Arkansas's Fourth Grade Standards

  • AR.G. Strand/content Standard: Geography

    • G.1. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Physical and Spatial

      Students shall develop an understanding of the physical and spatial characteristics and applications of geography.
      • G.1.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Discuss the difference between relative and absolute location.
      • G.1.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate and describe physical characteristics of the six natural regions of Arkansas: Arkansas River Valley, Crowley's Ridge, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Ozark Mountains (plateau), West Gulf Coastal Plain, and Ouachita Mountains.
      • G.1.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate each of the five regions of the United States and describe each region's major physical features: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest West.
      • G.1.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Determine absolute locations (latitude and longitude) of places studied using a grid map.
      • G.1.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate several countries in each of the four hemispheres.
      • G.1.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Explain the difference between a continent and a country.
      • G.1.4.7. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate major mountain ranges in the United States: Appalachian and Rocky.
      • G.1.4.8. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate major mountain ranges in the world: Andes, Alps, Himalayas, and Rocky.
      • G.1.4.9. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate major rivers in the United States: Mississippi Ohio Arkansas Hudson Missouri Colorado.
      • G.1.4.10. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Locate major rivers in the world: Nile, Amazon, Mississippi, Yangtze, Ganges, and Volga Rhine.
      • G.1.4.11. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Location, Place, and Region
        Explore weather changes in various regions.
      • G.1.4.12. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Map and Globe Skills
        Explain the purpose of historical and political maps.
      • G.1.4.13. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Map and Globe Skills
        Utilize the map key/legend to interpret historical and political maps.
      • G.1.4.14. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Map and Globe Skills
        Interpret a map using cardinal and intermediate directions, map scales, legends, and titles to locate places on contemporary maps.
      • G.1.4.15. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Map and Globe Skills
        Identify and label political map features: boundaries, capitols, and cities.
      • G.1.4.16. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Map and Globe Skills
        Create a political map that includes the following: title, compass rose, and legend/key.

    • G.2. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Culture and Diversity

      Students shall develop an understanding of how cultures around the world develop and change.
      • G.2.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Culture and Diversity
        Research elements of culture in a community, state, or nation (e.g., food, clothing, housing, language, sports/ recreation, customs, traditions, art, music, religion).
      • G.2.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Culture and Diversity
        Describe the cultural characteristics of diverse populations in the United States.
      • G.2.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Culture and Diversity
        Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of life in a suburban area.
      • G.2.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Culture and Diversity
        Compare and contrast the human characteristics of early settlements and contemporary communities in the five regions of the United States.

    • G.3. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Interaction of People and the Environment

      Students shall develop an understanding of the interactions between people and their environment.
      • G.3.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Examine different types of transportation and communication links between communities in Arkansas.
      • G.3.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Discuss the reasons for human settlement patterns (e.g. jobs, climate, family).
      • G.3.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Explain how communities share ideas and information with each other.
      • G.3.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Human Environment Interaction
        Explain how people are influenced by, adapt to, and alter the environment (e.g., agriculture, housing, occupation, industry, transportation, communication, acid rain, global warming, ozone depletion).
      • G.3.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Human Environment Interaction
        Describe the social impact of extreme natural events on human and physical environments (e.g., fires, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis).
      • G.3.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Human Environment Interaction
        Research ways in which the school and community can improve the physical environment by practicing conservation.

  • AR.C. Strand/content Standard: Civics

    • C.4. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Government

      Students shall develop an understanding of the forms and roles of government.
      • C.4.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Forms and Roles of Government
        Compare and contrast the purpose and function of government at the local, state, and federal levels.
      • C.4.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Forms and Roles of Government
        Compare responsibilities of local, state, and federal government officials.
      • C.4.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Forms and Roles of Government
        Identify the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.
      • C.4.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Forms and Roles of Government
        Describe how United States citizens apply fundamental principles of democracy (e.g., people rule themselves, power of government limited by law, people exercise their authority directly through voting and indirectly through elected officials).
      • C.4.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Forms and Roles of Government
        Recognize that there are different forms of government throughout the world.

    • C.5. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Citizenship

      Students shall develop an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
      • C.5.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Roots of Democracy
        Identify and explain the role of the Founding Fathers in writing the founding documents: Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
      • C.5.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Roots of Democracy
        Identify and explain the purpose of the founding documents: Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and United States Constitution.
      • C.5.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens
        Examine characteristics needed for active citizenship.
      • C.5.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens
        Analyze components of the election process: candidacy, primary, and general.
      • C.5.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens
        Demonstrate the proper flag etiquette for the American flag.

  • AR.H. Strand/content Standard: History

    • H.6. Standard/student Learning Expectation: History

      Students shall analyze significant ideas, events, and people in world, national, state, and local history and how they affect change over time.
      • H.6.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Regionalism/ Nationalism
        Discuss the meaning of the state motto of Arkansas.
      • H.6.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Regionalism/ Nationalism
        Examine the history of the State Seal of Arkansas and its components.
      • H.6.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Regionalism and Nationalism
        Examine historical settlements in Arkansas: Arkansas Post, Old Washington, and Fort Smith.
      • H.6.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Conflict and Consensus
        Name the major causes of the American Revolutionary War: taxation, distance, and lack of communication.
      • H.6.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Conflict and Consensus
        Identify George Washington as the lead general in the Revolutionary War.
      • H.6.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Conflict and Consensus
        Identify events that led to Arkansas' involvement in the Civil War: excise taxes, state's rights, and slavery.
      • H.6.4.7. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Conflict and Consensus
        Identify major historical events that occurred during the 20th century (e.g., World War I, Great Depression, World War II, Space Exploration, Civil Rights).
      • H.6.4.8. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Conflict and Consensus
        Discuss how differences between people lead to conflict (e.g., social, political, economic).
      • H.6.4.9. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Evaluate data presented on a timeline of Arkansas history.
      • H.6.4.10. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Examine artifacts relating to events in Arkansas history.
      • H.6.4.11. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Discuss advances in technology (e.g., communications, space travel, medical).
      • H.6.4.12. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Analyze changes in Arkansas from past to present.
      • H.6.4.13. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Understand the transition of the thirteen colonies into thirteen separate states.
      • H.6.4.14. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Identify and describe the Arkansas Indian Tribes: Osage, Quapaw, and Caddo.
      • H.6.4.15. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Identify the reasons for the decline of the native populations of Arkansas (e.g., influenza, small pox, competition for land).
      • H.6.4.16. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Continuity and Change
        Describe how new forms of transportation and communication impacted the Westward Expansion of the United States (e.g., pony express, railroads, telegraphs).
      • H.6.4.17. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Identify areas in Arkansas that were explored by the following: Hernando Desoto, La Salle/De, Tonti Marquette, and Joliet.
      • H.6.4.18. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Identify European nations that claimed authority over territorial Arkansas: France and Spain.
      • H.6.4.19. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Discuss the causes and effects of Westward Expansion (e.g., economic opportunity, resources, forced removal, unclaimed lands, religion).
      • H.6.4.20. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Compare the area of the United States before and after the Louisiana Purchase.
      • H.6.4.21. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Movement
        Identify the following individuals and their roles in the Louisiana Purchase: Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Lewis and Clark, and Sacagawea.
      • H.6.4.22. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Cultural Diversity and Uniformity
        Discuss similarities and differences among the American Indians and Pilgrims: housing, clothing, foods, traditions, and tool.

  • AR.E. Strand/content Standard: Economics

    • E.7. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Choices

      Students shall analyze the costs and benefits of making economic choices.
      • E.7.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Cost and Benefits
        Evaluate the priority of economic wants and consequences of the opportunity cost.
      • E.7.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Cost and Benefits
        Analyze how scarcity caused early exploration (e.g., gold, spices, silk).
      • E.7.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Cost and Benefits
        Recognize and use the decision making model to make an economic decision: state the problem, list the alternatives, state the criteria, evaluate the criteria, and make a decision.

    • E.8. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Resources

      Students shall evaluate the use and allocation of human, natural, and capital resources.
      • E.8.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Discuss productivity.
      • E.8.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Compare the increase in productivity when improved human capital is available.
      • E.8.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Examine the impact of scarcity of natural resources on production decisions.
      • E.8.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Analyze how capital resources are used to produce goods and services.
      • E.8.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Identify Arkansas entrepreneurs.
      • E.8.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Factors of Production
        Describe how profit is an incentive for entrepreneurship.

    • E.9. Standard/student Learning Expectation: Markets

      Students shall analyze the exchange of goods and services and the roles of governments, businesses, and individuals in the market place.
      • E.9.4.1. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Financial Markets
        Discuss the characteristics of money: portability, divisibility, durability, and uniformity.
      • E.9.4.2. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Financial Markets
        Describe the reasons for saving money in a financial institution: interest and safety.
      • E.9.4.3. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Research the productive resources that go into the production of a product.
      • E.9.4.4. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Research public goods and services that are provided by taxes.
      • E.9.4.5. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Explain why countries trade.
      • E.9.4.6. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Explain the benefits of specialization and interdependence.
      • E.9.4.7. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Discuss the effect of supply and demand in a community.
      • E.9.4.8. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Goods and Services
        Define inflation.
      • E.9.4.9. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Global Markets
        Identify imported and exported goods.
      • E.9.4.10. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Global Markets
        List exported goods associated with Arkansas (e.g., rice, chicken, auto parts).
      • E.9.4.11. Student Learning Expectation/benchmark: Global Markets
        Explain how foreign trade affects daily life