New York State Test Prep Social Studies 5 (Grade 4)Civics,Citizenship, and Government

There are many vocabulary words that children are expected to know for the 5th grade Social Studies assessment. Ideally at the beginning of Grade 3 children should carry a bound notebook, or at least a folder, to keep the important " SS stuff" . This notebook should include a section for a glossary of important terms, and it should be added to all the time through grade 5. A good list can be found here or in your book's glossary. Teachers could assign the following tasks for review of the words.

Play Vocabulary Bingo with a 6 x 6 grid and all the words!
Make flash cards with meanings on reverse sides.
Do CLOZE exercises with terms used. Click here for an exercise that goes along with the words found in the above link.

I found the above site extremely useful in teaching 4th grade students about the different facets of government. It is run by the US Government Printing Office. The copyright information is found at the end of this web page.

Click on the pictures of Ben to go quickly to the site needed for that key concept!

DEMOCRACY:

This site defines the election process. This site explains how different positions are elected such as President, Vice President, Representative, and Senators.

CITIZENSHIP :

This site contains more information on citizenship (at a 4th grade level of comprehension). For more information on becoming a US citizen click here.

POWER : In the lesson I divided POWER into three categories: three branches of government: different levels of government (federal, state, local), and the system of Checks and Balances.

BRANCHES: This site differentiates between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
LEVELS of GOVERNMENT: This site explains the reasoning behind the division of the federal and state governments.
CHECKS AND BALANCES: This explains the definition and gives examples on how it is used.

This site also has lots of activities for the children to do independently. They can do some on line or make copies. Click on Ben and his game to follow that link!

GPO Access is a free service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted. This service is funded by the Federal Depository Library Program and has grown out of Public Law 103-40, known as the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Enhancement Act of 1993.

Let's go back to lesson!