GRADE 5 SOCIAL STUDIES
BELLRINGERS
Prepared by Paulette Cefalu-Walkwitz
1. Identify the characteristics, functions, and applications of the
following types of maps:
a. map projections
b. political map
c. physical map
d. resource map
e. precipitation/climate map
f. topographical/elevation map
g. grid system
2. Explain how location and physical features influenced
the development or life in the United States.
3. What influence did location and physical setting have on the
founding of the original thirteen colonies?
4. Identify reasons why Europeans chose to explore and colonize
the world.
5. How did the trade of goods between the northern states and the
southern states lead to economic interdependence among the thirteen
colonies?
6. Identify the geographic differences and similarities among the
thirteen American colonies that led to political cooperation and
conflict.
7. How did human action impact the physical environment in
early America?
8. Identify examples of how American Indians and Europeans
adapted to living in the physical environment of North America.
9. Identify natural resources used by the people in the United
States.
10. Identify some primary sources that describe key events or
issues in early American history.
11. Identify some secondary sources that describe key events or
issues in early American history.
12. Identify and describe some of the indigenous cultures and
groups that existed in the Americas at the beginning of European
exploration.
13. Explain the "Triangular Trade" that connected the Americas,
Western Europe, and Western Africa, prior to 1620.
14. Compare and contrast Africans, Europeans, and Native
Americans converging in the Western Hemisphere after 1492.
15. Identify changes in cultures through cultural
diffusion, invention, and innovation.
16. Identify major early explorations and explorers. Also,
identify their reason(s) for exploration.
17. Identify the impact of the Spanish conquests in the Americas
on the Aztecs, Incas, and other indigenous peoples.
18. Identify the cultural, ecological, and economic impact of the
Columbian Exchange.
19. How did the arrival of Africans in the European colonies
influence the seventeen century?
20. How did the arrival of Africans in the European colonies
influence the importation of slaves in the eighteenth century?
21. Identify the societal impact of the immersion of Africans in
the Americas.
22. Identify the conflict and cooperation between American
Indians and European settlers.
23. Identify the role of religious groups in colonial American
communities.
24. Explain the organization and structure of the thirteen
British colonies that became the United States.
(economic, political, and social)
25. Define the origins, characteristics, and major achievements
of ancient American empires and complex societies in the Americas
(e.g., Inca, Maya, Aztec, Olmec, Anasazi)