Rockingham County Public Schools

Fourth Grade Virginia Studies Benchmarks

A Guide for Parent Involvement

 

1st Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

Geography & early Virginia inhabitants; VS 2

 

·         Locate Virginia & bordering states on US map

·         Locate & describe Virginia’s 5 regions

·         Coastal Plain (Tidewater)

·         Piedmont

·         Blue Ridge Mountains

·         Valley and Ridge

·         Appalachian Plateau

·         Locate & identify water features important to early Virginia

·         Atlantic Ocean

·         Chesapeake Bay

·         James River

·         York River

·         Potomac River

·         Rappahannock River

·         Locate 3 American Indian language groups on Virginia map

·         Algonquian

·         Siouan

·         Iroquoian

·         Describe how American Indians adapted to climate and environment

 

 

 

2nd Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

First permanent English settlement in America; VS 3

 

·         Reasons for English colonization

·         Influence of geography on decision to settle at Jamestown

·         Importance of the charters of the Virginia Company of London in

establishing the Jamestown settlement

·         Importance of the Virginia Assembly (1619) as the first representative

legislative body in English America

·         Importance of the arrival of Africans & women to Jamestown settlement

·         Hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown & changes that resulted to ensure survival

·         Interactions between English settlers & Powhatan people

·         Powhatan contributions to the survival of the settlers

 

3rd Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

Life in the Virginia colony; VS 4

 

·         Agriculture and its influence on slavery

·         How European (English, Scotch-Irish, German) immigrants, Africans, & American Indians

influenced the cultural landscape & changed the relationship between Virginia colony & England

·         Influence of geography on relocation of Virginia’s capital from Jamestown to Williamsburg to Richmond

·         Use of money, barter, & credit

 

 

Role of Virginia in American Revolution; VS 5

 

·       Reasons why colonists went to war with England

·         Declaration of Independence

·         Virginians in Revolutionary War

·         George Washington

·         Thomas Jefferson

·         Importance of American victory at Yorktown

 

 

4th Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

Role of Virginia in establishment of new American nation; VS 6

 

·         American victory at Yorktown

·         Virginia leaders and their accomplishments

·         George Washington, “Father of Our Country”

·         James Madison, “Father of the Constitution”

·         George Mason, “Virginia Declaration of Rights”

·         Thomas Jefferson, “Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom”

·         Influence of geography on migration of Virginians into western territories

 

 

Issues that divided nation & Civil War; VS 7

 

·         Differences  between northern and southern states

·         Events that divided Virginia and led to secession, war and creation of West Virginia

·         Virginia’s role in the war

·         Major battles that took place in Virginia

 

5th Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

Reconstruction; VS 8

 

·         Effects of Reconstruction on life in Virginia

·         Segregation & “Jim Crow” laws

·         Importance of railroads, new industries & growth of cities to Virginia’s economic development

 

 

20th Century Virginia; VS 9

 

·         Economic & social transition from rural, agricultural society to a more urban, industrialized society

·         Reasons people came to Virginia from other states and countries

·         Desegregation

·         Massive Resistance

·         Contributions of Virginia leaders

·         Maggie L. Walker

·         Harry F. Byrd, Sr.

·         Arthur R. Ashe, Jr.

·         L. Douglas Wilder

 

6th Six Weeks

 

 

Historical and geographic analysis; VS 1

 

·         Artifacts and source documents

·         Cause & effect relationships

·         Historical events

·         Conclusions between past & present

·         Sequence of events in Virginia history

·         Interpretation for different historical perspectives

·         Oral and written evaluation & discussion of issues

·         Analysis & interpretation of geography

·         Landforms

·         Water features

·         Climate

·         Historical events

 

 

Virginia’s government, geography, & economics; VS 10

 

·         Three Branches of Virginia government and their functions

·         Major products and industries of Virginia’s 5 geographic regions

·         Advances in transportation, communication, & technology that contributed to Virginia prosperity and its role in global economy

 

 

Review for Virginia Studies SOL test

 

 

Grade 4 VS, SOL test

 

 

 

 

** The numbers throughout the Benchmarks refer to the 2001 Virginia Social Studies Standards of Learning objectives.  For example, “VS.4” refers to the Virginia Studies SOL objective number “4”