MS Social Studies

The social studies curriculum is organized around the five major strands for social sciences that are endorsed by the National Council for Social Studies: Political Systems, Economics Systems, History, Geography and Social Systems. Within each of these major strands and by grade level, the curriculum integrates the essential questions and themes list below in order to help students synthesize information, construct knowledge about a particular topic, and develop academic and practical skills.
Essential Questions:

Culture/Current Events

How does culture shape the way we see ourselves, others, the world? How do the invisible aspects of culture influence the visible? How can you learn to see another culture’s point of view? How can you avoid cultural stereotyping people who are different? How can you learn to see things from multiple points of view?

Geography
Where is this land located both in terms of absolute location and relative location? What is the land like? Where is this civilization located? How did the people adapt to the land? How did the people change the land?

Economics

How did the people survive? Is the economy agriculturally or industrial based or a combination? How are goods produced? Are good exchanged or traded? Is money used? How is the wealth distributed?

Religion and Philosophy

What do the people believe about the beginning of the world? Do they believe in supreme being(s)? What do they believe about the meaning of life? How do their beliefs affect their lives?

Language, Education and the Arts

How do the people communicate with each another? What do they think is important? What can we learn about them from their art, architecture and writing?

Political Science

How are they governed? Do they have laws? How is order maintained? What systems, if any do they have in place?

Sociology

Do the people live in groups? Do they live in families and if so how are they structured? Was/is there a class system? If so, how is it maintained? Are there slaves?

History

Where did the people come from and where did they progress to? What events in their collective past shaped their attitudes? And of course, the questions that grow from these questions which the students themselves develop.

Skills
Asking questions
Researching their questions
Making connections
Using facts to support conclusions
Solving problems
Thinking critically
Communicating orally and in writing
Analyzing current events
Cooperating and collaborating with each other
Speaking before small and large groups
Practicing organizational and study skills
Reading expository text
Writing a proper bibliography
Using technology
Taking notes

Specific Topics to be Explored in 6th Grade
Archeology
Prehistory
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome (limited)
Middle Ages

Each section will be used to enhance the learning or the practice of the specific skills outlined above. For example Prehistory and Mesopotamia will start with note taking and the gathering of facts. Egypt will continue with the student’s research when they become the class expert on a portion of Egyptian history (custom, architecture, famous people). The children will learn how to make an educational Power Point in order to teach their classmates about their particular area of expertise. In ancient Greece we will learn about the beginnings of democracy, and the beauty of ancient Greek architecture. The children will research a Groovy Greek and will become “their” person for a bit of theater in the classroom. Since Rome is covered quite a bit in Latin we will concentrate mostly on the government and its connections to the United States government. Middle Ages is where the children will take all the skills they have learned and will form four or five towns. They will be serfs, church people, knights, and merchants.

Specific Topics to be Explored in 7th Grade
Culture
Current Events
Geography
Africa
Latin America
Asia
Europe

Each section will be used to answer the essential questions discussed above as well as to enhance the learning or the practice of the specific skills outlined above in addition to giving the student a basic knowledge of the countries in our world and the unique issues that face the different regions of the world. We will start in Africa. Each child wills e given a country for which they are responsible to research specific information as well as to determine the current issues facing their country. Since Africa is our first continent I have structured the issues which we will focus on in the classroom activities (children’s rights/Government/Trade/ Poverty reduction/Water Contamination). For each subsequent region I plan to use the issues that are generated by the children in either their research on their countries or from our current event discussions. I plan to let the students help me design the subsequent formats for the form of the presentation of information about each country. The year will culminate in a Model U.N. experience for the children. I would like to have each child choose one of the countries they have already researched to represent. Then I would like them to write a resolution for a problem their country faces. They will need to present their resolution and caucus with the other members to try to get their resolution passed. Time permitting, I would also like to be able to have a session of our U.N. where I can present them with “problems” that they will have to solve based on their prior knowledge, using their ability to think on their feet and negotiate with the other members.

Specific Topics to be Explored in 8th Grade

Culture
Current Events
American Revolution
Constitution
Reconstruction (to the extent not covered in 5th grade)
The Decades (this includes, culture, inventions, people, important events, and technology)
Holocaust

The 20th Century (or 21st Century) Report Each section will be used to answer the essential questions discussed above as well as to enhance the learning or the practice of the specific skills outlined above in addition to giving the student a basic knowledge of the history of the United States, its place in the world and the unique issues that face it now. We will begin with some background on the events leading up to the American Revolution. This will include Jamestown and the new way of governing that developed in the New World. It will include the famous thinkers of the time as well as give the basis from English law for many of the “new” ideas. The events after the American Revolution then segue into the Constitution. Our study of the Constitution will include the structure of our government, how laws are made and the rights and responsibilities we enjoy in this country. Since the children have already covered the Civil War extensively, we will just remind ourselves what they learned in 5th grade and set the stage for learning and understanding the far-reaching consequences from Reconstruction. After Reconstruction we will discover how far and fast the country grew in an amazing short period of time. We need to understand where the world was moving in the early part of the 20th century in order to understand how our current attitudes were developed. The Decades is a project where the student will teach each other all about the culture, people, inventions and noteworthy events of their particular Decade in the 20th century. The 8th grade will also be responsible for researching in depth a question developed by the student that pertains to something from within the last 100 years. The Holocaust will also specifically be covered this year. Customarily we take a trip to the Holocaust Museum.