Grade 4 Social Studies
10 units matched to the Ontario Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Our World”.
Overall expectations
- A1 Application: Past and Present Societies: Compare key aspects of life in a few early societies (to 1500), including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, each from a different region and era and representing a different culture, and describe some key similarities and differences between these early societies and present-day Canadian society
- A2 Inquiry: Ways of Life and Relationships with the Environment: Use the social studies inquiry process to investigate ways of life and relationships with the environment in a few early societies (to 1500), including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, with an emphasis on aspects of the interrelationship between the environment and life in those societies
- A3 Understanding Context: Characteristics of Early Societies: Demonstrate an understanding of key aspects of a few early societies (to 1500), including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society, each from a different region and era and representing a different culture, with reference to their political and social organization, daily life, and relationships with the environment and with each other
- B1 Application: Industrial Development and the Environment: Assess some key ways in which industrial development and the natural environment affect each other in two or more political and/or physical regions of Canada
- B2 Inquiry: Balancing Human Needs and Environmental Stewardship: Use the social studies inquiry process to investigate some issues and challenges associated with balancing human needs/wants and activities with environmental stewardship in one or more of the political and/or physical regions of Canada
- B3 Understanding Context: Regions in Canada: Identify Canada’s political and physical regions, and describe their main characteristics and some significant activities that take place in them
Units
Unit 1
Early Societies
Meet societies from before 1500 CE: ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, the Mali Empire, the Maya, and the First Nation Haudenosaunee and the Inuit, whose descendants live in Canada today, and compare how each was organized.
Expectation: A1.1, A3.1, A3.8 · who early societies were, where they lived, and how they were organized
Unit 2
Daily Life Long Ago
What people ate, wore and lived in, how children learned, and how life differed for different people (a Roman senator and an enslaved person, a noble and a peasant), compared with life today.
Expectation: A1.2, A1.3, A3.3 · daily life in early societies and how it compares with a young person's life today
Unit 3
People & the Land
How rivers, deserts, mountains, forests and Arctic seasons shaped food, homes and travel for societies such as ancient Egypt, Greece, the Haudenosaunee and the Inuit, and how to investigate this with maps and evidence.
Expectation: A1.4, A2.1–A2.6, A3.4, A3.5 · how the local environment shaped how early societies met their needs
Unit 4
Governing & Getting Along
How early societies were governed (a pharaoh, the Athenian assembly, feudal kings and nobles, Haudenosaunee clan mothers and the Great Law of Peace), and why groups worked together or came into conflict.
Expectation: A3.7, A3.9, A3.10 · how early societies were governed, and why groups cooperated or came into conflict
Unit 5
Inventions & Evidence
Writing, calendars, aqueducts, printing, qajaqs and farming methods, plus how historians learn from artifacts, art and primary and secondary sources.
Expectation: A2.2, A2.4, A3.2, A3.6 · scientific and technological developments in early societies, and learning about them from artifacts and other evidence
Unit 6
Canada's Physical Regions
Canada's landform, vegetation and climate regions, such as the Western Cordillera, Interior Plains and Canadian Shield, and how each shapes farming, mining, forestry, fishing and recreation.
Expectation: B1.1, B3.1, B3.2 · Canada's physical regions and how they shape industry and activities
Unit 7
Jobs & Industries
The four economic sectors (gathering resources, making goods, providing services and working with information), and examples of Canadian industries in each.
Expectation: B1.1, B3.2, B3.3 · the four economic sectors and Canadian industries in different regions
Unit 8
Industry & the Environment
Effects of dams, mines, oil, forestry and fishing on the environment, sustainability actions by companies and citizens, and weighing different perspectives about land and resource use.
Expectation: B1.2, B1.3, B2.1–B2.6 · how industries affect the environment and ways industries and citizens act for sustainability
Unit 9
Provinces, Territories & Directions
Provinces, territories, municipalities and First Nations governments, challenges and opportunities in different regions, and using cardinal and intermediate directions such as northeast and number and letter grids.
Expectation: B3.4–B3.7 · political regions of Canada, quality of life in different regions, and directions on maps
Unit 10
Provinces & Regions
Canada's 10 provinces and 3 territories and their capitals, and its physical regions (like the Cordillera, Interior Plains and Canadian Shield) and their natural resources.
Expectation: B3.1, B3.5 · Canada's provinces, territories and capitals, and its physical regions
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