Social Studies

Students in Middle School Social Studies will focus on the core areas of History, Geography, Economics, and Civics. Students will develop skills including creativity, critical thinking, working in diverse groups to solve complex problems, global awareness, and financial literacy. Students will gain knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to be informed and effective citizens. Standards-aligned to the Social Studies curriculum cultivate civic-mindedness, historical thinking, economic decision-making, geographical reasoning and psychological and sociological intellect. Within the curriculum, students use inquiry skills and learn disciplinary concepts simultaneously. Students will take content and question, investigate, reason, and take action. Students are asked at all times to evaluate history with an inquisitive mind and to develop inquiry-based approaches to learning about history.

Learning components of middle school Social Studies include:

6^th grade students begin humankind's’ journey with early human civilization through Mesopotamia and the ancient cultures of Egypt, China, and Greece. They continue their journey into Rome and end the year in the Middle Ages. During this journey, students evaluate the political, economic, historical, geographical, and cultural achievements that have had a significant impact on the development of humankind.

7^th grade focuses on United States History beginning with Colonization, the Road to Revolution, the American Revolution, the Constitution, Launch of a New Nation, and Expansion of America. Student focus is on analysis of government structures, comparing how individuals and groups have changed American society, the evaluation of the impact of economic decisions on American culture, making connections between events and developments in historical context and analysis of factors that influence people at different times in history.

8^th grade students will characterize westward expansion through the outbreak of the Second World War. Students will investigate the conflicts facing the maturing nation on a regional, cultural and global scale into the mid-20th century. Students will compare and contrast the people and events of early westward exploration and expansion. Students will evaluate the concept of Manifest Destiny and examine the factors that led to the American Civil War. Students will evaluate people, places and events of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the shift from agrarian society to the industrialized world as well as the people and patterns of immigration. Students will evaluate the events of the early 1900’s, the Great Depression, events leading to the outbreak of WWII, the Holocaust and World War II.