🌎 6th grade Social Studies

Units

1. Unit 1

   ⏳Time & Evidence

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

   Learning standard: 6.2b; 6.2d · counting time in BCE and CE, how archaeologists study artifacts, and judging sources about the ancient world

2. Unit 2

   🌾First Farmers

   The long story of early humans, how farming began about 12,000 years ago, domestication, food surpluses, and how settling down led to specialized jobs and the first cities.

   Learning standard: 6.2a; 6.2c · hunter-gatherers, the first farmers and the Neolithic Revolution

3. Unit 3

   🏺Mesopotamia & Egypt

   Why civilizations grew along the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile, cuneiform and hieroglyphs, Hammurabi's Code, pharaohs and pyramids.

   Learning standard: 6.3a; 6.3b; 6.3c; 6.3d · the river valley civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt: farming, writing, laws, rulers and social classes

4. Unit 4

   🏯Ancient India & China

   The Indus Valley and Yellow River, Chinese dynasties and the Mandate of Heaven, Confucius, Hinduism and Buddhism, and inventions such as paper and zero.

   Learning standard: 6.3b; 6.3c; 6.5a · the Indus and Yellow River valleys, Chinese dynasties and the Mandate of Heaven, and inventions of ancient India and China

5. Unit 5

   🕊️World Beliefs

   Where and when major religions and philosophies began (Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam), their key figures, texts and ideas, described respectfully and factually.

   Learning standard: 6.4a; 6.4b; 6.4c · where and when Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism began, their founders, teachings and holy texts

6. Unit 6

   🏛️Greece & Rome

   Athens and Sparta, direct and representative democracy, the Roman Republic and Empire, and the Greek and Roman ideas found in US government.

   Learning standard: 6.5a; 6.5b; 6.5c · Athens and Sparta, the Roman Republic and Empire, and their governments and golden ages

7. Unit 7

   🏺Rome's Fall & Byzantium

   Rome's lasting contributions, why the Western Empire fell, Constantine and Constantinople, Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, and the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

   Learning standard: 6.6a; 6.6b · why the Western Roman Empire fell and how the Byzantine Empire carried on Roman law and Orthodox Christianity

8. Unit 8

   🏰Medieval Europe

   How medieval Europe was organized (kings, nobles, knights and peasants), the role of the Church and guilds, the Magna Carta, the Black Death, and how change came to the feudal system.

   Learning standard: 6.6a; 6.6d · feudalism, manors, the Church, towns and the Crusades in medieval Western Europe

9. Unit 9

   🕌The Islamic World

   The early Islamic world and its cities, scholars and discoveries (such as algebra and optics), the exchange of knowledge through trade and translation, and the Ottoman Empire.

   Learning standard: 6.6c; 6.7a · the spread of Islam, the caliphates, Baghdad and al-Andalus, and how Muslim scholars and traders spread ideas

10. Unit 10

    🐪Trade Routes & Beliefs

    The Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade, how religions and ideas spread, the Islamic Golden Age, medieval Europe and the Magna Carta, up to about 1450.

    Learning standard: 6.4a; 6.7a · the Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade, and how religions and ideas spread along trade routes

11. Unit 11

    🐫Trade Networks

    Specialization, barter and the first coins, the Silk Road and sea routes (with a reading passage and goods table), and how trade led to both cooperation and conflict.

    Learning standard: 6.7a; 6.7c · barter, specialization and trade, and the goods and ideas that moved on the Silk Roads and across the Indian Ocean

12. Unit 12

    🌍The Eastern Hemisphere Today

    The continents, regions, landforms, rivers and climates of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, how geography shapes where people live, and how some of today's issues, such as borders and water shortages, have roots in the past.

    Learning standard: 6.1a; 6.1b; 6.1c; 6.1d · the physical and human geography of the present-day Eastern Hemisphere, its regions, and issues with roots in the past

13. Unit 13

    🐉Classical China & India

    The Qin and Han dynasties of China and the Maurya and Gupta empires of India: their rulers, governments, inventions and golden ages, compared with Greece and Rome.

    Learning standard: 6.5a; 6.5b; 6.5c · the classical civilizations of China and India, how geography and government shaped them, and their golden ages compared with Greece and Rome

14. Unit 14

    ⚔️The Mediterranean World

    The three regions that shared the Mediterranean after Rome fell (feudal Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic caliphates), how Islam spread to North Africa and Spain, and the Crusades seen from European, Byzantine and Muslim points of view. Religions are described factually and respectfully.

    Learning standard: 6.6a; 6.6b; 6.6c; 6.6d · feudal Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, and the Crusades from several perspectives

15. Unit 15

    🐎Mongols & Travelers

    The Mongol Empire and how it linked East and West, travelers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Mansa Musa and Zheng He, trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trade, the spread of the Black Death, and technologies such as the compass, junks and the rudder.

    Learning standard: 6.7a; 6.7b; 6.7c · Afro-Eurasian trade networks, the Mongol Empire, famous travelers and the technologies that moved people and goods