Summary of Skills

Unit 1: The Fifty States [SS]

Science

• Identify how energy is passed from one organism to another.

Social Studies

• Analyze how people in different parts of the United States earn a living, past and present.
• Analyze the consequences of human modification of the environment, past and present.
• Compare and contrast the physical and cultural characteristics of regions within the United States.
• Describe a variety of environments found in the United States.
• Describe a variety of regions in the United States.
• Describe the absolute and relative location of major landforms, bodies of water, and natural resources in the United States.
• Describe the distribution of settlement in the United States.
• Describe the origins and significance of national celebrations such as Memorial Day and Labor Day.
• Describe the variety of regions in the United States.
• Describe ways people have adapted to and modified their environment in the United States, past and present.
• Evaluate the effects of supply and demand on business, industry, and agriculture.
• Explain how and why population distribution differs within the United States.
• Explain patterns of settlement at different time periods.
• Explain population differences within the United States.
• Explain the geographic factors that influence patterns of settlement and the distribution of population.
• Explain the meaning of patriotic symbols and landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the White House.
• Identify clusters of settlement in the United States.
• Identify reasons why people have adapted to and modified their environment, past and present, such as the use of natural resources to meet basic needs.
• Identify ways people use natural resources to meet their basic needs.
• Recite and explain the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.
• Translate geographic data into a variety of formats such as graphs and maps.

Unit 1: Poetry [LA]

Language Arts

• Adapt spoken language such as word choice, diction, and usage to the audience, purpose, and occasion.
• Apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.
• Apply knowledge of language structure, grammar, media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss texts.
• Assess how language choice and delivery affect the tone of the message.
• Compose poetry using self-selected and assigned topics.
• Compose work that follows the conventions of a particular genre.
• Connect personal experiences, information, insights, and ideas with those of others through speaking and listening.
• Define figurative language (e.g., simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification) and identify its use in literary works.
• Describe how the language of literature affects the listener.
• Describe structural differences of various forms of writing.
• Identify and interpret elements of fiction.
• Identify examples of figurative language found in text.
• Identify how language and word choice can reflect regions and cultures.
• Identify structural patterns found in text.
• Increase reading and writing vocabulary through the knowledge of synonyms.
• Listen to, enjoy, and appreciate written language.
• Paraphrase to indicate active listening.
• Read a variety of texts, including poetry.
• Read independently daily to increase vocabulary.
• Recite brief poems (two or three stanzas), soliloquies, or dramatic dialogues, using clear diction, tempo, volume, and phrasing.
• Respond to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes by analyzing the authors' word choice and context.
• Select a writing focus, organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, and format requirements.
• Speak clearly and appropriately to audiences for different purposes and occasions.
• Think about the tone of voice and the speed at which the poem should be read.
• Use concrete sensory details in writing.
• Write the names of poems, short stories, and musical compositions in quotation marks.

Social Studies

• Describe a variety of regions in the United States.
• Describe and compare physical and cultural characteristics of the regions.
• Locate, in absolute and relative terms, major landforms, bodies of water, and natural resources on a map.

Unit 2: Energy [S]

Science

• Demonstrate that evaporation and melting are changes that occur when the objects are heated.
• Determine the motion of an object by following and measuring its position over time.
• Differentiate among forms of energy including light, heat, electrical, nuclear, chemical, sound, mechanical, magnetic, and solar energy.
• Discuss how foods provide both energy and nutrients for living organisms.
• Evaluate how pushing or pulling forces change the position and motion of an object.
• Explain how machines and living things convert stored energy to motion and heat.
• Explain why organisms require energy to live and grow.
• Identify sources of stored energy, such as food, fuel, and batteries.
• Know how energy for your home is produced.
• Observe that light can be reflected off or absorbed by different surfaces.
• Recognize plants as the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.
• Recognize that all matter is made of small particles called atoms, too small to see with the naked eye.
• Recognize that color of light striking an object affects the way the object is seen.
• Recognize that energy comes from the Sun to the Earth in the form of light.
• Recognize that light has a source and travels in a direction.
• Recognize the difference between potential and kinetic energy.
• Show how calories can be used to compare the chemical energy of different foods.
• Understand how decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.
• Understand how energy is carried from one place to another by waves, such as water waves and sound waves, by electric current, and by moving objects.
• Understand how plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.
• Understand how producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and webs and compete for resources in an ecosystem.
• Understand that heat is transferred from hot things to cool things.

Unit 2: The View from Saturday [LA]

Language Arts

• Analyze characters, including their traits, motivations, conflicts, points of view, relationships, and changes they undergo.
• Articulate and discuss themes and connections that cross cultures.
• Compare text events with his own experiences.
• Connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across text.
• Define and identify figurative language.
• Distinguish between a speaker's opinions and verifiable facts.
• Exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories.
• Frame central questions about a topic.
• Frame thoughtful questions.
• Identify and use adverbs.
• Identify how the use of language reflects a culture.
• Interpret ideas from a text through varied means such as journal writing, discussion, and reenactment.
• Interpret speakers' messages and perspectives.
• Locate the meanings, pronunciations, and derivations of unfamiliar words using dictionaries.
• Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness of purpose and audience.
• Produce research projects and reports.
• Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres, including letters of request.
• Recognize and analyze story plot, setting, and problem resolution.
• Recognize homonyms and their meanings.
• Recognize homophones and their meanings.
• Summarize and organize information by outlining ideas.
• Support his own ideas by citing examples in the text and personal experiences.
• Understand and identify literary and dramatic terms such as scene, dialogue, stage direction, and act.
• Use multiple sources to locate relevant information.
• Use oral and written language to present information and ideas in a clear, concise manner.
• Write to explain, describe, or report.

Unit 3: Your State [SS]

Language Arts

• Recognize and use a table of contents.

Social Studies

• Analyze the effects of advancements and discoveries on citizens.
• Analyze the impact of your state's citizens, past and present, on the nation's artistic and cultural development.
• Analyze the relationship between the Federal Government and the states.
• Assess and evaluate the importance of regional and state diversity on economic, social, and political institutions.
• Assess changes in ways of living over time.
• Assess how your state's natural resources are being used.
• Cite examples from your state's history that had an impact on the advancement of America.
• Describe and compare characteristics of different regions in your state.
• Describe elements of the social history of your state.
• Describe the various regions of your state, including how their characteristics and physical environments (e.g., water, landforms, vegetation, and climate) affect human activity.
• Describe ways your state specializes in economic activity.
• Evaluate the economic relationship your state has with other states.
• Explain cultural traditions of your state.
• Explain how goods, ideas, and people have changed over time in your state.
• Identify examples of resources in your state and community.
• Identify important events associated with your state's history.
• Identify important geographical features in your state.
• Identify symbols and documents associated with your state.
• Identify the location of important geographical destinations within your state.
• Locate and describe American Indian tribes that lived in your state in the past or still live there today.
• Locate, in absolute and relative terms, major landforms and bodies of water in your state.
• Recognize important state symbols.
• Recognize ways state money is used.
• Trace the growth and development of your state.
• Use maps to describe how regions within your state vary in the services they provide, their vegetation, land use, and wildlife.
• Use maps, charts, and pictures to describe regions.

Unit 3: American Tall Tales and Legends [LA]

Language Arts

• Analyze the characteristics of various types of text.
• Compare and contrast information on the same topic after reading several passages or articles.
• Compare oral traditions across regions and cultures.
• Consider how language brings characters to life and enhances plot development.
• Create multiple-paragraph compositions.
• Define figurative language (e.g., simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification) and identify its use in literary works.
• Demonstrate evidence of language cohesion by providing a logical sequence for fiction and nonfiction.
• Describe how the author's perspective or point of view affects the text.
• Describe similarities and differences across texts, such as treatment of the topic.
• Describe the structural differences of various imaginative forms of literature, including fantasies, fables, myths, legends, and fairy tales.
• Develop theories to account for similar tales in diverse cultures (e.g., trickster tales).
• Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction, and then support by referencing the text.
• Include facts and details that help listeners to focus.
• Increase reading and writing vocabulary through discussion.
• Provide a context that enables the listener to imagine the circumstances of the event or experience.
• Read a variety of text, including folklore and legends.
• Read independently daily to build background knowledge.
• Recognize and use figurative language techniques.
• Recognize distinguishing factors of genre.
• Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements.
• Summarize and organize information from multiple sources.
• Write to entertain, such as to compose short stories.

Social Studies

• Compare and contrast regions within the United States.