7th grade Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in 7th grade social studies in the Washington State Learning Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Washington State history, including local Tribal history
- Washington's government and Tribal sovereignty
- Washington's economy and resources
Easy ways to practice 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
Washington's Land
Washington's regions, from the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound to the Cascades, Columbia Plateau and Palouse, and how geography shapes climate, settlement and trade.
Tribes of Washington
The 29 federally recognized Tribes, how coastal, river and Plateau peoples lived in their environments, languages and oral history, and Tribes today. Light, present tense, and specific to each Tribe; aligned with Since Time Immemorial.
Territory to Statehood
Explorers and the fur trade, the Oregon Trail and the Oregon Treaty, Washington Territory (1853) and statehood on November 11, 1889, including who was helped and who was left out.
Treaties & Tribal Sovereignty
The treaties of 1854–1856, the rights Tribes reserved, the fish wars and the Boldt decision (1974), and the government-to-government relationship set out in the Centennial Accord (1989).
Governing Washington
Washington's 1889 constitution, the governor, the 49-seat Senate and 98-seat House, the Supreme Court, initiatives and referendums, local government and how young people take part.
Washington's Economy
What Washington makes and trades, supply and demand, imports, exports and tariffs, and how the state collects and spends taxes. No company names.
Washington Since 1889
The Seattle fire, the Chinese expulsions, women's suffrage in 1910, Grand Coulee Dam, Japanese American incarceration, Hanford, the 1962 World's Fair, Mount St. Helens and the people who shaped modern Washington.
Salmon, Water & Forests
Salmon, dams, forests and water, renewable and nonrenewable resources, and weighing the costs and benefits of decisions such as dam removal.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- 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 Washington report card guide.
Common questions
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.
The Washington State Learning Standards 7th grade social studies units include Washington's Land, Tribes of Washington, Territory to Statehood, Treaties & Tribal Sovereignty, Governing Washington, Washington's Economy.
Free printable 7th grade social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.