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Georgia: 5th-Grade Standards

  • GA.SS5H. Strand/topic: United States History Since 1860

    Historical Understandings

    • SS5H1. Standard:

      The student will explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War.

      • SS5H1.a. Element:

        Identify Uncle Tom's Cabin and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and explain how each of these events was related to the Civil War.

      • SS5H1.b. Element:

        Discuss how the issues of states' rights and slavery increased tensions between the North and South.

      • SS5H1.c. Element: Identify major battles and campaigns

        Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and Appomattox Court House.

      • SS5H1.d. Element:

        Describe the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson.

      • SS5H1.e. Element:

        Describe the effects of war on the North and South.

    • SS5H2. Standard:

      The student will analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.

      • SS5H2.a. Element:

        Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

      • SS5H2.b. Element:

        Explain the work of the Freedmen's Bureau.

      • SS5H2.c. Element:

        Explain how slavery was replaced by sharecropping and how African- Americans were prevented from exercising their newly won rights; include a discussion of Jim Crow laws and customs.

    • SS5H3. Standard:

      The student will describe how life changed in America at the turn of the century.

      • SS5H3.a. Element:

        Describe the role of the cattle trails in the late 19th century; include the Black Cowboys of Texas, the Great Western Cattle Trail, and the Chisholm Trail.

      • SS5H3.b. Element:

        Describe the impact on American life of the Wright brothers (flight), George Washington Carver (science), Alexander Graham Bell (communication), and Thomas Edison (electricity).

      • SS5H3.c. Element:

        Explain how William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt expanded America's role in the world; include the Spanish-American War and the building of the Panama Canal.

      • SS5H3.d. Element:

        Describe the reasons people emigrated to the United States, from where they emigrated, and where they settled.

    • SS5H4. Standard:


      • SS5H4.a. Element:


      • SS5H4.b. Element:

        Describe the cultural developments and individual contributions in the 1920s of the Jazz Age (Louis Armstrong), the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes), baseball (Babe Ruth), the automobile (Henry Ford), and the airplane (Charles Lindbergh).

    • SS5H5. Standard:


      • SS5H5.a. Element:


      • SS5H5.b. Element:

        Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

      • SS5H5.c. Element:

        Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.

    • SS5H6. Standard:

      The student will explain the reasons for America's involvement in World War II.

      • SS5H6.a. Element:

        Describe Germany's aggression in Europe and Japanese aggression in Asia.

      • SS5H6.b. Element:

        Describe major events in the war in both Europe and the Pacific; include Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, D-Day, VE and VJ Days, and the Holocaust.

      • SS5H6.c. Element:

        Discuss President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagaskai.

      • SS5H6.d. Element:

        Identify Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill, Hirohito, Truman, Mussolini, and Hitler.

      • SS5H6.e. Element:

        Describe the effects of rationing and the changing role of women and African- Americans; include 'Rosie the Riveter' and the Tuskegee Airmen.

      • SS5H6.f. Element:

        Explain the U.S. role in the formation of the United Nations.

    • SS5H7. Standard:

      The student will discuss the origins and consequences of the Cold War.

      • SS5H7.a. Element:

        Explain the origin and meaning of the term 'Iron Curtain.'

      • SS5H7.b. Element:

        Explain how the United States sought to stop the spread of communism through the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

      • SS5H7.c. Element:

        Identify Joseph McCarthy and Nikita Khrushchev.

    • SS5H8. Standard:

      The student will describe the importance of key people, events, and developments between 1950-1975.

      • SS5H8.a. Element:

        Discuss the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War.

      • SS5H8.b. Element:

        Explain the key events and people of the Civil Rights movement; include Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and civil rights activities of Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

      • SS5H8.c. Element:

        Describe the impact on American society of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

      • SS5H8.d. Element:

        Discuss the significance of the technologies of television and space exploration.

    • SS5H9. Standard:

      The student will trace important developments in America since 1975.

      • SS5H9.a. Element:

        Describe U. S. involvement in world events; include efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Persian Gulf War, and the War on Terrorism in response to September 11, 2001.

      • SS5H9.b. Element:

        Explain the impact the development of the personal computer and Internet has had on American life.

  • GA.SS5G. Strand/topic: United States History Since 1860

    Geographic Understandings

    • SS5G1. Standard:

      The student will locate important places in the United States.

      • SS5G1.a. Element:

        Locate important physical features; include the Grand Canyon, Salton Sea, Great Salt Lake, and the Mojave Desert.

      • SS5G1.b. Element:

        Locate important man-made places; include the Chisholm Trail; Pittsburgh, PA; Gettysburg, PA; Kitty Hawk, NC; Pearl Harbor, HI; and Montgomery, AL.

    • SS5G2. Standard:

      The student will explain the reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.

      • SS5G2.a. Element:

        Identify and explain the factors influencing industrial location in the United States after the Civil War.

      • SS5G2.b. Element:

        Define, map, and explain the dispersion of the primary economic activities within the United States since the turn of the century.

      • SS5G2.c. Element:

        Map and explain how the dispersion of global economic activities contributed to the United States emerging from World War I as a world power.

  • GA.SS5CG. Strand/topic: United States History Since 1860

    Government/Civic Understandings

    • SS5CG1. Standard:

      The student will explain how a citizen's rights are protected under the U.S. Constitution.

      • SS5CG1.a. Element:

        Explain the responsibilities of a citizen.

      • SS5CG1.b. Element:

        Explain the freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights.

      • SS5CG1.c. Element:

        Explain the concept of due process of law.

      • SS5CG1.d. Element:

        Describe how the Constitution protects a citizen's rights by due process.

    • SS5CG2. Standard:

      The student will explain the process by which amendments to the U.S. Constitution are made.

      • SS5CG2.a. Element:

        Explain the amendment process outlined in the Constitution.

      • SS5CG2.b. Element:

        Describe the purpose for the amendment process.

    • SS5CG3. Standard:

      The student will explain how amendments to the U. S. Constitution have maintained a representative democracy.

      • SS5CG3.a. Element:

        Explain the purpose of the 12th and 17th amendments.

      • SS5CG3.b. Element:

        Explain how voting rights were protected by the 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th amendments.

    • SS5CG4. Standard:

      The student will explain the meaning of 'e pluribus unum' and the reason it is the motto of the United States.

  • GA.SS5E. Strand/topic: United States History Since 1860

    Economic Understandings

    • SS5E1. Standard:

      The student will use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost, specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical events.

      • SS5E1.a. Element:

        Describe opportunity costs and their relationship to decision-making across time (such as decisions to remain unengaged at the beginning of World War II in Europe).

      • SS5E1.b. Element:

        Explain how price incentives affect people's behavior and choices (such as monetary policy during the Great Depression).

      • SS5E1.c. Element:

        Describe how specialization improves standards of living, (such as how specific economies in the north and south developed at the beginning of the 20th century).

      • SS5E1.d. Element:

        Explain how voluntary exchange helps both buyers and sellers (such as among the G8 countries).

      • SS5E1.e. Element:

        Describe how trade promotes economic activity (such as trade activities today under NAFTA).

      • SS5E1.f. Element:

        Give examples of technological advancements and their impact on business productivity during the development of the United States.

    • SS5E2. Standard:

      The student will describe the functions of the three major institutions in the U. S. economy in each era of United States history.

      • SS5E2.a. Element:

        Describe the private business function in producing goods and services.

      • SS5E2.b. Element:

        Describe the bank function in providing checking accounts, savings accounts, and loans.

      • SS5E2.c. Element:

        Describe the government function in taxation and providing certain goods and services.

    • SS5E3. Standard:

      The student will describe how consumers and businesses interact in the United States economy across time.

      • SS5E3.a. Element:

        Describe how competition, markets, and prices influence people's behavior.

      • SS5E3.b. Element:

        Describe how people earn income by selling their labor to businesses.

      • SS5E3.c. Element:

        Describe how entrepreneurs take risks to develop new goods and services to start a business.

    • SS5E4. Standard:

      The student will identify the elements of a personal budget and explain why personal spending and saving decisions are important.