This unit is a 4th grade social studies unit connecting several of the Connecticut State social studies standards. The focus of fourth grade social studies is the subject of United States Geography guided by the study of human-environment interaction. The state course questions listed in the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards for 4th grade include; "How do people depend on and shape their environment?", and "What influences the movement of people, goods, and ideas in the United States?"1. Students will be studying these questions as they relate specifically to rivers and watersheds and connect them to human dependence upon water as a natural resource as well as how people impact and change their environment as it relates to water. My hope for students and teachers of this curriculum is to find a connection between natural resources and human action and ultimately how this forms the physical maps we study. Additionally, I hope these lessons provide students with a fundamental understanding of how the environment and people interact in a dynamic way which can lead to complex relationships between people and the places we live and are tasked with stewarding.
(Developed for Social Studies, grade 4; recommended for Social Studies, grade 4)
