5th Grade Social Studies

TRIMESTER ONE

UNITS

- Geography of the USA

- Pre-Columbian settlements and people

- European explorers

Google My Maps USA History Map

Google My Maps can be used throughout the year to embed content (e.g., shapes, lines, text, pictures, videos) on a Google map. This example map has layers for the regions of the USA, Native American tribal areas, European explorers, and colonies. Here is a list of resources for this project:

Google Earth USA Regions Study

Google Earth is great for studying the USA's dynamic geography and regions. Here are some resources:

Explorer Documentaries

Adobe Express and WeVideo can be used to create mini-documentaries about the European explorers. Here are some tutorials and resources:

Cabrillo doc.mp4

Google Tour Builder

Google Tour Builder is essentially a Google Earth-integrated slideshow. Users can show locations and street views of anyplace in the world and incorporate text, images, and videos. Here is a list of resources for this project:

Google Tour Builder California Regions Tour.webm

TRIMESTER TWO

UNITS

- Colonial History

- Causes of the Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War Study with Google Slides

Google Slides may be used by students to demonstrate their understanding of the Revolutionary War. 

Revolutionary War Famous People

Newspaper Templates with Google Slides

Google Slides is a great format for creating newspaper templates. Using the Slide-->Edit Master feature, you can customize newspaper templates to fit your project. 

Newspaper template: Glorietta Newspaper

TRIMESTER THREE

UNITS

- Revolutionary War

- The Three Branches of Government

3D Design With TinkerCad

Tinkercad is an easy-to-use 3D CAD design tool. It's a fun way to reinforce geometry concepts grades 4-8, and is great for creating all sorts of 3D models. Tinkercad designs can be rendered using a 3D printer or screencasted to create a "tour" of a design (e.g., CA missions, US Capitol building, Egyptian pyramids, Roman Colosseum).

Iron Chef Revolutionary War

Iron Chef is an activity developed in which students use slide templates to work collaboratively on a project. It is a basic jig saw type activity adapted for a digital classroom. The teacher controls the content by limiting students to the links provided in the slide deck.

CTE_Iron Chef_Rev War

Revolutionary War Website Using Google Sites

Google Sites is a great format for informational writing. Students can insert Google Docs of their writing, customized Google My Maps to show the geographic context of their topic, Google Slides for image galleries––even Google Forms quizzes!

Pecha Kucha Presentation with Google Slides

Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each. Because Pecha Kucha presentations are programmed to advance every 20 seconds, the presenter really needs to know their stuff!

Pecha Kucha Gold Rush.mov