Grade 8 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 8 social studies in the Manitoba Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Grade 8 Social Studies: World History: Societies of the Past
- Cluster 1: Understanding Societies Past and Present
- Cluster 2: Early Societies in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Indus Valley
- Cluster 3: Ancient Societies of Greece and Rome
- Cluster 4: Transition to the Modern World (Circa 500 to 1400)
- Cluster 5: Shaping the Modern World (Circa 1400 to 1850)
Easy ways to practise social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
Being a Historian
Telling primary from secondary sources, fact from opinion and bias, reading timelines and maps, and checking where information comes from.
World Views & Early Societies
What a world view is, how hunter-gatherer and farming societies differ, what makes a civilization, and why writing and farming changed early societies.
Ancient Greece
Athens and Sparta, how democracy began and who could take part, Greek myths and thinkers, and the Greek ideas still used today.
Ancient Rome
How Rome grew from a republic to an empire, the army, roads and aqueducts, the rule of law, and why the Western Roman Empire fell.
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.
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.
Trade & Empires
Trade routes across Asia and Africa, the wealth of Mali and Timbuktu, the Mongol Empire, Zheng He's voyages, and how trade carried goods and ideas, and sometimes conflict.
Renaissance & Reformation
The rebirth of art and learning in Italy, how the printing press spread ideas, the Reformation, and how questioning led to new science.
Exploration & Exchange
Why Europeans sailed across oceans, what the Mexica and Inca empires were like, the Columbian Exchange of foods, animals and diseases, and the serious consequences for Indigenous peoples and for enslaved Africans.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Level 1
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Level 2
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Level 3
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Level 4
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Manitoba report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 8 child with social studies?
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
What does my child learn in Grade 8 social studies in Manitoba?
The Manitoba Curriculum Grade 8 social studies units include being a historian, world views & early societies, ancient greece, ancient rome, medieval europe, the islamic world.
Free printable Grade 8 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.