Student Resources

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Smithsonian For Kids	Kids National Geographic History

 

5th Grade Units Of Study

Chapter 1 – Geography of the US

• Longitude & latitude
  • Absolute and relative location
• Key elements of world map and geographic terms (climate, globe, landforms)
• Physical features of the U.S. (mouth, river valley, delta, tributary, etc.)
• Draw and label a map
• *Reading Further: Where Geography Meets History

Chapter 2 – American Indians and Their Land

• Trade migration routes of American Indians into North America
• Summarize the different environments they lived in (grasslands, desert, etc.)
• ID ways the Intuits’ adapted to their Arctic environment
• Use pictographs to see how geography affected the lives of the Sioux
• **Reading Further: Recording Sioux History

Chapter 3 – American Indian Culture

• Compare and contrast 7 different American Indian cultures
• Examine the usefulness of artifacts according to each region
• **Reading Further: Four Young American Indians

Chapter 4 – How and Why Europeans Came to the New World

• Connect exploration of the 1400-1500s to today
• Discuss what materials explorers needed to use to get to the New World
• New Foods that were traded
• Claiming land through religious beliefs
• Conflict between England and Spain
• How trips were funded
• **Reading Further: Changes in Europe Spur Exploration

Chapter 5 – Routes of Exploration to the New World

• Identify 8 explorers:
  • Columbus, Cabot, de Leon, Cortes, Cartier, Coronado, Hudson, La Salle
• Trace the routes explorers took to the New World
• Discuss impact these explorers had on North American history
• **Reading Further: Who Wins Florida? 

Chapter 6 – Early English Settlements

• Compare and contrast the settlements of: Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth
  • How are they similar and different?
  • Food
  • Crops
  • Trading
  • Laws
  • Government
• Locate the American Indian settlements
  • Their positive and negative interactions with the colonists
• **Reading Further: King Philip Decides On War 

Chapter 7 – Comparing the Colonies

• Compare and contrast the New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies
  • Reasoning for founding, geography, economy, and government
    • Massachusetts Bay
    • Rhode Island
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania
    • Maryland
    • Georgia

**Reading Further: Choosing a Career in the Colonies

Chapter 8 – Facing Slavery

• Slavery: Dilemmas that West Africans faced
  • Traded into slavery
  • Surviving the boat ride over to the New World – Middle Passage
  • Surviving slavery on plantations (overseer, slave auctions, etc.)

**Reading Further: How Slaves Kept Home Alive

Chapter 9 – Life in Colonial Williamsburg

• Colonial Williamsburg
  • Describe the aspects of life in Williamsburg:
    • Education
    • Trade
    • Social life
    • Government
    • Slavery
    • Religion

**Reading Further: A Religious Revival in the Colonies

Chapter 10 – Tensions Grow Between the Colonies and Great Britain

• Discuss the various events that caused tensions between the Colonies and Great Britain
  • French & Indian War (VERY brief overview)
  • Proclamation of 1763
  • Quartering Act
  • Stamp Act
  • Boston Massacre
  • Boston Tea Party
  • Intolerable Acts
  • 1^st Continental Congress is barely mentioned

**Reading Further: King George III & His colonies

Chapter 11 – To Declare Independence or Not

• Loyalists vs Patriots
  • Thomas Hutchinson
  • Jonathan Boucher
  • Lord Dunmore
  • Benjamin Franklin
  • Mercy Otis Warren
  • Samuel Adams

**Reading Further: Patrick Henry, Radical Revolutionary

Chapter 12 – The Declaration of Independence

• ID the events that led to the creation and approval of the Declaration of Independence
  • 2^nd Continental Congress
  • Common Sense

**Reading Further: Jefferson’s Conflict: Ideas vs Reality

Chapter 13 – American Revolution

• Continental Army vs British Army
  • Strengths and weaknesses of the forces
    • Supplies
    • Motivation
    • Strategies
    • Leaders
    • Allies
  • How women, African Americans, and American Indians influenced the war

**Reading Further: The Revolution’s Home Front

Chapter 14 – The Constitution

• Discuss the weakness of the Articles of Confederation
• Constitutional Convention
  • What they did
  • 3 branches of government their jobs and powers
  • How laws are made
  • Checks and balances

**Reading Further: Inside the Constitutional Convention

Chapter 15 – The Bill of Rights

• Rule of Law
• Republic vs monarchy
• Bill of Rights
  • The need for the Bill of Rights
  • Overview of all 10 of the amendments

**Reading Further: Individual Rights vs Society’s Needs

Chapter 16 – Manifest Destiny and Settling the West

• Settling the West
  • Louisiana Purchase
  • Lewis and Clark
  • Florida Acquisition
  • Annexation of Texas
  • Oregon Country
  • Mexican Cession
  • Gadsden Purchase
  • Trail of Tears

**Reading Further: Trail of Tears

Chapter 17 – The Diverse Peoples of the West

• The 6 groups of people who lived in the West of 1800’s

Mexicanos, 49ers, Chinese Immigrants,

Mormons, Oregon Pioneers, Nez Perces

• Benefits and drawbacks when moving west
• **Reading Further: Laura Wilder on the Prairie 

Chapter 18 – The Causes of the Civil War

• Causes of the Civil War
  • Differences between the North and South
    • Economic
    • Canals
    • Industry
    • Immigrants
    • Plantations
  • Slavery and the Underground Railroad
  • Missouri Compromise
  • Compromise of 1850
  • Bleeding Kansas
  • Election of Lincoln
  • Underground Railroad and Abolitionists
    • Fredrick Douglass
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • Harriet Tubman

**Reading Further: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Story

Chapter 19 – The Civil War

• Factors that contributed to going to war
• Emancipation of Proclamation
• Union vs Confederate Armies
  • Uniforms, skills, generals (Lee, Meade, Picket, Grant), combat conditions, poor medical
• Technology in the war (rifles, trenches, spies)
• How the railroad helped move troops
• Conditions on the home front (towns destroyed, killed farm animals, etc.)
• Key Battles a brief overview:
  • Sharpsburg
  • Antietam
  • Gettysburg
  • Vicksburg
  • Surrender at Appomattox Court House

**Reading Further: Life After Slavery in the South

Chapter 20 – Industrialization and the Modern United States

• Industrialization
• WWI
• Great Depression
• WWII
• Cold War
• Civil Rights Movement
• Information Age

**Reading Further: Challenges and Hope for Immigrants