Social Studies

In middle school, our students take a look at world history, still using the lenses of civics/government, social justice, geography, and economics. In sixth grade, our students take an in-depth look at Europe, Latin America and Canada.  Our seventh grade students study Africa, the Middle East, and South and East Asia.  Our eighth grade students return to the United States to study U.S. and Georgia history from 1865 to the present.  Students use higher level thinking skills such as cause and effect, analyzing, summarizing, and evaluating to learn about the different cultures of the world. We continue to integrate our Catholic faith into the middle school social studies curriculum by analyzing current issues with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.  A basic text is used in each grade level and is enhanced with primary source documents, websites, videos, hand-on projects, interdisciplinary projects, and rich discussion in order to teach the social studies curriculum to our students.

Textbooks used:

• Sixth grade: Social Studies:  World Civilizations
• Seventh grade: Social Studies: World Civilizations
• Eighth grade: America:  History of Our Nation

• Summarize the rise, decline, and cultural achievements of ancient civilizations
• Identify, analyze, and explain significant events
• Analyze and describe the importance of trade to the economy
• Examine and explain the outcomes of colonization
• Identify and explain the significance of historical events
• Compare and contrast forms of government
• Identify features and countries using a political-physical map
• Examine the impact of location, climate, resources, and population distribution
• Analyze different economic systems
• Identify the challenges to the different periods in American history from 1865 to present day