Printer friendly version (PDF)

U.S. HISTORY: ANCIENT TIMES TO POST RECONSTRUCTION

In Grade 5, students learn about the History of the United States from its early beginnings to after the Reconstruction of the Civil War. Historical content includes the Age of Exploration, the colonial and revolutionary periods, the establishment of the United States, and the issues that led to the Civil War. Students learn about a variety of regions within the United States that result from physical features and human activity and identify how people adapt to and modify the environment. Students identify the roots of representative government in the United States as well as the important ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Students examine fundamental rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Students use critical thinking skills including sequencing, categorizing, and summarizing information and drawing inferences and conclusions.

CONTENT STANDARD 1

1. Culture

Performance Indicators

1.5.1 Recognize the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the United States.

1.5.2 Identify the contributions, similarities and differences within and among selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups within the United States.

1.5.3 Identify significant examples of art, music, and literature from various periods in U.S. history (e.g., “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “Dixie”).

1.5.4 Compare relationships between and among people from various groups, including racial, ethnic, and religious groups, during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

CONTENT STANDARD 2

2. History

Performance Indicators

2.5.1 Demonstrate understanding of the origins of human beings in the Americas.

2.5.2 Explain why European explorers sailed to the Americas (e.g., Leif Erikkson, Christopher Columbus, Ponce de Leon, Cortez, Pizzaro).

2.5.3 Explain when, where, and why groups of people colonized and settled in the United States.

2.5.4 Describe the accomplishments of significant colonial leaders (e. g., Anne Hutchinson, William Penn, John Smith, Roger Williams).

2.5.5 Identify the contributions of significant individuals during the revolutionary period (e.g., Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington).

2.5.6 Analyze the causes and effects of events prior to and during the American Revolution, including the establishment of the United States.

2.5.7 Identify the contributions of individuals who helped create the U. S. Constitution (e.g., James Madison, Roger Sherman).

2.5.8 Summarize the events that led to the creation of the Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, U. S. Constitution.

2.5.9 Identify reasons why people moved west.

2.5.10 Identify examples of U. S. territorial expansion.

2.5.11 Describe the causes and effects of the Civil War.

2.5.12 Describe and explain the chronology and significance of the various historical periods in U. S. History.

CONTENT STANDARD 3

3. Geography

Performance Indicators

3.5.1 Identify major places of the United States (e.g., states, capitals, rivers, lakes, mountain ranges).

3.5.2 Describe a variety of regions in the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere such as political, population, and economic regions that result from patterns of human activity.

3.5.3 Describe a variety of regions in the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere such as landform, climate, and vegetation regions that result from physical characteristics.

3.5.4 Compare the regions of the United States (e.g., Pacific Coast States, Mountain States, Southwestern States, Midwest States, Southern States, Northeastern States).

3.5.5 Locate major cities in the United States and explain their distribution.

3.5.6 Explain the geographic factors that influence patterns of settlement and the distribution of population in the United States.

3.5.7 Describe ways and identify reasons why people have adapted to and modified their environment in the U.S., such as the use of natural resources to meet basic needs.

3.5.8 Apply geographic tools and resources to construct and interpret maps (e.g., atlases, grid systems, legends, symbols, scales, compass roses, computer bases, and Pacific navigational charts).

3.5.9 Define, use, and apply elements of scale, symbols, and directions in the creation and use of maps.

3.5.10 Discuss and use themes of location, place, human environment interactions, movement, and regions.

3.5.11 Locate major ecosystems, describe their characteristics, and explain the processes that created them.

3.5.12 Explain the concept of latitude and longitude

CONTENT STANDARD 4

4. Government

Performance Indicators

4.5.1 Discuss the origin, interpretation, effects, and application of certain documents (e.g., Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Gettysburg Address).

4.5.2 Discuss the three branches of government and their functions.

4.5.3 Discuss different forms of government.

4.5.4 Explain the role of citizenship and the democratic process.

4.5.5 Define government and civic terms.

4.5.6 Compare the systems of government of early European colonists.

4.5.7 Identify examples of representative government in the American colonies (e.g., Mayflower Compact, Virginia House of Burgesses).

4.5.8 Identify the purposes and explain the importance of the Declaration of Independence.

4.5.9 Explain the purposes of the U.S. Constitution as identified in the Preamble to the Constitution.

4.5.10 Identify the reasons for and describe the systems of checks and balances outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

4.5.11 Distinguish among national, state, and local governments and compare their responsibilities in the U.S. federal system.

4.5.12 Describe the origins and significance of national celebrations (e.g., Labor Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day).

4.5.13 Identify significant individuals (e.g., Benjamin Franklin).

4.5.14 Summarize the reasons for the creation of the Bill of Rights.

CONTENT STANDARD 5

5. Economics

Performance Indicators

5.5.1 Show how goods and services are produced and consumed in subsistence and market economies.

5.5.2 Identify roles, functions, and relationships of the various institutions that make up the economic systems.

5.5.3 Describe major kinds of economic activity and explain the factors influencing their location.

5.5.4 Describe some of the major movements of goods, people, jobs, and information within the United States.

5.5.5 Explain the economic patterns of various early Native-American groups in the United States.

5.5.6 Explain the economic motivations for European exploration and settlement in the United States.

5.5.7 Explain the economic patterns of early European colonists.

5.5.8 Identify major industries of colonial America.

5.5.9 Describe the development of the free enterprise system in colonial America and the United States.

5.5.10 Evaluate the effects of supply and demand on business, industry, and agriculture in the United States (e.g., the plantation system).

5.5.11 Analyze how people in the past earned a living in different parts of the United States.

5.5.12 Identify and explain how geographic factors have influenced the location of economic activities in the United States (e.g., main cause of the Civil War)

CONTENT STANDARD 6

6. Technology

Performance Indicators

6.5.1 Explain how scientific discoveries led to the Age of Exploration (e.g., the earth was not flat).

6.5.2 Explain how scientific discoveries during the Renaissance dispelled many of the myths and superstitions from the Old World's Dark Ages.

6.5.3 Describe the effects which technological innovations had on agriculture in America (e.g., the steamboat, Eli Whitney's cotton gin).

6.5.4 Identify technological innovations used during the Civil War (e.g., iron-clad ships, photography).

Revised August 2000

Close this Window