Curriculum: History

Each year of the history curriculum has been designed around a central thematic question.

Sixth Grade

Essential Question: What is the American identity?

With an emphasis on the use of primary materials, a multi-disciplined approach and cooperative learning, sixth graders examine the issues, people, events, and movements that helped create what it is to be an American. They study the struggles that occurred in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as individuals and groups fought to achieve the rights promised them in the Constitution, and grappled with the dream of America vs. the reality. In addition to learning the tools and language of history, they study topics such as the United States Constitution, industrialization, urbanization, and the labor movement.

Seventh Grade

Essential Question: Why do societies change?

The seventh grade curriculum investigates how different societies and cultures change over time. We introduce the concepts of cultural anthropology - human nature, social hierarchy, and societal change. Throughout the year, students will focus on several skills essential to their studies, such as improving critical thinking and reading, making observations and inferences, and writing persuasive essays.  The content of the first semester includes the Kalahari San, and the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia.   The second semester employs case studies that address inequality and the change that occurs in those societies as a result. Considering the driving question in each unit, the year culminates with a five-paragraph essay and formal debate related to issues central to our studies.

Eighth Grade

Essential Question: Whose story is it?

The eighth grade history course examines ancient and medieval civilization through the lens of the essential question: Whose story is it?  Students will analyze primary material for its point-of-view, and pay particular attention to finding the voices from the past that are usually silent.  Our ancient world units on Egypt, China, and Rome will culminate in a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The medieval civilization units center on the development of European culture and the spread of Islam, wrapping up with a current events project.