Middle School History

Sr. Sophia
srsophia@stccs.com

view the Middle School History Curriculum

Middle School History Policies and Procedures

This year in my classroom I hope that the discipline of history will help the students learn how to think independently, logically, and critically; becoming discerning consumers of the society around them. The students will have the opportunity to analyze decisions of the past to discover fundamental principles of what it means to be a human person and what it means to live in community with others.

These principles will span beyond the subject of names, dates, and battles, to application in current events and the student’s daily living. To this end, students will make us of maps and charts, analyze biographies, interpret political cartoons, apply material across the curriculum, interpret primary source documents, and recognize and analyze bias. These tools of clear thinking and articulation are all facets of seeing the world with a Catholic mind. It is my hope that the subject matter of history will allow students to see the past as meaningful and even awe-inspiring at times.

    In sixth grade we center upon world history, which spans from ancient history toward the present day. The main cultural regions and ancient civilizations we study are Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Greece, Rome, Africa, Japan, and Arabia. We also cover the Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern European history.

    In seventh grade we begin with early American history including the discovery of the Americas, our colonial heritage, the forming of the nation, the expansion of our country, Westward Expansion, and the economic and cultural differences of the North and South leading up to the Civil War. This course highly emphasizes Civics and our roles as Christian citizens, analyzing the basis for our country's government and freedoms.

    In eighth grade the students will pick up where they left off last year (I think of it as U.S. History II). We will review the major contributing factors of the Civil War and then enter into the war itself. We will spend the year covering the next hundred years of our nation's history, ranging from the Reconstruction, the Industrial Age, World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War Era.