Alberta · Grade 6 Social Studies · Implemented September 2026
Alberta's new Grade 6 Social Studies, explained for the teacher planning it
Every guiding question in Alberta's new Grade 6 Social Studies is about democracy: what past democracies teach us, how Canada's governments put its principles to work, how laws protect people, and why taking part matters. The program was implemented across the province in September 2026. Here is what changed, what each part of the year asks students to do, and one way to lay out the ten months.
Milestone Teachers - created by an Ontario Certified Teacher · Last reviewed
Download the free year-at-a-glance organizer (PDF) · Read the official Grade 6 program on LearnAlberta
- 3 organizing ideas
- 4 guiding questions
- 4 learning outcomes
- Sept 2026 implemented province-wide
What changed from the 2005 program
Alberta's own comparison of the 2005 program with the new one gives examples rather than a full list. Three changes run through every grade, Grade 6 included:
| 2005 program | New program |
|---|---|
| History, geography, civics and economics were not all addressed in every grade. | History, geography, economics, politics and citizenship all appear in every grade. |
| How much civics a grade included varied. | Citizenship is one of the organizing ideas in every grade. |
| Learning about diverse people and communities varied from grade to grade. | Every grade explores why cultural diversity in Canada matters. |
After piloting and feedback, Alberta says the final version also:
- uses plainer wording, with less jargon and fewer abstract terms;
- carries less content, with duplicates removed so the essentials get more time;
- re-sequences some content so it fits what students of that age already know;
- strengthens First Nations, Métis and Inuit histories, perspectives and contributions;
- includes pluralism and francophone histories and perspectives, to help students understand issues such as discrimination and racism.
Each learning outcome is spelled out in three parts: Knowledge (what students learn), Understanding (the big idea it builds toward) and Skills & Procedures (what students do with it). Plan from the Skills & Procedures: they are the verbs you will assess.
The three organizing ideas
Time and Place: Where democracy came from
The question, in short: What can democracies from the past tell us about democracy today?
What students learn
- Four principles of democracy: equality under law, justice, freedom and representation.
- Ancient Athens, where democracy began in response to authoritarian rule: direct democracy in which male citizens took part in government themselves, and how social class decided who counted as a citizen.
- The Roman Republic, where male citizens voted for representatives, and how its government was split into three branches.
- England: the Magna Carta (1215), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) and the Bill of Rights (1689), and how each limited a monarch's power or protected individual rights.
- The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose Nations continue to make decisions together by consensus: the Grand Council, the roles of Chiefs and Clan Mothers, and the Great Law of Peace.
What students do
- investigate how democracy began in Athens
- compare Athens with the Roman Republic, and direct with representative democracy
- discuss how laws and agreements moved democracy forward
- explain how Chiefs and Clan Mothers take part in Haudenosaunee decision making
Planning tip: This is the densest outcome of the year: Athens, Rome, three English documents and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy under one question. Keep a single comparison chart on the wall and add one row per system (who took part, how decisions were made, what limited power). By January it is the students' own summary of the unit.
Systems: How government works in Canada
The question, in short: Where do the principles of democracy show up in Canada's governments?
What students learn
- Canada's government is built on the British parliamentary system and carries forward ideas from the earlier systems.
- Who does what: the prime minister and premiers (each the leader of the party with the most elected members), the Governor General and lieutenant governors, and the Official Opposition that holds governments to account.
- How municipal, provincial, territorial and federal governments are elected, and what MPs and MLAs do.
- How the Constitution Act divides decision making between Ottawa and the provinces, and why courts work independently of elected governments.
What students do
- connect the parliamentary system and earlier systems to democracy in Canada
- describe the evidence of democratic principles in Canada today
- describe how each level of government is elected
- argue for the role of an Official Opposition and an independent judiciary
- tell provincial responsibilities apart from federal ones
Planning tip: Students remember the parts of government better when they meet real people doing the jobs. Look up your own MLA and MP with the class, and sort a week of news headlines into provincial or federal.
Citizenship: Rights, and taking part
The question, in short: How can laws protect people in a democracy, and how does taking part keep a democracy working? (Two guiding questions, one learning outcome each.)
What students learn
- The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982): fundamental freedoms that apply to everyone in Canada, citizens or not; equality, legal and religious rights; and reasonable limits on rights that protect other people.
- Collective rights in the Charter: Aboriginal and treaty rights (section 25), minority-language education rights for francophones and anglophones (section 23), and publicly funded religious schools (section 29), plus English and French as official languages.
- Discrimination and racism that diverse communities in Canada still face, antisemitism and Islamophobia among them.
- Civic participation, formal and informal, and the steps of planning a project that acts on a real issue.
What students do
- judge which Charter rights and freedoms matter most to them, and why
- compare the Charter with similar documents in other countries
- propose new responsibilities, and new freedoms, for people in Canada
- examine groups that experience discrimination in Canada
- make the case for civic participation, and plan a civic participation project
Planning tip: Start the civic participation project early. Choosing an issue in April and running the project in May and June gives students time to act, not just plan. The project-planning steps (issue, research, goals, costs, steps, doing it, reflecting) make a ready-made rubric.
A year at a glance
This order is our suggestion, not a required sequence. It gives the densest outcome, Time and Place, the most time and ends the year with students acting on what they learned. Move months to fit your school's calendar.
| Month | Organizing idea | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| September | Time and Place | What makes a democracy: the four principles, and class decision-making routines. Start the comparison chart. |
| October | Time and Place | Ancient Athens: direct democracy, who was a citizen, and how laws were debated and decided. |
| November | Time and Place | The Roman Republic: representatives and three branches. Athens and Rome side by side. |
| December | Time and Place | England: the Magna Carta, the Habeas Corpus Act and the Bill of Rights as steps toward rights and accountability. |
| January | Time and Place | The Haudenosaunee Confederacy: consensus, the Grand Council, Chiefs and Clan Mothers. Finish the comparison chart. |
| February | Systems | Canada's parliamentary system, the Crown's representatives, and how each level of government is elected. |
| March | Systems | Premiers and the prime minister, the Official Opposition, MPs and MLAs, federal and provincial powers, independent courts. |
| April | Citizenship | The Charter: fundamental freedoms, individual rights and reasonable limits. Students choose a civic issue. |
| May | Citizenship | Collective rights and official languages; the Charter compared with other countries; discrimination and racism in Canada. |
| June | Citizenship | Carry out and reflect on the civic participation project. |
Free: Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies: Year-at-a-Glance Organizer
Page 1: the ten-month plan above with columns for your dates and resources. Page 2: a planning box for each of the four learning outcomes. Page 3: the democracy comparison chart for students (Athens, the Roman Republic, England's documents, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Canada today).
Download the organizer (PDF, 3 pages). No sign-up needed.
Free: Democracy Lab
A free classroom interactive, no login: who had a voice in five systems of government, which government handles what, and Charter scenarios with the Charter's own words. About the Democracy Lab.
Units for this year
Ready-to-teach units from Milestone Teachers, one per organizing idea, each available as a Milestone Teachers download.
- Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies NEW Curriculum | Time and Place Democracy Unit. The Time and Place organizing idea: Athens, the Roman Republic, England and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. 10 lessons and a culminating task: 11 PowerPoint decks (121 slides), a 59-page student workbook, a 72-page accommodated edition and a 43-page teacher guide with answer key, and an offline copy of Democracy Lab. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
- Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies NEW Curriculum | Systems: Democracy in Canada. The Systems organizing idea: how the principles of democracy show up in Canada's governments. 10 lessons and a culminating task: 11 PowerPoint decks (104 slides), a 57-page student workbook, a 74-page accommodated edition and a 39-page teacher guide with answer key, and an offline copy of Democracy Lab. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
- Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies NEW Curriculum | Citizenship and Charter Unit. The Citizenship organizing idea: the Charter, rights and civic participation. 11 lessons and a culminating task: 12 PowerPoint decks (119 slides), a 68-page student workbook, an 87-page accommodated edition, a 46-page teacher guide with answer key, and an offline copy of Democracy Lab. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
- Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies NEW Curriculum Full Year Bundle | 3 Units. All three organizing ideas: Time and Place, Systems and Citizenship. The three units above in one resource bundle: Time and Place, Systems and Citizenship, each its own download. In the bundle, open the Time and Place ZIP to find the offline Democracy Lab. Extract the ZIP and keep its files together; school browser policies may restrict local HTML. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
Try a complete lesson free
A year-at-a-glance plan for all four Grade 6 learning outcomes and Lesson 8, "Federal and provincial powers," exactly as it appears in the Systems unit: student pages at two reading levels, the teacher plan and answer key, and the lesson's 10-slide deck. Free ZIP: a 20-page PDF and 10-slide teaching deck. The warm-up reviews Lessons 6 and 7, which are not included; the teacher guide retains the end of Lesson 7's plan. Alberta Grade 6 Social Studies NEW Curriculum | FREE Year Plan + Sample Lesson (free resource).
What this guide is not
An independent planning guide, not an Alberta Education publication. It paraphrases the program and does not list every Knowledge, Understanding and Skills & Procedures statement; read the full Grade 6 program on LearnAlberta before you plan assessments. The suggested order is ours.
Sources
- Alberta Education and Childcare (LearnAlberta): Social Studies (K-6), Grade 6: the full program
- Government of Alberta: Social studies: what changed, previous and new curriculum comparison
- Government of Alberta: Curriculum subject areas: implementation timeline
All new curriculum guides · Manitoba Grade 6 Science · Ontario Kindergarten (2026)