary sources to compare and contrast conditions in their community and state over time.

Describe the reasons for the settlement of the American colonies.

Identify American principles found within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Compare the state and national governments in respect to their powers, roles, and leaders.

Explain the voting process.

Identify examples of imported and exported goods, including those produced within Alabama.

Explain how scarcity influences supply and demand.

Explain how Alabama’s natural resources are utilized in its economy.

Identify the seven continents, the five oceans, and the Equator shown on maps, globes, and satellite and digital images.

Differentiate between the features of a physical map and a political map, and explain how these features contribute to the map’s purpose.

Describe regions of the state and nation, using vocabulary associated with geographical features of Earth, including bay, hill, island, mountain range, peninsula, plateau, and valley.

Utilize gridlines to find locations on a map.

Describe segments of time, including year, decade, and century.

Describe historical events and celebrations within the state and nation using primary and secondary sources.

Research and explain the importance of individual founders and significant figures who shaped the nation.

Describe the purpose and significance of commonly observed holidays, commemorations, and celebrations.

Describe the Alabama connections to national holidays, including Veterans Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Explain the history and significance of American symbols and monuments.

Describe the experiences of groups that have migrated to and within the United States throughout history.

Identify and summarize legends, stories, and songs that contributed to the cultural fabric of the United States.

Identify the Equator, International Date Line, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Capricorn, and Tropic of Cancer, using cardinal and intermediate directions.

Locate points on a grid using latitude and longitude coordinates.

Use the map scale to calculate the distance between two locations.

Interpret thematic maps to compare and contrast Alabama to other states.

Describe the geographic features and natural resources of Alabama regions, including the Alabama Ridge and Valley, Black Belt, Cumberland Plateau, Highland Rim, Lower Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Upper Coastal Plain.

Identify major river systems of Alabama and their points of origin, including the Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Perdido, Tallapoosa, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers.

Locate state and national parks within Alabama and explain their historical and economic significance.

Locate and describe the significance of state and national symbols, landmarks, and monuments.

Explain the economic, geographic, and social impact of natural disasters over time.

Describe how Alabama’s environment has been positively and negatively affected by human activity over time.

Compare and contrast the roles of anthropologists, archaeologists, and paleontologists.

Identify changes that took place in prehistoric/pre-contact cultures in the Southeast between the Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.

Describe key characteristics of different tribes in Alabama in the Mississippian Period, contrasting social customs, political organization, and religious practices.

Trace and compare routes of early explorers of North and South America.

Describe key parts of Hernando de Soto’s expedition through Alabama and explain its effects on Alabama’s Indigenous peoples.

Explain why interactions and conflicts occurred between Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the Southeast from 1519 to the early 1700s, including differing beliefs regarding culture, land use and ownership, religion, and trade.

Locate on maps the French settlements in early Alabama, including Mobile (1702), Fort Toulouse (1717), and Fort Condé (1723), and describe their significance.

Map the locations of significant European settlements and major Indigenous nations in North America and Alabama.

Compare and contrast the physical geography of the Northern, Middle, and Southern colonies, including geographic features and differences in climate, and explain how geography impacted settlement.

Describe the triangular trade system, including the Middle Passage of the transatlantic slave trade, and describe the experiences of West Africans before and after being kidnapped and forced into slavery.

Describe the contributions of key individuals who established and developed early American colonies.

Explain how the French and Indian War affected power, trade, and claims to lands in Alabama for both Native Americans and European nations.

Describe key events that caused tension and led American colonists to protest against Great Britain, including the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, and Intolerable Acts.

Summarize the contributions of different groups and individuals to the American Revolution.

Describe events that took place in Alabama during the Revolution, including the Spanish seizure of Mobile and the Battle of Fort Charlotte, and explain the involvement of Native Americans.

Summarize the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

Explain how the Treaty of Paris (1783) and Pinckney’s Treaty helped set the boundaries of the United States, including the area that would become Alabama.

Describe the system of government established by the Constitution, including the three branches of government and their functions.

Explain why the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution and how the amendment process allows changes to protect or expand rights.

Summarize how the Federal Road increased access to Creek Territory for settlers and enslaved persons, and explain how their arrival affected Native Americans.

Describe the causes of the Creek War within the context of the War of 1812 and explain the social, political, and economic effects on Alabama and the nation.

Identify significant battles and leaders of the Creek War.

Identify contributions of Alabama’s early political leaders, including William Wyatt Bibb, Thomas Bibb, Israel Pickens, William Rufus King, and John W. Walker.

Outline political and geographic reasons for changing the location of Alabama’s state capital.

Locate states admitted to the United States between 1812 and 1860 and categorize these states as either “free” or “slave” states.

Identify different trades and occupations of Alabamians in the period from 1812 to 1860.

Describe the living and working conditions and the cultural practices of enslaved persons engaged in skilled trades, domestic roles, and agricultural production, including effects of the domestic slave trade on their lives.

Explain how the Indian Removal Act (1830), Second Creek War (1836) and economic policies affected the lives, rights, and territories of the Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes.

Describe the development of educational institutions in Alabama from statehood through 1860.

Identify and describe how key events from the Missouri Compromise (1820) to the election of Abraham Lincoln (1860) contributed to growing sectional divisions.

Describe the influence of abolitionists, including enslaved persons and self-liberated Black Americans, on efforts to end slavery in the United States.

Describe the significance of the Clotilda’s delivery of kidnapped people to Mobile Bay as an effort to expand slavery.

Summarize Alabama’s role in the formation of the Confederate States of America, including the pivotal events that took place in Montgomery and the division over secession in the northern part of the state.

Identify Alabama’s economic and military contributions to the Civil War, including weapons manufacturing, soldiers, and the use of and resistance to conscripted enslaved labor.

Locate and describe the impact of significant Civil War battles, including those affecting Alabama, and identify the location of Confederate states, states remaining loyal to the United States, and capital cities of the Confederacy and United States.

Describe how the Civil War affected the people of Alabama, including the end of slavery, destruction of transportation systems, collapse of the economy, and the role of women on the home front.

Summarize events that marked the conclusion of the Civil War, including the assassination of President Lincoln, the surrender of Confederate armies, the spread of emancipation, and Emancipation and Juneteenth celebrations in Alabama and other states.

Explain political changes in Alabama during Reconstruction, including new state constitutions, Black Codes, changes in political parties, voting rights, and citizenship rights for Black Americans.

Describe the effects of Reconstruction on education and social institutions in Alabama.

Explain how Africatown was established, describing the challenges its founders overcame and the ways they built community.

Recount the contributions of Alabamians who helped shape their state during Reconstruction.

Describe how industry, trade, farming, and the rise of Populism changed Alabama after the Civil War and shaped its economy and communities in the late 1800s.

Explain how territorial expansion and the construction of the transcontinental railroad affected immigrants and Native Americans, including how it led to the loss of land in Indian Territory where Alabama tribes had been relocated.

Locate states admitted to and territories acquired by the United States between 1865 and 1900, and describe how these additional territories were acquired.

Summarize how important entrepreneurs and inventors shaped American society, and identify Alabamians who contributed to these innovations.

Describe the emergence of new forms of economic activity in Alabama at the turn of the twentieth century, including the iron, steel, textile, and timber industries.

Outline reasons for the growth of urban areas at the turn of the twentieth century, including Birmingham.

Summarize how women in Alabama participated in the suffrage movement prior to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Describe how the Populist Movement influenced the creation of the 1901 Alabama Constitution and explain the effects of its adoption, including disenfranchisement of voters through literacy tests and poll taxes that affected both Black and white male small farmers and laborers.

Identify and describe examples of prison reform, including the abolition of the convict-lease system and leadership of Julia Tutwiler.

Explain how legislation, individuals, and groups extended educational opportunities in Alabama.

Summarize the role of labor unions and reformers in changing laws governing working conditions.

Summarize Helen Keller’s life and her contributions to disability rights.

Compare the experiences of immigrants who entered the United States through various ports of entry, including Ellis Island, Angel Island, and the southern border.

Identify the economic and social conditions that led to the start of the Great Migration.

Identify and explain international events that led to the United States’ entry into World War I.

Identify the countries of the Triple Entente and Central Powers during World War I and locate them on a map.

Describe the roles and contributions of Alabamians, including the 167th Infantry Regiment (4th Alabama), to the war effort during World War I.

Locate Alabama military training camps, ammunition depots, and the Port of Mobile on a map and explain their role in World War I efforts.

Explain how overcropping, the boll weevil, and low cotton prices affected farmers in Alabama.

Explain how the Great Depression impacted Alabamians and the nation, including increased labor tensions.

Identify key characteristics of the Dust Bowl and the regions affected by it.

Identify the contributions of reformers during the New Deal, including Alabama political and civic leaders.

Identify and describe New Deal projects that helped bring relief to Alabama.

Compare totalitarianism and democracy as represented in the Axis and Allied powers prior to war in Europe.

Explain the military contributions of Americans during World War II, including the achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen and Alabama Medal of Honor recipients

Explain the significance of major events in the war, including Pearl Harbor, internment of Japanese-Americans, D-Day, the Holocaust, Victory in Europe (VE) Day, the development and use of the atomic bomb, and Victory over Japan (VJ) Day.

Explain Alabama’s contributions to military production during World War II.

Locate military installations in Alabama during World War II on a map, including Redstone Arsenal, Camp Rucker (Fort Novosel), Fort McClellan, Craig Army Air Base, Brookley Field, Tuskegee Army Air Field, and major POW camps in Alabama.

Explain how women and Black Alabamians sought and received new employment opportunities during World War II that were not previously available.

Identify Alabamians who contributed to the growth of American culture post-World War II into the 1970s.

Describe the decline of farming and the growth of urban areas in Alabama after World War II.

Describe ways in which the Civil Rights Movement sought to create change.

Trace the chronology of civil rights events in Alabama and across the nation, and summarize how they impacted one another.

Describe the contributions of Alabama leaders and foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement as well as other Alabamian supporters who aided their efforts.

Summarize how opponents of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama sought to limit its success.

Identify Alabamians who contributed to concurrent civil rights movements in the United States during the decades following World War II.

Summarize why the United States sought to contain communism during the Cold War, and locate major communist countries from the Cold War era on a map.

Explain reasons for the United States’ involvement in the Korean War and Vietnam War and describe the involvement of Alabamians in these conflicts.

Describe how technological innovations boosted space exploration during the Space Race, including the role of Redstone Arsenal and the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Trace the United States’ military involvement in international conflicts since 1980, including those following the September 11 attacks.

Research and report on Alabama’s economic contributions and participation in global markets from the mid-twentieth through twenty-first centuries.

State and defend a position regarding the benefits and drawbacks of technological advancements in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Identify political achievements and legislation nationally and within Alabama that have furthered the modern civil rights movement since 1970.

Compare the political and social structures of Southeastern Woodland Indigenous peoples and those of another region of North America.

Summarize how the Crusades, Reformation, and Renaissance influenced European exploration and describe how individuals contributed to these movements.

Trace the routes of key European expeditions in North America and describe their effects on colonization in the New World.

Locate on a map of North America the areas of European colonization, including colonies of England, France, Russia, and Spain.

Summarize how interactions between colonists and Indigenous peoples resulted in both conflict and cooperation, including economic and military alliances.

Explain how climate and geography shaped the economic identities of the colonial regions.

Differentiate among the various forms of colonial governments and identify examples of self-government in the colonies, including the Mayflower Compact, New England town meetings, and the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Identify individuals in colonial America who sought change for their communities, and describe how their efforts led to shifts in society.

Summarize efforts to limit religious freedom in the colonies.

Describe the contributions of colonists in bringing about religious change in colonial society.

Explain the influence of the Great Awakening on colonial society, including how it shaped the political beliefs of colonists.

Compare and contrast the institution of slavery in different colonial regions.

Summarize the purpose of slave codes in colonial society and explain how they demonstrated that laws can be discriminatory and unfair.

Describe how enslaved people and abolitionists sought to oppose slavery in colonial America.

Develop an argument defending the belief that the French and Indian War served as a defining event in the relationship between the American colonies and British government.

Compare and contrast methods of colonial activism and protest against British policies, including boycotts, craftwork, letters, petitions, poems, public oration, and speeches.

Describe the positive and negative effects of taxation and trade on the economic livelihood of American colonies in the 1760s and 1770s and explain how this issue violated colonists’ expectations of representative government.

Summarize the arguments put forth by Patriots and Loyalists regarding the question of independence from Great Britain, and describe efforts to compromise.

Define the key principles contained in the Declaration of Independence, including inalienable rights, equality, and social contract, and explain how they have been presented in significant statements of belief throughout United States history to the present.

Explain how the War for Independence created hardship and required sacrifice by colonists on the home front as well as by soldiers.

Research and report on the contributions to victory in the War for Independence from women, Black Americans, and supporters from other countries.

Explain the involvement of Indigenous peoples in the War for Independence and the effects of the war on Indigenous societies.

Explain why Loyalists and other colonists sided with the British during the War for Independence and how Great Britain’s defeat and withdrawal impacted their lives.

Evaluate the political and military contributions to the American Revolution of Founding Fathers, including their efforts to mobilize support, develop military strategy, and conduct foreign diplomacy.

Analyze how the Treaty of Paris of 1783 affected the development of the United States, including the establishment of its boundaries.

Compare and contrast the division of power among levels of government in unitary, federal, and confederate styles of governance.

Describe how the Northwest Land Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 established a foundation for future territorial growth of the United States and restricted the growth of slavery.

Identify innovative ideas for democratic governance and the expansion of citizen rights that were included in state constitutions during the Critical Period.

Describe the role of Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention and explain how they contributed to the development of the Constitution.

Summarize the arguments favoring and opposing ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Assess the arguments made by groups and individuals seeking greater inclusion and advancement of fundamental values in the late 1700s, including women and Black Americans, who were excluded from early American political participation.

Describe how the Magna Carta, Petition of Right, and English Bill of Rights contributed to the development of limited government.

Compare and contrast how Enlightenment thinkers interpreted the purpose of government and the relationship between government and citizens.

Develop an argument supporting the idea that the Iroquois Confederacy’s form of representative government influenced attempts of the colonies to unite as one nation.

Explain how a written constitution aids in establishing limited government and the rule of law.

Describe how the authors of the Constitution viewed the primary functions of government, based on the wording of the Preamble.

Analyze key elements of the Constitution that deal with citizenship and civic participation, including the path to citizenship and the process for amending the Constitution.

Outline the process of selecting political leaders of the United States as established in the Constitution and its amendments.

Summarize how federalism balances concerns regarding limiting a powerful national government, securing regional interests, and sharing power across the United States.

Illustrate and explain the relationship among the three branches, including checks and balances and separation of powers.

Identify key positions in each branch and describe their responsibilities.

Trace the origins of rights contained in the Bill of Rights to issues leading to the American Revolution and the concerns of colonists about unlimited government power.

Explain the significance of Marbury v. Madison (1803) in establishing judicial review by the Supreme Court.

Identify constitutional amendments that expanded political rights for citizens and describe the efforts of citizens to secure these rights.

Identify and describe ways citizens work together to influence the government and solve problems.

Differentiate between the requirements, responsibilities, and rights for citizenship in the United States.

Explain how an individual becomes a citizen of the United States, including birthright citizenship and naturalization, and identify moments in history in which citizenship has been extended to individuals not previously considered citizens.

Formulate and defend a position on the use of federal authority by Washington and his administration in response to the Whiskey Rebellion.

Summarize the views Washington expressed in his Farewell Address regarding political factions, international relations, and civic virtue.

Describe Alexander Hamilton’s economic plan for the new United States and explain how this became the foundation of capitalism in the country.

Compare the arguments for and against the establishment of the National Bank as represented by differing interpretations of the Constitution.

Compare Alexander Hamilton’s vision for an industrial United States to Thomas Jefferson’s agricultural vision.

Describe the significance of the Election of 1800 as setting the precedent for a peaceful transition of power and the electoral reform the election produced.