SOCIAL STUDIES

In chapter 1, We learn about similarities and differences between communities. We learn that people in a community share many needs and interests. They help each other and work together. The whole community helps to shape the people who live in it. The communities that we study in this chapter are El Paso, Texas, Astoria, Oregon, Timbuktu, Mali, Wilmington, North Carolina, and Denver, Colorado.

In chapter 2, we study about the kinds of communities. The specific ones we are studying about are Bridgewater, Virginia, a rural community, Levittown, New York, a suburban community, and Chicago, Illinois, an urban community. Another urban community that we study in this chapter is Tokyo, Japan.

In chapter 3, we study how people move from place to place and the reasons for these moves.

In chapter 4, we study how people honor ethnic groups who helped build their community. We also study map and globe skills.

In chapter 5, we will learn a community's location, climate, and natural resources affect the people who live there. They will be studying Boizeman, Montana, Kauai, Hawaii, and Beaumont, Texas.

In Chapter 6, we learn about the founders of communities and what were their reasons for building their communities in certain locations. The communities we will be studying are Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Seattle, Washington, and Indianapolis, Indiana.

In chapter 7, we are going to study about the forms of Transportation that allowed people to move across the United States and around the world. We will visit the Mississippi River, Detroit, Michigan, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The famous people that we will meet are: Thomas Jefferson. Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacagawea, Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, Henry Ford, Orville and Wilbur Wright.                                                                

In chapter 8, we will learn about the new medicines and the ways to fight diseases that have improved the health of people around the world. People we will meet are Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, and Gertrude Elion.

In chapter 9, we will learn how to make a budget. We will learn how people make choices about how money is earned, spent, and saved.

In chapter 10, we will learn how factories use natural resources, people, and machines to make products. We will meet Henry Ford.

In chapter 11, we will learn about the government of the United States and how it protects our rights. We will visit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. We will learn what an amendment is and what the Declaration of Independence is, and all about the United States Constitution and what the Bill of Rights is.

Chapter 12 is all about Our Local Government. WE will study about the local government of St. Louis, Traverse City, Michigan, and Atlanta, Georgia. We will learn how a bill becomes a law. We will learn about the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and Judicial Branch of our government.

Our special Project this year will not be the Travel Mates, but we are having all our friends and neighbors that are traveling send us post cards from their trips. We have been to many interesting places so far. We have been all over Europe, the U.S., and Asia.