Social Studies — Grade 5

Lesson plans on the web

Capturing history

Students study the political and economic reasons for the African-American migration to Northern cities between the World Wars. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)

Provider: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

From boomtown to ghost town

Students discuss how a specific economic activity in a region can facilitate the creation of towns, which often turn into ghost towns if the economic activity ends. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic

Interpreting population statistics

Students are introduced to population statistics such as birth, death, and literacy rates. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–7 Mathematics and Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic

Mission geography: USA

In this Xpeditions lesson, students research and learn about the culture, physical geography, and history of states in each region of the United States. Students develop a "family travel plan" and create an itinerary to highlight interesting destinations in the US. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic

Not "Indians," Many Tribes: Native American Diversity

Students will heighten their awareness of Native American diversity as they learn about three vastly different Native groups in a game-like activity using archival documents such as vintage photographs, traditional stories, photos of artifacts, and recipes. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 and 5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Top ten cities

In this Xpeditions lesson, students identify and study the most populous cities in their state, province, or country. They also learn about population distributions. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic