5th Grade Social Studies Curriculum – European Colonization of the U.S. – TEKS

Description

Are you an upper elementary teacher looking to find a quality TEKS-aligned resource that targets European colonization and the Thirteen Colonies in the U.S.? Looking for minimal-prep and engaging lessons and activities to teach social studies concepts to your 5th-grade students? Look no further!

Unit 4 of the Smart and Simple Social Studies Guided U.S. History Curriculum is about European Colonization and the Thirteen Colonies. The main topic of this unit is designed to help upper elementary students understand the positive and negative effects of European colonization, as well as when, why, and where groups of people established colonies in what is now the United States.

This 3-week unit includes lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, a project, unit assessment, and more. Each lesson includes slideshows in both PowerPoint and Google Slides, as well as student digital activities of the notes, practice activities, exit tickets, project, and unit assessment.

This unit primarily correlates to the current TEKS 5th-grade Social Studies standards (adopted in 2024). It includes EVERYTHING you need to teach European colonization in the U.S. – just print & go!

This unit covers the following topics:

• Lesson 1: Exploring, Colonizing, and Settling in the United States
• Lesson 2: The Founding of St. Augustine
• Lesson 3: Religious Freedom
• Lesson 4: Economic Gain
• Lesson 5: Consequences of European Colonization
• Lesson 6: The Thirteen Colonies
• Lesson 7: The New England Colonies
• Lesson 8: The Middle Colonies
• Lesson 9: The Southern Colonies
• Lesson 10: European Colonization Review

What’s included in this resource?

• 3-week pacing guide and overview
• Scope and Sequence
• 10 teacher lesson plan guides
• 9 non-editable slideshows (Google Drive & PPT versions)
• 1 editable slideshow review game
• Guided notes for Lessons 1-9 (2 versions: fill-in-the-blank and highlighted words)
• 9 practice activities
• 10 exit tickets
• Digital and full-color versions of student activities
• Unit Project
• Unit Assessment
• Answer keys for all student activities

RESEARCHED for ACCURACY and CULTURAL RELEVANCE – The Southern Teach creates resources that are thoroughly researched and checked for accuracy. My mission is to show ALL sides of history and believe it’s important to share this in a way that is appropriate for upper elementary students.

What makes this Guided Social Studies Curriculum Smart and Simple?

✅ The social studies daily lessons and activities are bite-sized and can easily be implemented in 30-45 minutes.

✅ The social studies curriculum is TEKS-aligned (for Texas) but is still flexible enough to use in any order or with any state curriculum.

✅ Each social studies unit has everything you need to simply teach social studies – easy-to-follow lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, and more!

It’s everything you need to implement engaging social studies lessons that students love and teachers enjoy (because it’s comprehensive and easy to prep)!