5th grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 5th grade social studies in the California Content Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- 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
Easy ways to practice social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
Colonies to Constitution
Ordering events from Columbus to the Bill of Rights, including slavery and resistance, to see causes and effects over time.
States & Capitals
The capital cities of the 50 states, and major rivers, mountains and lakes of the United States.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the California report card guide.
Common questions
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The California Content Standards 5th grade social studies units include Colonies to Constitution, States & Capitals, Nations Before 1500, Explorers & Encounters, The Thirteen Colonies, Colonial Trade & Work.
Free printable 5th grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.