Grade 4 Social Studies Connecticut standards Standards

Communicate Conclusions and Take Informed Action

Evaluate Sources and Use Evidence

Apply Disciplinary Concepts and Tools

Develop Questions and Plan Inquiries

Understanding Regions

Location, Place, and Movement

Regional Interdependence

Explain how people have worked and are working to change laws related to communities, inclusive of religion, ethnicity, and gender, within and across United States regions.

Illustrate historical and contemporary examples of individuals and groups effecting change in a region (e.g., civil rights, clean air policy, conservation, determination of National Park status, healthcare access, water and land rights).

Describe ways in which people throughout United States regions benefit from and are challenged by working through government and voluntary organizations to address issues related to United States founding ideals.

Compare the benefits and costs of neighborhood gentrification in the United States (e.g., New Haven, Atlanta, Albuquerque, New York City, San Diego, Washington, D.C.).

Explain how business investments in worker training and diversity contribute to increased productivity and future incomes within a region (e.g., technology hubs, manufacturing centers, aerospace industry).

Explain how profits influence sellers in markets throughout regions of the United States (e.g., location, marketing, supply and demand).

Demonstrate spatial awareness by creating maps to illustrate regions within or extending beyond the political boundaries of the United States (e.g., Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Pacific Northwest).

Explain how and why environmental characteristics vary across regions in the United States and North America (e.g., coastal zone, forest, grassland, tundra, desert).

Describe a global economic event or issue that led to change and migration in a United States region (e.g., climate change, colonization, energy access, food access, health, pollution, poverty, work).

Explain how individuals and groups prepare for and respond to natural and human-made disasters (e.g., levees, building codes, erosion and settlement control, wildlife crossings).

Explain how individuals and groups adapt to climate change based on the unique characteristics of their region (e.g., longer growing seasons, water storage, conservation, Federal Emergency Management Agency).

Explain the relationship between natural resources and human settlement in United States regions using maps, photographs, and other representations (e.g., Great Lakes, Connecticut River Valley, Mississippi River Delta, Pacific Northwest).

Use historical maps and other visual representations to explain how environmental characteristics of a United States region change over time (e.g., population centers, built environment, dams, national parks, ports, military bases).

Use state and regional maps to describe cultural and environmental characteristics of regions (e.g., state capitals, heritage sites, national monuments).

Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics of places change over time in the United States (e.g., population diversity, deforestation, urban sprawl, industrialization, land use).

Explain how the cultural characteristics of communities in a particular place are sustained and evolve over time (e.g., Taos Pueblo, South Side Neighborhood in Chicago).

Describe how economic, social, and political factors influence migration and population distribution throughout the United States (e.g., El Salvadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Haitian, Nigerian, Filipino, and Indian emigration).

Explain the environmental and cultural characteristics that shape the movement of people, goods, and ideas in United States regions (e.g., waterways, trade routes, highways, digital infrastructure).

Explain how human settlement and movement relates to the availability of natural resources in a region (e.g., fisheries, mining, arable land, access to water for transportation).

Analyze how catastrophic environmental and economic events have caused migration within and across various regions of the United States (e.g., hurricanes, land erosion, wildfire, unemployment, famine).

Explain how push and pull factors influence the development of cultural enclaves in the United States (e.g., Little Mogadishu in Minneapolis, Little Saigon in San Jose, Little Albania in the Bronx, Koreatown in Los Angeles, Little Haiti in Miami, Park Street in Hartford, Borough Park in Brooklyn).

Summarize how different kinds of sources can be used to understand the settlement and resettlement of individuals and groups (e.g., census records, diary entries, oral histories, monuments, secondary sources).

Explain why compelling questions about a United States region are important to others (e.g., peers, adults).

Explain how supporting questions help answer compelling questions in an inquiry about a United States region.

Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the question.

Apply disciplinary knowledge and practices to demonstrate an understanding of United States geography content.

Gather relevant information from multiple sources about an event or issue in a United States region.

Identify evidence response to a compelling question while determining among fact and opinion to determine the credibility of multiple sources.

Use evidence to develop claims in response to a compelling question by using evidence related to the geography of a United States region.

Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources about a United States region.

Construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.

Critique arguments and explanations.

Present a summary of arguments and explanations with relevant information about a person, event, or issue in a United States region using print, oral, and digital technologies (e.g., reasoning, correct sequence, examples, data, details).

Explain the challenges and opportunities, both present and past, in addressing local, regional, and global problems in a United States region.

Use a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to evaluate and implement strategies to address problems in classrooms and schools.