Our units of study are detailed below:

UNIT 1: AMERICA'S GEOGRAPHIC SETTING - Students will learn about different geographic environments in North America and how the Native Americans adapted to their daily lives. Students will also investigate the seven different Native American cultural regions through the analysis of photographs and artifacts. They will study objects from an explorer’s ship and then use those objects to discover how and why the Europeans came to the Americas. Finally, students will analyze the motives, routes, and impacts of various European explorers.

UNIT 2: COLONIAL TIMES - Students will compare and contrast the difficulties the early settlements in America faced by examining works of art from Jamestown, Roanoke, and Plymouth. They will analyze the similarities and differences between the early colonies through the reading of multiple diverse historical perspectives. Students will dive deeper into the history of slavery in the Americas by analyzing primary sources, images, and literature from different parts of the journey enslaved Africans experienced. They will learn about daily life in the colonies by examining important sites from Colonial Williamsburg.

UNIT 3: AMERICAN REVOLUTION - Students will be analyzing the causes and effects of events that caused tension to grow between the colonies and Great Britain. Taking that knowledge, students will be preparing for a panel debate taking the perspective of either a Loyalist or a Patriot. They will examine six unique copies of the Declaration of Independence to discover how each affected history. Finally, the students will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the American and British forces in the American Revolution.

UNIT 4: CIVICS AND ECONOMICS IN AMERICA - Students will learn about the creation of the United States Constitution and how the government functions. They will then build upon this learning by analyzing how the checks and balances system works. Students will then learn about the freedoms protected under the Bill of Rights and will analyze how the words of early patriots still inspire civic values today. Finally, students will learn about the United States Free Market Economy and how the U.S. Constitution influences our economic system.