Massachusetts State Standards for Social Studies: Grade 4

MA.1. North American Geography with Optional Standards for One Early Civilization: In grade 4, students study the geography and people of the United States today. Students learn geography by addressing standards that emphasize political and physical geography and embed five major concepts: location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and regions.

4.1. Concepts and Skills: History and Geography: Use map and globe skills to determine absolute locations (latitude and longitude) of places studied. (G) 11
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.1.

4.2. Concepts and Skills: History and Geography: Interpret a map using information from its title, compass rose, scale, and legend. (G) 18
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.2.

4.3. Concepts and Skills: History and Geography: Observe and describe national historic sites and describe their function and significance. (H, C) 11
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.3.

4.4. Concepts and Skills: Civics and Government: Give examples of the major rights that immigrants have acquired as citizens of the United States (e.g., the right to vote, and freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and petition). (C) 12
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.4.

4.5. Concepts and Skills: Civics and Government: Give examples of the different ways immigrants can become citizens of the United States. (C) 5
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.5.

4.6. Concepts and Skills: Economics: Define and give examples of natural resources in the United States. (E) 20
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.6.

4.7. Concepts and Skills: Economics: Give examples of limited and unlimited resources and explain how scarcity compels people and communities to make choices about goods and services, giving up some things to get other things. (E) 21
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.7.

4.8. Concepts and Skills: Economics: Give examples of how the interaction of buyers and sellers influences the prices of goods and services in markets. (E) 1
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.8.

4.9. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: On a map of Asia, locate China, the Huang He (Yellow) River and Chang Jiang (Yangtze) Rivers, and the Himalayan Mountains. (G) 6
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.9.

4.10. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: Describe the topography and climate of eastern Asia, including the importance of mountain ranges and deserts, and explain how geography influenced the growth of Chinese civilization. (G, E) 1
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.10.

4.11. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: Describe the ideographic writing system used by the Chinese (characters, which are symbols for concepts/ideas) and how it differs from an alphabetic writing system. (H) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.11.

4.12. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: Describe important technologies of China such as bronze casting, silk manufacture, and gunpowder. (H, E) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.12.

4.13. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: Identify who Confucius was and describe his writings on good government, codes of proper conduct, and relationships between parent and child, friend and friend, husband and wife, and subject and ruler. (H, C) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.13.

4.14. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: Describe how the First Emperor unified China by subduing warring factions, seizing land, centralizing government, imposing strict rules, and creating with the use of slave labor large state building projects for irrigation, transportation, and defense (e.g., the Great Wall). (H, C, E) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.14.

4.15. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Ancient China, c. 3000-200 BC/BCE: After visiting a museum, listening to a museum educator in school, or conducting research in the library, describe an animal, person, building, or design depicted in an ancient Chinese work of art. (H, G) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.15.

4.16. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: On a map of the world, locate North America. On a map of North America, locate the United States, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi and Rio Grande Rivers, the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and the Rocky and Appalachian Mountain ranges. (G) 10
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.16.

4.17. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: On a map of North America, locate the current boundaries of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). Locate the New England, Middle Atlantic, Atlantic Coast/Appalachian, Southeast/Gulf, South Central, Great Lakes, Plains, Southwest Desert, and Pacific states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 11
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.17.

4.18. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Identify the states, state capitals, and major cities in each region. (G) 36
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.18.

4.19. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Describe the climate, major physical features, and major natural resources in each region. (G) 36
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.19.

4.20. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Identify and describe unique features of the United States (e.g., the Everglades, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, the Redwood Forest, Yellowstone National Park, and Yosemite National Park). (G) 10
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.20.

4.21. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Identify major monuments and historical sites in and around Washington, D.C. (e.g., the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Smithsonian Museums, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the National Archives, Arlington National Cemetery, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and Mount Vernon). (G) 9
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.21.

4.22. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Identify the five different European countries (France, Spain, England, Russia, and the Netherlands) that influenced different regions of the present United States at the time the New World was being explored and describe how their influence can be traced to place names, architectural features, and language. (H, G) 22
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.22.

4.23. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the distinctive contributions to American culture of: Several indigenous peoples in different areas of the country (e.g., Navajo, Seminoles, Sioux, Hawaiians, and Inuits). (H, G) 1
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.23.

4.24. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the distinctive contributions to American culture of: African Americans, including an explanation of their early concentration in the South because of slavery and the Great Migration to northern cities in the twentieth century, and recent African immigrant groups (e.g., Ethiopian) and where thy tended to settle in large numbers. (H, G) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.24.

4.25. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the distinctive contributions to American culture of: major European immigrant groups who have come to America, locating their countries of origin and where they tended to settle in large numbers (e.g., English, Germans, Italians, Scots, Irish, Jews, Poles, and Scandinavians). (H, G) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.25.

4.26. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the distinctive contributions to American culture of: major Spanish-speaking (e.g., Cubans, Mexicans) and Asian (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) immigrant groups who have come to America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, locating their countries of origin and where they tended to settle in large numbers. (H, G) 19
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.26.

4.30. Learning Standards: Regions of the United States: Identify major immigrant groups that live in Massachusetts and where they now live in large numbers (e.g., English, Irish, Italians, French Canadians, Armenians, Greeks, Portuguese, Haitians, and Vietnamese). (H, G) 3
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.30.

4.31. Learning Standards: Canada: On a map of North America, locate Canada, its provinces, and major cities. (G) 6
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.31.

4.32. Learning Standards: Canada: Describe the climate, major physical characteristics, and major natural resources of Canada and explain their relationship to settlement, trade, and the Canadian economy. (G, E) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.32.

4.33. Learning Standards: Canada: Describe the major ethnic and religious groups of modern Canada. (G, H, C, E) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.33.

4.34. Learning Standards: Canada: Identify when Canada became an independent nation and explain how independence was achieved. (H, G) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.34.

4.35. Learning Standards: Canada: Identify the location of at least two Native American tribes in Canada (e.g., Kwakiutl and Micmac) and the Inuit nation and describe their major social features. (H, G) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.35.

4.36. Learning Standards: Canada: Identify the major language groups in Canada, their geographic location, and the relations among them. (H, G) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.36.

4.37. Learning Standards: Mexico: On a map of North America, locate Mexico and its major cities. (G) 6
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.37.

4.38. Learning Standards: Mexico: Describe the climate, major physical characteristics, and major natural resources of Mexico and explain their relationship to the Mexican economy. (G) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.38.

4.39. Learning Standards: Mexico: Identify the language, major religion, and peoples of Mexico. (H) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.39.

4.40. Learning Standards: Mexico: Identify when Mexico became an independent nation and describe how independence was achieved. (H, G) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.40.

4.41. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Central America and the Caribbean Islands: On a map of North and South America, locate the Isthmus of Panama which divides North from South America. Use a map key to locate islands, countries, and major cities of Central America and the Caribbean Islands. (G, E) 10
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.41.

4.42. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Central America and the Caribbean Islands: Describe the climate and major natural resources of Central America and the Caribbean Islands and explain their relationship to the economy of those regions. (G, E) 2
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.42.

4.43. Learning Standards: Optional Standards for Central America and the Caribbean Islands: Identify the different languages used in different countries in the Caribbean region today (e.g., Spanish in Cuba, French in Haiti, English in Barbados and Jamaica). (H) 4
Suggested Titles for Massachusetts Social Studies State Standard 4.43.