Home Curriculum History & Social Studies
Park Day students are taught to evaluate different perspectives, exploring and analyzing a range of texts and sources in an effort to better understand history. By studying past and current events, students learn about community and societal structure, and how members of a democratic nation can educate themselves to be part of the conversation and make impactful change. Social Studies & History Curriculum Overview
Self Portraits
“Who am I?” “How am I similar to and different from others?” are questions that run through play and work time in TK. One of the ways children explore these concepts is through self portraits. Students consider skin color, hair color and style, and what they like about themselves. We look in the mirror to notice and draw details. Share time is when we make observations about each portrait and share questions and compliments for the artist.
All About Me Bags
Kindergarteners launch the year with All About Me Bags, each filled with items representing aspects of their identity. This project ties into our first unit social studies focus on who we are as individuals, and who we are as a community. Students explore questions like Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? How can we learn together? and How can I be a friend in this community?
Social Change Ecosystem
How do we each as individuals make positive change in our community? 1st graders explore this question through Deepa Iyer’s book We Are The Builders. Using Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem, students discover that a thriving community needs many different kinds of builders—from healers and caregivers to visionaries, storytellers, and experimenters. Students brainstorm how members of our Park Day community embody these different roles, and bring this understanding to life through a vibrant mural celebrating their own roles in our community.
Voices of Change Biography Project
Students write a researched narrative about the history of a changemaker of their choosing from the 20th century. At the end of the project, they dress as their historical figure and create a video monologue or multi-media presentation to share with their families and class.
Living History
3rd graders bring their study of the Black Panther Party to life by creating a “record store” where visitors learn about the BPP’s social programs, key figures, and history. Each student designs a record with liner notes to share their own research. As a class, we visit Marcus Books, the nation’s oldest Black-owned independent bookstore, to hear stories about the store’s history and its ties to the Panthers, authors, and activists. Students also meet with former Minister of Culture, Emory Douglas, to explore how the BPP used art and print to share vision and inspire change.
Gold Rush Newspaper
Students delve into California history by exploring dominant and marginalized narratives of the Gold Rush. To immerse themselves in the mindset of the Gold Rush era, students work in groups to research, write, and create newspaper articles, editorials, cartoons, and advertisements. They highlight issues like immigration, wealth inequality, and environmental impact to produce a newspaper that reflects the diverse perspectives of the time.
Mapping New Perspectives
5th grade cartographers explore how maps both reveal and reshape our understanding of the world. Students examine the limits of projecting the globe onto a 2D surface. They discuss how mapmakers make choices that influence perspective and power, including distortions of size and shape. Students then create their own maps by dissecting a globe and deciding what is most important to preserve. Towards the end of the unit, students select a map to replace the traditional north-up projection in their Social Studies classroom.
Digging Into Ancient Civilizations
6th grade archaeologists study the rise of Sumerian city-states. They analyze artifacts and primary sources to explore what it means to be “civilized,” connecting big ideas about power and complexity to everyday life in ancient Mesopotamia. This work includes matching aspects of Sumerian civilization with real artifacts. Students synthesize their learning through journal entries imagining a day in the life of someone in ancient Sumer.
Trial of Columbus
7th graders represent centuries-old clients in a mock trial of Columbus. Acting as public defenders for historical figures, whether Columbus, his men, Ferdinand & Isabella, the Taínos, or the System of Empire, students explore diverse perspectives and complex historical contexts, considering motivations, actions, and consequences from multiple angles. Students are challenged to engage deeply with historical narratives through the lenses of power, privilege, and voice.
Electoral College Debates
8th graders take on a thought-provoking debate, tackling the topic of the Electoral College. As they research its origins, weigh contemporary opinions, and explore opposing perspectives, students sharpen their skills in critical thinking, perspective-taking, and respectful dialogue. The debates not only illuminate a key issue in American democracy, but also connect to broader questions of equity and the systemic ‘isms’ students examine throughout the year.
In Lower School, teachers integrate community values and aspects of belonging into every part of the curriculum. Social Studies content includes an inclusive and honest look at history with a focus on identity, justice and developing future change makers, while being mindful of age appropriate stages of development. Educators teach grade-level skills and concepts including research, organizing written and oral thoughts, persuasive reasoning, critical thinking, presentation, and delivery.
In Middle School, independence, power and influence, critical analysis, interpretation of current events using previous moments in history, personal and structural bias and perspectives, geography and cartography, race as a force in America, and formation of government all come together in a spiraled curriuculum. Students dive even deeper in their understanding of how to select and use appropriate primary and secondary sources to back up opinions, and clarify perspectives and bias.
Because History and Social Studies bring together so many topics, including history, government, economics, civics, sociology, geography, and anthropology, students frequently participate in multi-week layered projects.