TExES Social Studies 4-8 (118) cheat sheet

U.S. Constitution structure: Article I creates Congress, Article II the presidency, Article III the federal judiciary; the Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments, ratified in 1791.

Reconstruction amendments: the Thirteenth abolished slavery (1865), the Fourteenth granted citizenship and equal protection (1868), and the Fifteenth protected voting rights regardless of race (1870).

Texas history sequence: Spanish missions and colonization, Mexican independence in 1821, the Texas Revolution in 1836, annexation by the United States in 1845, and the Civil War in 1861–1865.

Texas geographic regions: Coastal Plains, North Central Plains, Great Plains, and Mountains and Basins; rainfall generally decreases from east to west, shaping agriculture and settlement.

Economic reasoning: scarcity forces choices; opportunity cost is the next-best alternative forgone; supply and demand interact to set equilibrium prices.

Federalism: delegated powers belong to the national government, reserved powers to the states under the Tenth Amendment, concurrent powers are shared, and implied powers derive from the necessary and proper clause.

Cultural processes: diffusion is the spread of traits between societies, while assimilation is a minority group adopting the dominant culture's practices.

Source classification: a primary source is created during the period by a participant or witness; a secondary source interprets or analyzes primary evidence after the fact.

Geography framework: the five themes are location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region; absolute location uses latitude and longitude.

Map projections always distort at least one of shape, area, distance, or direction; choose a projection based on the map's purpose.

Historical thinking: sourcing identifies author and purpose, contextualization places a source in its era, corroboration compares multiple sources, and close reading examines claims and evidence.

Economic indicators: GDP measures total output, the unemployment rate measures joblessness among the labor force, and the CPI tracks changes in consumer prices.

Inquiry arc: develop questions, gather and evaluate sources, develop evidence-based claims, and communicate conclusions.

Assessment decision rule: formative assessment occurs during learning to adjust instruction; summative assessment occurs after instruction to judge achievement.

Differentiation adjusts content, process, or product based on readiness, interest, and learning profile while keeping common learning goals.

TEKS are Texas state standards organized by grade and subject; social studies strands include history, geography, economics, government, citizenship, culture, science-technology-society, and social studies skills.