Mr. Rittenhouse

Welcome to 8th grade social studies.  In my class we will be covering a little more than 100 years of United States history.  The units we will be focusing on will be  the Civil War/Reconstruction, Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, the U.S. becoming a world power, World War I, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War.  Along with covering this history we will also be watching and discussing current events with the use of CNN Student News as a resource on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. 

One of my objectives as a history teacher is to help students to understand how the past relates or effects U.S. citizens and their lives today.  Other objectives are to help students to increase their skills in reading, reading comprehension, writing, critical thinking, and logical thinking.  

This is my 26th year of teaching social studies, with 25 years here at OMS.  We are obviously in an historical time period where all of our lives have been changed by this pandemic, but I want you to know that I am as excited to begin new year as I have ever been in my teaching career.  I know that we as a community have our learning challenges for our children and our students ahead of us, but if we work together I know that our students can be successful.

If you have any problems or you want to discuss anything with me please contact me at trittenhouse@orionschools.us or call or text me on my cell at 309-721-2006.