Seventh Grade Social Studies Curriculum Information

Social Studies Curriculum Information
Mrs. Kabat, Social Studies
Peacock Middle School

The social studies curriculum is divided into three specific topics of study; U.S. history, current events and historical literature.

United States History – The text motivates students with features rich in the relevance of United States history. Some of the highlights of the Holt Social Studies Program include visuals that bring people, places, and concepts to life; the maps help to see the connection between history and geography; reading strategies are a primary focus that help develop skills to access information and master content; and the online text also provides additional reading help to improve comprehension, vocabulary, and test scores.

We will complete the following units of study: Our Colonial Heritage, A New Nation, The New Republic and The Nation Expands. The topics of the units include:

The World Before the Opening of the Atlantic
New Empires in the Americas
The English Colonies
The American Revolution
Forming A Government
Citizenship and the Constitution
Launching the Nation
The Jefferson Era
A New National Identity
The Age of Jackson
Expanding West
The North
The South
New Movements in America
A Divided Nation
The Civil War

Junior Scholastic – This is a current events social studies magazine that covers news briefs, various cultures, debates and includes maps, graphs, charts and political cartoons. Please see the enclosure that outlines the units of study for this calendar year 2010-2011.

Historical Literature – During the course of the school year, your son/daughter will read the historical novel, My Brother Sam is Dead. The novel is written in chapter-by-chapter format and taught using pre-reading activities, vocabulary and comprehension exercises as well as activities. Upon completion of the novel students will be evaluated using accelerated reader and the next novel will be determined based on their score.

Class Rules:

1. Be Prompt – Make sure that you are seated in the classroom with all needed supplies, listed on the board, ready to begin each lesson.

2.Be Prepared - Come to class prepared with spiral, pens, homework and assignment notebook.

3. Be Polite - Treat everyone with respect and fairness.

Consequences for Breaking Class Rules:

Grading/Homework/Portfolios

All projects, workbook pages, worksheets, and tests are graded using plus points. Daily assignments are graded and used for assessment purposes to determine if reteaching is necessary before students are tested. Tests and major projects account for 60% of the student grade while the remaining 40% takes into account homework, effort and class participation. Study guides are always provided for the students and can be found in their assignment notebook.

Homework assignments are graded returned and should be used as study guides for quizzes & tests. Projects are graded using a rubric with specific guidelines emphasized as each project is presented. Each project is presented with exact expectations and sample projects are available for visual learners.

Portfolios are kept for each student and always have a large sampling of work throughout the year. Parents are provided the portfolio contents at the first parent/teacher conference and may at any time request an additional conference throughout the year to view. Otherwise students will be given their portfolio to bring home in June.