Download Courseoutline - Pittard6thGradeSocialStudies

Outline of Course of Study
I) Introduction to Course
a. Rules of the Class
b. National History Day
i. This year’s theme
c. Stock Market Game
II) Geography
a. Terms
b. Landforms and their impact on Society
c. 5 themes of Geography
d. Longitude and Latitude
III) Vocabulary
IV) National History Day
a. Group work on topics
b. What is a thesis?
c. Primary Source vs. Secondary Source
d. Group work on thesis
V) The People of Mesopotamia
a. Location of Mesopotamia
b. Location and Definition of Fertile Crescent
c. Role of water in a dessert.
d. Project
i. Designing a canal in the dessert
e. Impact of Location on development of Culture
f. Hammurabi’s Code
g. Project:
i. Was Hammurabi’s Code fair?
h. Religion
i. How did religion help to unite the region?
i. Unit Test
i. What influences from this early society are found in today’s
culture?
ii. Why did Mesopotamia Expand?
iii. Terms and concepts
VI) National History Day
a. Groups continue to Work on Thesis
b. Note taking while researching
c. Decide on how to present project.
VII) The Ancient Greeks
a. Absolute and Relative location of Greece.
b. Compare and Contrast the Relative location of Greece and
Mesopotamia.
c. Group Work;
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
i. Migration of thoughts and ideas.
1. Students given a map with longitude and latitude grids
and must map two realistic routes for travel between
Mesopotamia and Greece.
What cultural traits did Greeks share that made them Greek?
i. Maritime Culture
1. What influenced this?
ii. Agricultural Strategies
iii. Religion
iv. Language
v. Influence of Geography.
Food for thought:
i. Age of Greek Culture as compared to the United States.
ii. Why do we divide Greek history into ages?
Group Work
i. Each group will be assigned a Greek “Age” to research. They
focus of the research will be: The Political System, The
Technology capabilities, Religious life, Social life, what brought
about the end of each “Age”.
ii. Students will report to class their findings.
iii. Corrections and additions to the report by the teacher.
Group Work:
i. Trojan War, did it really happen?
1. Students will be assigned a position to support or
refute.
2. They will use only primary resources to argue their
point.
Why colonize?
i. Why did the Greeks Colonize?
1. What were the benefits of the colonization?
2. Where did the colonize?
Group Work:
i. 4 groups will represent the cities or empires below: 1 groups
will represent opposition groups within one city.
1. Athens v. Sparta v. Corinth v. Persia
2. Compare and Contrast the three systems of
government?
3. Which government proved to be stronger?
4. Contrast the two militaries.
5. Contrast the role of Women in the two cities.
6. Think of the world governments today: pick one
government from each country that most resembles one
of the governments above.
Who was the Father of History?
Peloponnesian War
i. Civil War?
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
r.
VIII)
1. In what ways was the Peloponnesian War like a civil
War?
ii. Who fought?
iii. The role of Economics (Trade) in War
iv. Who really won?
Food for thought:
i. Is war an extension of politics or the failure of politics?
ii. Group work with teacher.
The importance of Thinkers:
i. Socrates
ii. Aristotle
Alexander the Great
i. Group Work
1. Two Groups: Will argue that Alexander is a great leader:
a. Using primary sources, they will support the
above statement.
2. Two Groups: Will argue that Alexander was not so great
a leader.
a. Using primary sources, they will support their
argument.
3. One group: will decide for itself.
a. Using Primary resources, they will support their
argument.
How did Alexander’s success impact Greek culture and the cultures of
the areas they conquered.
Roman Greece
How does Ancient Greece impact our culture today?
Unit Test
National History Day
a. Topics due in
b. Research to be review by teacher
c. Continue to develop topics
IX) The People of the Nile
a. Major Geographical Features of Egypt
i. Impact of geography on the development of Egypt.
1. Relationship between the dessert and the Nile.
ii. List the three most predominate features of Egypt
iii. What is unusual about the Nile River?
b. Group Work
i. Compare and contrast the Geography of Egypt, Greece, and
Mesopotamia
ii. Explain how certain geographical features helped contact with
other cultures and other geographical features hindered
contact with other cultures.
c. Group Work:
i. Group 1-Explore the Religion of the Mesopotamia people.
ii. Group 2-Explore the Religion of the Egyptian Religion
iii. Group 3-Explore the Religions of the Greek people.
iv. Group 4-Find 6 similarities between the religions of the three
groups above.
v. Group 5- Find 6 differences between the religions of the three
groups above.
d. What was the cultural and political importance of declaring a king a
God?
e. Compare the rulers of the peoples we have already studied to the
rulers of Egypt, what is the primary difference in the two?
f. King tut:
i. How important was his rule?
ii. Group Work-Debate
1. What made him great: 2 groups
2. Why he was not great: 2 groups
3. Free lance: 1 group makes their own determination
g. The Egyptian Pyramids:
i. Purpose
ii. How would you design your pyramid?
iii. Compare and contrast middle kingdom pyramids and new
kingdom pyramids.
h. What is Hieroglyphs?
i. Who owns the treasures of Egypt?
i. Many artifacts shipped out of Egypt to other countries.
j. Unit Test
X) The Ancient Romans
a. According to legend, how was Rome Founded?
b. Describe the Roman Republic
i. Compare and Contrast the Roman Republic to the Government
of the United States.
c. Why Roman expansion?
d. How did environmental factors impact Roman building Design?
e. What was the role of women in the Roman Republic?
i. Compare and Contrast the role of women in the Roman
Republic to the Egyptian and Mesopotamia societies.
f. Why was Creaser an effective leader?
g. Roman Religion
i. Why was important to Roman Government to consider its
leader God?
h. What happened at Pompeii?
i. Project:
i. How did the Greeks influence the Romans?
j. What was the legacy of the Roman Empire?
i. US Constitution
ii. British Constitution
iii. French Constitution
XI) First Americans
XII) The Mongol Empire