Colorado Academic Standards Online

Use the options below to create customized views of the Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.

Social Studies - 2022

Fourth Grade, Standard 1. History

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

1. Apply the process of inquiry to examine and analyze how historical knowledge is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Analyze primary and secondary sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of the history of Colorado.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Draw inferences about Colorado history from primary sources such as journals, diaries, maps, treaties, oral histories, etc.
Identify cause-and-effect relationships using primary sources to understand the history of Colorado’s development.
Explain, through multiple perspectives, the human interactions among people and cultures that are indigenous to or migrated to present-day Colorado. Including but not limited to: historic tribes of Colorado, the Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute, Spanish explorers, trappers, and traders.
Identify and describe how political and cultural groups have affected the development of the region. Including but not limited to: African American, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous Peoples, religious groups, and European settlers.
Discuss the multiple perspectives of settler colonialism/Westward Expansion and the impact on the political and cultural landscape of the region presently known as Colorado.

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Identify and explain the perspectives of the various groups important in Colorado history when exploring the development of the state. For example: African American, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, religious groups, working class, and labor unions (Global and Cultural Awareness).
Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships in the history of Colorado (Critical Thinking and Analysis).

Inquiry Questions:

How have past events influenced present-day Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region?
Why is it important to know the sequence of events and people in Colorado history?
How can primary sources help us learn about the past or create more questions about our state's history?
What social and economic decisions caused people to locate or relocate in various regions of Colorado?
What factors caused the displacement of Indigenous Peoples in the region now known as Colorado?
How does one’s perspective influence the words we use when studying events in history? For example: Settler colonialism and Westward Expansion?

Nature and Skills of History:

Historical thinkers seek accounts of history from multiple perspectives and from multiple sources.
Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes throughout time.
Historical thinkers use primary sources as references for research.
Historical thinkers recognize important events in Colorado and can put them in chronological order to understand cause and effect such as the interactions of Indigenous Peoples defending their homelands/way of life from settler colonialism/Westward Expansion; discovery of gold and the Gold Rush; the growth of cities and towns and the development of law; the development of the state Constitution; and prohibition of slavery.
Historical thinkers can explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.

Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
Begin to discuss historical perspectives.
Communicate information through the use of technologies.
Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
Find information using technology.

Prepared Graduates:

2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.

Grade Level Expectation:

2. Describe the historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in Colorado history and their relationship to key events in the United States within the same historical period.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Construct a timeline of the major events in Colorado history.
Explain the relationship between major events in Colorado history and events in United States history during the same era. Including but not limited to: Colorado statehood, the Ludlow and Sand Creek Massacres, creation of national parks in Colorado, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, Amaché, Chicano movement, and busing in Denver.
Describe both past and present interactions among the people and cultures in Colorado. For example: African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQ, and religious groups.
Describe the impact of various technological developments. For example: Changes in mining technologies, agricultural technology (center pivot irrigation), transportation, early 20th century industrial developments, and 20th century nuclear and computer technologies.

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships within Colorado history and draw conclusions about how various events and people affected the development of the state (Critical Thinking and Analysis).

Inquiry Questions:

In what ways have geographic, economic, cultural, and technological changes influenced Colorado today?
Why did people of various cultural groups such as African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Indigenous Peoples, and religious minorities migrate to and settle in Colorado?
To what extent has unity, diversity, and discord shaped Colorado?
How have various individuals, groups, and ideas affected the development of Colorado?
What happened to early African American communities such as Dearfield, Lincoln Hills, or Five Points in Denver?

Nature and Skills of History:

Historical thinkers analyze patterns and themes across time periods.
Historical thinkers use context and information from the past to make connections and inform current decisions. For example: Colorado has had a history of boom-and-bust cycles that have influenced the decisions of city and state planners.
Historical thinkers realize that technological developments continue to evolve and affect the present. For example: Environmental issues have had an impact on Colorado from the Gold Rush to modern pollution.
Historical thinkers compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.
Historical thinkers generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
Historical thinkers construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with relevant information and data.

Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about how to answer the questions.
Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
Find information using technology.

Social Studies - 2022

Fourth Grade, Standard 2. Geography

| Read the Colorado Essential Skills | Expand Set of GLEs Below

Prepared Graduates:

3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.

Grade Level Expectation:

1. Use geographic tools to research and answer questions about Colorado geography.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Answer questions about Colorado regions using maps and other geographic tools.
Use geographic grids, including latitude and longitude, to locate places and answer questions about maps and images of Colorado.
Create and investigate geographic questions about Colorado in relation to other places.
Illustrate, using geographic tools, how places in Colorado have changed and developed over time due to human activity.
Describe similarities and differences between the physical geography of Colorado and its neighboring states.

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Articulate the most effective tools to access information about the geography of Colorado (Media Literacy).
Ask questions to develop further understanding about the geography and development of Colorado (Critical Thinking and Analysis).

Inquiry Questions:

Which geographic tools are best to locate information about a place?
Why did settlements and large cities develop where they did in Colorado?
How are the regions of Colorado defined by geography?
How does the physical location of Colorado affect its relationship with other regions of the United States and the world?

Nature and Skills of Geography:

Geographic thinkers gather appropriate tools to formulate and answer questions related to space and place.
Geographic thinkers use tools to compare and contrast geographic locations.
Geographic thinkers use geographic tools to answer questions about the state and region to make informed choices. For example: A family reads a weather map to research road conditions to inform their decision to go to the mountains in the winter.
Geographic thinkers use geographic tools to collect and analyze data regarding an area where people live.
Geographic thinkers identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions.
Geographic thinkers use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.

Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
Access relevant information needed for a specific purpose.
Find and communicate information using technology.

Prepared Graduates:

4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.

Grade Level Expectation:

2. Examine the relationship between the physical environment and its effect on human activity.

Evidence Outcomes:

Students Can:

Describe how the physical environment provides opportunities for and places constraints on human activities.
Explain how physical environments influence immigration into the state.
Analyze how people use geographic factors in creating settlements and have adapted to and modified the local physical environment.
Describe how places in Colorado are connected by movement of goods, services, and technology.

Academic Contexts and Connections:

Colorado Essential Skills:

Define the problems faced by people in Colorado because of the physical environment they encountered (Critical Thinking and Analysis).

Inquiry Questions:

What physical characteristics led various cultural groups to select the places they did for settlement in Colorado?
How did Colorado settlers alter their environment to facilitate communication and transportation?
How does the physical environment affect human activity?
How does human activity affect the environment?

Nature and Skills of Geography:

Geographic thinkers use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
Geographic thinkers evaluate how physical features affect the development of a sense of place.
Geographic thinkers consider geographic factors when making settlement decisions. For example: Colorado Springs has a dry climate that is favorable for computer companies, and ski resorts developed in the Rocky Mountains.
Geographic thinkers can describe how environmental and cultural characteristics influence population distribution in specific places or regions in Colorado.
Geographic thinkers explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.
Geographic thinkers explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.

Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:

Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Introduce a topic clearly and group-related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful in aiding comprehension.
Identify disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question that are open to different interpretations.
Explain how supporting questions help answer compelling questions in an inquiry.
Articulate the most effective options to access information needed for a specific purpose.
Find information using technology.
Communicate information using technology.

Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us