6th Grade Social Studies Learning Targets

Social Studies 6: Ancient Civilizations

Learning Targets

Students are expected to demonstrate their abilities to:

- recognize textual evidence from primary and secondary sources to support analysis

- describe how a text presents itself (sequentially, comparatively, and causally)

- distinguish between facts and opinions in a text

- identify an author's point of view and purpose through evaluating relevant parts of a text

Students will know or be able to do the following things at the end of the teaching cycle: (subject to revision)

First 3 Week Cycle

Class Procedures

Review of Geography

Chapter 1: Recovering the Past

Chapter 2: The Stone Ages & Early Cultures

Ø Historians use many kinds of clues to understand how people lived in the past.

Ø Physical geography and human geography contribute to the study of history.

Ø Prehistoric people learned to adapt to their environment to make simple tools, to use fire, and to use language.

Ø As people migrated around the world they learned to adapt to new environments.

Ø The development of agriculture brought great changes to human society.

Key Vocabulary:

history

artifacts

prehistory

domestication

geography

culture

ancestors

agriculture

archaeology

migrate

Second 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 3: Mesopotamia

Ø The valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the site of the world's first civilization.

Ø Sumerians developed the first civilization in Mesopotamia.

Ø Sumerians made many advances that helped their society develop.

Ø After the Sumerians, many cultures ruled parts of the Fertile Crescent.

Key Vocabulary:

Hammurabi's Code

silt

city-state

empire

irrigation

polytheism

canals

ziggurat

cuneiform

monarch

Third 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 4: Ancient Egypt

(Section 1 and 2)

Ø The water and fertile soils of the NileValley allowed a great civilization to develop in Egypt.

Ø The Egyptian government and religion were closely connected during the Old Kingdom.

Key Vocabulary:

Cataracts

delta

pharaoh

dynasty

Old Kingdom

nobles

afterlife

mummies

elite

pyramids

Fourth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 4: Ancient Egypt

(Section 3 and 4)

Ø During the Middle and NewKingdoms, order and greatness were restored in Egypt.

Ø The Egyptians made lasting achievements in writing, architecture, and art.

Key Vocabulary:

New Kingdom

Middle Kingdom

King Tutankhamen

Queen Hatshepsut

trade routes

Rosetta Stone

hieroglyphics

sphinxes

obelisk

papyrus

Fifth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 6: Ancient India

Ø Indian civilization first developed on the IndusRiver.

Ø Hinduism, the largest religion in India today, developed out of ancient Indian beliefs and practices.

Ø Buddhism began in India and became a major religion.

Ø The Mauryas and the Guptas built great empires in India.

Ø The people of ancient India made great contributions to the arts and sciences.

Key Vocabulary:

reincarnation

karma

meditation

missionaries

Buddhism

subcontinent

inoculations

Sanskrit

caste system

Hinduism

Sixth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 7: Ancient China

(Sections 1 and 2)

Ø Chinese civilization began with the Shang Dynasty along the Huang He.

Ø Confucius and other philosophers taught ways to deal with political and social problems in ancient China.

Key Vocabulary:

Xia Dynasty

Shang Dynasty

oracle

jade

lords

peasants

ethics

Daoism

Confucius

Legalism

Seventh 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 7: Ancient China

(Sections 3-5)

Ø The Qin dynasty unified China with a strong government and a system of standardization.

Ø The Han dynasty created a new form of government that valued family, art, and learning.

Ø Trade routes led to the exchange of new products and ideas among China, Rome, and other peoples.

Key Vocabulary:

Shi Huangdi

Great Wall

sundial

acupuncture

seismograph

silk

Qin Dynasty

Silk Road

diffusion

Han Dynasty

Eighth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 8: The Hebrews & Judaism

Ø Originally desert nomads, the Hebrews established a great kingdom called Israel.

Ø The central ideas and laws of Judaism are contained in sacred texts such as the Torah.

Ø Although they were forced out of Israel by the Romans, shared beliefs and customs helped the Jews maintain their religion.

Key Vocabulary:

Torah

Exodus

Passover

monotheistic

Moses

Judaism

rabbis

prophets

Ten Commandments

Diaspora

Ninth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 9: Ancient Greece

Ø Greece's geography and its nearness to the sea strongly influenced the development of trade and the growth of city-states.

Ø The people of Athens tried many different forms of government before creating a democracy.

Ø The ancient Greeks created great myths and works of literature that influence the way we speak and write.

Key Vocabulary:

fables

polis

democracy

Homer

Aesop

oligarchy

acropolis

classical

tyrant

mythology

Tenth 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 10: Ancient Greece

Ø Over time the Persians came to rule over a great empire which eventually brought them into conflict with the Greeks.

Ø The most powerful city-states in Greece, Sparta and Athens, had very different cultures and became bitter enemies in the 400s BC.

Ø Alexander the Great built a huge empire and helped spread Greek culture into Egypt and Asia.

Ø Ancient Greeks made lasting contributions in the arts, philosophy, and science.

Key Vocabulary:

Socrates

Parthenon

Plato

alliance

phalanx

cavalry

Cyrus the Great

Persian Wars

Alexander the Great

Peloponnesian War

Eleventh 3 Week Cycle

Chapter : 11 and 12

Ø Rome's location and government helped it become a major power in ancient world.

Ø Rome's tripartite government and written laws helped create a stable society.

Ø The later period of the RomanRepublic was marked by wars of expansion and political crisis

Ø Julius Caesar and Augustus led Rome's transition from Republic to Empire.

Ø After Augustus became emperor, the Roman Empire grew politically and economically, and life improved for the Roman people.

Ø Many features of the Roman culture were copied by later civilizations and continue to influence our lives today.

Key Vocabulary:

dictators

plebeians

patricians

Pax Romana

Roman Senate

veto

Latin

provinces

Punic Wars

Augustus

Final 3 Week Cycle

Chapter 13 and 14: Rome and Christianity

Ø The Roman Empire accepted many religions, but it came into conflict with Judaism.

Ø Christianity, based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, spread quickly after his death.

Ø Within three centuries after Jesus' death, Christianity had spread through the empire and became Rome's official religion

Ø Problems from both inside and outside caused the Roman Empire to split and the western half to collapse.

Ø The Roman Empire split into two parts, and the eastern Roman Empire prospered for hundreds of years after the western empire fell.

Key Vocabulary:

Christianity

Messiah

crucifixion

Resurrection

disciples

Apostles

persecution

bishops

martyrs

pope

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