California Grade 6 Social Studies Curriculum Unit (103 PDF Assignments)

19 Assignments:

Students read a 500 to 600-word article on the topic

Students answer questions based on the topic

* See Preview for a look at the entire Assignment which is based on the California Standards for 6th Grade Social Studies

HSS-6.1

Grade: 6

Standard:
Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.

Assignment: Archeological Studies of Human Development

HSS-6.1.1

Standard:

Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire.

Assignment: Hunter-Gatherer Society

HSS-6.1.2

Standard:

Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.

Assignment: Early Human Communities

 HSS-6.1.3

Standard:

Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.

Assignment: Climate Change & Domestication

HSS-6.2

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Egypt

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Kush

Assignments: City-States of Mesopotamia, Civilization of Ancient Egypt, Civilization of Kush

HSS-6.2.1

Standard:

Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement in Mesopotamia.

Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement in Ancient Egypt.

Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement in Ancient Kush.

Assignments: Tigris & Euphrates in Mesopotamia, The Nile River & Egypt, The Nile River & Kush

HSS-6.2.2

Standard:

Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power in Mesopotamia.

Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power in Ancient Egypt

Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power in Ancient Kush.

Assignment: Agriculture & Cities of Mesopotamia, Agriculture & Cities of Ancient Egypt, Agriculture & Cities of Ancient Kush

HSS-6.2.3

Standard:

Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia.

Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Ancient Egypt

Assignment: Religion & Politics in Ancient Mesopotamia, Religion & Politics in Ancient Egypt

HSS-6.2.4

Standard:
Know the significance of Hammurabi’s Code.

Assignment: Hammurabi's Code

HSS-6.2.5

Standard:

Discuss the main features of Egyptian art and architecture.

Assignment: Ancient Egyptian Art & Architecture

HSS-6.2.6

Standard:
Describe the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean and Nile Valley.

Assignment: Trade in Ancient Egypt

HSS-6.2.7

Standard:

Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut

Understand the significance of Ramses the Great.

Assignment: Ramses the Great, Queen Hatshepsut

HSS-6.2.8

Standard:
Identify the location of the Kush civilization and describe its political, commercial, and cultural relations with Egypt.

Assignment: Ancient Kush Civilization

HSS-6.2.9

Grade: 6

Standard:
Trace the evolution of language and its written forms

Assignment: Evolution of the Written Language

HSS-6.3

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Ancient Hebrews.

Assignment: The Ancient Hebrews

HSS-6.3.1

Standard:
Describe the origins and significance of Judaism as the first monotheistic religion based on the concept of one God who sets down moral laws for humanity.

Assignment: Judaism & Monotheism

HSS-6.3.2

Standard:
Identify the sources of the ethical teachings and central beliefs of Judaism (the Hebrew Bible, the Commentaries): belief in God, observance of law, practice of the concepts of righteousness and justice, and importance of study; and describe how the ideas of the Hebrew traditions are reflected in the moral and ethical traditions of Western civilization.

Assignment: Teachings & Beliefs of Judaism

HSS-6.3.3

Standard:
Explain the significance of Abraham, Moses, Naomi, Ruth, David, and Yohanan ben Zaccai in the development of the Jewish religion.

Assignment: Historic Jewish Figures, Abraham, Moses, Naomi & Ruth, David, Yohanan ben Zaccai

HSS-6.3.4

Standard:
Discuss the locations of the settlements and movements of Hebrew peoples, including the Exodus and their movement to and from Egypt, and outline the significance of the Exodus to the Jewish and other people.

Assignment: Movements of the Hebrew People

HSS-6.3.5

Standard:
Discuss how Judaism survived and developed despite the continuing dispersion of much of the Jewish population from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel after the destruction of the second Temple in A.D. 70.

Assignment: The Persistence of Judaism

HSS-6.4

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Ancient Greece.

Assignments: An Overview of Ancient Greece, Geography of Ancient Greece, Economics of Ancient Greece, Political Structures of Ancient Greece, Religion in Ancient Greece, Social Structures of Ancient Greece

HSS-6.4.1

Standard:
Discuss the connections between geography and the development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region.

Assignment: Greek Geography & City-States

HSS-6.4.2

Standard:
Trace the transition from tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, including the significance of the invention of the idea of citizenship (e.g., from Pericles’ Funeral Oration).

Assignment: Early Greek Government to Democracy

HSS-6.4.3

Standard:
State the key differences between Athenian, or direct, democracy and representative democracy.

Assignment: Athenian vs, Representative Democracy

HSS-6.4.4

Standard:
Explain the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life of people in the region and how Greek literature continues to permeate our literature and language today, drawing from Greek mythology and epics, such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and from Aesop’s Fables.

Assignment: Legacy of Greek Mythology

HSS-6.4.5

Standard:
Outline the founding, expansion, and political organization of the Persian Empire.

Assignment: Founding of the Persian Empire, Expansion of the Persian Empire, Politics of the Persian Empire

HSS-6.4.6

Standard:
Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta, with emphasis on their roles in the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars.

Assignment: Comparing Athens & Sparta, Athens & Sparta in Persian Wars, The Peloponnesian Wars

HSS-6.4.7

Standard:
Trace the rise of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture eastward and into Egypt.

Assignment: Alexander the Great

HSS-6.4.8

Standard:
Describe the enduring contributions of important Greek figures in the arts and sciences (e.g., Hypatia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Thucydides).

Assignment: Contributions of Ancient Greece

HSS-6.5

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of India.

Assignment: Early Civilization of India Overview, Early Civilizations of India Geography, Early Civilizations of India Politics, Early Civilizations of India Economics, Early Civilizations of India Religions, Early Civilizations of India Social Structure

HSS-6.5.1

Standard:
Locate and describe the major river system and discuss the physical setting that supported the rise of this civilization.

Assignment: Ganges River System, Indus River System, Indus Valley Civilization,

HSS-6.5.2

Standard:
Discuss the significance of the Aryan invasions.

Assignment: Aryan Invasions of The Indus Valley

HSS-6.5.3

Standard:
Explain the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism.

Assignment: Brahmanism & Hinduism

HSS-6.5.4

Standard:
Outline the social structure of the caste system.

Assignment: Caste System of India

HSS-6.5.5

Standard:
Know the life and moral teachings of Buddha and how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and Central Asia.

Assignment: Buddha, Buddhism, The Spread of Buddhism

HSS-6.5.6

Standard:
Describe the growth of the Maurya empire and the political and moral achievements of the emperor Ashoka.

Assignment: The Maurya Empire, Ashoka the Great,

HSS-6.5.7

Standard:
Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions (e.g., Sanskrit literature, including the Bhagavad Gita; medicine; metallurgy; and mathematics, including Hindu-Arabic numerals and the zero).

Assignment: Aesthetic & Intellectual Traditions

HSS-6.6

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of China.

Assignment: Civilization of Early China: Overview, Civilization of Early China: Geography, Civilization of Early China Political Structure, Civilization of Early China: Economics, Civilization of Early China: Religion, Civilization of Early China: Social Structure

HSS-6.6.1

Standard:
Locate and describe the origins of Chinese civilization in the Huang-He Valley during the Shang Dynasty.

Assignment: Shang Dynasty & Huang-He Valley

HSS-6.6.2

Standard:
Explain the geographic features of China that made governance and the spread of ideas and goods difficult and served to isolate the country from the rest of the world.

Assignment: Geographic Isolation of China

HSS-6.6.3

Standard:
Know about the life of Confucius and the fundamental teachings of Confucianism and Taoism.

Assignment: Confucius, Confucianism & Taoism

HSS-6.6.4

Standard:
Identify the political and cultural problems prevalent in the time of Confucius and how he sought to solve them.

Assignment: China's Problems in the Time of Confucius

HSS-6.6.5

Standard:
List the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying northern China under the Qin Dynasty.

Assignment: Policies & Achievements of Shi Huangdi

HSS-6.6.6

Standard:
Detail the political contributions of the Han Dynasty to the development of the imperial bureaucratic state and the expansion of the empire.

Assignment: Political Contributions of the Han Dynasty

HSS-6.6.7

Standard:
Cite the significance of the trans-Eurasian “silk roads” in the period of the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire and their locations.

Assignment: The Silk Road

HSS-6.6.8

Standard:
Describe the diffusion of Buddhism northward to China during the Han Dynasty.

Assignment: Buddhism during the Han Dynasty

HSS-6.7

Standard:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures during the development of Rome.

Assignment: Ancient Rome: Overview, Ancient Rome:Geography, Ancient Rome: Political Structure, Ancient Rome: Economics, Ancient Rome: Religion, Ancient Rome: Social Structure

HSS-6.7.1

Standard:
Identify the location and describe the rise of the Roman Republic, including the importance of such mythical and historical figures as Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero.

Assignment: Rise of the Roman Republic, Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, Cicero

HSS-6.7.2

Standard:
Describe the government of the Roman Republic and its significance (e.g., written constitution and tripartite government, checks and balances, civic duty).

Assignment: Government of the Roman Republic

HSS-6.7.3

Standard:
Identify the location of and the political and geographic reasons for the growth of Roman territories and expansion of the empire, including how the empire fostered economic growth through the use of currency and trade routes.

Assignment: Expansion of the Roman Empire

HSS-6.7.4

Standard:
Discuss the influence of Julius Caesar and Augustus in Rome’s transition from republic to empire.

Assignment: Roman Republic to Empire

HSS-6.7.5

Standard:
Trace the migration of Jews around the Mediterranean region and the effects of their conflict with the Romans, including the Romans’ restrictions on their right to live in Jerusalem.

Assignment: Roman & Jewish Interaction

HSS-6.7.6

Standard:
Note the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs (e.g., belief in the Trinity, resurrection, salvation).

Assignment: Origins of Christianity

HSS-6.7.7

Standard:
Describe the circumstances that led to the spread of Christianity in Europe and other Roman territories.

Assignment: The Spread of Christianity

HSS-6.7.8

Standard:
Discuss the legacies of Roman art and architecture, technology and science, literature, language, and law.

Assignment: Legacy of Rome