8th grade Social Studies
9 units matched to the Washington State Learning Standards.
Focus areas
- United States history and government, mainly the 1800s
- The Constitution and rights
- Westward expansion, the Civil War and Reconstruction
Units
Unit 1
Sources & Evidence
Children practice choosing and judging sources, reading artifacts and art, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence.
Learning standard: H3.6-8.4; SSS2.6-8.2; SSS4.6-8.1 · analyzing and interpreting historical sources, judging their reliability and drawing conclusions from evidence
Unit 2
Maps, Graphs & Data
Reading map scales and legends, choropleth maps, scatter graphs and correlation (and why correlation does not prove cause), and what population pyramids say about a country's age and growth. The data in the questions are made up for practice.
Learning standard: G1.6-8.1; G1.6-8.6 · constructing and analyzing maps, graphs and other representations to explain relationships between places
Unit 3
Founding Ideals
The Magna Carta and Enlightenment ideas, the Declaration of Independence, and the principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, rule of law, federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances.
Learning standard: C1.6-8.3; C1.6-8.1; C1.6-8.4 · key ideals in the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution and their roots in earlier documents
Unit 4
Rights & Amendments
What the first ten amendments protect, the Reconstruction Amendments, and why rights come with limits and responsibilities.
Learning standard: C1.6-8.3; C4.6-8.4 · the Bill of Rights and later amendments, and balancing individual rights with the common good
Unit 5
A New Nation
The first presidents and parties, judicial review, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, the War of 1812 and early foreign policy.
Learning standard: H1.6-8.6; H2.6-8.5; C3.6-8.5 · establishing a new government, early presidents, expansion and early foreign policy, 1789–1823
Unit 6
Westward Expansion
Manifest Destiny, Indian removal and the Trail of Tears, Texas and the Mexican-American War, the Gold Rush and the transcontinental railroad, told accurately for the people who moved and the nations who lost their lands.
Learning standard: G2.6-8.8; H2.6-8.6; G1.6-8.5; H1.6-8.6 · westward expansion, Indian removal and migration, 1801–1869
Unit 7
Factories & Reformers
The Industrial Revolution, canals and telegraphs, immigration, and the abolition, women's rights and school reform movements before 1861.
Learning standard: H2.6-8.7; H2.6-8.5; G2.6-8.7; E2.6-8.5 · technology, immigration and reform movements in the United States before the Civil War
Unit 8
The Civil War
How the conflict over slavery led to secession and war, key events and people from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, and how enslaved people helped win their own freedom.
Learning standard: H3.6-8.5; H3.6-8.4; H2.6-8.5 · causes, events and people of the Civil War
Unit 9
Reconstruction
Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877: the Freedmen's Bureau, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, Black officeholders, the violence that opposed them and how gains were later rolled back.
Learning standard: H1.6-8.6; H4.6-8.3; C1.6-8.4 · Reconstruction, the 13th to 15th Amendments and the gap between ideals and reality
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