A guide to exploring Discovery Education Social Studies Essentials (SSE) in ten easy steps.
Step 1: Sign in to DE and Select Social Studies Essentials
Navigate to the DE Direct Login page or your custom URL. Enter your username and password and select Sign in. Select Social Studies Essentials from the Curriculum Packs section of your My DE homepage, or access it from any page using the Global Nav menu in the upper-left corner.
Step 2: Explore Program-Level Resources
Before diving into your grade-level curriculum, open the SSE Program Guide and Literacy Companion to get familiar with the program's instructional design, organization, and assessment approach, along with strategies for supporting literacy development. To open these resources, click Program Resources and select a resource tile.
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To explore additional Social Studies Essentials curriculum resources, click a resource title below: |
Step 3: Review Your Grade-Level Curriculum
Select your grade level to open the grade-level homepage. From this page, select the Scope and Sequence tile to review the core understanding, guiding question, literacy skill focus, and framework standards for each grade level unit.
Step 4: Open and Review a Unit
Each grade level includes five units, with six lessons per unit and a unit assessment. If you're new to the program, start with Unit 1 to get a feel for how a typical unit flows before building out learning plans. Open the Unit Outline to see the framework standards, compelling questions, and learning targets for all six lessons, plus the standards addressed in the unit assessment.
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Click the resource title below to learn more about SSE Units: |
Step 5: Open and Navigate a Lesson Page
After familiarizing yourself with a unit, the next steps focus on understanding SSE lesson design, content, and resources. Before diving deeper into the lesson content, first get to know how an SSE lesson page is structured. Click any lesson tile inside the unit and explore the page, opening teacher notes, selecting actions, and opening and closing additional resources.
Not sure where to start? Try the following actions:
- Near the top of the lesson page, hover over either side of the slide deck to page through it
- In Teaching Notes, click the arrows next to each section to view and hide step-by-step lesson plans.
- Click Curriculum Standards to see lesson standards
- In the Supporting Resources section, open at least one resource and navigate back to the lesson page.
- In the lesson actions on the right side of the lesson, select Present to Class or Print Lesson to see what students will see.
- Open the lesson assessment and view the digital and the print version.
Step 6: Review the Lesson Content & Resources
Now that you have explored how to find what you need on a lesson page, it is time to dive deeper into the Teacher Notes.
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Click a help article title below to learn more about lesson structure and content for specific grade bands. |
Step 7: Review Remaining Unit Lessons
Follow the relevant steps above to explore the remaining lessons in the unit.
Step 8: Review the Unit Assessment
Each unit includes an assessment tied to its learning target, found on the unit page. Response formats grow more independent by grade band — from drawing and speaking in K-1 to more writing- and text-based responses in 4-5.
To review all aspects of the assessment, select the assessment tile on the unit page and then:
- Expand the Assessment Settings and Materials sections
- Expand the Standards section
- Scroll down to see assessment questions and choose to show or hide evaluation criteria
- Scroll back to the top, click Print View, and select the version most appropriate for your students.
Step 9: Determine How to Share SSE Materials with your Students
Social Studies Essentials offers multiple ways for students to interact with lesson and assessment content. You know your students best. Of the available options and student access to devices, would digital delivery, printed resources, or a combination of the two be best for your students?
Step 10: Print and Prepare Resources
Depending on when you would like to introduce SSE content to your students, print resources and/or assign the first lesson to your students!