5th Grade Social Studies Curriculum – U.S. History in the 20th & 21st Centuries

Are you an upper elementary teacher looking to find a quality TEKS-aligned resource that targets U.S. History in the 20th and 21st centuries? Looking for minimal-prep and engaging lessons and activities to teach social studies concepts to your 5th-grade students? Look no further!

Unit 10 of the Smart and Simple Social Studies Guided U.S. History Curriculum is about the United States in the 20th and 21st Centuries. The main topic of this unit is designed to help upper elementary students understand important individuals, events, and issues during the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will learn about how the political, economic, cultural, social, and technological changes of the 20th and 21st centuries have affected people living in the United States.

This 4-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 U.S. History in the 20th and 21st Centuries – just print & go!

This unit covers the following topics:

• Lesson 1: Introduction to the 20th and 21st Centuries
• Lesson 2: The 1900s and 1910s
• Lesson 3: World War I
• Lesson 4: The Roaring Twenties
• Lesson 5: The Great Depression
• Lesson 6: World War II
• Lesson 7: The Cold War
• Lesson 8: The Civil Rights Movement
• Lesson 9: The 1960s
• Lesson 10: The 1970s
• Lesson 11: The 1980s
• Lesson 12: The 1990s
• Lesson 13: The 2000s
• Lesson 14: The 2010s and 2020s
• Lesson 15: U.S. in the 20th and 21st Centuries Review

What’s included in this resource?

• 4-week pacing guide and overview
• Scope and Sequence
• 15 teacher lesson plan guides
• 15 non-editable slideshows (Google Drive & PPT versions)
• 1 editable slideshow review game
• Guided notes for Lessons 1-14 (2 versions: fill-in-the-blank and highlighted words)
• 14 practice activities
• 15 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)!