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History 5
A fifth-grade course that covers most topics twice, first briefly and then in depth: the Aztec and Inca, the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance and Reformation, England, Russia and Japan, westward expansion, the Civil War, Reconstruction and Native nations of the West.
180 lessons
One a day for a school year
10 units
Each opens to its lessons
50 states and capitals
Region by region, with map reviews
Standards
Core Knowledge Grade 5 history & geography
What's taught, unit by unit
Earth's geography and the Aztec and IncaDays 1–10
Climate zones, time zones, map projections and the world's great lakes, then a first look at the Aztec Empire and its religion and the Inca Empire.
- 1 · Welcome to History 5!
- 2 · Earth's Climate Zones
- 3 · Time Zones
- 4 · Map Projections
- 6 · The Great Lakes of the World
- 7 · The Aztec Empire
- 8 · Aztec Religion and Human Sacrifice
- 9 · The Inca Empire
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
The Age of ExplorationDays 11–20
Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Columbus and Magellan, England, France and Holland joining in, the clash of cultures, the start of the transatlantic slave trade, the Middle Passage and colonial trade economies.
- 11 · Portugal Leads the Way: Henry the Navigator
- 12 · Vasco da Gama Reaches India
- 13 · Spain's Explorers: Columbus and Magellan
- 14 · England, France, and Holland Join In
- 16 · The Clash of Cultures
- 17 · The Beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- 18 · The Middle Passage
- 19 · Colonial Economies Built on Trade
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
Renaissance, Reformation, England, Russia and JapanDays 21–43
Renaissance Italy with Leonardo, Michelangelo and Gutenberg; Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Copernicus and Galileo; Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution; Ivan, Peter and Catherine of Russia; samurai and isolated Japan.
- 21 · The Renaissance Begins
- 22 · Leonardo da Vinci: Artist and Inventor
- 23 · Michelangelo: Sculptor and Painter
- 24 · Gutenberg's Printing Press
- 26 · Machiavelli and New Ideas About Power
- 27 · Martin Luther and the Reformation Begins
- 28 · John Calvin and the Spread of Protestantism
- 29 · Copernicus and Galileo: A New View of the Universe
- 31 · Henry VIII and the Church of England
- 32 · Elizabeth I's Golden Age
- 33 · The English Civil War and Cromwell
- 34 · The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights
- 36 · Ivan the Terrible and Early Russia
- 37 · Peter the Great Modernizes Russia
- 38 · Feudal Japan: Shoguns and Samurai
- 39 · The Samurai Code: Bushido
- 41 · Catherine the Great
- 42 · Japan's Isolation Policy
Plus 5 review days, not listed.
Westward expansion, first lookDays 44–53
Manifest Destiny, the Alamo, the Mexican-American War, the Homestead Act, the transcontinental railroad, the displacement of Native Americans, the Gold Rush and the Oregon Trail.
- 44 · Manifest Destiny
- 45 · The Alamo and Texas Independence
- 46 · The Mexican-American War
- 47 · The Homestead Act
- 48 · The Transcontinental Railroad
- 49 · Native American Displacement During Westward Expansion
- 51 · The Gold Rush
- 52 · Life on the Oregon Trail
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
Civil War, Reconstruction and the Plains wars, first lookDays 54–77
Slavery, secession, Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, major battles and the war's end; the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, Freedmen's Bureau, the Klan, sharecropping; the Plains nations, Little Bighorn, reservations and Wounded Knee.
- 54 · Causes of the Civil War: Slavery
- 55 · States' Rights and Secession
- 56 · Abraham Lincoln and the Union
- 57 · The Emancipation Proclamation
- 58 · Key Battles of the Civil War
- 59 · The End of the War and Lincoln's Assassination
- 61 · What Was Reconstruction?
- 62 · The 13th Amendment: Ending Slavery
- 63 · The 14th Amendment: Citizenship and Equal Protection
- 64 · The 15th Amendment: Voting Rights
- 66 · The Freedmen's Bureau
- 67 · Resistance to Reconstruction: The Ku Klux Klan
- 68 · Sharecropping After the War
- 69 · The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction
- 71 · Native American Nations of the Great Plains
- 72 · Broken Treaties and Conflict
- 73 · The Battle of Little Bighorn
- 74 · The Reservation System
- 76 · Wounded Knee
- 77 · Native American Resilience and Culture Today
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
U.S. states, capitals and regionsDays 78–90
All fifty states and capitals region by region (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West), full-map and capitals reviews, and how landforms shape each region.
- 78 · US Geography: The Northeast Region
- 79 · US Geography: The Southeast Region
- 81 · US Geography: The Midwest Region (Part 1)
- 82 · US Geography: The Midwest Region (Part 2)
- 83 · US Geography: The Southwest Region
- 84 · US Geography: The West Region (Part 1)
- 86 · US Geography: The West Region (Part 2)
- 87 · Full US Map Review: All 50 States
- 88 · Full US Capitals Review
- 89 · US Geography: Regions and Their Features
Plus 3 review days, not listed.
In depth: Mesoamerica, the Andes and the Spanish conquestDays 91–115
Maya cities, kings, writing, calendars and decline; Aztec Tenochtitlan and society; Pachacuti and the Inca; Cortés, Pizarro and Spain's empire; the Columbian Exchange, navigation tools, the Spice Islands and the Atlantic slave trade.
- 91 · The Maya: Cities of the Rainforest
- 92 · Maya Kings, Gods, and the Popol Vuh
- 93 · Maya Writing and Numbers
- 94 · Maya Astronomy and Calendars
- 96 · Daily Life of the Maya and the Ballgame
- 97 · The Maya Decline and the Maya Today
- 98 · The Mexica: Founding Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance
- 99 · Aztec Society: Schools, Markets, and Merchants
- 101 · Pachacuti Builds the Inca Empire
- 102 · Inca Religion and Daily Life
- 103 · Cortés Meets Moctezuma
- 104 · The Fall of Tenochtitlan
- 106 · Pizarro and Atahualpa: The Fall of the Inca
- 107 · Spain and Portugal Divide the World
- 108 · Spain's Empire in the Americas
- 109 · The Columbian Exchange
- 111 · Tools and Ships of the Explorers
- 112 · The Spice Islands and the Great Trading Companies
- 113 · Africa's Atlantic Coast and the Slave Trade
- 114 · Sugar, Slavery, and Resistance in Brazil and the Caribbean
Plus 5 review days, not listed.
In depth: Europe, Russia and JapanDays 116–140
Venice, Florence and Rome in the Renaissance, the Catholic Reformation, Tudor and Stuart England, the Spanish Armada, Shakespeare, Drake, the Great Fire; Russia's land, Ivan the Great and the Romanovs; Japan's religions, shoguns and unifiers.
- 116 · Venice: The Merchant Republic
- 117 · Florence: The Medici and Brunelleschi's Dome
- 118 · Rome and the Popes: Raphael and St. Peter's
- 119 · Castiglione and the Renaissance Ideal
- 121 · The Catholic Reformation
- 122 · Edward VI and Mary I: England's Religious Tug-of-War
- 123 · Mary, Queen of Scots
- 124 · The Spanish Armada, 1588
- 126 · Shakespeare's London and the Globe Theatre
- 127 · Sir Francis Drake Sails Around the World
- 128 · James I: The First Stuart King
- 129 · Restoration London: The Great Plague and the Great Fire
- 131 · The Land of Russia: Steppe, Taiga, and Mighty Rivers
- 132 · Ivan the Great and the End of Mongol Rule
- 133 · The Time of Troubles and the First Romanov
- 134 · Across Siberia to the Pacific
- 136 · Japan: An Island Nation
- 137 · Shinto and Buddhism in Japan
- 138 · The First Shogun and the Mongol Invasions
- 139 · The Three Unifiers and the Tokugawa Shogunate
Plus 5 review days, not listed.
In depth: the West, Civil War and Native nationsDays 141–176
Perry in Japan, mountain men, Polk, Mormon Trail, Pony Express, John Brown, soldiers' lives, the 54th Massachusetts, Black Codes, cowboys, Buffalo Soldiers; Native nations of the Northwest, Basin and Southwest, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, the Dawes Act and Alaska.
- 141 · Black Ships: Commodore Perry Opens Japan
- 142 · Mountain Men and the Fur Trade
- 143 · President Polk and the Oregon Country
- 144 · The Mormon Trail to Utah
- 146 · The Pony Express and the Telegraph
- 147 · The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
- 148 · Uncle Tom's Cabin
- 149 · The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
- 151 · John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
- 152 · The Anaconda Plan and the War at Sea
- 153 · A Soldier's Life in the Civil War
- 154 · Women and the Civil War
- 156 · The 54th Massachusetts and Black Soldiers
- 157 · 1864: Grant, Sherman, and Lincoln's Re-election
- 158 · Johnson's Plan and the Black Codes
- 159 · Forty Acres and a Mule
- 161 · The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
- 162 · Black Leaders of Reconstruction
- 163 · Cowboys and the Cattle Drives
- 164 · The Buffalo Soldiers
- 166 · Peoples of the Pacific Northwest
- 167 · Peoples of the Great Basin and the Plateau
- 168 · The Navajo and Apache: The Long Walk
- 169 · Sand Creek and Red Cloud's War
- 171 · Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
- 172 · Geronimo and the Apache Wars
- 173 · The Dawes Act
- 174 · The Closing of the Frontier
- 176 · Alaska: From Russian America to Seward's Folly
Plus 7 review days, not listed.
Completing the map & celebrationDays 177–180
Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast capitals, the physical geography of the United States, and a closing celebration.
- 177 · Completing the Map: Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Capitals
- 178 · Completing the Map: Southeast Capitals
- 179 · The Shape of the Land: U.S. Physical Geography
- 180 · Congratulations! You Completed History 5!
By the end of the year, your child can
- Name and locate all fifty states and their capitals
- Describe the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations and how Spain conquered them
- Explain how the Renaissance and Reformation changed Europe
- Explain the causes, major events and end of the Civil War
- Describe what Reconstruction tried to do and why it ended
- Tell how westward expansion affected Native American nations
Other 5th Grade subjects: Math 5 · Reading 5 · Writing 5 · Science 5