CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Grade 6 social studies is the first year of a two-year course sequence and incorporates the Connecticut Social Studies Framework.
This two year course addresses global perspectives by employing 21st century digital communication tools while identifying salient interdisciplinary linkages for real-world applications (Curriculum 21, Jacobs). The thematic instruction organizes the curriculum around Human Geography and contemporary global issues while looking through the different world regions as a lens.
Sixth grade social studies uses Geography as a foundation to learn about the world and focuses on four themes:
Geographic Representations: Spatial Views of the World
Human-Environment Interaction: Place, Regions, and Culture
Human Populations: Spatial Patterns and Movement
Global Interconnections: Changing Spatial Patterns
LONG TERM GOAL: Maps and other geographical representations are essential to cultivating understanding about regions and cultures within them.
VISION OF THE GRADUATE: Knowledge
BIG IDEA
Once a map or other representation is created, it prompts new questions concerning the locations, spaces, and patterns portrayed.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
STANDARDS
GEO 6–7.1, 2
RH.6-8.1
WHST.6-8.1-8
D2.GEO.1.6-8, D2.GEO.2.6-8, D2.GEO.3.6-8, D2.GEO.4.6-8, D2.GEO.5.6-8, D2.GEO.6.6-8, D2.GEO.8.6-8, D2.GEO.10.6-8
D2.HIS.2.6-8, D2.HIS.13.6-8
LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .
LONG TERM GOAL: Human-environment interactions happen both in specific places and across broad regions.
VISION OF THE GRADUATE: Mindfulness
BIG IDEA - Human-environment interactions are essential aspects of human life in all societies and they occur at local-to-global scales.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
STANDARDS
GEO 6–7.3, 4, 5
RH.6-8.1
WHST.6-8.1-8
D2.GEO.2.6-8, D2.GEO.4.6-8, D2.GEO.5.6-8, D2.GEO.6.6-8, D2.GEO.7.6-8,D2.GEO.8.6-8, D2.GEO.10.6-8, D2.GEO.12.6-8
D2.HIS.1.6-8, D2.HIS.2.6-8, D2.HIS.4.6-8, D2.HIS.15.6-8
D2.CIV.6.6-8, D2.CIV.12.6-8, D2.CIV.13.6-8, D2.CIV.14.6-8
LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will . . .
LONG TERM GOAL: Past, present, and future conditions on Earth’s surface cannot be fully understood without asking and answering questions about the spatial patterns of human population.
VISION OF THE GRADUATE: Innovation
BIG IDEA - The expansion and redistribution of the human population affects patterns of settlement, environmental changes, and resource use.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
STANDARDS
GEO 6–7.6, 7, 8
RH.6-8.1
WHST.6-8.1-8
D2.GEO.4.6-8, D2.GEO.5.6-8, D2.GEO.6.6-8, D2.GEO.7.6-8,D2.GEO.8.6-8, D2.GEO.9.6-8, D2.GEO.12.6-8
D2.HIS.1.6-8, D2.HIS.14.6-8, D2.HIS.15.6-8
D2.ECO.1.6-8, D2.ECO.2.6-8
D2.CIV.6.6-8, D2.CIV.14.6-8
LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will be able to . . .
LONG TERM GOAL: Strategic risk-taking leads to innovative solutions to authentic problems with intended and unintended outcomes.
VISION OF THE GRADUATE: Communication
BIG IDEA - Asking and answering questions about global interconnections and spatial patterns are a necessary part of geographic reasoning.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
STANDARDS
GEO 6–7.9, 10, 11
RH.6-8.1
WHST.6-8.1-8
D2.GEO.4.6-8, D2.GEO.6.6-8, D2.GEO.7.6-8,D2.GEO.10.6-8, D2.GEO.11.6-8, D2.GEO.12.6-8
D2.HIS.2.6-8, D2.HIS.14.6-8, D2.HIS.15.6-8
D2.ECO.1.6-8, D2.ECO.2.6-8, D2.ECO.14.6-8, D2.ECO.15.6-8
D2.CIV.6.6-8, D2.CIV.14.6-8
LEARNING OUTCOMES Students will be able to . . .