4th Grade Social Studies
-
Click on the unit heading to navigate to the unit resources of your choice.Essential Questions
How do maps provide information about people, places, and physical and cultural environments?
How does geography affect how and where people live in New York State?
Skills Learning TargetsDescribe some of the geographical features in the regions of NYS.
Students identify cardinal and intermediate directions using a compass rose.
Students use a map key (legend) to locate places, landforms, cities, and bordering states.
Students use map scale to determine distance between placesNative Americans of NYEssential QuestionsHow have the Native Americans of New York State influenced our culture and government?
How did environmental and geographic factors influence the lives of Native Americans?
Skills Learning TargetsTrace the migration of Asians to North America
List the six tribes of the Iroquois
Locate the regions of Iroquois and Algonquian settlements
List the important foods gathered, grown, and hunted
Compare and contrast a longhouse, roundhouse, and wigwam
Describe the use of natural resources in day to day survival (clothing, tools, weapons, housing, transportation)
Explain the importance of storytelling to Native American cultures
Connect the structure of the Iroquois Confederacy and today's U.S. government
Relate the impact of the European settlers on the Native American culture
Describe the clan and family structures, including the roles of family members
Compare hunting practices of the Native Americans to those of modern day hunters.Exploration of NYSEssential QuestionsWhy do people explore the unknown?
What led European explorers to come to (what is now) the NY area?
What were the social, cultural, economic, political and geographic impacts of exploration?
Skills Learning TargetsLocate Asia, Europe, and North America on map
Identify Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Indian Oceans
Trace explorers' routes through bodies of water in North America: Hudson Bay, Hudson River, St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, Lake Champlain
Recognize Marco Polo as the initiator of the "Age of Exploration"
Understand how the search for the Northwest Passage led to the exploration of Canada and parts of the U.S.
Analyze the major explorers' accomplishments by:
- Present information showing the reasons the major explorers came to the New World, the country they represented, the routes they traveled, and important discoveries
- Creating a timeline of exploration by the listed explorersEssential QuestionsWhat factors in Europe influenced colonization of the New World?
How did the Dutch, English, and French influences shape New York State?
How did the colonists depend on and modify their physical environment in their daily lives?
What cultural similarities and differences help shape our local community, region, and state?
Skills Learning TargetsLocate the NY colony on a map of the 13 coloniesIdentify reasons Europeans traveled to the New WorldCompare the cultures of each of the groups that inhabited the NY (New Amsterdam) colonyRe-enact the skills needed by colonial craftspeopleUse replicas of some tools used during Colonial timesInterpret political cartoonsWrite a journal entry from the perspective of a colonial childDescribe daily life of colonistsCompare the lives of colonial children and/or adults to those of todayRole play interviews with colonists to empathize with different religious and cultural perspectivesDebate the Native American perspective as they made alliances with either the colonists or the BritishRead and interpret a timeline of political eventsCompare historical maps before and after the French and Indian WarRevolutionary War in NY StateEssential QuestionsWhat was the significance of New York's geography and location in the American Revolutionary War?
How did the Native Americans influence the war?
How did the Revolutionary War affect life in the NY colony (Loyalists and Patriots)?
How did the war strategy at Saratoga and other local battles affect the outcome of the war?
Skills Learning TargetsCompare and contrast the viewpoints of loyalists and patriots
Identify the purpose of the Declaration of Independence
Explain how the 13 colonies became an independent nation called the United States of America
Read and interpret a timeline of events that occured during the Revolutionary War in NYS
Interpret political cartoons, slogans, and symbols from the Revolutionary War era
Interpret a map of significant battles in NY
Create a cause/effect chartNew NationEssential QuestionsHow did the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitutions of the State of NY and the United States (including the Bill of Rights) promote the development of American democracy?
Who were the individuals and groups who helped strengthen the democracy in the United States?
What values, practices and traditions helped unite all Americans?
Why was writing a stateconstitution an important step for New Yorkers?
Skills Learning TargetsCreate a chart depicting the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution
Research project on founding father
Write an essay explaining the importance of the Bill of Rights in your life today
Construct a flow chart of the steps leading to the formation of the new governmentIndustrial Growth & ExpansionEssential QuestionsHow did new forms of transportation affect the growth of New York?
How did the arrival of many different groups of immigrants influence the culture of New York in the early-mid 1800's?
How did the geography of New York State influence industrialization and expansion?
How was daily life influenced by the inventions and technological advances of the time period?
What economic, social, and religious factors influenced the decision to migrate or immigrate during the 1800's?
Skills Learning TargetsStudents will simulate the Ellis Island experience
Dramatization of Assembly LineGovernmentEssential QuestionsWhat is the reason for and importance of government in the United States?
What is the role of local, state, and federal (national) government?
What is the structure and function of the branches of government at the local, state, and national levels?
What are the values, principles, and symbols of American democracy?
Skills Learning TargetsTBD
