English Language Arts Grade 4 [2011]

• American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
  After completing these activities, students will be able to: identify the original thirteen British colonies on a map; understand how physical geography affected settlement; understand how settlers' backgrounds influenced their values, priorities, and daily lives; examine artifacts and make inferences about the people and the historical periods that they represent; imagine typical daily life for different families in colonial America in the late 1700s; write a letter from the viewpoint of someone who lived in a different time and place.
• Declare the Causes:The Declaration of Independence
  This unit from EDSITEment capitalizes on the propensity to complain to increase student awareness of the precedents behind the Declaration of Independence. By the completion of this unit, students will be able to describe and list the sections of the Declaration of Independence and explain the basic purpose of each. They will also be able to give an example of a document that served as a precedent for the Declaration, list and explain one or more of the colonists' complaints included in the Declaration, and demonstrate an awareness of the Declaration of Independence as a historical process developed in protest of unfair conditions.
• I Do Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugurations
  Presidential inaugurations have been solemn ceremonies and uninhibited celebrations. They are carefully scripted and they are unpredictable. They reflect tradition and they reflect the moment. This unit, consisting of five lesson plans, will help your students reflect on what the Presidential inauguration has become and what it has been, while they meet a host of memorable historical figures and uncover a sense of America's past through archival materials.
• I Hear the Locomotives
  In this lesson, found on the EDSITEment website, students analyze archival material in order to make connections between the arrival of the railroads and many of the changes that occurred subsequently in the United States and its territories. They learn how the development of the Transcontinental Railroad brought about an increase in hide hunting and so the demise of the Native American tribes dependent on the buffalo herds, and they examine documents relating to other economic and social upheavals brought about by this revolution in travel. From this introductory page teachers can access archival materials needed to complete the lesson.
• Music from Across America
  In this unit, students listen to a variety of popular, traditional and ethnic American music, from the evocative sounds of Native American drumming to the lively sounds of zydeco music from Louisiana. To develop their listening skills, students use worksheets to record their impressions about the music they hear. In addition to learning about musical instruments and the geographic and cultural context of music, children are encouraged to think about and express their personal responses to music.
• Not Everyone Lived in Castles During the Middle Ages
  After completing this lesson, students will be able to: compare common perceptions of medieval Europe with the realities of life during that period in history; and list elements of the daily lives of various classes of people living in medieval Europe.
• On This Day With Lewis and Clark
  This set of 5 lesson plans from EDSITEment is designed to help students appreciate the immensity and mystery of the mission Lewis and Clark accepted. As "experts" investigating specific subjects assigned to Lewis by President Jefferson, students will conduct careful research. Reading brief diary entries of the men of the Corps will spark the interest of students as they relive the discoveries of the original participants.
• Remember the Ladies: The First Ladies
  Through the lessons in this unit, students will explore the ways in which First Ladies were able to shape the world while dealing with the expectations placed on them as women and as partners of powerful men. Students will answer the following questions: What does a First Lady do? Who have some of our First Ladies been? How have they helped shape the social history of our country?
• Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources
  In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. - both before and after emancipation.
• The Aztecs: Mighty Warriors of Mexico
  After completing this lesson, students will be able to: identify the Aztecs as the builders of a great city and rich civilization in what is now Mexico; locate the Aztec Empire and its capital on a map; describe several aspects of Aztec culture; and understand the causes of the Aztec civilization's downfall.
• The First Amendment: What's Fair in a Free Country?
  After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to summarize the contents of the First Amendment, and give an example of speech that is protected by the Constitution and speech that is not protected by the Constitution.
• Traces: Historic Archaeology
  In this unit, students will recover and analyze artifacts from sites in use from the settlement period to the second half of the19th century. They will look for similarities and differences among the artifacts and the lives they reveal. In conclusion, students will look at today's artifacts of the future and consider how we will be viewed.
• We Must Not Be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural
  This unit, consisting of six separate lessons, will help your students understand the historical context and significance of Lincoln's inaugural address through archival documents such as campaign posters, sheet music, vintage photographs and documents. Students will be able to answer the following questions: How did Lincoln's first inaugural address reflect the events that preceded it? How well did it presage events to follow? How did subsequent actions by Lincoln reflect the responsibilities enumerated in the Presidential Oath of Office?