Colorado Academic Standards Online
Use the options below to create customized views of the Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.
Current selections are shown below (maximum of five)
clear Content Area: Social Studies - 2022 // Grade Level: First Grade // Standard Category: 1. History
clear Content Area: Social Studies - 2022 // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: 1. History
clear Content Area: Social Studies - 2022 // Grade Level: Third Grade // Standard Category: 1. History
clear Content Area: Social Studies - 2022 // Grade Level: Fourth Grade // Standard Category: 1. History
clear Content Area: Social Studies - 2022 // Grade Level: Fifth Grade // Standard Category: 1. History
Social Studies - 2022
First Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Ask questions and discuss ideas about patterns and chronological order of events from the past.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Arrange life events in chronological order.
- Use words related to time, sequence, and change. For example: Past, present, future, change, first, next, and last.
- Identify the organizational components of a calendar. For example: Year, months, weeks, days, and notable events.
- Determine events from the past, present, and future, using the components of a calendar.
- Distinguish between primary and secondary sources.
- Identify information from primary and/or secondary sources that answer questions about patterns and chronological order of events from the past.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns from the past (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
- Demonstrate curiosity about patterns from the past (Creativity and Innovation).
Inquiry Questions:
- Why is it important to know the order of events?
- How do we organize time?
- What has happened in your life and what does that tell you about yourself?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers examine change and/or continuity over a period of time.
- Historical thinkers record events in sequential order to increase understanding, see relationships, understand cause and effect, and organize information.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts of change and continuity to the study of the past.
- Read and/or listen to historical fiction.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Explain how the diverse perspectives and traditions of families from many cultures have shaped the United States.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Identify the unique characteristics of oneself as well as the similarities and differences between themselves and others. For example: Eye color, ability, individuality, family composition, etc.
- Discuss common and unique characteristics of different cultures, including African American, Latino, Asian American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious minorities, using multiple sources of information.
- Understand that the United States is made up of the diverse perspectives and traditions of many cultures. For example: The diversity of foods available in the local community.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Compare one's attitudes and beliefs to others (Global and Cultural Awareness).
- Identify and explain several cultural perspectives that constitute our diverse society (Global and Cultural Awareness).
Inquiry Questions:
- How are different cultures represented in our community?
- What is culture?
- How do I learn about others’ perspectives and share my own?
- How are cultures different from and similar to one another?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers understand the importance of comparing and contrasting to identify patterns within and between cultures.
- Historical thinkers use sources to make interpretations about cultural groups from the past.
- Historical thinkers recognize symbols as cultural artifacts that can be interpreted to make meaning of both the past and present.
- Historical thinkers compare multiple perspectives of people and groups of people in order to draw conclusions about both the past and the present.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply the disciplinary concept of perspective-taking to the study of the past.
- Identify self-perspective.
Social Studies - 2022
Second Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Ask questions and discuss ideas taken from primary and secondary sources.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Explain that the nature of history involves stories of the past preserved in various primary and secondary sources. For example: Images, oral and written accounts, etc.
- Organize historical events by creating timelines and explaining the information conveyed by them.
- Identify local historical primary and secondary sources from multiple diverse perspectives and generate questions about their functions, significance, and perspective. For example: Maps, photographs, letters, etc.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify key attributes of a variety of information products. For example: Books, newspapers, online or print articles, etc. (Media Literacy).
- Demonstrate curiosity about events and people from the past using primary and secondary sources (Media Literacy).
Inquiry Questions:
- How can two people understand the same event differently?
- Why is it important to use more than one source for information?
- How can putting events in order by time help describe the past?
- What kinds of tools and sources do historical thinkers use to investigate the past?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers gather firsthand accounts of history through a variety of sources, including differing accounts of the same event.
- Historical thinkers use primary sources to investigate the past.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts such as perspective to create accounts of the past.
- Listen for main idea and sequence of events in a social studies text.
- Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Describe how people of various cultures influence neighborhoods and communities over time.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Compare and contrast neighborhoods and/or communities, both past and present, through studies of their people and events. For example: The National Western Stock Show, state/county fairs, and community events.
- Describe the changes within one neighborhood and/or community over time.
- Analyze the interactions and contributions of various people and cultures that have lived in or migrated to neighborhoods and/or communities, including African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious minorities.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
- Recognize and describe patterns within and between neighborhoods and communities (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
- Investigate to make observations and draw conclusions about neighborhoods and communities (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
Inquiry Questions:
- What are the cultural attributes of a neighborhood or community?
- How can understanding the past impact our understanding of communities today?
- How have people, events, and ideas from the past shaped the identity of communities and neighborhoods today?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers investigate relationships between the past and present.
- Historical thinkers organize findings in chronological order as one way to examine and describe the past.
- Historical thinkers examine concepts of change, continuity, and causation in order to explain the past.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts such as change, continuity, and causation to create accounts of neighborhoods and communities in the past.
- Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology.
- Begin to identify differing perspectives.
Social Studies - 2022
Third Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Compare primary and secondary sources when explaining the past.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Compare primary sources with works of fiction about the same topic.
- Use a variety of primary sources such as artifacts, pictures, oral histories, and documents, to help determine factual information about historical events.
- Compare information from multiple sources recounting the same event.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Articulate the most effective kinds of historical sources to access information needed for understanding historic events (Media Literacy).
- Ask questions to develop further understanding of reliability of various kinds of historical sources (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
Inquiry Questions:
- How do historical fact, opinion and fiction uniquely influence an individual's understanding of history?
- How do historical thinkers determine the accuracy of history?
- What types of questions do historical thinkers ask about the past?
- Why do historical thinkers use multiple sources in studying history?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers use primary sources to distinguish fact from fiction.
- Historical thinkers distinguish fact from fiction when used to make informed decisions. For example: Consumers must critically analyze advertisements for facts, and nonfiction writers must verify historical accuracy.
- Historical thinkers compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.
- Historical thinkers infer the intended audience and purpose of a historical source from information within the source itself.
- Historical thinkers use information about a historical source, including the author, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose to judge the extent to which the source is useful.
- Historical thinkers make inferences about the intended audience and purpose of a primary source from information within the source itself.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
- Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
- Use distinctions between fact and opinion to determine the credibility of multiple sources.
- Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author.
- Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
- Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
- Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.
- Communicate information through the use of technologies.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Identify how people in the past influence the development and interaction of different communities or regions.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Compare past and present situations and events.
- Give examples of people, events, and developments that brought important changes to a community or region.
- Describe the history, interaction, and contribution of various peoples and cultures, including African American, Latino, Asian American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious minorities that have lived in or migrated to a community or region and how that migration has influenced change and development.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize how members of a community rely on each other and interact to influence the development of their communities (Civic Engagement).
Inquiry Questions:
- How have people from the past from diverse groups, identities, and cultures lived together and interacted with each other?
- What types of questions do people ask to learn about the past?
- How has a region changed and yet remained the same over time?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers ask questions to guide their research into the past.
- Historical thinkers analyze the interaction, patterns, and contributions of various cultures and groups in the past.
- Historical thinkers use context and information from the past to make connections and inform decisions in the present. For example: The development and traditions of various groups in a region affect the economic development, tourist industry, and cultural makeup of a community.
- Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.
- Historical thinkers explain probable causes and effects of events.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
- Introduce a topic or text, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
- Provide reasons that support an opinion.
- Provide a concluding statement or section.
- Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aid comprehension.
- Develop a topic with facts, definitions, and details.
- Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
- Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
- Communicate information through the use of technologies.
Social Studies - 2022
Fourth Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Analyze primary and secondary sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of the history of Colorado.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Draw inferences about Colorado history from primary sources such as journals, diaries, maps, treaties, oral histories, etc.
- Identify cause-and-effect relationships using primary sources to understand the history of Colorado’s development.
- Explain, through multiple perspectives, the human interactions among people and cultures that are indigenous to or migrated to present-day Colorado. Including but not limited to: historic tribes of Colorado, the Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute, Spanish explorers, trappers, and traders.
- Identify and describe how political and cultural groups have affected the development of the region. Including but not limited to: African American, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous Peoples, religious groups, and European settlers.
- Discuss the multiple perspectives of settler colonialism/Westward Expansion and the impact on the political and cultural landscape of the region presently known as Colorado.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify and explain the perspectives of the various groups important in Colorado history when exploring the development of the state. For example: African American, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, religious groups, working class, and labor unions (Global and Cultural Awareness).
- Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships in the history of Colorado (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
Inquiry Questions:
- How have past events influenced present-day Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region?
- Why is it important to know the sequence of events and people in Colorado history?
- How can primary sources help us learn about the past or create more questions about our state's history?
- What social and economic decisions caused people to locate or relocate in various regions of Colorado?
- What factors caused the displacement of Indigenous Peoples in the region now known as Colorado?
- How does one’s perspective influence the words we use when studying events in history? For example: Settler colonialism and Westward Expansion?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers seek accounts of history from multiple perspectives and from multiple sources.
- Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes throughout time.
- Historical thinkers use primary sources as references for research.
- Historical thinkers recognize important events in Colorado and can put them in chronological order to understand cause and effect such as the interactions of Indigenous Peoples defending their homelands/way of life from settler colonialism/Westward Expansion; discovery of gold and the Gold Rush; the growth of cities and towns and the development of law; the development of the state Constitution; and prohibition of slavery.
- Historical thinkers can explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
- Begin to discuss historical perspectives.
- Communicate information through the use of technologies.
- Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
- Find information using technology.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Describe the historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in Colorado history and their relationship to key events in the United States within the same historical period.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Construct a timeline of the major events in Colorado history.
- Explain the relationship between major events in Colorado history and events in United States history during the same era. Including but not limited to: Colorado statehood, the Ludlow and Sand Creek Massacres, creation of national parks in Colorado, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, Amaché, Chicano movement, and busing in Denver.
- Describe both past and present interactions among the people and cultures in Colorado. For example: African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious groups.
- Describe the impact of various technological developments. For example: Changes in mining technologies, agricultural technology (center pivot irrigation), transportation, early 20th century industrial developments, and 20th century nuclear and computer technologies.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships within Colorado history and draw conclusions about how various events and people affected the development of the state (Critical Thinking and Analysis).
Inquiry Questions:
- In what ways have geographic, economic, cultural, and technological changes influenced Colorado today?
- Why did people of various cultural groups such as African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Indigenous Peoples, and religious minorities migrate to and settle in Colorado?
- To what extent has unity, diversity, and discord shaped Colorado?
- How have various individuals, groups, and ideas affected the development of Colorado?
- What happened to early African American communities such as Dearfield, Lincoln Hills, or Five Points in Denver?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes across time periods.
- Historical thinkers use context and information from the past to make connections and inform current decisions. For example: Colorado has had a history of boom-and-bust cycles that have influenced the decisions of city and state planners.
- Historical thinkers realize that technological developments continue to evolve and affect the present. For example: Environmental issues have had an impact on Colorado from the Gold Rush to modern pollution.
- Historical thinkers compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.
- Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
- Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
- Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
- Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
- Find information using technology.
Social Studies - 2022
Fifth Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Analyze primary and secondary sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of early United States history.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Recognize how historical context can affect the perspective of historical sources.
- Examine significant historical documents. For example: The Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and treaties with Indigenous Nations such as the Two Row Wampum Treaty.
- Interpret timelines of eras and themes in North America from early Indigenous Peoples through the European Age of Exploration/post-Columbian colonization and the establishment of the United States Government.
- Analyze cartoons, artifacts, artwork, charts, and graphs related to eras and themes in early North America.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Make observations and draw conclusions from a variety of sources when studying American history (Media Literacy).
- Identify and explain multiple perspectives when exploring events, ideas, and issues in United States history (Global and Cultural Awareness).
Inquiry Questions:
- How do sources with varied perspectives help us to understand what happened in the past?
- Why is important to understand the historical context of events?
- How might history be different without the Declaration of Independence?
- Why is it important to understand the perspectives of diverse groups involved in early United States history? For example: African Americans, Indigenous Peoples, and religious and immigrant groups.
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources to make inferences about various time periods and show cause-and-effect relationships.
- Historical thinkers seek people, places, and events that tell the story of history from multiple perspectives.
- Historical thinkers examine data for point of view, historical context, distortion, or propaganda.
- Historical thinkers apply the historical method of inquiry to continuously interpret and refine history. For example: Political cartoonists portray multiple perspectives of events, and newspapers may be biased in coverage of events throughout time.
- Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
- Historical thinkers explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
- Historical thinkers explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time.
- Historical thinkers summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.
- Historical thinkers gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, structure, and context to guide the selection.
- Historical thinkers use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
- Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
- Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
- Communicate information using technology.
- Understanding how rules for respecting others’ belongings apply to digital content and information privacy.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Examine the historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in North America from early Indigenous Peoples through the European Age of Exploration/post-Columbian colonization and the establishment of the United States Government.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Explain interactions among various groups such as Indigenous Peoples, enslaved individuals (both Indigenous and African), and European colonists. For example: The cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples, chattel slavery of Africans, the League of the Iroquois, Spanish missions, and trade networks.
- Identify and describe the contributions of significant individuals and groups of Indigenous Peoples, enslaved individuals, and European colonists through the American Revolution. For example: Crispus Attucks, Sybil Luddington, Benjamin Banneker, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry.
- Describe the political, social, and economic reasons for the settlement of the European and American colonies and how it affected Indigenous Peoples and enslaved Africans.
- Analyze important political, social, economic, and military developments leading to and during the American Revolution.
- Investigate causes and effects of significant events in early United States history. For example: The establishment of Jamestown, George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, the French and Indian War, and the Constitutional Convention.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify and explain multiple perspectives including African Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Latinos, Asian Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ, and religious groups when exploring events, ideas, issues in United States history (Global and Cultural Awareness).
Inquiry Questions:
- How did historical events and individuals contribute to diversity in the United States?
- How did beliefs and values shape the founding documents?
- To what extent did individuals and their ideas contribute to the establishment of the United States government?
- Whose voices were left out of the process of establishing the United States government? How have omissions in the historical record shaped our perception of history?
- Why is it important to understand the perspective of multiple diverse groups involved in early United States history?
- How did European colonization affect Indigenous and enslaved African populations?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers use chronology to organize and study cause-and-effect relationships across time.
- Historical thinkers study people, places, and events to tell the story of history from multiple diverse perspectives.
- Historical thinkers examine the context and information from the past to make connections and inform decisions in the present. For example: The concept of liberty continues to be defended by lawyers and citizens; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens continue to evolve through the work of policy makers, legislators, judges, lawyers, and individuals
- Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
- Historical thinkers explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time.
- Historical thinkers summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.
- Historical thinkers use evidence to develop a claim about the past.
- Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
- Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
- Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
- Communicate information using technology.
Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us