Social Studies (7^th and 8^th grades)

            This year our course is the 8^th grade curriculum in the California State Standards: United States History from the Constitution through the early 20^th century. We will spend much of the first trimester studying how our nation began, how the government is formed, and the Constitution. We will also begin studying how the country expanded and grew. Since there are elections this fall, we will be examining the electoral process, and I encourage you to follow and discuss the progress of the elections with your children.

            Late in the first trimester and extending into the second trimester, students will prepare individual projects relating to the expansion of the country during the first half of the nineteenth century. Later in the second trimester, we will study the Civil War through a simulation activity.

            In the third trimester, in addition to all-class lessons, groups will do intensive study and a project relating to Reconstruction and also one particular decade in the late 19^th-early 20^th century.