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.

American Language Arts Curriculum for Middle School

I was able to get the full curriculum from my local school district in Colorado (LPS). This is what Colorado Middle School students in this district are reading and writing. I am using it to supplement my daughter's English while we live in Taiwan.

Supplementary Reading List:

6th Grade

• The Outsiders – http://www.sehinton.com/books/outsiders.html
• The Westing Game – http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0525471375.asp
• The White Mountains –Epseranza Rising – http://www.pammunozryan.com/esper.html
• Sleepers Wake – http://www.amazon.com/Sleepers_Wake_Paul_Jacobs/dp/0785798994
• Forgotten Door – http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Door-Apple-Paperbacks/dp/0590431307
• The Cay –  http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/307134/The-Cay-by-Theodore-Taylor/
• Freak the Mighty – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/307138/Freak-the-Mighty-by-Rodman-Philbrick/
• True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- http://www.shmoop.com/true-confessions-charlotte-doyle/
• The Black Pearl –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Pearl_(Scott_O%27Dell)
• Number the Stars – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/157477/Number-the-stars/
• Slake's Limbo – http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/slakes.html

7th Grade

• Night –  http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/482182/Night-by-Elie-Wiesel/
• Goodnight Mr. Tom – http://readers.penguin.co.uk/nf/Document/DocumentDisplay/0,,P000100000034,00.html
• Island on Bird Street –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_on_Bird_Street
• Upon the Head of a Goat – http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks/siegal_upon.htm
• The Cage – http://mandelproject.us/elavsky_rev.htm
• The Man Who Was Poe – http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/230011/The-Man-Who-Was-Poe-by-Avi/
• All Creatures Great and Small – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18929854-all-creatures-great-and-small
• Hope Was Here – http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0399231420.asp
• A Long Way From Chicago – http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/alongway.html
• Christmas Carol –  http://literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/
• Grace In The Wilderness – http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Wilderness-After-Liberation-1945-1948/dp/0374427941
• Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl –http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/1401/Anne-Frank-The-Diary-of-a-Young-Girl/ 
• Friedrich –  http://allreaders.com/book-review-summary/friedrich-24701
• Forbidden City - http://www.angelfire.com/alt2/forbidden_city/plot.html
• Wild Child -  http://www.iblist.com/book34711.htm
• Walkabout – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkabout_(novel)
• Visions - Collection of Short Stories (No publisher site available)
• Sixteen - Collection of Short Stories (No publisher site available)   
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers: http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/monster-0
• ​The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/gloryfield.html 

8th Grade

• Johnny Tremain – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Tremain
• To Kill a Mockingbird – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_A_Mockingbird 
• The Call of the Wild – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_the_Wild
• White Fang –  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43035.White_Fang
• Z for Zachariah – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_for_Zachariah
• April Morning – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Morning
• Touching Spirit Bear –   http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780380977444/Touching_Spirit_Bear/index.aspx
• Monster - http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0060280778.asp
• Tangerine -  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/tangerine-discussion-guide
• Stonewall's Gold - http://extras.denverpost.com/books/book497.htm
• The Giver – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver
• The Million Pound Bank Note - http://www.iblist.com/book22282.htm
• The Glory Field – http://childlit.sdsu.edu/reviews/r-Myers.htm
• The Pigman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pigman

Writing Expectations:

Seventh-grade students will write an argument, expository, and narrative texts using clear
development, organization, and style.  The writing process will be used to help plan, revise,
edit, and redraft the students’ work so that their ideas are clear and concise to their audience.  
Students will use technology and the Internet to produce, collaborate, and publish their writing
in a classroom, school-wide, and/ or world-wide setting. Seventh-grade students will create
research questions and find reliable sources to help them answer what they want to know.  
After gathering information from multiple print and digital sources, students will analyze for
validity and draw conclusions from their findings to demonstrate their learning.

Eighth-grade writing focuses on the development of a sophisticated five-paragraph essay.
Special emphasis is placed on an introduction that includes a hook, bridge, and thesis statement.
The structured use of textual evidence, the development of sophisticated and embedded transitions,
and the creation of an effective conclusion paragraph including a restated thesis, summary ideas,
and significant parting thought are additional areas of writing instruction.

RESOURCES:
https://littletonpublicschools.net/schools/powell-middle-school/curriculum-resources
LPS Curriculum Guide

Body Image and the Media Group Activity

Still in our Fashion Industry Unit, with the second part focusing on Body Image, we will do a fun group activity. We will look at several advertisements and try to "decode" the ad (understand the motive's behind the ad). Teacher will break up students in groups give them an ad from a fashion magazine and a worksheet. At the end of class, each group will present their findings.

Introduction (7 Minutes):

Body Image is Affected By the Media (Video 2:44)

London Mayor Sadiq Khan banned ads that promoted unhealthy, unrealistic body images. (Video 1 minute)

Here are some of the ways that advertisers use to attract吸引 consumers:  

• Sex Appeal 性魅力，性感
• Homestyle Traditional 傳統的
• New & Improved改進  
• Name Brands商標 & Logos標誌  
• Health & Safety
• Gender Stereotypes 性別刻版印象
• Join the Bandwagon羊群效應: “Everyone is getting one”!  

Group Work (20 Minutes)

Presentations (15 Minutes)