5th grade Social Studies
11 units matched to the California Content Standards.
Focus areas
- United States history and geography: making a new nation
- The colonies, the Revolution and the Constitution
- Settling the West, and the 50 states and capitals
Units
Unit 1
Colonies to Constitution
Ordering events from Columbus to the Bill of Rights, including slavery and resistance, to see causes and effects over time.
Learning standard: 5.4.1; 5.5.1; 5.7.2 · putting the events from the founding of the colonies to the Constitution in order
Unit 2
States & Capitals
The capital cities of the 50 states, and major rivers, mountains and lakes of the United States.
Learning standard: 5.9 · the location of the 50 states and the names of their capitals
Unit 3
Nations Before 1500
Nations of the desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest coast, the Great Plains and the eastern woodlands: how geography shaped their homes, food, trade and governments. Light, in the present tense, with nations as living communities today.
Learning standard: 5.1.1; 5.1.3 · how geography and climate shaped how the major pre-Columbian nations lived, and their varied economies and systems of government
Unit 4
Explorers & Encounters
The aims, sponsors, routes and obstacles of European explorers, the land claims of Spain, France, England and the Dutch, and the cooperation and conflict between colonists and American Indian nations.
Learning standard: 5.2.1; 5.2.2; 5.2.3; 5.2.4; 5.3.1; 5.3.2; 5.3.3 · the aims and routes of early explorers, the land each country claimed, and cooperation and conflict among colonists and nations
Unit 5
The Thirteen Colonies
Why the colonies were founded, how land and climate shaped the three regions, the people who founded them, and early self-government such as the Mayflower Compact and the House of Burgesses.
Learning standard: 5.4.1; 5.4.2; 5.4.7 · how location shaped the founding of the colonies, their founders, and early democratic ideas and practices
Unit 6
Colonial Trade & Work
Resources, specialization and trade in the colonies, mercantilism, and the Atlantic slave trade and its impact on African peoples, told plainly and age-appropriately.
Learning standard: 5.4.5; 5.4.6 · how the British colonial period shaped the economy and the introduction of slavery into America
Unit 7
Road to Revolution
British taxes, colonial protests such as boycotts and the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Congresses, and why Loyalists and Patriots saw things differently.
Learning standard: 5.5.1; 5.5.2 · how ideas and interests led to the Revolution, and the significance of the Continental Congresses
Unit 8
The American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence and its ideals, key battles from Lexington to Yorktown, help from France and others, and the people of many backgrounds who shaped the war.
Learning standard: 5.5.3; 5.6.1; 5.6.2; 5.6.3; 5.6.7 · the Declaration of Independence, the major battles, the contributions of France and others, the roles of women, and how the Declaration's ideals changed society
Unit 9
Building a Government
Why the Articles of Confederation were replaced, the compromises of 1787, the three branches, checks and balances, federalism and the Bill of Rights (1791).
Learning standard: 5.7.1; 5.7.2; 5.7.3; 5.7.4 · the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of 1787, and how it protects liberty
Unit 10
Slavery & Resistance
How slavery came to the colonies, the Middle Passage, the lives and resistance of enslaved families, and early steps toward abolition, told plainly and age-appropriately.
Learning standard: 5.4.6 · the introduction of slavery into America, the responses of enslaved families, and the ongoing struggle against slavery
Unit 11
Moving West
Immigrants from Europe, the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark, life on the overland trails, Mexican settlement in the Southwest, Texas, the Mexican-American War and how California and other western lands became part of the United States.
Learning standard: 5.8.1; 5.8.2; 5.8.3; 5.8.4; 5.8.5; 5.8.6 · immigration, the states and territories of 1850, western exploration, the overland trails, Mexican settlement, and how western lands became part of the US
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