Hello and welcome to 8th grade Social Studies class! I am honored to have the opportunity to work with you and your student this year. I have planned many challenging and exciting activities to help stimulate your student’s interest in learning. This year we will focus on the history of the United States by embarking on a more rigorous study of the historical foundations and democratic principles that continue to shape our nation. Students will begin with a review of the major ideas and events preceding the establishment of the United States. The main focus of the course will be the critical events, personalities, issues, and developments in the nation from the Age of Exploration to Reconstruction. Students will be challenged to examine primary and secondary sources, use maps to trace the development of the United States, and think critically about the various units we will cover. Inherent in this study is an analysis of the relationship of geography, events and people to the political, economic, technological, and cultural developments that shaped our nation over time.

Standards/Units of Study: a more detailed description can be found at:

History -

Unit 1: Roots of the American People

Unit 2: Colonization and Independence

Unit 3: A New Nation

Unit 4: Expansion

Unit 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

Historical Thinking and Skills

Geography

Government

Economics

Hello and welcome to 7th grade Social Studies class! I am honored to have the opportunity to work with you and your student this year. I have planned many challenging and exciting activities to help stimulate your student’s interest in learning. The seventh-grade year is an integrated study of world history, beginning with Ancient Greece and continuing through the first Global Age. Throughout the course, we will be examining how historical events were shaped by geographic, social, cultural, economic, and political factors. We will also be thinking about how the events from the past have shaped our world today. Students will be challenged to examine primary and secondary sources, use maps to trace the development of human settlement, and think critically about the various units we will cover. All of these units will require students to develop research skills , and conduct short research projects, integrating multimedia and visual displays.

Standards/Units of Study: a more detailed description can be found at:

History -

Unit 1: Early Civilizations

Unit 2: Feudalism and Transitions

Unit 3: First Global Age

Historical Thinking and Skills

Geography

Government

Economics