Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Explore Grade 4 Social Studies unit plans with standards-aligned lessons that build civic knowledge, geographic skills, and understanding of communities and government.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 36 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Cumulative Synthesis & Exhibition

Showcase yearlong learning by curating maps, timelines, civic projects, and economic displays in a polished State Story Exhibition that highlights geography, history, government, and interdependence through clear, evidence-based explanations.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 35 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Our State in the Nation

Explore how state government, public services, and trade connect our state to the nation, while students practice respectful civic participation through simple class decisions.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 34 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Citizens Taking Action

Lead students in planning and completing a real-world citizenship project that promotes respect, inclusion, and digital responsibility, guiding them to identify a local need, take informed action, and share their impact through a clear, well-crafted communication product.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 33 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Balancing Economy and Environment

Evaluate how natural resources support state industries and explore the benefits, costs, and sustainable practices that balance economic needs with environmental stewardship, guiding students to create evidence-based proposals for real-world action.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 32 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Resources and Industries

Analyze how natural, human, and capital resources—and the state’s landforms, waterways, and climate—shape where people live, work, and build industries, helping students connect geography to economic activity and understand the benefits and trade-offs of using local resources.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 31 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Trade and Interdependence

Trace how a key state product is made and moved using natural, human, and capital resources, and see how highways, railroads, canals, dams, and ports connect our community to national and global trade, highlighting interdependence and the benefits and costs of resource use.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 30 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Why People Work

Explore why people work and how earning, saving, spending, and budgeting support personal goals while influencing local businesses, jobs, and trade, helping students understand interdependence and simple supply-and-demand in the state economy.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 29 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Producers and Consumers

Explore how local and state industries turn natural, human, and capital resources into the goods and services communities rely on, as students identify producers and consumers, trace production flows, and weigh simple benefits and environmental trade-offs.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 28 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Scarcity and Choice

Limited resources and opportunity cost come to life as students analyze real community choices using maps, charts, and texts, then justify the best option in a “Scarcity & Choice” case study.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 27 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Midyear Simulation — Our Capitol in Action

Students run a mock legislative session to propose, debate, amend, and vote on a class law—learning how rules, laws, roles in government, and evidence-based claims support fairness, safety, and the common good.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 26 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Public Services and Taxes

Students learn how state and local governments fund and deliver public services, how taxes support the common good, and how goods, services, producers, and consumers interact in the local economy.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 25 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Rights and Responsibilities

Students compare rights and responsibilities, explore how rules and due process support fairness and safety, and create a Class Bill of Rights & Responsibilities for responsible in-person and digital citizenship.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 24 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Symbols and State Pride

Students explore state symbols and Indigenous homelands, interpreting how flags, mottos, and emblems reflect identity and values, then design a symbol that honors state pride and Indigenous history.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 23 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Citizenship and Participation

Students practice real-world citizenship through voting, compromise, respectful discussion, and digital responsibility, using class elections and a shared charter to learn how participation and inclusion help groups make fair, community-minded decisions.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 22 (Grade 4 Social Studies): How a Bill Becomes a Law

Students simulate how a bill becomes a law at the state level, exploring each step—from idea to vote to governor’s decision—and learning how the legislative process supports fairness, safety, and the common good using evidence and simple citations.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 21 (Grade 4 Social Studies): State and Local Leaders

Students learn the roles of state and local leaders—governors, mayors, and councils—and match them to key public services while evaluating sources for credibility, relevance, fact vs opinion, and perspective.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 20 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Branches of Government

Students learn how state government works by exploring the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and using multiple sources to understand how they create laws, enforce them, and provide public services.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 19 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Rules, Laws, and Fairness

Students explore how rules and laws promote fairness, safety, order, and the common good, asking their own questions and using due process to understand and improve real-life school and community rules.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 18 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Midyear Project — From First Peoples to Statehood

Students create a visual timeline or digital museum showing the state’s story from First Peoples to statehood, using primary/secondary sources to explain key events, perspectives, and patterns of continuity and change.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 17 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Our Path to Statehood

Students trace key turning points—from Indigenous homelands to settlement, territory, and statehood—using maps, timelines, and sources to understand how exploration, land use, and government changed over time.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 16 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Sources Tell Our State’s Story

Students investigate a guiding historical question using primary and secondary sources, analyzing relevance, credibility, and perspective to separate fact from opinion and write a clear, evidence-based explanation of who/what/where/when/why.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 15 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Timelines of Change

Students build and interpret a state history timeline—from longstanding Indigenous presence to statehood—using chronological vocabulary, intervals, and multiple sources to understand how communities and governments changed over time.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 14 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Building Communities

Students analyze how natural features like rivers and landforms influenced early settlements and how human-made features—roads, bridges, canals, and dams—transformed land use, trade, and community growth across the region.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 13 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Trade and Exchange in the Early State

Students explore early trade between Indigenous nations and newcomers, mapping trading locations, identifying exchanged goods, and using simple supply-and-demand ideas to explain interdependence, cooperation, and conflict in the region’s early history.

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Grade 4 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 12 (Grade 4 Social Studies): Explorers and Early Contacts

Students trace explorers’ routes, motives, and early encounters with Indigenous peoples using maps and multiple sources, identifying clear cause-and-effect patterns that shaped early exploration and settlement in the region.