Fifth grade history and social studies

Fifth grade is United States history, from early colonization through the present, plus the regions of the country, the free enterprise system, and the founding documents. This is the year the national archives collections pay off, because DocsTeach and the Library of Congress hold the actual documents the TEKS name. A world history cycle collides with this year almost as badly as it does with fourth grade, so decide early which one you are running.

• K
• 1st
• 2nd
• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th

What to aim for this year

By the end of fifth grade, a child working at grade level can usually do these.

• Places colonization, the Revolution, the Constitution, westward expansion, the Civil War, industrialization, the World Wars, the Great Depression, and the civil rights movement in order on one timeline.
• Explains the causes of the American Revolution and what the Declaration of Independence actually claims.
• Names the three branches of the federal government, describes checks and balances, and says what the Bill of Rights protects.
• Identifies Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King Jr., with something specific about each.
• Explains causes and effects of the Civil War and what Reconstruction set out to do.
• Describes how immigration and industry changed American cities around 1900.
• Locates the regions of the United States and describes the physical features and economies of each.
• Explains supply, demand, profit, and the risk an entrepreneur takes in a free enterprise system.
• Describes the responsibilities of citizenship, including voting, and traces how a bill becomes a law.
• Compares two primary sources about the same event and explains why they differ.
• Reads a chart, graph, or map in a source and states what it shows without being told.
• Uses latitude and longitude together to give the location of any place on Earth
• Knows the country has fifty states, that two do not touch the rest, and which are largest and smallest
• Locates the major physical features of the United States on a map
• Explains why the country has time zones and names the four across the mainland
• Explains how rivers, harbors, mountains, and railroads shaped where Americans settled and moved
• Compares the founding of Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620 and explains why each was settled.
• Describes the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies and how people made a living in each.
• Explains why the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 and what compromise made the Constitution possible.
• Explains what the Bill of Rights is and names several of the freedoms it protects.
• Explains the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and what the Lewis and Clark expedition found.
• Explains why Americans moved west in the 1800s and what happened to the American Indian nations already living there.
• Explains why the United States entered the First World War and when the fighting ended.
• Describes the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and how the country responded.
• Explains how the United States entered the Second World War and how the war ended.
• Describes the main events of the civil rights movement and the laws that came out of it.

Teach it here

These rooms teach it on this site. No sign-up, nothing to buy, and they work with the internet switched off. Start here. Everything below is a fallback for when you want more than the app gives you.

• compass — Map skills, which nothing else here taught: north on the compass rose, following a route, reading a key, map scale, the continents and oceans, the regions of Texas, and the fifty states.
• timeline — The American sequence, from Jamestown through the Declaration and Juneteenth to the Moon landing.
• store — Money earned against money given, needs before wants with the week's demand drawn on the crate, a saving jar that fills a day at a time, the day's slips filed in and out to find what is left in the till, the cost of borrowing compared side by side, and a job told apart from a business by who keeps what is left over.
• know — Where Americans Settled, And Why (harbors, the Appalachians, rivers, the Erie Canal, the railroad), Thirteen Colonies, Three Regions (how people made a living in each), The First World War (why the country went in and when the guns stopped), and The Second World War (Pearl Harbor to the surrenders, with the Texans who led it). Also the Revolution, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the country's story from Jamestown on.
• graph — Reading charts and graphs, which is the source-analysis skill the TEKS ask for in a different subject's clothing.

What a week looks like

1. Three spine readings a week, with the child reading independently and narrating back.
2. One document session on DocsTeach or the Library of Congress. Two accounts of one event is the exercise worth repeating.
3. One iCivics game or lesson, sitting alongside him the first few times.
4. One geography task on the regions of the United States and their economies.
5. One timeline addition every week, on one long timeline he keeps all year rather than a fresh one per unit.

If you want more, free

A fallback, not the plan. Every one of these costs nothing, and the license tag says what you may actually DO with it, which is a different question from whether it is free to read.

• DocsTeach (National Archives) Free Public domain

  The Archives' teaching site, built on actual federal records: the Constitution, treaties, census pages, war posters, immigration documents. The activities are interactive and you can build your own from any document in their holdings.

  License: Federal records, public domain. The site and its activities are free to use. A small number of items may carry donor or third party restrictions, so check the item record for anything unusual.

• Library of Congress classroom materials and primary source sets Free Public domain Not confirmed

  Bundled documents with teacher guides on the topics fifth grade needs most: the American Revolution, the Civil War, immigration, child labor, the civil rights movement, and Japanese American incarceration. Browse from the classroom materials hub, since older paths redirect.

  License: Largely public domain federal material, but rights vary item by item. Check the rights statement on any item before reuse.

• Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government Free Public domain

  Straightforward explanations of the branches, elections, the legislative process, and the founding documents, published by the Government Publishing Office. Three age tiers, with the Journey Person and Master levels both usable in fifth grade depending on the reader.

  License: United States government work, public domain.

• iCivics Free Openly licensed

  Free civics games, lesson plans, and simulations, including running a branch of government, arguing a case, and passing a bill. The games make separation of powers concrete in a way that reading about it does not. There is real elementary material here as well as the better-known middle school content, including sets aimed at ages six to eleven, though a fifth grader will still get more from it with you sitting alongside. Use the education site: the plain icivics.org address now redirects to their advocacy site rather than the classroom resources.

  License: Free with a free account. Copyrighted and licensed for educational use rather than openly licensed, so check their terms before reproducing anything.

• Core Knowledge History and Geography, Grade 5 Free Creative Commons

  Units including the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, the Reformation, feudal Japan, Native Americans, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and United States geography, with full teacher guides.

  License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International. Attribution in Core Knowledge's specified wording, no commercial use, and derivatives must be released under the same or a similar license. The embedded images are separately licensed to them and are not yours to extract.

And the paid programs, honestly

Nothing here is required. These are the programs families most often ask about, with the real drawback of each one named rather than skipped.

• America the Beautiful (Notgrass History) Paid Sold as a package, roughly in the one hundred to one hundred fifty dollar range. Publisher product pages could not be read directly for this page, so confirm the current price and contents.

  Good at: A year of American history with geography and civics in one purchase, written for the upper elementary and middle school band, with daily lessons and a readable narrative voice. It reaches the twentieth century, which many elementary programs do not.

  Drawback: Christian and patriotic in framing, which the publisher states openly and which shapes how some episodes are told. The daily reading load is real, and a fifth grader who reads slowly will fall behind the schedule.

  Suits: A Christian family that wants the whole fifth grade scope in one box with a schedule already built.

• BookShark Paid Several hundred dollars per level, with history and reading only packages costing less than all-subject ones. Confirm current pricing at the source.

  Good at: Secular, box-arrives-at-your-door, with a day-by-day instructor guide and a strong American history reading list. Broadly Sonlight's structure without the Christian content.

  Drawback: Expensive, and a large share of the cost is books your library likely holds. The schedule assumes a full five-day week and does not absorb interruptions gracefully.

  Suits: A secular family with the budget that wants planning handled and a real book list.

• Beautiful Feet Books, Early American History (intermediate) Paid A study guide alone is modest; complete literature packs cost several times that. Confirm current pricing before ordering.

  Good at: Teaches American history through real literature rather than a textbook, with a study guide that asks genuinely good questions instead of filling in blanks.

  Drawback: A providential Christian framing runs through it, and several of the classic titles carry dated portrayals of Native peoples and enslaved people that need discussion rather than a skip. Complete packs are the expensive option.

  Suits: A family that would rather read ten good books than one textbook, and will handle the dated passages head-on.

• Curiosity Chronicles, Modern History Paid PDF editions cost less than print. Current pricing not confirmed; check the publisher's shop.

  Good at: Secular, global, and deliberately wide in whose stories get told, which supplies useful context for the American twentieth century that most elementary programs never reach. The Modern History level is written for roughly grades five through ten, so a fifth grader sits at the young end of a band that will still fit him next year.

  Drawback: World history, so American civics gets far less room than fifth grade in Texas expects. The dialogue format between the two narrators and the explicitly inclusive perspective are both love-or-hate. You will need a separate civics track.

  Suits: A secular family that wants a global frame around the American century and will run civics separately.

• Tapestry of Grace, Year 3 Paid Sold by unit or as a digital year plan costing several times a single unit, plus books. Confirm current pricing at the publisher.

  Good at: Four levels running the same period in the same week, so a fifth grader and a ninth grader can study together. For a wide multi-age family that structure is the whole reason to buy it.

  Drawback: Check what Year 3 actually covers before you buy it for the Revolution, because it does not have it. Year 3 runs roughly 1800 to 1900, opening with Napoleon and early nineteenth century Europe and South America, then westward expansion and industry, then the Civil War, then the Gilded Age. The American Revolution sits in an earlier year of the cycle. Preparation is heavy, the book list adds real cost on top of the plan, and it is Christian and classical by design.

  Suits: A multi-age Christian family that wants the nineteenth century taught to several children at once, and knows the Revolution is not in this year.

Prices are approximate and change often. Check with the publisher before you buy. We describe and link to these programs; none of their material is hosted here.

The rest of fifth grade