🌎 6th grade Social Studies

Units

1. Unit 1

   🧭World Regions

   Physical and cultural characteristics of world regions, how people adapt to and change their environment, migration, and why geography helps us understand global issues.

   Learning standard: 6/7.G.HI.4; 6/7.G.HE.6 · how physical geography and human characteristics shape culture, population and resource use

2. Unit 2

   ⏳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: 6/7.H.CH.1; 6/7.H.CC.4 · timelines of key periods and using primary and secondary sources about the ancient world

3. Unit 3

   🌾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: 6/7.H.CH.2; 6/7.G.HE.6 · how farming led to complex societies and how environments shaped early technology

4. Unit 4

   🏞️Where Civilizations Grew

   How geography shaped Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and Shang China along their rivers, plus Greece, Rome and the Maya. Includes a reading passage about the Nile flood.

   Learning standard: 6/7.H.CH.2; 6/7.G.GR.1 · the characteristics of civilizations and how geography influenced where they grew

5. Unit 5

   🏺Mesopotamia & Egypt

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

   Learning standard: 6/7.H.CH.3; 6/7.H.CP.14 · the key features of Mesopotamia and Egypt, early civilizations of Western Asia and North Africa

6. Unit 6

   🏯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: 6/7.H.CH.3; 6/7.H.CP.8 · ancient India and China and the origins of early world religions

7. Unit 7

   🏛️Greece & Rome

   Athens and Sparta, the Roman Republic and Empire, the Twelve Tables and Code of Justinian, and the Greek and Roman ideas found in US government.

   Learning standard: 6/7.C.PI.1; 6/7.C.IR.6 · governance in Greece and Rome and the rights and roles of their citizens

8. Unit 8

   ⚖️Laws & Government

   Hammurabi's code (with a reading passage), Athenian democracy, the Roman Republic and Empire, the Mandate of Heaven, and Egypt's social pyramid.

   Learning standard: 6/7.C.PI.1; 6/7.C.IR.6 · early forms of governance and law, and who had rights in ancient societies

9. Unit 9

   🕊️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: 6/7.H.CP.8; 6/7.H.CP.10 · the origins and central teachings of major world religions

10. Unit 10

    🐫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: 6/7.H.CC.4; 6/7.G.MM.3 · exchanges between ancient cultures and how trade and transport spread ideas

11. Unit 11

    🌐World Maps & Globes

    Continents and oceans, hemispheres, latitude and longitude, map scale, projections and kinds of maps.

    Learning standard: 6/7.G.GR.1; 6/7.G.GR.2 · using maps, coordinates and spatial thinking to describe absolute and relative location

12. Unit 12

    🗿Early Americas & Africa

    Archaeological evidence of the first people and early civilizations of the Americas (Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Moche, Ancestral Puebloans, mound builders) and of Africa (Kush, Nok, Aksum, Ghana), up to about 900 CE. Maya people are a living people today.

    Learning standard: 6/7.H.CP.13; 6/7.H.CP.15; 6/7.H.CH.3 · archaeological evidence of Indigenous civilizations of the Americas, civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa, and developments to 900 CE