Grade 4 Social Studies Alaska standards Standards

By the end of 3: Describe and define the rights, roles, and responsibilities of residents of Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe the responsibilities and powers of local, Tribal, and state leaders across branches of government.

By the end of 3: Describe how civic virtues can be applied in school settings.

By the end of 3: Describe procedures for making decisions at the local, Tribal, and state levels in Alaska, including the impact individuals can have.

By the end of 3: Explore and describe various government structures within Alaska.

By the end of 3: List ways that people participate in democracy.

By the end of 3: Recall core civic virtues that guide communities in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe how Alaska’s laws are created and changed at multiple organizational levels.

By the end of 3: Identify key documents on which local and state laws are based and where to find them.

By the end of 3: Discuss the importance of having processes for making decisions as a group.

By the end of 3: Identify and participate in ways that people can influence the local community and organize solutions through action.

By the end of 3: Describe how rules can create responsibilities.

By the end of 3: Identify the beliefs and values that underlie one’s own point of view about civic issues in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Illustrate historical and contemporary means of changing society in Alaska.

By the end of 4: Explain how policies are developed to address public problems.

By the end of 3: Explain the origins, functions, and structure of state and Tribal governments in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe ways in which people benefit from working together in families, households, and voluntary organizations.

Rights, Roles, and Responsibilities of Citizens

Explain, compare, and participate in various rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens.

Civic and Political Institutions and Systems

Distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government and in different times and places.

Explain how a democracy relies on people’s responsible participation and draw implications for how individuals participate in democracy.

Examine the origins and purposes of rules, laws, and key U.S. constitutional provisions.

Explain how groups of people make rules to create responsibilities and protect freedoms.

Explain the origins, functions, and structure of different systems of government, including those created by the U.S. and state constitutions.

Describe ways in which people benefit from and are challenged by working together, including through government, workplaces, voluntary organizations, and families.

Participation and Deliberation

Apply civic virtues and democratic principles in school settings.

Identify core civic virtues and democratic principles that guide government, society, and communities.

Use deliberative processes when making decisions or reaching judgments as a group.

Identify the beliefs, experiences, perspectives, and values that underlie their own and others’ points of view about civic issues.

Processes, Rules, and Laws

Compare procedures for making decisions in a variety of settings, including classroom, school, government, and/or society.

Explain how rules and laws change society and how people change rules and laws.

Explain how policies are developed to address public problems.

Illustrate historical and contemporary means of changing society.

Processes, Rules, and Laws

Explain and analyze the roles of government systems that influence and impact Alaska.

By the end of 4: Examine Indigenous land ownership, rights, and acknowledgment in Alaska and in other areas.

By the end of 4: Compare and contrast the responsibilities and powers of government officials and various levels and branches of the current federal government.

By the end of 4: Demonstrate civic virtues in school settings.

By the end of 4: Describe procedures for making decisions at the federal level in the United States, including the impact individuals can have.

By the end of 4: Examine Indigenous land ownership, rights, and acknowledgment in Alaska and other areas.

By the end of 4: Explain how democracies rely on responsible participation.

By the end of 4: Determine core civic virtues and democratic principles that guide society in Alaska and the United States.

By the end of 4: Explain how laws are created at the federal level in the United States, including how change is brought forth by voting in government elections.

By the end of 4: Identify key civic documents at the local, state, and national levels, and describe their central principles.

By the end of 4: With teacher guidance, create a process for group decision‐ making.

By the end of 4: Explain how groups of people make rules to create responsibilities.

By the end of 4: Recognize the beliefs, experiences, perspectives, and values that underlie another person’s point of view about a civic issue.

By the end of 4: Illustrate historical and contemporary means of changing society in various regions of the United States.

By the end of 4: Describe the origins, functions, and structure of municipal and state governments in the United States.

By the end of 4: Describe ways in which people benefit from and are challenged by working together in workplaces.

By the end of 5: Describe the rights, roles, and responsibilities of U.S. citizens and explain basic principles of American democracy.

By the end of 5: Distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government in the early days of American democracy.

By the end of 5: Apply civic virtues and democratic principles in school settings.

By the end of 5: Analyze and compare procedures for making decisions in a variety of settings, including classroom, school, government, and/or society.

By the end of 5: Compare and contrast the three branches of national government along with their impact on Alaska.

By the end of 5: Assess the importance of participation in democracy.

By the end of 5: Distinguish core civic virtues and democratic principles that guide government, society, and communities.

By the end of 5: Evaluate how rules and laws change society and how people change rules and laws.

By the end of 5: Identify and explain the importance of key national documents and determine their impact on governance.

By the end of 5: Use deliberative processes when making decisions or reaching judgments as a group.

By the end of 5: Research problems or issues and propose solutions using the appropriate public process.

By the end of 5: Explain how groups of people make rules to create responsibilities and protect freedoms.

By the end of 5: Examine the beliefs, experiences, perspectives, and values that underlie one’s own and others’ points of view about civic issues.

By the end of 5: Summarize the historical origins of relevant rules and laws, and the formal and informal factors that shape(d) public policy.

By the end of 5: Investigate the origins, functions, and structure of the U.S. federal government.

By the end of 5: Describe ways in which people benefit from and are challenged by working together through government.

By the end of 4: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 4: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: Define and provide examples of human capital, physical capital, and natural resources in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Examine various ways that people in Alaska have met their needs for food, clothing, and shelter, and how they have changed over time.

By the end of 3: With support, generate a list of scenarios that may include borrowing money.

By the end of 3: Explain how trade contributed to economic interdependence among Indigenous groups throughout Alaska’s history.

By the end of 3: Analyze how various Alaska Native groups use and have used several natural resources to meet their needs.

By the end of 3: Explain what it means for an individual and/or business to specialize and/or trade.

By the end of 3: With support, generate a list of factors that influence the way people make a particular decision.

By the end of 3: Define unemployment and explain why the number of unemployed individuals in a given area may increase or decrease.

By the end of 3: Explain how geography, natural resources, climate, and available labor contributed to the exploitation of resources in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Explain the ways in which Alaska’s government pays for the goods and services it provides.

By the end of 3: Define and illustrate examples of capital goods and human capital.

Economic Systems, Models, and Markets

Identify examples of the variety of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) that are used to produce goods and services.

Explain why individuals and businesses specialize and trade.

Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.

Explain the relationship between investment in human capital, productivity, and future incomes.

Explain how profits influence sellers in markets.

Identify examples of external benefits and costs.

Describe the role of other financial institutions in an economy.

Decision‐Making and Personal Finance

Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.

Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.

The National Economy

Explain what interest rates are.

Explain the meaning of inflation, deflation, and unemployment.

Explain the ways in which the government pays for the goods and services it provides.

Describe ways that people can increase productivity by using improved capital goods and improving their human capital.

The Global Economy

Explain how trade leads to increasing economic interdependence among nations.

Explain the effects of increasing economic interdependence on different groups within participating nations.

Alaska Economies: State, Local, and Tribal

Explain different economic systems used by groups of Alaskans across the state and across time.

By the end of 4: Compare examples of human capital, physical capital, and natural resources in various U.S. regions.

By the end of 4: Explain how scarcity and abundance require a person to determine the benefits and costs of a particular choice.

By the end of 4: Explain that interest is the price of using someone else’s money.

By the end of 4: Explain how trade contributes to economic interdependence among regions of the United States.

By the end of 4: Explore the significance of various industries in Alaska.

By the end of 4: Provide examples, within and outside of Alaska, of individuals and businesses that specialize and trade.

By the end of 4: Define positive and negative incentives.

By the end of 4: Determine the difference between inflation and deflation.

By the end of 4: Explain how geography, natural resources, climate, and available labor contribute to the interconnected regional economies of the United States.

By the end of 4: Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.

By the end of 4: Describe how people and businesses support federal government services through taxation.

By the end of 4: Explain the relationship between investment in human capital, productivity, and future incomes using Indigenous and non‐ Indigenous examples from across the United States.

By the end of 4: Explain the importance of improving capital goods and human capital over time.

By the end of 4: Determine how profits influence sellers in markets.

By the end of 5: Compare and contrast past and current examples of human capital, physical capital, and natural resources and how they were/are used to produce goods and services.

By the end of 5: Analyze the benefits and costs of personal choices that any person in U.S. history may have considered in order to meet their needs and wants.

By the end of 5: Explain what interest rates are and how they work.

By the end of 5: Explain how trade leads to increasing economic interdependence among countries.

By the end of 5: Examine economic systems that have impacted Alaskans throughout the state’s history.

By the end of 5: Summarize multiple reasons why individuals and businesses throughout U.S. history have specialized or traded.

By the end of 5: Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.

By the end of 5: Investigate ways that inflation, deflation, and unemployment have impacted the

By the end of 5: Explain the effects of increasing economic interdependence on different groups within participating nations.

By the end of 5: Examine the differences between the current exchange system and the exchange system in place within the American colonies.

By the end of 5: Compare the British taxation policies in Colonial America to the current taxation practices in the United States.

By the end of 5: Explain the relationship between investment in human capital, productivity, and future incomes using examples from throughout U.S. history.

By the end of 5: Describe ways that past and present peoples of the United States have utilized improved capital goods and human capital to increase productivity.

By the end of 5: Explain how profits influenced sellers in early American markets.

By the end of 5: Identify examples of external benefits and costs.

By the end of 5: Describe the role of other financial institutions in an economy.

By the end of 4:

By the end of 3:

By the end of 3: Discuss how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe why environmental characteristics vary among different regions in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Make maps of Alaska and accurately represent its northern position relative to the contiguous United States.

By the end of 3: Describe how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas within Alaska.

Identify and explain the relationship between the resources found in Alaska and becoming a state.

Describe how the Alaska Native population came to Alaska.

By the end of 3: Discuss how the cultural and environmental characteristics of Alaska change over time.

By the end of 3: Describe how the spatial patterns of economic activities in Alaska change over time because of interactions with nearby and distant places.

By the end of 3: Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places in Alaska and their environmental characteristics.

By the end of 3: Describe how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Describe how natural and human‐made catastrophic events in Alaska affect people living outside Alaska (earthquake of 1964, Exxon Valdez oil spill, etc.).

By the end of 3: Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Discuss the effects of catastrophic environmental and technological events on human settlements and migration in Alaska.

By the end of 4: Use maps of different scales to identify and describe the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics in each region of the United States.

Human‐Environment Interaction: Place, Regions, and Culture

Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.

Explain how the cultural and environmental characteristics of places change over time.

Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in specific places or regions.

Global Interconnections: Changing Spatial Patterns

Explain why environmental characteristics vary among different world regions.

Describe how the spatial patterns of economic activities in a place change over time because of interactions with nearby and distant places.

Explain how natural and human‐made catastrophic events in one place affect people living in other places.

Geographic Representations and Reasoning

Construct maps and other graphic representations of both familiar and unfamiliar places.

Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.

Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics.

Human Populations: Spatial Patterns and Movements

Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.

Explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.

Analyze the effects of catastrophic environmental and technological events on human settlements and migration.

Geography of Alaska

Describe connections within Alaska and between Alaska and other places.

By the end of 4: Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments in each region of the United States.

By the end of 4: Discuss why environmental characteristics vary among different world regions.

By the end of 4: Construct maps and other graphic representations of the various regions around the world.

By the end of 4: Discuss how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas in and among the regions of the United States.

Identify how each region of Alaska has grown through various economic activities.

Explain how the ge5ographic resources of Alaska led to the state’s economic development.

By the end of 4: Explain how the cultural and environmental characteristics of the United States change over time.

By the end of 4: Discuss how the spatial patterns of economic activities in parts of the world have changed over time because of interactions with nearby and distant places.

By the end of 4: Use maps, artwork, and other representations to examine relationships between the locations of places in the world and their environmental characteristics.

By the end of 4: Discuss how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources in the United States.

By the end of 4: Discuss how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in the United States.

By the end of 4: Discuss how natural and human‐made catastrophic events in one region of the world affect people living in other regions of the world.

By the end of 4: Explain the effects of catastrophic environmental and technological events on human settlements and migration in and among the regions of the United States.

By the end of 5: Analyze how culture influences the way people modified and adapted to their environments in the early American colonies.

By the end of 5: Explain why environmental characteristics vary among different regions in the United States.

By the end of 5: Create various types of maps and other graphic representations of each U.S. region.

By the end of 5: Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affected the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas in the early American colonies.

By the end of 5: Analyze how Alaska has been a strategic position for the United States.

By the end of 5: Analyze how the cultural and environmental characteristics of the early American colonies changed over time.

By the end of 5: Explain how the spatial patterns of economic activities in the United States change over time because of interactions within the United States and between the United States and other countries.

By the end of 5: Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to analyze relationships between the locations of places and regions in the United States and their environmental characteristics.

By the end of 5: Explain how human settlements and movements related to the locations and use of various natural resources in the early American colonies.

By the end of 5: Examine how environmental and cultural characteristics influenced population distribution in the early American colonies.

By the end of 5: Explain how natural and human‐made catastrophic events in one region of the United States affect people living in other regions.

By the end of 5: Use maps of different scales to examine the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics in the early American colonies.

By the end of 5: Analyze the effects of catastrophic environmental and political events on human settlements and migration in the early American colonies.

By the end of 4: [standard not addressed at this grade]

By the end of 3: [standard not addressed at this grade]

Perspectives

By the end of 3: Reflect upon why individuals and groups in Alaska differ in their perspectives of events in the state’s history.

By the end of 3: Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to explain significant historical events in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Create timelines to show how events of Alaska history can be organized into time periods/eras.

By the end of 3: Identify and describe probable causes and effects of events and developments in Alaska history.

By the end of 3: Explore the cultures of Alaska, including why and how Indigenous and non‐Indigenous groups first came to Alaska.

By the end of 3: Explain how the events of Alaska history contributed to the differing perspectives of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples.

By the end of 3: Gather information from multiple historical sources about major events in Alaska’s history.

By the end of 3: Explain how life in various eras of Alaska history compares to life today.

By the end of 3: Identify and gather relevant evidence in support of a claim about an event in Alaska history.

By the end of 3: Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created in Alaska.

By the end of 3: Generate questions about multiple historical sources surrounding a single historical event or development in Alaska’s history.

By the end of 3: Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped Alaska history.

By the end of 3: Describe the purpose of an Alaska historical document.

By the end of 3: Identify the maker, date, and place of origin of sources about a historical topic.

Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.

Explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time.

Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created.

Historical Sources and Evidence

Summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.

Compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.

Generate questions about multiple historical sources and their relationships to particular historical events and developments.

Infer the intended audience and purpose of a historical source from information within the source itself.

Use information about a historical source, including the maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose, to judge the extent to which the source is useful for studying a particular topic.

Change, Continuity, and Context

Create and use a chronological sequence of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time.

Compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.

Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.

Historical Thinking

Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.

Use evidence to develop a claim about the past.

Summarize the central claim in a secondary work of history.

Alaskan History

Explore Alaska’s past and connect it to the present.

By the end of 4: Recognize the multiple individual and group perspectives relating to important or major events in history.

By the end of 4: Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to summarize key events in history from cultural regions across the United States.

By the end of 4: Use a timeline or other representation of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time.

By the end of 4: Describe and explain probable causes and effects of an event or development in the United States, including its effect on Alaska.

By the end of 4: Explain how national and global events impact Alaska, both in the past and present.

By the end of 4: Explain how the events of U.S. history contributed to the differing perspectives of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous peoples across the United States, including Alaska Native groups.

By the end of 4: Gather different kinds of historical sources and summarize how they are used to explain events in the past.

By the end of 4: Compare similarities and differences between a historic local cultural practice and a historic cultural practice from another region of the United States.

By the end of 4: Gather evidence from multiple sources to support a claim about how contributions made by various cultural and ethnic groups have shaped the history of Alaska and the United States.

By the end of 4: Describe how people’s perspectives, both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous, shaped the historical sources they created.

By the end of 4: Analyze the relationships between multiple historical sources surrounding a single event or development in U.S. history.

By the end of 4: Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped history across the United States.

By the end of 4: Infer the intended audience of a historical source.

By the end of 4: Use information about the maker, date, and place of origin of a source to determine whether a source is useful for studying a particular historical topic.

By the end of 5: Summarize the perspectives of multiple individuals and/or groups when considering one or more major events in early U.S. history.

By the end of 5: Comparing and contrasting a variety of primary and secondary sources, analyze significant historical events in the United States.

By the end of 5: Create and use a chronological sequence of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time in early U.S. history.

By the end of 5: Analyze and explain probable causes and effects of events and developments in early American history.

By the end of 5: Explore inequality throughout the history of Alaska and its connection to current issues.

By the end of 5: Analyze connections among historical context and people’s perspectives in the American colonies.

By the end of 5: Gather and compare information provided by different historical sources about early American history.

By the end of 5: Analyze life in early American time periods as it compares to life today.

By the end of 5: Use evidence from multiple sources to develop a claim about how individuals and groups shaped early American history.

By the end of 5: Compare how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created, including the foundational documents of the United States.

By the end of 5: Formulate questions about multiple historical sources and their relationships to particular historical events and developments in U.S. history.

By the end of 5: Generate questions about individuals and groups who shaped significant historical changes and continuities in early American history.

By the end of 5: Summarize the central claim in a secondary work of early American history.

By the end of 5: Using an early American historical source, infer the audience and purpose of the document.

By the end of 5: Use information about a historical source, including the maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose, to judge the extent to which the source is useful for studying a particular historical topic.

Communicate and Critique Conclusions

Develop Claims

Evaluate Sources and Evidence

Develop Questions and Plan Inquiries

Construct compelling questions and explain the importance of the questions to self and others.

Categorize questions according to the social studies disciplines.

Create supporting questions to help answer compelling questions.

Explain how supporting questions help answer compelling questions.

Determine whether a source is primarily fact or opinion.

Determine whether a source is primary or secondary.

Gather relevant information from multiple credible sources to address compelling questions or research.

Cite evidence that supports a response to supporting or compelling questions.

Develop claims in response to compelling questions and identify specific evidence that supports the claims.

Develop claims in response to compelling questions and identify evidence that draws information from multiple perspectives and sources in response to a compelling question.

Clearly communicate opinions and the underlying facts supporting them.

Respectfully ask and answer questions about the opinions shared by others and the underlying facts supporting them.

Critique the motives behind different perspectives.

Present opinions and explanations using a variety of print, oral, and digital technologies.