KEY CONCEPTS CHECKLIST

GRADE 5

SOCIAL STUDIES

(This checklist was taken from the iLEAP Assessment Guide.  There is no guarantee that everything on the iLEAP is on this checklist.)

                                                                                                                                          Paulette Cefalu-Walkwitz

GEOGRAPHY

_____Identify the characteristics, functions, and applications of various types of maps—e.g., map projections, political map, physical map, resource map, precipitation/climate map, topographical/elevation map, grid system

_____Compare a political map of the United States to a precipitation/climate map

_____Identify key/legend, map symbols, distance scales, compass rose, cardinal (north, south, east, west) or intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest), the equator, and latitude or longitude

_____Identify political features on a map—e.g., all fifty states by shape and position, capital of the United States and other major U.S. cities

_____Identify physical features on a map—e.g., Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Mississippi River, Missouri River, Rio Grande River, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Grand Canyon

_____Identify the types of settlements in colonial America

_____Identify land use in colonial America

_____Identify ways that location and physical features influence the development or life in a region of the United States—e.g., mountains as a barrier to westward expansion, location of cities near bodies of water

_____Identify physical and other characteristics used to define and distinguish regions in the United States –e.g., climate, vegetation, culture, elevation

_____Explain the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original thirteen colonies—e.g., physical boundaries, economic activities, agriculture, harbors

_____Identify reasons why Europeans chose to explore and colonize the world—e.g., find riches, gain religious freedom, spread Christianity, and locate new trade routes/Northwest Passage

_____Explain how the trade of goods between the northern states and the southern states led to economic interdependence among the thirteen colonies

_____Describe the geographic differences and similarities among the thirteen American colonies that led to political cooperation and conflict –e.g., slavery, agriculture versus manufacturing, desire for more land to expand settlements.

_____Describe the impact of human action on the physical environment of early America—e.g., reduction in amount of wildlife and forests, drainage of swamps

_____Explain and give examples of how American Indians and Europeans adapted to living in the physical environment of North America—e.g., built homes to keep out heat or floods, used wood for log cabin homes, lived in teepees or igloos

_____Identify natural resources used by the people in the United States—e.g., water, forests, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas

HISTORY

_____Identify causes, effects, or impact of a given event in early American history—

_____Ideas about architecture

_____Religion

_____Government

_____Food brought to the colonies by the Europeans

_____Capture of New Amsterdam

_____French and Indian War

_____Influence of American Indian culture and agriculture on the colonists

_____King Philip’s War

_____Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and the Mayflower Compact

_____Religious intolerance in the colonies

_____Identify primary sources that describe key events or issues in early American history—e.g., treaty, autobiography; historical document, historical speech or address, journal or diary entry, letter

_____Identify secondary sources that describe key events or issues in early American history –e.g., biography, novel, almanac, atlas or map, encyclopedia article, newspaper, textbook, play, movie

_____Identify and describe the indigenous cultures and groups that existed in the Americas at the beginning of European exploration—e.g., types of shelter, agricultural and hunting techniques, connection to the land, spiritual beliefs, various uses of animals.

_____Explain Triangular Trade that connected the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa, prior to 1620, including the goods each supplied and where they were shipped.

_____Compare and contrast Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans converging in the Western Hemisphere after 1492—e.g., Spanish system of econmienda, contrast between indentured servitude and slavery.

_____Identify ways cultures change through cultural diffusion, invention, and innovation—e.g., blending of ideas, religions, literary traditions, foods, music and art, trade of various animals, crops, and goods.

_____Identify major early explorations and explorers and their reasons for exploration—e.g., Magellan, LaSalle, Columbus, Balboa, Coronado, deSoto, Cabot and Hudson, Cartier, Pizzaro, Ponce de Leon

_____Describe the impact of the Spanish conquests in the Americas on the Aztecs, Incas, and other indigenous peoples—e.g., loss of God, wealth, and land; decrease in native populations due to foreign diseases and forced labor; invasion of Cortez; spread of Christianity

_____Explain the course and consequences of the Columbian Exchange, including the cultural, ecological, and economic impact—e.g., goods, agricultural crops, and animals exchanged between Europe, the Americas, and West Africa.

_____Describe the influence of the arrival of Africans in the European colonies in the seventeenth century and the increase in the importation of slaves in the eighteenth century—e.g., reasons for Spanish importation of slaves into their American colonies, reasons for extensive use of slaves in the southern colonies.

_____Describe the societal impact of the immersion of Africans in the Americas—e.g., food, religion, increased population in the South, culture.

_____Give examples of conflict and cooperation between American Indians and European settlers—e.g., buying of Indian land by settlers such as William Penn, fur trade between Indians and French settlers, French and Indian War, shared farming and building techniques, King Phillip’s War.

_____Explain the role of religious groups in colonial American communities—e.g., Salem witch trials, William Penn, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania, Puritans in New England, Congregationalists in Massachusetts, Anglicans in Virginia, colleges founded by religious organizations, Great Awakening.

_____Describe the organization and structure of the thirteen British colonies that became the United States—economic(e.g., northern, middle, and southern colonies; royal colonies of the British crown), political (e.g., governor, governor’s council, colonial assembly right to vote and hold office granted only to white male landowners), and social (e.g., debtors prison in Georgia, religious culture).

_____Describe the reflections of European culture, politics, and institutions in American life—e.g., names of colonies and cities based on names of British royalty, legal concept of trial by jury, legislative elections by the people, English language, colonial assemblies.

_____Describe the origins, characteristics, and major achievements of ancient American empires and complex societies in the Americas—e.g., Inca, Maya, Aztec, Olmec, Anasazi.