This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 5th grade Social Studies content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 5th Grade Social Studies course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

Containing more than 50 articles from the award-winning Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine and over 40 lesson plans, this multidisciplinary Educator Notebook will enrich your exploration of North Carolina and American history with diverse perspectives. This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free downloadable access to the complete PDF book.

A website resource that provides facts and data that documents the forced removal of enslaved persons from Africa and their arrival to North Carolina.

Students assume the roles of detectives as they investigate the occurrences during the Salem Witch Trials. They also assume the roles of lawyers and explore the principles of American democracy through the documents and laws that are meant to protect citizens from such unjust treatment in modern history.

This lesson investigates where and why the English colonists settled in America. The lesson also looks at leaders who had an impact on the development of the colonies and their reasons for founding the colonies.

In this unit, students explore Colonial America through the building of timelines and investigating primary and secondary sources. This study of significant events in the colonization of North America and the aspects of everyday life in Colonial America is designed for students to gather, record, and organize their own Colonial Notebook. Students will take on the role of colonist in a given region and work with other 'colonists' of the same region to develop a report and presentation. The study will take students through the life and times of those early settlers and will have them preparing a colonial meal representative of their region of focus

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the experiences faced by immigrant groups who traveled to New York throughout the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In this activity, students research the history of immigration to the United States trhough Ellis Island and then use art supplies to depict immigration through artwork they create.

Fort Dobbs has created a series of short videos designed to teach students about the settlement of the Northwest Carolina backcountry, the lives of the Native Americans living in and near the region of Fort Dobbs, the life of a North Carolina Provincial Soldier, and North Carolina's role during the French and Indian War. The videos are designed for teachers to use them separately to fit into their own lessons or can be grouped together by theme.

This lesson helps students understand the causes and effects of exploration with an emphasis on European exploration of North America. Students learn when, where, and why groups of people colonized and settled what is today the United States. Through group activities, reading and discussions, students learn the economic, social and political reasons for exploration and settlement.

This lesson helps students gain a better understanding of geographic tools and their application for interpreting information. Students learn about why the early colonists settled in the areas they did and the types of economic patterns that emerged due to the physical environment. In the process, students differentiate between different types of regions and how they may develop based on human actions or their physical geography

In the previous unit, students learned about European exploration and colonization in the Western Hemisphere. Students were introduced to the English colonial regions (New England, Middle and Southern colonies) and reasons for coming to the New World. This lesson investigates where and why the English colonists settled in America. The lesson also looks at leaders who had an impact on the development of the colonies and their reasons for founding the colonies.

In this lesson, students learn about the political, economic, and geographic regional differences that led to conflict in the United States through map sketches, primary sources, problem-solving and points of view.

In this unit, students will learn about the inventions and technology that led to industrialization. Students will also study the immigrants who would supply the labor for industrialization. Finally, students will learn about some of the people who would create the “big business” financing and industrial infrastructure. Students will also be exposed to some of the problems that the rapid expansion of cities and industry created.

In this lesson, students gain an understanding of what is meant by industrialization and growth. Students will examine primary source documents to identify major changes in U.S. cities and develop questions as to how and why these changes took place.

In this lesson, students will explain the reasons for increased immigration and how immigration helped cities and industries grow.

In this lesson, students work in small groups to organize a wagon train for a trek westward. They determine leadership responsibilities and rules needed to make a successful trek.

In this lesson, students write a persuasive letter home defending their decision either to settle in Utah and farm the land, or to go on to California to seek gold.

In this lesson, students will use primary source materials to investigate significant events in American History of the 19th century.