American Middle School Social Studies Curriculum

As stated in the previous post, I was able to obtain the Middle School curriculum from my hometown's district. Its immensely helpful in catching up my daughter with her American peers as the Taiwanese school system has been solely focused on Taiwanese geography and history.

Currently, she has done some Colorado History, and just finished the Revolutionary War. She is starting the  Young People’s History of the US next week, after which we follow the LPS district's curriculum for 6th-7th grade.

As you can see, if the Taiwanese system were to mirror Colorado's, Taiwanese 6th graders would be learning an overview of SE Asian Civilizations, how location affected the local economy and interconnectedness. This would require geography well past the borders of just Taiwan.

6th Grade SOCIAL STUDIES

Social Studies in sixth grade focuses on the Western Hemisphere starting with the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans.  We will study the Major Explorers, Countries in the Western Hemisphere, and the Columbian Exchange. The curriculum incorporates all of the Colorado State Standards in History, Geography, Civics, and Economics.  Our year-long essential concept is: Where you live affects how you live. Specific skills emphasized include explaining how people, products, cultures & ideas interact and are interconnected; the advantages and disadvantages of living in an interconnected world; and personal financial literacy concepts of saving & investing.

7th Grade SOCIAL STUDIES

Social Studies in the seventh-grade curriculum incorporates the Colorado Content Academic Standards in Economics, Geography, Civics, and History.  For economics students will explain basic principles of supply and demand, the functions of a market economy, explain patterns of trade, and compare/contrast relative value and different resources. Personal Financial Literacy is one component of the economic standard.  In Geography, specific skills emphasized include interpreting maps; collecting and analyzing data to make geographical inferences. The civics standard will compare how various nations define rights, responsibilities, and roles of citizens; discover different forms of government and international organizations and their influences in the world communities. Key periods in history standard include the Eastern Hemisphere including Greece, Rome, Ancient China, Ancient Africa, and Medieval World including world religions while analyzing primary and secondary sources from those regions and time periods.

8th Grade SOCIAL STUDIES

Eighth Grade Social Studies students study United States History from 1763 to the end of the Reconstruction era (1877).  The curriculum incorporates all of the Colorado State Standards in History, Geography, Civics and Economics. Specific skills emphasized include personal finance literacy,  detecting and understanding bias, analyzing and differentiating primary and secondary sources, understanding propaganda and distortion, sequencing events in chronological order and interpreting political cartoons.