Illinois Learning Standards
Stage B - Social Science
Students who meet the standard can understand and explain basic principles of the United States government.
- Tell about some rules and responsibilities that students
have in school to help promote order and safety.
- Name some of the benefits of sharing and taking turns
during games and group activities.
- Explain why schools have rules to help students learn.
- Produce new rules that could apply to students' lives
at home or school.
- Demonstrate examples of honesty and fairness when playing
or working with other students.
- Give an example of how governments help people live safely
- Identify why people need governments to help organize
or protect people.
Students who meet the standard can understand the structures and functions of the political systems of Illinois, the United States, and other nations.
- Identify the officials and political bodies that form
the organization of their local government (mayor, police
chief, justice of the peace).
- Name the current President of the United States.
- Identify important services provided by local governments
to people (e.g., police and fire protection, parks departments).
Students who meet the standard can understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens.
- Discuss a situation in their home or school that illustrates
people being responsible in their duties or job.
- List examples of responsible student classroom behavior.
- Summarize the outcome of classroom decision-making in
terms of what was decided by the majority of the students.
- Identify elected leaders (e.g., mayor, governor, president).
Students who meet the standard can understand the roles and influences of individuals and interest groups in the political systems of Illinois, the United States, and other nations.
- Identify a student or parent group that serves the school.
- State the interests of students and adults involved in
a school project (e.g., a fund raising activity to buy and
build new playground equipment for their school).
- Tell how a student should express ideas in a respectful
manner to another student or to teachers.
- Recognize the responsibilities of local government.
Students who meet the standard can understand United States foreign policy as it relates to other nations and international issues.
- Tell about someone that students have seen or met (e.g.,
on television, in a book, in the neighborhood) who lives
in another country.
- Tell about food from other countries.
- Identify a product or artifact that comes from another
country (e.g., food, toys).
Students who meet the standard can understand the development of United States political ideas and traditions.
- Identify an example of behavior that shows someone showing
good citizenship (e.g., recycling, being honest when being
- Give examples of people being honest and truthful when
working with others.
- Describe how a holiday such as the Fourth of July represents
the idea of freedom.
- Describe how a holiday such as Veteran's Day represents
the idea of sacrifice to preserve freedom.
- State reasons why people benefit from basic rights such
as freedom of speech.
Students who meet the standard understand economic systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
- List and categorize goods and services families consume.
- Explain how a family made a choice.
- Identify at least three ways in which a scarce item might
be distributed in the classroom (e.g., 10 cookies for 20
- Identify jobs students might do to earn pay.
- Identify jobs adults do.
- Match workers in the community to the goods and services
Students who meet the standard understand that scarcity necessitates choices by consumers.
- Describe times when students or families have been consumers.
- Identify a choice students have made about the use of
- Choose between two items and correctly identify the item
given up as the opportunity cost.
Students who meet the standard understand that scarcity necessitates choices by producers.
- Explain that people who make goods and services are producers.
- List examples of human, natural, and capital resources.
Students who meet the standard understand trade as an exchange of goods or services.
- Define barter.
- Give examples of barter in the economy.
- Describe a trade that has been made and why the people
agreed to trade.
Students who meet the standard understand the impact of government policies and decisions on production and consumption in the economy.
- Identify public goods and services that students or families
Students who meet the standard can apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
- Place a series of events from a chronology (e.g., the
student's life) in their proper places on a timeline.
- Explain how the individual events on a timeline are related
to one another.
- Use a story or an image about the past to describe what
life was like for people who lived during that period.
- Explain why people need to know about the history of those
who live in other places.
Students who meet the standard understand the development of significant political events.
- Identify key individuals and events in the development
of the local community (e.g., Founders' days, names of parks,
streets, public buildings). (US)
- Identify a local historical monument or place. (US)
- Explain how an event in United States political history
is related to a current community event or issue. (US)
- Identify significant political figures or groups from
the past. (W)
- Name significant political ideas from the past. (W)
- Tell about a political event featured in a folk tale,
story, or legend (e.g., King Arthur, King Midas). (W)
Students who meet the standard understand the development of economic systems.
- Explain why people traded in the past. (US)
- Describe how people made a living in the past. (US)
- Identify the significance of trade in society in the past
and present. (W)
- Describe how people made a living in ancient civilizations.
- Explain how people made economic choices to survive and
improve their lives in the past. (W)
Students who meet the standard understand Illinois, United States, and world social history.
- Identify stories and folk-tales that describe various
customs practiced in America and/or local communities (e.g.,
John Henry, Pocahontas). (US)
- Tell how stories and folk-tales influence the behavior
of Americans and/or local community members. (US)
- Name a significant social organization that worked to
improve life in the community and/or the United States (e.g.,
Red Cross, VFW, YWCA/YMCA). (US)
- Tell about a person who worked to improve life in the
community and/or United States. (US)
- List examples of past traditions found within the local
- Interpret stories and folktales from the past to show
various customs from groups of people in the past and the
influence these customs had on their society. (W)
Students who meet the standard understand Illinois, United States, and world environmental history.
- Tell about a myth, legend, or story that people told long
ago to describe the physical environment of a place or region
in Illinois or other states. (US)
- Locate the place in the local community where an important
event took place. (US)
- Locate place names on a map of Illinois that give a clue
to a community's early history and/or physical features.
- Tell about a myth, legend, or story that people told long
ago to describe a region or place's physical environment
(e.g., stories of floods, castles on hillsides) (W)
Students who meet the standard can locate, describe and explain places, regions and features on Earth.
- Compare physical and human features of different places
on the school grounds and in the neighborhood.
- Describe the relative location of places using terms such
as near, far, towards, away from, next to, to describe events
in the story, using a children's story book, such as "Make
Way for Ducklings".
- Locate on a map or drawing the relative location of the
school to students' homes.
- Observe and suggest reasons for the locations of stop
signs, stoplights, fire hydrants, and other human-made features
in the area around the school.
- Identify similar physical characteristics of Earth using
the globe and pictures.
- Respond to verbal instructions involving directions (e.g.,
play "Simon Says" and point to left/right, or
up/down when told to do so).
Students who meet the standard can analyze and explain characteristics and interactions of Earth's physical systems.
- Describe how seasons relate to the ways people dress and
seasonal activities they engage in, in different areas of
the world using pictures in books and magazines.
- Look at the sky early in the day and predict what the
weather might be like, then record the predictions on a
wall chart for several months.
- Identify behaviors that would show respect for the environment.
Students who meet the standard can understand relationships between geographic factors and society.
- Tell how people pollute the air, water, and land.
- Select pictures from a series that show people using the
environment to meet their needs (e.g., people cutting trees
in a forest, damming up rivers, mining operations).
- Locate pictures showing ways that humans use the natural
- Describe how people have changed the physical and human
environment of the school grounds and the surrounding neighborhood.
Students who meet the standard can understand the historical significance of geography.
- Describe daily changes in the weather and changes in the
seasons in the local community.
- Describe seasonal changes occurring on the school ground
throughout the year.
- Explain why physical and human features in the local environment
change over time.
Students who meet the standard can compare characteristics of culture as reflected in language, literature, the arts, traditions, and institutions.
- Describe how communities within a culture are similar.
- Identify cultural traits.
- Identify symbols of local culture.
- Describe the role of technology in daily life.
Students who meet the standard can understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society.
- Define social group.
- Explain how contact with others shapes peoples' lives.
- Give examples of personality differences.
- Tell about the role of families in the community.
Students who meet the standard can understand how social systems form and develop over time.
- Provide examples of how individuals make choices that
affect the group.
- Give examples of group decisions that do not please every
individual in the group.
Return to Social Science Classroom
Assessments and Performance Descriptors