Grade 4 Social Studies Michigan standards Standards

Public Discourse, Decision Making, And Civic Participation

Economics

Civics And Government

Geography

History

Social Studies Process And Skills Standards

Identify questions political scientists ask in examining the United States.

Describe the purposes of government as identified in the Preamble of the Constitution.

Explain how the principles of popular sovereignty, rule of law, checks and balances, separation of powers, and individual rights serve to limit the powers of the federal government as reflected in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Describe how rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and Democratic Values are involved in everyday situations.

Give examples of ways the Constitution limits the powers of the federal government.

Give examples of powers exercised by the federal government, tribal governments and state governments.

Describe the organizational structure of the federal government in the United States (legislative, executive, and judicial branches).

Describe how the powers of the federal government are separated among the branches.

Give examples of how the system of checks and balances limits the power of the federal government.

Describe how the President, members of the Congress, Supreme Court Justices are elected or appointed.

Explain how the federal government uses taxes and spending to serve the purposes of government.

Explain the responsibilities of members of American society.

Explain rights of citizenship, why rights have limits, and the relationships between rights and responsibilities.

Describe ways in which people can work together to promote the values and principles of American democracy.

Identify a good or service produced in the United States and apply the three economic questions all economies must address.

Describe characteristics of a market economy.

Describe how positive and negative incentives influence behavior in a market economy.

Explain how price affects decisions about purchasing goods and services.

Explain how specialization and division of labor increase productivity.

Explain how competition among buyers results in higher prices, and competition among sellers results in lower prices.

Describe the role of money in the exchange of goods and services.

List goods and services governments provide in a market economy and explain how these goods and services are funded.

Explain how changes in the United States economy impact levels of employment and unemployment.

Identify advantages and disadvantages of global competition.

Identify public issues in the United States that influence the daily lives of its citizens.

Use graphic data and other sources to analyze information about a public issue in the United States and evaluate alternative resolutions.

Give examples of how conflicts over Democratic Values lead people to differ on resolutions to a public policy issue in the United States.

Compose a brief essay expressing a position on a public policy issue in the United States and justify the position with a reasoned argument.

Develop and implement an action plan and know how, when, and where to address or inform others about a public issue.

Participate in projects to help or inform others.

Identify questions geographers ask in examining the United States.

Identify and describe the characteristics and purposes of a variety of technological geographic tools. answer geographic questions about the United States.

Use maps to describe elevation, climate, and patterns of population density in the United States.

Use hemispheres, continents, oceans, and major lines of latitude to describe the relative location of the United States on a world map.

Describe ways in which the United States can be divided into different regions.

Locate and describe human and physical characteristics of major U.S. regions and compare them to the Great Lakes region.

Use a case study or story about migration within or to the United States to identify push and pull factors (why they left, why they came) that influenced the migration.

Describe the impact of immigration to the United States on the cultural development of different places or regions of the United States.

Describe some of the movements of resources, goods, people, and information to, from, or within the United States, and explain the reasons for the movements.

Assess the positive and negative consequences of human activities on the physical environment of the United States and identify the causes of those activities.

Use historical inquiry questions to investigate the development of Michigan's major economic activities from statehood to present.

Use primary and secondary sources to explain how migration and immigration affected and continue to affect the growth of Michigan.

Use case studies or stories to describe the ideas and actions of individuals involved in the Underground Railroad in Michigan and in the Great Lakes region.

Describe how the relationship between the location of natural resources and the location of industries (after 1837) affected and continue to affect the location and growth of Michigan cities.

Use visual data and informational text or primary accounts to compare a major Michigan economic activity today with that same activity or a related activity in the past.

Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to construct a historical narrative about the beginnings of the automobile industry and the labor movement in Michigan.

Describe past and current threats to Michigan's natural resources and describe how state government, tribal and local governments, schools, organizations, and individuals worked in the past and continue to work today to protect its natural resources.

Explain why people create governments.

Describe the structure of government in the United States and how it functions.

Explain important rights and how, when, and where members of American society demonstrate their responsibilities by actively participating in civic life.

Use fundamental principles and concepts of economics to understand economic activity in a market economy.

Use fundamental principles and concepts of economics to understand economic activity in the United States.

Use geographic representations to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

Understand how regions are created from common physical and human characteristics.

Understand how human activities help shape the Earth's surface.

Understand the effects of human-environment interactions.

Use fundamental principles and concepts of economics to understand economic activity in the global economy.

The History of Michigan (Beyond Statehood)

Reading And Communication – Read And Communicate Effectively

Use appropriate strategies to read and interpret basic social science tables, graphs, graphics, maps, and texts.

Differentiate between primary and secondary source documents.

Express social science ideas or information in written, spoken, and graphic forms including tables, line graphs, bar graphs, and maps.

Identify point of view and bias.

Inquiry, Research, And Analysis

Use compelling and supporting questions to investigate social studies problems.

Differentiate between compelling questions and supporting questions.

Use supporting questions to help answer compelling social studies questions.

Know how to find relevant evidence from a variety of sources.

Use data presented in social science tables, graphs, graphics, maps, and texts to answer compelling and supporting questions.

Public Discourse And Decision Making

State an issue as a question of public policy and discuss possible solutions from different perspectives.

Apply Democratic Values or Constitutional Principles to support a position on an issue.

Construct an argument and justify a decision supported with evidence.

Explain the challenges people have faced and actions they have taken to address issues at different times and places.

Civic Participation

Act out of the rule of law and hold others to the same standard.

Assess options for individuals and groups to plan and conduct activities intended to advance views on matters of public policy.

Explain different strategies students and others could take to address problems and predict possible results.

Use democratic procedures to make decisions on civic issues in the school or classroom.

Clearly state a problem as a public policy issue, analyze various perspectives, and generate and evaluate possible alternative resolutions.

Communicate a reasoned position on a public issue.

Act constructively to further the public good.