Social Studies

Description:

COURSE/SUBJECT TITLE: Seventh Grade Social Studies

LENGTH OF COURSE: Full Year (60/65 minutes every other day)

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The seventh grade year in Social Studies focuses on Contemporary America, Maine Studies, and World Geography. The following units will be covered: 

  • Contemporary America

  • Maine Studies

  • Global Studies

ESSENTIAL OUTCOMES:

REPORTING STANDARD:  History

  1. Students will understand how the civil rights movement transformed society into the multicultural society we have today.

  2. Students will study the Indian Land Claims Act of 1980 to understand how interactions between Wabanaki Indians and the dominant culture affected Wabanaki culture, homelands, and sovereignty.

REPORTING STANDARD:  Geography

  1. Students will understand how to use maps and other geographic tools and technologies to understand the world.

  2. Students will identify the major culture regions of the Earth (United States and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Russia and the Independent Republics, Southwest Asia and North Africa, Africa South of the Sahara, Asia, Australia and Oceania.)

REPORTING STANDARD:  Civics and Government

  1. Students will understand how Maine's government is structured.

  2. Students will develop a basic understanding of current events facing our world from an economic, geographic, civic, and historical perspective.

  3. Students will compare and contrast democratic and totalitarian political systems.

REPORTING STANDARD: Economics

  1. Students will compare and contrast capitalism and communism.

  2. Students will understand the economic impacts of boycotts, sit-ins, and affirmative action.

  3. Students will understand the interconnections between Maine's natural resources, industries, and economy.

REPORTING STANDARD:  Research Skills and Communication

  1. Student will identify key steps in a process related to social studies.

  2. Students will compare and contrast primary and secondary resources.

  3. Students will write arguments and informative/explanatory essays or constructed responses based on social studies content, supported by specific evidence based on informational texts.

  4. Students will produce clear and coherent writings that exhibit organization, attention to audience, and evidence of editing.

  5. Students will conduct short research projects using multiple print and digital resources, taking concise and relevant notes, and citing resources correctly.

  6. Students will present information making use of available technologies.

  7. Students will be able to evaluate a text by:

  8. Summarizing the central ideas

  9. Identifying supporting details

  10. Evaluating the point of view, structure, and validity

  11. Students will understand content-specific vocabulary.

  12. Students will understand the connection between a text and visual information (charts, graphs, maps, etc.).

KEY VOCABULARY:

  • Boycott

  • Economic

  • Policy

  • Capitalism

  • Guerilla War

  • Political

  • Casualties

  • Industries

  • Republican

  • Civil Disobedience

  • Integration

  • Segregation

  • Civil Rights

  • Interest group

  • Sovereignty

  • Cold War

  • Isolationism

  • Standard of living

  • Communism

  • Judicial

  • Subsistence farming

  • Containment

  • Legislative

  • Successor

  • Culture region

  • Meridian (longitude)

  • Tropic of Cancer

  • Democrat

  • Parallel (latitude)

  • Tropic of Capricorn

  • Developing country

  • Policy

    

EVIDENCE/ASSESSMENTS:

Quizzes & Tests

Written Papers

Projects

Maps

TEXTS AND OTHER RESOURCES:

Hassinger, Amy. Finding Katahdin: An Exploration of Maine's Past. Orono: University of Maine Press, 2001.

Armstrong, Boehm, and Hunkins. Geography The World and It's People. New York: Glenco, 1999.

National Geographic Xpeditions Online Lesson Plans             

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/

Revised 8/12

 
 
Outcomes: