History Standard One - Grades 4-5

Sample Activities

Student might be asked to select a significant historical figure from Delaware history and research the period of his or her life to discover what events that person might have witnessed or participated in. Then the students would compile a list of that individual's contemporaries though out the rest of the United States and in selected other regions of the world [Chronology; content].

Parent Partnership Project: Students might perform a similar project to the activity listed above, but using someone from their own family trees. The compiled list could include events that were important to the family and major historical events which might have affected them.

After reading the poem "For the Want of a Horseshoe Nail," students could be asked to list the events described in the poem in their own words and then identify the cause-and-effect factors implied in the work. Having done so, students might be asked whether or not they agree with the suggestion that the entire kingdom was lost because of the loss of the single horseshoe nail, and explain why or why not [Chronology; analysis; interpretation].

Students might read Judith Viorst's And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? and create a timeline or "flip book" showing the most important events in proper sequence [Chronology].

This activity ties in closely with English/Language Arts Standard Four.

Students might examine descriptions, maps, drawings, or photos of several Delaware communities representing different chronological periods in order to analyze ways in which those communities have changed. Groups might be assigned to concentrate on specific areas such as transportation, technology, family living, or working [Chronology; analysis; content].

An economics activity might be integrated with this history activity if students were asked to concentrate on examining the economic choices people might have made in any of these communities.

to History Standard One.