LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Social Studies — Grade 4

Goal 2: The learner will examine the importance of the role of ethnic groups and examine the multiple roles they have played in the development of North Carolina.

Objective 2.01. Locate and describe American Indians in North Carolina, past and present.

Additional related resources

We’re in the process of aligning our content for students to the Standard Course of Study. As we do, you’ll find it here.

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

Where do the Lumbee live?
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 2.8
Introduction Knowing the location of a community, city, state or nation is important. More important, however, is understanding of the personality of the location. Robeson County, home of the Lumbee Tribe, is more than a North Carolina county that...
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 and 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Gazelia Carter.
What does it mean?
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 2.7
Introduction Visual symbols can be important ways of communicating ideas. Individuals, corporations, communities, and organizations use logos, seals, flags, icons, and other visual symbols to represent their values, share their histories, and send...
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Gazelia Carter.
Walking the Trail of Tears
Students will read accounts and learn about what happened on the Trail of Tears. They will discuss the causes of removal, explore the trail, and understand the effects it had on the Cherokee.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Social Studies)
By Marsha Davis.
A walk of betrayal: The Trail of Tears
In this lesson plan for fourth and fifth grade students will read various resources and watch videos about the Cherokee. They will trace the history of the Cherokee, discuss the outcomes of the impact of the white man, and determine how that intrusion led the Cherokee to the Trail of Tears. The students will examine the survival of the Cherokee and explore their accomplishments into the 21st century.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Social Studies)
By Mary Towles.
Pottery traditions
In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.5
Students will learn how Indian people of North Carolina made and used coiled pottery, summarize why archaeologists study pottery, and make and decorate a replica of a North Carolina coiled pot.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)
Observation and inference
In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.4
In their study of observation and inference, students will use activity sheets and coins to differentiate between observation and inference through a problem-solving approach, and demonstrate their knowledge by analyzing an archaeological artifact and creating their own observation-inference statements.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)
North Carolina Cherokee Indians: The Trail of Tears
In this two week unit, students will study the Cherokee by participating in literature circles, learning about Native American story telling, writing a letter to Andrew Jackson to protest against the Creek War, and more.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Gina Golden.
North Carolina American Indian stories
In this lesson students will select and read stories from some of the North Carolina American Indian tribes. They will compare and contrast two stories of their choice and complete a Venn diagram. Students will use the information on the Venn diagram to write three paragraphs. After reading several American Indian tales or legends, students will then create their own legend using the narrative writing process.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Janice Gardner.
Naval stores
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 2.5
Introduction From early Colonial times until the Civil War, the naval industry was important to North Carolina. The term naval stores describes all products of the gum of the pine tree. The name itself explains its use in the shipbuilding industry....
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Social Studies)
By Gazelia Carter.
Native Americans: Original natives of colonial North Carolina
In Colonial and state records of North Carolina, page 7
In this lesson, students will explore different groups of Native Americans that inhabited the lands of North Carolina prior to the arrival of the colonists. Students will also examine how colonists interacted with the Native Americans after the colonists arrived in North Carolina.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Social Studies)
By Lara Willox.
Native American poetry workshop
This week-long set of lessons uses four different center activities to help students respond to poetry written by American Indians. This lesson plan was written with ESL (English as a second language) students in mind, so there are many opportunities to practice vocabulary, discuss and talk with others, and model expectations.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Liz Mahon.
Native American music: Two North Carolina tribes
In this lesson plan, students will listen to songs from two North Carolina tribes. Students will learn about the music through listening, analyzing, singing, moving, and playing instruments.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Music Education and Social Studies)
By Merritt Raum Flexman.
Language families
In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.7
Students will identify and locate the three language families of contact period North Carolina and calculate the physical area covered by each language family.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 7–8 Mathematics and Social Studies)
Culture everywhere
In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.3
In their study of culture, students will use a chart to show the different ways that cultures meet basic human needs and recognize that archaeologists study how people from past cultures met basic needs by analyzing and interpreting the artifacts and sites that they left behind.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
Classification and attributes
In Intrigue of the Past, page 1.7
In their study of classification and attributes, students will use “doohickey kits” to classify objects based on their attributes, and explain that scientists and specifically archaeologists use classification to help answer research questions.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)
Cherokee clans
In Teaching about North Carolina American Indians, page 3.1
Introduction Hollywood movies have not accurately portrayed American Indians who lived in North Carolina. By researching and role playing the seven clans of the Cherokee, the false stereotypes will be replaced with factual knowledge and understanding....
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Social Studies)
By Linda Tabor.
Artifact classification
In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.4
Students will use pictures of artifacts or objects from a teaching kit to classify artifacts and answer questions about the lifeways of a group of historic Native Americans.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Social Studies)
Along the Trail of Tears
A part of history is often forgotten when teaching younger students. This is the relocation of the Cherokee Indians when the white settlers wanted their property. The US Government moved whole groups of Indians under harsh conditions. This trip became known as the Trail of Tears. Using this as a background students will explore and experiment with persuasive writing as they try to express the position of Cherokee leaders.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Glenda Bullard.