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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 12 of 12

Time & Evidence

BCE and CE, artifacts and sources

What your child practices

Counting years in BCE and CE, centuries and calendars, artifacts and archaeology, and judging primary and secondary sources about the ancient world.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 6.SP3.3; 6.SP1.1 · how historians know about the past, using primary and secondary sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. BCE years count down toward year 1; CE years count up. A bigger BCE number is older.
  2. For two BCE dates, subtract the smaller from the bigger to find years between.
  3. Archaeologists use artifacts and remains. An era is a long period, like the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages (in that order).

Example: How many years passed from 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE? Both are BCE, so subtract. 3000 − 1000 = 2000. Answer: 2000 years

Time & Evidence in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 12 of 12 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Renaissance & Reformation.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which year is earlier: 500 BCE or 200 BCE?

    • 200 BCE
    • They are the same
    • Neither
    • 500 BCE

  2. Question 2

    Why do historians compare several sources?

    • Sources are always the same
    • One source is enough
    • It wastes time
    • Each source shows only part of the story and may be biased

  3. Question 3

    Which source would best show what people in Pompeii ate?

    • A cartoon
    • A modern cookbook
    • Food remains found in the ruins
    • A map of today's Italy

  4. Question 4

    Which is a secondary source about ancient Rome?

    • A Roman coin
    • A Roman mosaic
    • A letter by a Roman senator
    • A historian's book written in 2010

  5. Question 5

    What is an era?

    • A single day
    • A kind of map
    • A long period of history with shared features
    • A type of coin

  6. Question 6

    Radiocarbon dating helps archaeologists…

    • Find gold
    • Estimate the age of things that were once alive
    • Draw maps
    • Read hieroglyphs

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