Sixth grade social studies deals with the history, civics and government, geography, and economics of our world. The sixth grade students will learn about various cultures and historical time periods. We will learn about specific areas such as: Europe, North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean region. While learning about various time periods and places we will discuss how and why they affect our lives in America.
First semester we will start out discussing the geography of our world. We will look at terms and by the time we leave for Camp Tecumseh students should have a good understanding of how to locate things when looking at a map. When we return from Camp we will travel back in time to the very beginning of most civilizations. We will start by looking at the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs. Students will also complete a project about an assigned country from Central and South America. We will move along our timeline and venture into Ancient Greece followed by Ancient Rome. Many students enjoyed this unit as a lot of how our society is structured today has roots back to these ancient cities and civilizations.
Second Semester we will begin by looking at the Medieval Times and the Renaissance. Several students enjoyed this portion because we look at our heritage and what it meant during this time. We also learn about feudalism and all about kings, queens, and explorers from around the world. From there we will come into more modern times and look at World War 1, the Great Depression, and World War 2. We will do things like skits, simulations, and book reports ending with a whole class discussion of World War 2. I recently went to Washington DC and have brought back knowledge and tools that I think will make this even more interesting for the students. We will finally end our year with the United States and Canada. Students found their views and the thoughts about Canada were very different than reality. The two countries actually do a lot together.
I can't wait to get started on the social studies concepts this year! I absolutely love it when the students say they like social studies because it means I'm doing my job right. I try to steer away from learning facts and dates that just have to be spit back out for the test. I absolutely LOVE when we are learning a new topic and the students connect it back to a previous one! I also like the conversations that start when students ask why a situation in history was handled one way versus how a different time period would have handled it differently. This means they actually learned something about history and (hopefully) we are not deemed to repeat it.
First semester we will start out discussing the geography of our world. We will look at terms and by the time we leave for Camp Tecumseh students should have a good understanding of how to locate things when looking at a map. When we return from Camp we will travel back in time to the very beginning of most civilizations. We will start by looking at the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs. Students will also complete a project about an assigned country from Central and South America. We will move along our timeline and venture into Ancient Greece followed by Ancient Rome. Many students enjoyed this unit as a lot of how our society is structured today has roots back to these ancient cities and civilizations.
Second Semester we will begin by looking at the Medieval Times and the Renaissance. Several students enjoyed this portion because we look at our heritage and what it meant during this time. We also learn about feudalism and all about kings, queens, and explorers from around the world. From there we will come into more modern times and look at World War 1, the Great Depression, and World War 2. We will do things like skits, simulations, and book reports ending with a whole class discussion of World War 2. I recently went to Washington DC and have brought back knowledge and tools that I think will make this even more interesting for the students. We will finally end our year with the United States and Canada. Students found their views and the thoughts about Canada were very different than reality. The two countries actually do a lot together.
I can't wait to get started on the social studies concepts this year! I absolutely love it when the students say they like social studies because it means I'm doing my job right. I try to steer away from learning facts and dates that just have to be spit back out for the test. I absolutely LOVE when we are learning a new topic and the students connect it back to a previous one! I also like the conversations that start when students ask why a situation in history was handled one way versus how a different time period would have handled it differently. This means they actually learned something about history and (hopefully) we are not deemed to repeat it.