LEARN NC

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

Social Studies — Grade 5

Goal 4: The learner will trace key developments in United States history and describe their impact on the land and people of the nation and its neighboring countries.

Objective 4.06. Evaluate the effectiveness of civil rights and social movements throughout United States history that reflect the struggle for equality and constitutional rights for all citizens.

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

A living timeline of civil rights
This fifth grade lesson plan is one piece of a civil rights unit. This particular lesson is an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge of a specific person or event that occurred during the civil rights movement. The students will share their research with others as they take on the role of a museum artifact.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Social Studies)
By Laurie Lietz.
Jackie Robinson taught us more than baseball
After determining student knowledge about Jackie Robinson, the teacher/counselor reads "Teammates" by Peter Golenbock to fifth graders. The teacher/counselor then divides students into four groups to work cooperatively on questions. Groups select leaders and recorders and each group leader presents answers to the whole class. The teacher/counselor ends the activity with a question that individual students will respond to in writing.
Format: lesson plan (grade K–5 English Language Arts, Guidance, and Social Studies)
By Jan Huggins.
The Greensboro Sit-ins
Students will explore the Greensboro Sit-ins. They will experience segregation through drama, research the people involved in the protest at Woolworth's, and then stage a re-enactment of the event.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Information Skills, Social Studies, and Theater Arts Education)
By Lucinda Gainey.
Freedom songs of the civil rights movement
Students will listen to freedom songs recorded during the civil rights movement, 1960–1965. Students will write about personal reactions to the music and lyrics. Through reading and pictures, students will briefly explore historical events where these songs were sung. Listening again, students will analyze and describe — musically — particular song(s).
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Music Education and Social Studies)
By Merritt Raum Flexman.

Resources on the web

Let freedom ring: The life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students listen to a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., view photographs of the March on Washington, and study King's use of imagery and allusion in his “I Have a Dream” speech. After studying King's use of imagery and allusion, they create... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Information Skills)
Provided by: EDSITEment
Historical fiction: Using literature to learn about the Civil War
In this lesson, the teacher reads aloud a section of Connie Porter's Meet Addy, a book from The American Girls Collection® that tells the story of a young girl who escapes from slavery during... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
Provided by: ReadWriteThink
From Arbor Day to Earth Day
In this lesson from the Forest History Society in Durham, North Carolina, students analyze the influence of diverse forms of public opinion on the development of environmental public policy and decision making from the early industrial age through the postwar... (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 and 8 Social Studies)
Provided by: Forest History Society