Social Studies

   

Our Social Studies Curriculum will be focusing on three units of study in fourth grade:

EXPLORING THE REGIONS AND PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES

The lessons in this unit will teach students about several of the social sciences (history, geography, economy, and political science), map skills, specialty maps, various groups of people that impacted the cultural development of the US and reasons for immigration to the US.

GEOGRAPHY AND US REGIONS

In this unit, students will learn the US is divided up into five regions which are the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest, and West.  Students will discuss the characteristics that make each region unique including weather, climate, elevation, population, landforms, and economy.  Types of tools and technologies will also be used to identify characteristics of the regions.

Students will be introduced to the US as a market economy and be able to identify how interactions between producers and consumer affect the market.  They will also learn about elements of the economy such as price, competition, division of labor, productivity, unemployment, and differences between publicly owned and privately owned businesses.

GOVERNMENT AND CIVICS

Questions about the purpose of government, democracy, and the Constitution will be answered in this unit.  Students will participate in lessons that will teach them how the government works and what might happen in our country if we did not have an organized government.  The branches of government and how the system of checks and balances limits the power of the federal government will also included in the lessons of this unit.

In addition to these units of study, students also expand their understanding of Core Democratic Values, refine their reading/speaking skills through our In the News articles, and become better writers via their Travel Journals.