What are we learning?
The first 2 weeks in social studies are a bit all over the place. We learn expectations for school, class, chromebook, etc. We learn how to check Skyward/grades, write emails to teachers, and other miscellaneous middle school stuff. There is also some fun along the way such as a team building challenge - noodle towers!
What to expect in this unit?
Students will not be learning social studies yet, but feel free to ask your child what they did learn, especially about chromebook care and digital footprint tips.
Why does this unit matter?
Students need to know the tools available to them to be successful, such as the homework link. The real social studies fun starts after Labor Day weekend in unit 1.
What are we learning?
Students will learn key vocabulary terms such as artifact, archaeologist, prehistory, etc. Students will also analyze primary and secondary sources and the strengths and weaknesses of each.
What to expect in this unit?
We will have 2 traditional formative quizzes and 1 traditional test (multiple choice, skill application, and short answer).
Why does this unit matter?
This unit is designed to give students the most important foundational skills and content to help them understand not only middle school social studies, but high school as well.
What are we learning?
We are learning about the history, main beliefs, and traditions of the world's most popular religions.
What to expect in this unit?
Our homework will almost always be Edpuzzle videos to preview the content for the next day. We will learn note taking skills and record what we learn in our Inquiry Chart (Google Doc).
Why does this unit matter?
We live in a diverse community and world. I hope to teach students new worldly perspectives as we learn about the religions that have impacted history as well as the current world.
What are we learning?
During this section of the world religion unit we look at current events and draw connections between what we learned about the religions and how they are still a major part of the present. Additionally, we will be learning about 1 more religion of the student's choice, and creating a presentation to practice our public speaking skills.
What to expect in this unit?
We will focus on writing, summarizing, and making connections. Students will also practice some light research (sources are given), collaborative learning, and presenting to the class.
Why does this unit matter?
Now that the students know the basic history, main beliefs, and traditions of the world's major religions, seeing current events helps put that learning into perspective. My hope is that the students can see how this content matters outside of the classroom.
What are we learning?
We start the unit looking at how humans changed from hunting/gathering to an agricultural society. We will then look at the earliest civilizations of the world, starting with Mesopotamia and eventually picking another civilization to study with a group and independently.
What to expect in this unit?
We will be learning the ancient civilizations but learning how to properly research along the way. I will model all essential skills such as website credibility, properly quoting and paraphrasing, creating a works cited, etc. Once the students have learned and practiced with me they will then take these skills and apply it to a research project on the ancient civilization of their choosing.
Why does this unit matter?
With online sources becoming more popular, deciphering which sites are credible and which ones are the best to use for a research project, this unit offers many skills the students will continue as they move up the grades as well as in other classes. During this process the students will also get to learn about some of the world's iconic ancient civilizations and what they are remembered for.
What are we learning?
We have just wrapped up our research project on one of the ancient civilizations. The next step is to create a poster board presentation or model of some of things we have learned through our inquiry.
What to expect in this unit?
Students might be asking for some supplies, such as a poster board or other various materials to help them build their model and hopefully bring it to life. Students should eventually be practicing their speech in front of you to help build strong public speaking skills and habits.
Why does this unit matter?
This is a great opportunity for students to share what they have learned with their classmates and use their creativity while creating a visual aide. This is a great time to be hands on with our learning!
What are we learning?
We are going to hop around to different events/people of the ancient world including the democracy of Athens, Great Wall of China, Alexander the Great and more.
What to expect in this unit?
This is a unit that focuses on Document Based Questioning (DBQ) skills that students will work on through middle school and high school in history courses. This means analyzing primary and secondary sources like a historian, including writing claims, finding evidence, and explaining reasoning. At the conclusion of each topic we will be partaking in a class debate.
Why does this unit matter?
Learning the past is great, but it's critically thinking about issues that really matters. This unit stresses the real world skills that students will use in their life (such as backing up their opinion with evidence and reasoning) and connects it to the ancient world that we learned last unit.
What are we learning?
We just finished up our first DBQ (document based questioning) experience with Athens and Rome, focusing on citizenship and government within those civilizations. Next round of DBQs we will focus on the Great Wall of China and Hammurabi's Code.
What to expect in this unit?
Now that I have taught how to analyze the documents and participate in a debate, this next DBQ will be a little quicker and more independent. We will follow the same process as before: learning background knowledge, annotating and analyzing primary and secondary source documents, creating a claim, evidence, and reasoning, and finally debating our classmates.
Why does this unit matter?
Learning the past is great, but it's critically thinking about issues that really matters. This unit stresses the real world skills that students will use in their life (such as backing up their opinion with evidence and reasoning) and connects it to the ancient world that we learned last unit.