Sixth Grade Social Studies

SDE Course Code: 0619

MNPS Course Code: SOC5006Y

Course Description

The sixth grade social science curriculum focuses on world history up to the Middle Ages. Emphasis is placed primarily on the study of the Ancient Civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egyptian, Greek and Roman. This course emphasizes the rise of western civilization through various cultures, and concludes with the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Course of Study

Beginning of Human Society

o Basic components of culture (language, values, traditions, and governments)

o The Old Stone Age to the development of agriculture

§ Hunter-gather communities

· Development and use of fire, tools, and weapons

· The importance of organization and roles in society.

· Different types of societies (Nomadic, fishing, farming)

o The Role of agriculture in emergent society

§ Domestication of plants animals

§ The effects of food production verses food collection

o Civilizations in the Fertile Crescent

§ Mesopotamia

§ Sumer

· Early Forms of Writing (Cuneiform)

· Technological Advances (Tools, Wheel, Dikes, Canals, Farming)

· Political Structures (City, State, Monarchy)

Early Civilizations (400-1000.B.C.)

o Mesopotamia

§ Culture (Writing forms, legal systems and religious beliefs)

§ Economics (Barter economy and trade routes)

§ Governance

· Written laws (Hammurabi’s Code, Ten Commandments)

· Caste systems and class systems

§ Significant individuals (Abraham, Moses, & Hamurabi)

§ Significant civilizations (Assyria, Israel, Phoenicia, & Lydia)

o Egypt

§ Significant individuals (Hatshepsut, King Tut, Ramses the Great)

§ Importance of Writing (hieroglyphics and the Rossetta Stone)

· Giant Empires (1000 B.C. – 300 A.D.)

o Greece

§ Significant individuals (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Alexander the Great)

§ Legacies (art, architecture, democracy, sports, literature, science)

o Rome

§ Significant individuals (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Jesus, Constantine)

§ Legacies (architecture, government and legal systems, mathematics, language, literature, road systems)

o China

§ Significant Individuals (Shi Huangdi, Confucius, Wu Di)

§ Key Accomplishments (Great Wall, gun powder, civil service, paper, silk worm, wheelbarrow)

o Compare and Contrast Great Empires of Greece, Rome and China

§ Major Religions (Christianity, Buddhism & Hinduism)

· Rise of Christianity in the Mediterranean

§ Epics and Historical Sources (Bible, Iliad, Odyssey, Mahabharata, Ramayana)

§ Trade and Routes in the Mediterranean

§ Governmental systems (republic, democracy, monarchy)

· Expanding Zones of Change and Encounter (300- 1000)

o Major religions of the world

o Economics (Barter systems and feudalism)

§ Castle Manor systems in Europe

§ Role of individuals

o Monarchies and feudalism

o Major Trade and routes

o Expansion of Islam

o Significant Individuals (Justinian, Theodora, Charlemagne, Muhammad, Leif Ericson)

o Key Accomplishments (mosaics, cathedrals, mosques, astronomy, art, architecture, navigation)

· The Emergence of Europe (1000-1500)

o Bubonic Plague

o Renaissance

o Reformation

o The Expansion of Trade and the World Economy

o Exploration

§ Asia, Africa & America

o Changes in Governance

§ Magna Carta

§ Collapse of feudal system

§ Colonization’s impact on government

o Significant Individuals (William the Conqueror, Marco Polo, Ferdinand & Isabella, Martin Luther, Joan of Arc, Johannes Guttenberg, Michelangelo, Columbus, Prince Henry the Navigator)

o Institutional shifts from church dominated to rise of science & philosophy

Reading: In addition to use of the textbook, students are expected to read from a variety of sources including essays, studies, newspapers/periodicals, maps, charts, graphs, political cartoons, and government documents. Students are expected to gain literal understanding of readings and also interpret, analyze, and evaluate information from readings.

Writing: Students are expected to write regularly and effectively in various domains including narrative, descriptive, persuasive, analytical, and practical. Suggested written assignments include essays, book reviews, document based questions, journals, surveys, and research papers.