SOCIAL SCIENCE VOCABULARY
GRADE 4
Vocabulary Definition
Region An area in which places share similar characteristics.
Landform A natural feature on Earth’s surface, such as mountain or a river.
Mountain A very high landform.
Plain A large area of mostly flat land that is often covered with grass.
Desert An area that gets very little rain.
Canyon A deep valley with steep rock walls.
Plateau A large, flat, raised area of land.
Boundary A line or natural feature that divides one area from another or one state from another.
Weather The condition of the air at a certain time and place.
Climate The weather of a place averaged over a long period of time.
Precipitation The amount of rain or snow that falls.
Temperature How warm or cold a place is.
Equator An imaginary line that circles the center of the Earth from east to west.
Elevation How high a place is above sea level.
Tropical Climate Very warm all year.
Polar Climate The coldest climate.
Subarctic Climate A climate that includes some short warm periods in the summer, but parts of the area are covered in snow for most of the year.
Temperate Climate Climate between the tropical and subarctic climates.
Natural Resource something in the environment that people can use.
Raw Materials Natural resources that have been changed or processed to people can use them to make other products.
Industry A form of business.
Manufacturing Making products to sell.
Products Things that people make or grow.
Agriculture Using the soil to raise crops or animals.
Conserve Using resources carefully.
Renewable Resource A resource that can be replace.
Recyle Use something again.
Nonrenewable resources Resources that cannot be replaced.
Immigrant A person who comes to live in a new land.
Culture The way of life followed by a group of people.
Government The rules or laws that we follow and the people who run our country.
Republic Form of government where the leaders are elected.
Democracy Every citizen has a right to take part in government.
Citizen An official member of a country.
Constitution A plan for governing our nation.
Legislative Branch The part of the government that makes our laws.
Executive Branch The part of the government that is in charge of enforcing our laws.
Judicial Branch The part of the government that is in charge of interpreting our laws.
Supreme Court The highest court in the land.
Amendment A change in the Constitution.
Bill of Rights Amendments to the Constitution that guarantee such freedoms as freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
Passport A government document used in traveling to foreign countries.
Taxes Money the government collects to pay for its services.
Jury A panel of ordinary citizens who make decisions in a court of law.
Technology The development and use of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.
Rural An area of small towns or farms.
Urban An area of cities.
Need Something a person must have.
Want Something that a person would like to have, but can live without.
Barter Trade one kind of goods or service for another.
Producers People who make goods or products to sell.
Consumer A person who buys goods or services
Economy Resources of a country, state, region, or community and how the resources are managed.
Free Enterprise System One in which businesses have the right to produce any goods provide any service that they want.
Profit The money a business person has left over after all the costs of the business are paid.
Supply The quantity of an item that sellers are willing to offer at different prices.
Demand The quantity of an item that consumers are willing to buy at different prices.
Opportunity Cost What you give up when you choose one thing over another.
Transportation Moving of goods, people or animals from one place to another.
Interdependent The dependency regions have for one another.
Globalization Goods are produced using resources, raw materials, and services from several countries.
Communication Way that people send and receive information.
UNIT 2
Glacier Huge sheet of ice that covers land.
Gorge A deep narrow valley, usually with a stream or river.
Hydropower Power produced by capturing the energy of flowing water.
Hydroelectricity Electricity produced by water.
Peninsula A piece of land almost surrounded by water, or extending far out into the water.
Reservation An area of land set aside for Native Americans.
Confederacy A union of groups, countries, or states.
Colony A settlement of people who come from one country to live in another.
Revolution A fight to overthrow the government.
Abolitionist A reformer who believed that slavery should be erased, or abolished, from the land.
Slave A person who is owned as property by another person.
Commerce Buying and selling of goods, especially in large amounts between different places.
Import An item that is brought from abroad to be offered for sale.
Export An item sent from one country to be sold in another country.
Diverse Varied
UNIT 3
Barrier Islands Islands formed over thousands of years as more and more sediment was deposited by ocean waves, currents, and mainland rivers.
Wetlands Lands that are at times covered with water.
Piedmont “Foot of the mountain”
Fall Line Marks the boundary between the Piedmont and the coastal plains.
Endangered Species A kind of animal or plant that is thought to be in danger of becoming extinct.
Extinct No longer existing.
Fossil Fuel A fuel that is formed in the earth from the remains of plants or animals.
Consensus A debate over issues until all could come to an agreement.
Pioneer A person who settled in a part of the country and prepared it for others.
Plantations Large farms.
Civil War A war between two groups in one country.
Union Northern States
Confederacy The Southern States
Seceded Pulled out of the United States
Reconstruction The period of time after the Civil War when the South’s buildings and its economy were rebuilt.
Civil Rights Rights that include the right to vote and to have the protection of the law.
Segregation The separation of black people from white people.
Public Transportation System A system to take people to work or to other places.
Waterway A system that consists of rivers, lakes and canals through which many ships travel.
Canal A kind of waterway that has been dug across land for ships to go through.
Lock A gated part of a canal or river.
Barge Flat-bottomed boat.
Erosion Wearing away of rock by water and wind.
Prairie An area where grasses grow well, but trees are rare.
Crop Rotation The planting of different crops in different years.
Irrigation Bringing water to farms and spraying it over fields.
Mission A settlement set up by a religious group to teach religion and to help the people of an area.
Trading Post A store at which goods are bought and sold.
Sod: Made of the grass, roots, and dirt that forms the ground’s top layer.
Drought Times of little rain.
Mound A pile of earth or stones.
Steamboat A boat powered by a steam engine.
Hub A center of activity.
Transcontinental Railroad A rail line that crosses an entire country.
Interstate Highway System Interconnecting highways linking all the states.
UNIT 5
Adobe A house made of mud brick.
Arid Dry, but not a desert climate.
Savanna Grassy plain on which few trees grow.
Refinery A factory that separates oil into different groups of chemicals.
Homestead Land given to a settler.
UNIT 6
Timberline The line above which trees will not grow.
Geyser Type of hot spring that erupts, shooting hot water into the air.
Tundra Cold, flat area where trees cannot grow.
Frigid Very cold temperature.
Rain Shadow The area east of the Cascades that receives very little rainfall.
Livestock Animals that are raised on farms and ranches.
Prospector Someone who searches for valuable minerals.
Boom Towns Towns that grew quickly because of valuable metal ore discovery.
Latitude Lines that extend east and west that determine how far north or south a place is located.
Longitude Lines that extend north and south and determine how far east or west of the Prime Meridian a place is located.
Prime Meridian Starting point for measuring longitude.
Skyscraper A very tall building
Tenement An old, crowded apartment house, as in a city slum
Invention Something made up that did not exist before.
Reaper A machine that gathered grain as it was chopped.
Plow A machine to cut through sod.
Archaeologist Someone who studies ancient times and ancient peoples.
Alliance The joining or coming together for some purpose.
Architect A person who works out plans for buildings, bridges, and sees that these plans are carried out by the builders.
Ancestor A person who comes before one in a family line.
Glacier A large mass of snow and ice that moves slowly down a mountain or across land until it melts.
Prehistoric The time before history was written.
Artifact A thing made by human work or skill.
ADDISON UNIT
Conestoga A large wagon used to haul heavy loads across rough trails.
Intersect To cross one another.
Seminary A school or college where men are trained to be ministers.
Commemorate To honor or keep alive the memory of past events.
Settler One who settles in a new country.
Institution A school, church, hospital, prison, or other organization for doing some special work.
Shingles A thin piece of wood and laid with others to form rows covering a roof.
Grist Grain that is ready to be ground or that has been ground.
Indenture An agreement in writing or a contract that binds a person to work for another for a certain length of time.
Cede To give up one’s rights.