This guide represents a synthesis of input from many sources, both Alaskan and national. The critical components of a social studies education (knowledge, democratic beliefs and values, and skills) are incorporated throughout the guide which also features the concepts of justice, equality, responsibility, rule of law, freedom, diversity, privacy, and international human rights. The themes included for grades 1-6 are: identity, culture, environment, change, citizenship/government, scarcity, and interdependence. The goal of this focus is to illustrate how people and places interact, how people of differing areas depend on each other, and how people and places fit into a global community. Social studies for the 7th and 8th grade are offered as distinct content courses with a 7th grade concentration in geography/Alaksa geography, and an 8th grade focus on United States history. The themes included in this comprehensive 8th grade course are: exploration and expansion, development of American government and political change, immigration and social change, economic development and technological change, and foreign policy. An appendix contains a listing of grade appropriate skills. (BZ)