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

Focus: Identify goods traded between Indigenous nations and newcomers (explorers, traders, settlers) in the early state and discuss examples of cooperation and conflict. Use simple trade and interdependence ideas to show how groups depended on each other and how supply and demand influenced exchanges.

Grade Level: 4

Subject Area: Social Studies (History • Economics)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

Students investigate early trade and exchange in their state or region by looking at how Indigenous nations and newcomers exchanged goods, skills, and ideas. Using maps, trade cards, and short readings, they learn what was traded (furs, food, tools, metal goods, cloth, knowledge), where trading posts and meeting places were located, and how these exchanges created interdependence. Students also examine how trade could lead to both cooperation (alliances, shared knowledge) and conflict (arguments over prices, land, and resources).

Essential Questions

• What goods and services were traded between Indigenous nations and newcomers in the early state?
• How did trade create interdependence, meaning that different groups relied on each other?
• In what ways did early trade bring cooperation, and in what ways did it lead to conflict?
• How did location (rivers, trails, crossroads) influence where trading posts and markets were built?
• How can simple supply and demand ideas help us understand changes in prices, availability, and relationships among groups?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Identify at least three goods traded between Indigenous nations and newcomers in the early state and explain who supplied which goods.
2. Locate trading places (posts, river crossings, early towns) on a map and connect them to landforms and routes used for trade.
3. Explain basic trade and interdependence: who needed what, who provided what, and how groups depended on one another.
4. Use simple supply and demand reasoning to describe what might happen when a good becomes scarce or more plentiful (e.g., changes in value or conflict).
5. Describe at least one example of cooperation and one example of conflict related to trade, noting basic causes and effects.
6. Create a simple Trade & Interdependence Diagram or mini-poster that shows goods exchanged, groups involved, and one cooperation/conflict example.

Standards Alignment — 4th Grade (C3-based custom)

• 4.C3.Hist.4 — Explain exploration/settlement patterns and interactions among groups; note causes/effects.
  • Example: Causes of a trading post’s location and its impacts on nearby communities.
• 4.C3.Econ.4 — Explain trade and interdependence within/beyond the state; use simple supply/demand ideas.
  • Example: Trace how a state crop moves from farm to market to consumers.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can name goods that Indigenous nations and newcomers traded and explain who traded what.
• I can point out where trade happened on a map and tell why that location was good for trade.
• I can use words like trade, interdependence, supply, and demand to explain how groups needed each other.
• I can describe at least one trade-related cooperation story and one conflict story using cause and effect language.
• I can create a Trade & Interdependence Diagram that clearly shows goods moving between groups and what happened because of trade.