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Social Studies

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Kindergarten-3rd Grades
For our primary grades, the Derby Public Schools Curriculum department has adopted Read Kansas!, an award winning curriculum which offers ready-to-use materials to help students build reading skills as they learn about their state. Each lesson is designed to use informative text to develop critical thinking skills. The inclusion of primary source materials helps students learn to source materials, see multiple perspectives, and interpret complex text. The lessons contain attractive student materials with a complete lesson plan and assessment.

In addition, our K-3 students use the Nystrom Exploring Where & Why curriculum which contain inquiry-based activities to help students understand where they are in the world and why it matters.  

  • Kdg - New Friends & New Places

  • 1st - Neighborhoods Near & Far

  • 2nd - Communities Here & There

  • 3rd - People & Places Everywhere

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Kdg-3rd - Read Kansas! Kdg-3rd - Nystrom Exploring Where & Why

4th-5th Grades Derby Public Schools uses TCI Social Studies Alive! curriculum in the fourth and fifth grades. This program introduces unique and emotionally engaging activities that go beyond traditional elementary social studies textbooks. 4th Grade - Social Studies Alive! Regions of Our Country presents five regions of the United States through the lens of four social sciences — economics, geography, political science, and history. 5th Grade - Social Studies Alive! America’s Past covers American history from the first migrations into the Americas through the 20th century. Intense interaction with the personalities, places, and events that structured our nation leads students to be both keen observers of and informed participants in U.S. history.

alt-textalt-text                                  5th/6th - Social Studies Alive!

6th-8th Grades The Derby Public Schools Curriculum department has recently adopted a new digitally robust social studies program from Pearson. With innovative online, print, and activity-based resources, all students will go beyond the printed page and actively experience the world as it was and is today with virtual exploration around the globe. The program bridges time-tested best practices, curriculum standard expectations, and technology to help prepare students to be college and career ready. In addition to Geography, our 7th grade students also use The Kansas Journey which teaches history, government, economics and geography. This book enables students to gain a working knowledge and understanding of Kansas’s history in the context of American history, and meets the state’s Kansas history requirement.


alt-text 6th Grade - myWorld History

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7th Grade - Geography 8th Grade - American History 9th-12th Grades The Derby Public Schools Curriculum department has recently adopted a NEW United States History program by Pearson. Designed to help prepare students to be college and Career ready all while unlocking the exciting story of our nation’s history, this program invites students to explore the enduring issues that continue to shape our nation’s history. Pearson’s United States History program uses a research tested four-part learning model to enhance teaching and understanding.

1. Connect Students make learning personal as they connect to content through a story and activate their prior knowledge, personal experience, and perspective.

 2. Investigate Students actively learn, investigate, and acquire key content knowledge through a variety of components both in print and digital.

3. Synthesize Students extend their understanding by applying what they just learned in a quick recap and “pull-it-all-together” exercise before they move on to the next lesson.

4. Demonstrate Students demonstrate their understanding through a variety of authentic, formative, and summative assessments.

Students also have options to fulfill their graduation requirements for social studies by choosing from a variety of elective courses including:

  • Civics and Economics

  • World Geography

  • World History: Ancient Civilizations

  • Psychology

  • Sociology

  • Economics

  • AP European History

  • AP U.S. History
  • AP U.S. Government


alt-text alt-text 10th Grade - World History 11th Grade - United States History
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  12th Grade - Magruder’s American Government