Social Studies

Dear Parents,

In sixth grade social studies, students will be studying world cultures and focusing on the rise and spread of civilizations. Students will also be enhancing their map knowledge and skills.  Through a combination of class lecture, simulations, projects, shared and independent reading in Discover Our Heritage: World Cultures and Civilizations, and class work, students will learn about multiple ancient civilizations. While the ancients will be the primary focus, curriculum will also touch on more recent civilizations and periods with a focus on culture and connections to our present civilization.

Grading will be based on participation, tests, quizzes, in-class work, homework, and projects.

In-Class Work

There are going to be many assignments that are going to be done in-class (both independently and as a group) so that I may have the benefit of direct participation and observation of the process. These assignments maybe designed for reinforcement or enrichment of the content.

Homework

The students will have handouts that support the texts. Homework assignments are given weekly.  Homework can be in the form of worksheets, questions from the sections being studied, or some combination of both. 

The students are encouraged to read the current section in the text in advance of beginning the section in class (I do discourage the students getting too far ahead in the book) and take some form of notes (the bulk of the notes are taken in class). No assignment should take more than 30 minutes on a given night, some of the work may have involved .complex questions, but they are given multiple nights to complete these assignments. If a student requires greater than 30 minutes, they should stop, get a note, and see me in the morning or at the beginning of class.

Quizzes and Tests

They will be quizzed weekly, to assess the progress and retention of material and their comprehension of the terminology.  Since there is a geography component to this curriculum, the students can expect to be quizzed occasionally on this material independent of the content being covered.  For example, they will begin the year studying tools of geographers, but will be quizzed on continents and oceans. Tests will come at the end of each chapter and will include chapter content and geography content covered during the same window of time as the chapter.

Generally, each quarter the students should expect about 10 homework or class work assignments, 5 to 10 quizzes, and 1 to 3 tests.