Grade 5 – Integrated American History

  • The fifth grade Social Studies curriculum is a study of early American history through the adoption of the United State’s Bill of Rights.  The curriculum is divided into three eras:  Era 1:  Beginnings to 1620, Era 2:  Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763), Era 3:  Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1800).  Through the use of primary and secondary sources, students explore how significant events shaped the nation.  An introduction to the United  States Constitution frames their study of the early history of the nation.   As  students  study  the  meeting  of  “Three  Worlds”  they  explore  interactions  among  American  Indians, Africans,  and  Europeans  in  North  America.   Students  also  examine  how  these  interactions,  as  well  as  the geography  of  North  America,  affected  colonization  and  settlement  in  three  distinct  English  colonial  regions. Students  learn  about  our  government’s  history  as  reflected  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Articles  of Confederation, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights.  Students examine how and why our Founding Fathers balanced  the  powers  of  government  through  the  principles  of  separation  of  powers,  check  and  balances, federalism, protection of individual rights, popular sovereignty, and rule of law (core democratic values).  Teachers  use the resources listed below, as well as supplementary text materials, a variety of related trade books, primary source readers, and leveled readers.  The 5th grade curriculum is based on Michigan Grade Level Content

    Expectations
     
     
    Text:  The United States, Scott Foresman (2008), Grade 5

    Resources:   Atlas of Our Country’s History, Nystrom (2009), Grade 5

            Hakim. Joy.  A History of US Series.  Oxford University Press (1993).

         The First Americans

         Making Thirteen Colonies

         From Colonies to Country

         The New Nation

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