Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks 4th Grade Social Studies Activities

Standards for History and Social Science Practice – Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12

1 Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Civic knowledge includes the core knowledge in the Content Standards relating to civics and government, economics, geography, and history.

Civic intellectual skills encompass knowing how to identify, assess, interpret, describe, analyze and explain matters of concern in civic life.

Civic participatory skills encompass knowing how to make and support arguments, use the political process to communicate with elected officials and representatives of government, and plan strategically for civic change.

Civic dispositions encompass values, virtues, and behaviors, such as respect for others, commitment to equality, capacity for listening, and capacity for communicating in ways accessible to others.

3 Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources. Student researchers gather and organize information from a variety of online, print, and other sources. In the history and social science fields, they pay close attention to whether the source is primary or secondary. Primary sources were created during the period under study (e.g., census data, a map, an interview, a speech, or an artifact such as a building, painting, or tool). Secondary sources are later interpretations or commentaries based on primary sources. Often students will use primary and secondary sources together to compose an argument, because each source provides a different type of information. This Standard corresponds to Reading Standards 1-3 for Literacy in History and Social Science.

4 Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact. Students need to be exposed to readings that represent a variety of points of view in order to become discerning and critical readers. They need to be able to identify the purpose of a document and the point of view of its author. As students search primary sources for answers to questions such as What really happened in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775?, they begin to understand that eyewitness accounts of the same event can differ. This Standard corresponds to Reading Standard 6 for Literacy in History and Social Science.

Literacy Standards for History and Social Science

Grades 3-5 Reading Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas: History/Social Science

Key Ideas and Details

1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences (See grades 3-5 Writing Standard 8 for more on paraphrasing.)

2 Determine the main ideas of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize a text.

3 Explain events, ideas, and concepts in a civics, geography, economics, or history text, based on specific information in the text.

Craft and Structure

4 Determine the meaning of general academic vocabulary and words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

5 Describe the overall structure of how a text presents information (e.g., chronological, compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause effect), including how written texts incorporate features such as headings.

6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7 Interpret information presented in charts, graphs, timelines, and illustrations and explain what that information contributes to the overall text.

9 Integrate information from two texts in order to write or speak about a history/social science topic.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

10 Independently and proficiently read and comprehend history/social studies texts exhibiting complexity appropriate for the grades 3-5.

Grade 4 – North American Geography, History, and Peoples

Topic 1. North America: geography and map skills – Supporting Question: What are the physical features and nations of North America?

1 On a physical map of North America, use cardinal directions, map scales, key/legend (symbols for mountains, rivers, deserts, lakes, cities), and title to locate and identify important physical features (e.g., Mississippi and Rio Grande Rivers, Great Lakes, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Hudson’s Bay, Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Madre, the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Caribbean Sea).

2 On a political map of North America, locate Canada and its provinces, Mexico and its states, the nations of the Caribbean, and the United States of America and its states; explain the meaning of the terms continent, country, nation, county, state, province, and city.

Topic 2. Ancient civilizations of North America – Supporting Question: How do archaeologists develop theories about ancient migrations?

5 Using maps of historic Native Peoples’ culture regions of North America and photographs, identify archaeological evidence of some of the characteristics of major civilizations of this period (e.g., stone tools, ceramics, mound-building, cliff dwellings).

6 Explain how archaeologists conduct research (e.g., by participating in excavations, studying artifacts and organic remains, climate and astronomical data, and collaborating with other scholars) to develop theories about migration, settlement patterns, and cultures in prehistoric periods.

7 Give examples of some archaeological sites of Native Peoples in North America that are preserved as national or state monuments, parks, or international heritage sites (e.g., Teotihuacan in Mexico, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois, Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico) and explain their importance in presenting a comprehensive history of Americans and American life.

Topic 3. Early European exploration and conquest – Supporting Question: What were the reasons for European voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?

9 Explain who the Vikings were and describe evidence of their early encounters with Native Peoples along the North American Atlantic coast.

10 Trace on a map European explorations of North America and the Caribbean Islands in the 15th and 16th centuries (e.g., voyages of Vasco Nun͂es de Balboa, Jacques Cartier, Cristobal Colon [Christopher Columbus], Ferdinand Magellan, Juan Ponce De Leon, Amerigo Vespucci, Hernán Cortés), evaluate the reasons for the voyages, noting that they were part of an effort by European nations to expand their empires, find new routes for trade with Asia, new opportunities for colonization, and new natural resources; make a timeline of their landings and conquests.

Topic 4. The expansion of the United States over time and its regions today – Supporting Question: How has the environment shaped the development of each region?

12 Give examples of some of the ways the United States acquired new states (beyond the 13 original states) and additional territories between 1791 and 1898, including purchasing land called the Louisiana Territory from France, adding territory in the Southwest as a result of war with Mexico, settling a treaty with Britain to gain land called the Oregon Territory in the Northwest, purchasing Alaska from Russia, annexing Hawaii, and adding territories such as Puerto Rico as a result of a war with Spain.

13 Compare different reasons why men and women who lived in the Eastern part of the United States wanted to move West in the 19th century, and describe aspects of pioneer life on the frontier (e.g., wagon train journeys on the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, and settlements in the western territories).

14 Explain that many different groups of people immigrated to the United States from other places voluntarily and some were brought to the United States against their will (as in the case of African slaves).

15 Show understanding that in the middle of the 19th century, the people of the United States were deeply divided over the question of slavery and its expansion into newly settled parts of the West, which led to the Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

The Northeast

16 On a political map of the United States, locate the states in the Northeast (listed alphabetically: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont).

19 Develop questions, conduct research, and analyze how people have adapted to the environment of the Northeast, and how physical features and natural resources affected settlement patterns, the growth of major urban/suburban areas, industries or trade.

20 Describe the diverse cultural nature of the region, including contributions of Native Peoples (e.g., Wampanoag, Iroquois, Abenaki), Africans, Europeans (e.g., the early settlements of the Dutch in New York, French near Canada, Germans in Pennsylvania, the English in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, subsequent 19th and early 20th century immigration by groups such as Irish, Italian, Portuguese, and Eastern Europeans) and various other immigrant groups from other regions of the world in the later 20th and 21st centuries (e.g., Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Salvadorans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Brazilians, Haitians, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Chinese, Indians, and Somalis).

The Southeast

21 On a political map of the United States, locate the states and the national capital city in the Southeast, and the U.S. territories in the Caribbean; add to the timeline the admission dates for states in the Southeast (listed alphabetically: Alabama-1819, Arkansas-1836, Delaware-1787, Florida-1845, Georgia-1788, Kentucky-1792, Louisiana-1812, Maryland-1788, Mississippi-1817, North Carolina-1789, South Carolina-1788, Tennessee-1796, Virginia-1788, West Virginia-1863); territories Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.

22 Describe the diverse cultural nature of the region, including contributions of Native Peoples (e.g., Powhatan Chiefdom, Seminole, Cherokee, Creek), African Americans, Europeans (e.g., the early Spanish settlements in Florida) and immigrant groups from other regions of the world.

24 Describe the role of Washington, D.C. as the national capital, and give examples of its national cultural and civic resources (e.g., the White House, U.S. Capitol Building, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, cemeteries and monuments).

25 Using resources such as print and online atlases, or state websites, construct a map of a state in the Southeast region that provides information about physical features (e.g., waterways and mountains) and that includes a title, scale, compass, and map key.

The Midwest

26 On a political map of the United States, locate the states in the Midwest; add to the timeline the admission dates for states in the Midwest (listed alphabetically: Illinois-1818, Indiana-1816, Iowa-1846, Kansas-1861, Michigan-1838, Minnesota-1858, Missouri-1821, Nebraska-1867, North Dakota-1889, Ohio-1803, South Dakota-1889, Wisconsin-1848).

27 Describe the diverse cultural nature of the region, including contributions of Native Peoples (e.g., Sioux, Mandan, Ojibwe/Chippewa), African Americans, Europeans and immigrant groups from other regions of the world.

The Southwest

30 On a political map of the United States, locate the states in the Southwest; add to the timeline the admission dates for states in the Southwest (listed alphabetically, Arizona-1912, New Mexico-1912, Oklahoma-1907, and Texas-1845).

31 Explain that Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico were territories that formerly belonged to Mexico; that Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836, and that Arizona and New Mexico were taken by the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848.

32 Describe the diverse cultural nature of the region, including contributions of Native Peoples (e.g., Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, Comanche), African Americans, Europeans (e.g., the Spanish in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico), Mexicans, and immigrant groups from other regions of the world settling in the region over time.

The West

35 On a political map of the United States, locate the states in the West and the U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean; add to the timeline the admission dates for states in the Southwest (states listed alphabetically, Alaska-1959, California-1850, Colorado-1876, Hawaii-1959, Idaho-1890, Montana-1889, Nevada-1864, Oregon-1859, Utah-1896, Washington-1889, Wyoming-1890); territories: American Samoa, Guam, Midway Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and Wake Island.

36 Explain that California, Colorado, and Utah were territories that belonged to Mexico and were taken by the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848.

37 Describe the diverse cultural nature of the region, including contributions of Native Peoples (e.g., Paiute, Coast Salish) African Americans, Europeans (e.g. the Spanish in California), the Mexicans, the Chinese, Japanese, and immigrant groups from other regions of the world over time.

39 Using resources such as print and online atlases, or state websites, construct a map of a state in the West region that provides information about physical features (e.g., waterways and mountains), important landmarks, national parks, and historic sites and that includes a title, scale, compass, and map key.