Social Studies

boys studying

Guiding Principles

In Holliston the Social studies curriculum enables students to develop an informed worldview, expand their ability to think from multiple perspectives and acquire the skills necessary for active citizenship in the 21st century that will empower them to interact effectively in an increasingly interdependent world.

Students from the earliest ages will read and think critically, speak and write effectively and participate in purposeful decision making and problem solving within the context of social sciences.

Placentino  students will participate in a social studies curriculum that is aligned to the DESE Framework; over the course of their elementary experience, students will be introduced to the fundamental principles of liberty, justice, and equality. Included in our units of study, especially in grades 4 and 5, will be a more robust foundation in history and government, with standards that address the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the 20th century Civil Rights movement, in addition to standards that travel further back in history to the American Revolution and the early Republic.

  • Preschool: Building a Foundation for Living, Learning, and Working Together Students are introduced to four major fields of social studies: civics (respecting one another, cooperating, and obeying appropriate rules); geography (understanding connections between places and people); history (recalling experiences); and economics (understanding working, buying, selling and trading things).
  • Kindergarten: Many Roles in Living, Learning, and Working Together Students learn about classroom democracy, respect for one another, local geography, roles of people, national, state, and community traditions, and economics in the context of work and money.
  • Grade 1: Leadership, Cooperation, Unity, and Diversity Students learn about leadership on many levels, the meaning of citizenship, and map types. They explore how the concepts of unity and diversity, respect for differences, and respect of self shape life in the United States, and how people make choices about purchasing goods and services and saving resources.
  • Grade 2: Global Geography: Places and Peoples, Cultures and Resources Students learn about global geography, looking at reasons why people settle in particular places, why they migrate, how they bring culture with them, and how they earn a living, exchange goods and services, and save for the future