This Year in Social Studies

I am looking forward to another exciting year in social studies. I have great things planned for your children this year! This year in social studies we will be studying colonization through reconstruction. We will start off the year reviewing our geography of the United Stated and our original 13 colonies. Then students will feel first hand what it's like to be a colonist that is wrongfully taxed by King George. Students will then be paired up to represent Britain and the colonists, where they will rephrase the Declaration of Independence and "break-up" with each other. We will then learn about how we gained our independence from Britain by reenacting the Revolutionary War.

Moving into second quarter, we will develop a deeper understanding of our rights as citizens by studying the US and Illinois Constitutions. The students will be assigned the role of a delegate, where they will help write and create The Constitution. We will review the branches of government as well as elections and the electoral college.

The second half of the year we will study foreign policies of our early presidents. We continue to travel through history and our studies of geography by learning about the Westward Expansion. Which bring us to the wrongful treatment of woman and African Americans and how they fought for their rights along side our Great American Reform Leaders.

We will finish off the year with understanding the differences between the North and the South and the conflicts that lead us to the Civil War. The students will travel through a virtual Civil War museum and gather information about battles, the economic challenges and lifestyles of Americans during that time period to put in a scrapbook.

I can't wait to have an exciting year with your children!

Class Materials