LEARN NC

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

Social Studies — Grade 5

Goal 3: The learner will examine the roles various ethnic groups have played in the development of the United States and its neighboring countries.

Objective 3.02. Examine how changes in the movement of people, goods, and ideas have affected ways of living in the United States.

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.

Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity three
In this activity for grades 3–6, students will read and evaluate primary source letters from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection. This should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing.
Format: article
By Pauline S. Johnson.

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

In the spirit of... (museum visit)
This is an integrated unit that focuses on masks in cultures as reflections of individual spirits. This lesson focuses on students' observations of masks while visiting a museum.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5–6 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)
By Shannon Kelly.
Civil rights wax museum project
In this lesson plan, students will choose African Americans prominent in the Civil Rights Movement and research aspects of their lives. They will create timelines of their subjects' lives and a speech about their subjects, emphasizing why they are remembered today.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Sabrina Lewandowski.

Resources on the web

What was Columbus thinking?
In this lesson, students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievements. Students reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations, his reactions to what he found and the consequences, intended... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: EDSITEment
The United States at night
Students look at a map of Russia as seen at night, showing the lights that indicate settlement patterns. They will then look at United States maps to figure out what the U.S. might look like at night, and they will draw U.S. maps illustrating their findings.... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: National Geographic
Reviving Bodie
In this lesson students will research the ghost town of Bodie and imagine that the state of California has decided to make Bodie a town again and to let people settle there. The groups will write guides for the town's new potential citizens explaining the... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: Xpeditions
Pioneer America: Pioneer living
In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students learn about what life was like for early American pioneers. After reading about pioneers in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, students conduct independent research on one aspect of pioneer... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Social Studies and Theater Arts Education)
Provided by: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
On the Oregon Trail
In this lesson, students work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. The goals of this lesson are: to learn about the pioneer experience on the Oregon Trail to... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: EDSITEment
Lewis and Clark: "The Object of This Mission"
In this lesson, students will compete against each other for the best “land” and “resources” in the classroom as a way to introduce issues involved in vying for land. They will learn about the mission of the Lewis and Clark expedition... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: Xpeditions
Lewis and Clark: A Legacy to Remember
In this lesson, students will design a memorial that illustrates the legacy of the Lewis and Clark expedition from a geographic perspective. This lesson should be done after the students study the Lewis and Clark expedition or view the large-format film... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: Xpeditions
The great migration
In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students learn about the migration of African Americans to Harlem, beginning with the original migration of blacks to North America. Students explore paintings by Jacob Lawrence to understand the experience of blacks who migrated... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade K–3 and 5 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)
Provided by: ArtsEdge
Go west: Imagining the Oregon Trail
A 2,000-mile trek across a continent — with no idea what awaits you on the other side. Tell your students to put on their traveling shoes and prepare for the journey of their lives! In this lesson from EDSITEment, students compare imagined travel... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
Provided by: EDSITEment
Giving voice to history
In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students explore a somber period in American history. During World War II the U.S. government ordered more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to detainment camps. Drawing upon research and analyzing a variety of sources, including... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Theater Arts Education)
Provided by: ArtsEdge
Geographic groceries
Students explore the regions of their grocery store to see which foods hang out together and why. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–7 Social Studies)
Provided by: National Geographic
Capturing history
In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students study the political and economic reasons for the African-American migration to Northern cities between the World Wars. They discover the similarities and/or differences of life experiences in the South and the North through... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Visual Arts Education and Social Studies)
Provided by: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts