COMMACK MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Eastern Hemisphere

Grade 6 Social Studies is based on the geography and history of the Eastern Hemisphere, including the development of cultures, civilizations, and empires; interactions between societies; and the comparison of trends in government and economics. It also incorporates some elements of other social sciences.

The course begins with an examination of the Eastern Hemisphere today, using geographic skills. This provides the foundation for making connections between the past and the present throughout the course. The remainder of the course is divided into seven Key Ideas that cover a time span from pre-history into the 1300s. Students are provided the opportunity to explore belief systems across time and to examine the foundations of democracy. 

Units of Study:
Neolithic Revolution
Early River Valley Civilizations
Classical Mediterranean Civilizations
Middle Ages in Western Europe
Eastern Hemisphere Trade Networks

Themes:

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity
2. Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures
3. Time, Continuity, and Change
4. Geography, Humans, and the Environment
5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures
6. Power, Authority, and Governance
7. Civic Ideals and Practices
8. Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
9. Science, Technology, and Innovation
10. Global Connections and Exchange

6th Grade Social Studies Practices: 

A. Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence 

1. Develop and frame questions about topics related to historical events occurring in the Eastern Hemisphere that can be answered by gathering, interpreting, and using evidence.
2. Identify, effectively select, and analyze different forms of evidence used to make meaning in social studies (including primary and secondary sources such as art and photographs, artifacts, oral histories, maps, and graphs).
3. Identify evidence and explain content, authorship, point of view, purpose, and format; identify bias; explain the role of bias and potential audience.
4. Describe the arguments of others.
5. Identify implicit ideas and draw inferences, with support.
6. Recognize arguments on specific social studies topics and identify evidence to support the arguments. Examine arguments related to a specific social studies topic from multiple perspectives.

B. Chronological Reasoning 

1. Identify ways that events are related chronologically to one another in time.
2. Employ mathematical skills to measure time by years, decades, centuries, and millennia; to calculate time from the fixed points of the calendar system (B.C.E. and C.E.); and to interpret the data presented in time lines, with teacher support.
3. Identify causes and effects from current events, grade-level content, and historical events.
4. Identify and classify the relationship between multiple causes and multiple effects.
5. Distinguish between long-term and immediate causes and effects of an event from current events or history.
6. Recognize and analyze the dynamics of historical continuity and change over periods of time. Identify the role of turning points as an important dynamic in historical change.
7. Compare histories in different places in the Eastern Hemisphere, utilizing time lines. Identify ways that changing periodization affects the historical narrative.
8. Identify the relationships of patterns of continuity and change to larger historical processes and themes.
9. Understand that historians use periodization to categorize events. Describe general models of periodization in history.

C. Comparison and Contextualization 

1. Identify a region in the Eastern Hemisphere by describing a characteristic that places within it have in common, and then compare it to other regions.
2. Categorize and evaluate divergent perspectives on an individual historical event.
3. Describe and compare multiple events in the history of the Eastern Hemisphere in societies in similar chronological contexts and in various geographical contexts.
4. Identify how the relationship between geography, economics, and history helps to define a context for events in the study of the Eastern Hemisphere.
5. Describe historical developments in the history of the Eastern Hemisphere, with specific references to circumstances of time and place and to connections to broader regional or global processes.
6. Understand the roles that periodization and region play in developing the comparison of historical civilizations. Identify general characteristics that can be employed to conduct comparative analysis of case studies in the Eastern Hemisphere in the same historical period, with teacher support.

D. Geographic Reasoning 

1. Use location terms and geographic representations such as maps, photographs, satellite images, and models to describe where places in the Eastern Hemisphere are in relation to each other, to describe connections between places, and to evaluate the benefits of particular places for purposeful activities.
2. Distinguish human activities and human-made features from “environments” (natural events or physical features—land, air, and water—that are not directly made by humans) in the Eastern Hemisphere; identify the relationship between human activities and the environment.
3. Identify and describe how environments affect human activities and how human activities affect physical environments through the study of cases in the Eastern Hemisphere.
4. Recognize and explain how characteristics (cultural, economic, and physical-environmental) of regions affect the history of societies in the Eastern Hemisphere.
5. Describe how human activities alter places and regions in the Eastern Hemisphere.
6. Describe the spatial organization of place, considering the historical, social, political, and economic implication of that organization. Recognize that boundaries and definitions of location are historically constructed.

E. Economics and Economic Systems 

1. Explain how scarcity necessitates decision making; employ examples from the Eastern Hemisphere to illustrate the role of scarcity historically and in current events; compare through historical examples the costs and benefits of economic decisions.
2. Examine the role that various types of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) have in providing goods and services.
3. Compare market economies to other economic systems in the Eastern Hemisphere.
4. Examine the role of job specialization and trade historically and during contemporary times in the Eastern Hemisphere.
5. Provide examples of unemployment, inflation, total production, income, and economic growth in economies in the Eastern Hemisphere.
6. Describe government decisions that affect economies in case studies from the Eastern Hemisphere.

F. Civic Participation 

1. Demonstrate respect for the rights of others in discussion and classroom debates, regardless of whether one agrees with the other viewpoint. Consider alternate views in discussion.
2. Participate in activities that focus on a local issue or problem in a country in the Eastern Hemisphere.
3. Identify and explore different types of political systems and ideologies used at various times and in various locations in the Eastern Hemisphere and identify the role of individuals and key groups in those political and social systems.
4. Identify and describe opportunities for and the role of the individual in social and political participation at various times and in various locations in the Eastern Hemisphere.
5. Participate in negotiating and compromising in the resolution of differences and conflict; introduce and examine the role of conflict resolution.
6. Identify situations with a global focus in which social actions are required and suggest solutions.
7. Describe the roles of people in power in the Eastern Hemisphere both historically and currently. Identify ways that current figures can influence people’s rights and freedom.
8. Identify rights and responsibilities of citizens within societies in the Eastern Hemisphere.
9. Develop an understanding of an interdependent global community by developing awareness and/or engaging in the political process as it relates to a global context.

Curriculum – American History

The course content traces the human experience in the United States from pre-Columbian times until the Civil War, with a focus on significant people, events, and locations. Grade 7 Social Studies is arranged chronologically and incorporates geography as well as economic, social, and political trends.

Units of Study
Social Sciences and Geography
Native American Cultures
Exploration
Colonial America
American Independence
U.S. Constitution
Federalist Era
Jefferson Era
Industrial Revolution
Age of Jackson
Westward Expansion (mid-1800s)
Reform Movements (mid-1800s)
Civil War

Civil WarThemes:

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity
2. Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures
3. Time, Continuity, and Change
4. Geography, Humans, and the Environment
5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures
6. Power, Authority, and Governance
7. Civic Ideals and Practices
8. Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
9. Science, Technology, and Innovation

10. Global Connections and Exchange
 

7th Grade Social Studies Practices:
 

A. Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence

1. Define and frame questions about the United States that can be answered by gathering, interpreting, and using evidence.
2. Identify, select, and evaluate evidence about events from diverse sources (including written documents, works of art, photographs, charts and graphs, artifacts, oral traditions, and other primary and secondary sources).
3. Analyze evidence in terms of historical context, content, authorship, point of view, purpose, and format; identify bias; explain the role of bias and audience in presenting arguments or evidence.
4. Describe and analyze arguments of others, with support.
5. Make inferences and draw general conclusions from evidence.
6. Recognize an argument and identify supporting evidence related to a specific social studies topic. Examine arguments related to a specific social studies topic from multiple perspectives. Recognize that the perspective of the argument’s author shapes the selection of evidence used to support it.

B. Chronological Reasoning 

1. Identify how events are related chronologically to one another in time, and explain the ways in which earlier ideas and events may influence subsequent ideas and events.
2. Employ mathematical skills to measure time by years, decades, centuries, and millennia; to calculate time from the fixed points of the calendar system (B.C.E. and C.E.); and to interpret the data presented in time lines.
3. Identify causes and effects, using examples from current events, grade-level content, and historical events.
4. Identify and analyze the relationship between multiple causes and multiple effects.
5. Distinguish between long-term and immediate causes and effects of an event from current events or history.
6. Recognize, analyze, and evaluate dynamics of historical continuity and change over periods of time.
7. Recognize that changing the periodization affects the historical narrative.
8. Identify patterns of continuity and change as they relate to larger historical process and themes.
9. Identify models of historical periodization that historians use to categorize events.

C. Comparison and Contextualization 

1. Identify a region of colonial North America or the early United States by describing multiple characteristics common to places within it, and then identify other similar regions (inside or outside the continental United States) with similar characteristics.
2. Identify and categorize multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.
3. Describe, compare, and evaluate multiple historical developments within the United States in various chronological and geographical contexts.
4. Identify how the relationship between geography, economics, and history helps to define a context for events in the study of the United States.
5. Connect historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place and to broader regional, national, or global processes.
6. Understand the roles that periodization and region play in developing the comparison of colonial settlements in North America. Identify general characteristics that can be employed to conduct comparative analyses of case studies in the early history of the United States.

D. Geographic Reasoning

1. Use location terms and geographic representations, such as maps, photographs, satellite images, and models to describe where places in early United States history were in relation to each other, to describe connections among places, and to evaluate effectively the benefits of particular places for purposeful activities.
2. Distinguish human activities and human-made features from “environments” (natural events or physical features—land, air, and water—that are not directly made by humans) and describe the relationship between human activities and the environment.
3. Identify and analyze how environments affect human activities and how human activities affect physical environments in the United States.
4. Recognize and analyze how characteristics (cultural, economic, and physical-environmental) of regions affect the history of the United States.
5. Characterize and analyze changing interconnections between places and regions.
6. Describe the spatial organization of place, considering the historical, social, political, and economic implication of that organization. Describe how boundaries and definition of location are historically constructed.

E. Economic and Economic Systems 

1. Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society; evaluate alternative approaches or solutions to economic issues in terms of benefits and costs for different groups of people.
2. Identify examples of buyers and sellers in product, labor, and financial markets.
3. Describe the role that competition has in the determination of prices and wages; identify other factors that help to determine prices.
4. Examine the roles of institutions, such as joint stock companies, banks, and the government in the development of the United States economy before the Civil War.
5. Examine data on the state of employment, unemployment, inflation, total production, income, and economic growth in the economy.

Curriculum – American History

Grade 8 Social Studies is arranged chronologically, beginning with Reconstruction and ending at the present, and incorporates geography as well as economic, social and political trends. The course content is divided into nine Key Ideas; the first seven trace the human experience in the United States from Reconstruction to the end of World War II. Students will examine different themes in United States and New York State history from the post-War period up to the present day, which provides the opportunity to explore contemporary issues. 

Units of Study 

Westward Expansion (late 1800s)
Rise of Industry and Big Business
Immigration
Progressive Era
Overseas Expansion
World War I
Roaring Twenties
Great Depression
World War II
Cold War
Civil Rights
Modern Era

Themes: 

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity
2. Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures
3. Time, Continuity, and Change
4. Geography, Humans, and the Environment
5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures
6. Power, Authority, and Governance
7. Civic Ideals and Practices
8. Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
9. Science, Technology, and Innovation
10. Global Connections and Exchange

Grade 8: Social Studies Practices

A. Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence

1. Define and frame questions about the United States and answer them by gathering, interpreting, and using evidence.

2. Identify, describe, and evaluate evidence about events from diverse sources (including written documents, works of art, photographs, charts and graphs, artifacts, oral traditions, and other primary and secondary sources).

3. Analyze evidence in terms of historical and/or social context, content, authorship, point of view, purpose, and format; identify bias; explain the role of bias, context and audience in presenting arguments or evidence.

4. Describe and analyze arguments of others, considering historical context.

5. Make inferences and draw conclusions from evidence.

6. Recognize an argument and identify evidence that supports the argument; examine arguments related to a specific social studies topic from multiple perspectives; deconstruct arguments, recognizing the perspective of the argument and identifying evidence used to support that perspective.

B. Chronological Reasoning

1. Articulate how events are related chronologically to one another in time, and explain the ways in which earlier ideas and events may influence subsequent ideas and events.

2. Employ mathematical skills to measure time by years, decades, centuries, and millennia; to calculate time from the fixed points of the calendar system (B.C. or B.C.E. and A.D. or C.E.); and to interpret the data presented in time lines.

3. Identify causes and effects, using examples from current events, grade-level content, and historical events.

4. Identify, analyze, and evaluate the relationship between multiple causes and effects.

5. Distinguish between long-term and immediate causes and effects of an event from current events or history.

6. Recognize, analyze, and evaluate dynamics of historical continuity and change over periods of time.

7. Recognize that changing the periodization affects the historical narrative.

8. Relate patterns of continuity and change to larger historical processes and themes.

9. Identify and describe models of historical periodization that historians use to categorize events.

C. Comparison and Contextualization

1. Identify a region of the United States by describing multiple characteristics common to places within it, and then identify other similar regions inside the United States.

2. Identify and compare multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.

3. Describe, compare, and evaluate multiple historical developments (within societies; across and between societies; in various chronological and geographical contexts).

4. Describe the relationship between geography, economics, and history as a context for events and movements in the United States.

5. Connect historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place and to broader regional, national, or global processes.

6. Analyze case studies in United States history in a comparative framework, attending to the role of chronology and sequence, as well as categories of comparison or socio-political components.

D. Geographic Reasoning

1. Use location terms and geographic representations, such as maps, photographs, satellite images, and models to describe where places are in relation to each other and connections between places; evaluate the benefits of particular places for purposeful activities.

2. Distinguish human activities and human-made features from “environments” (natural events or physical features—land, air, and water—that are not directly made by humans) and describe the relationship between human activities and the environment. 

3. Identify and analyze how environments affect human activities and how human activities affect physical environments in the United States.

4. Recognize and analyze how characteristics (cultural, economic, and physical-environmental) of regions affect the history of the United States

All social studies teachers subscribe the following breakdown for the computation of quarterly grades.

Social Studies is intended to promote civic competence through the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities. Within the school program, Social Studies provides coordinated, systematic study that draws upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, belief systems, and sociology, as well as upon appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of Social Studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world (adapted from the National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS] definition of Social Studies).

New York State Learning Standards for Social Studies

The five learning standards, adopted by the Board of Regents in 1996, continue to provide the overall foundation for the NYS Framework. Each Key Idea is derived from and/or aligned to one of these standards as the primary standard. In many cases, a Key Idea represents more than one standard. These standards serve as a consistent set of expectations for what students should learn and be able to do, so that we can ensure that every student across New York State is prepared to be an active and engaged citizen who is ready to pursue college or a career.

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 2: World History

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: Geography

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over Earth’s surface.

Standard 4: Economics

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental systems of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

Unifying Themes

These ten unifying Social Studies themes represent different lenses that can be applied to the teaching and learning of the Key Ideas and Conceptual Understandings within the NYS Framework across all grades, K-12.

Themes at a Glance

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity
2. Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures
3. Time, Continuity, and Change
4. Geography, Humans, and the Environment
5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures
6. Power, Authority, and Governance
7. Civic Ideals and Practices
8. Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems
9. Science, Technology, and Innovation
10. Global Connections and Exchange

Unifying Themes in Context

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity

• Role of social, political, and cultural interactions in the development of identity
• Personal identity as a function of an individual’s culture, time, place, geography, interaction with groups, influences from institutions, and lived experiences

2. Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures

• Role of diversity within and among cultures
• Aspects of culture such as belief systems, religious faith, or political ideals as influences on other parts of a culture, such as its institutions or literature, music, and art
• Cultural diffusion and change over time as facilitating different ideas and beliefs

 3. Time, Continuity, and Change

• History as a formal study that applies research methods
• Reading, reconstructing, and interpreting events
• Analyzing causes and consequences of events and developments
• Considering competing interpretations of events

 4. Geography, Humans, and the Environment

• Relationship between human populations and the physical world (people, places, and environments)
• Effect of human activities on the environment
• Interactions between regions, locations, places, people, and environments
• Spatial patterns of place and location

5. Development and Transformation of Social Structures

• Role of social class, systems of stratification, social groups, and institutions
• Role of gender, race, ethnicity, education, class, age, and religion in defining social structures within a culture
• Social and political inequalities
• Expansion and access of rights through concepts of justice and human rights

6. Power, Authority, and Governance

• Purposes, characteristics, and functions of various governance systems as they are practiced
• Individual rights and responsibilities as protected and challenged within the context of majority rule
• Fundamental principles and values of constitutional democracy
• Origins, uses, and abuses of power
• Conflict, diplomacy, and war

7. Civic Ideals and Practices

• Basic freedoms and rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democratic republic
• Role of the citizen in the community and nation and as a member of the global community
• Civic participation and engagement
• Respect for diversity
• Civic ideals and practices in countries other than our democratic republic
• Struggle for rights, access to citizenship rights, and universal human rights
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8. Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems

• Production, distribution, and consumption
• Scarcity of resources and the challenges of meeting wants and needs
• Supply/demand and the coordination of individual choices
• Economic systems
• Trade, interdependence, and globalization
• Role of government in the economy

Personal finance

9. Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Scientific and intellectual theories, findings, discoveries, and philosophies
• Applications of science and innovations in transportation, communication, military technology, navigation, agriculture, and industrialization
• Relationship between science, technology, and innovation and social, cultural, and economic change

10. Global Connections and Exchange

• Past, current, and likely future global connections and interactions
• Cultural diffusion; the spread of ideas, beliefs, technology, and goods
• Role of technology
• Benefits/consequences of global interdependence (social, political, economic)
• Causes and patterns of migration
• Tension between national interests and global priorities

The Political Activists' Club: 
The Political Activists' Club is for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who want to become more informed about political parties and current events. Members will research and discuss topics that are important to them in a non-judgmental setting. The club will also provide opportunities to get involved in community service. Members will learn how to appropriately take action on an issue important to them by getting more informed about and contacting their local, state, and national government representatives. All who are interested in discussing and getting more involved in current events, politics, and community service are welcome!

Mock Trial Debate Team 
As part of the Mock Trial / Debate Team, you get the chance to play the role of a lawyer or witness in a fictional court case. You’ll compete against other team members and maybe even go against another school on Long Island. A mock trial is based on a fictional court case that deals with real issues in today’s justice system. We will have two tournaments. One will be at C.M.S. in the evening in February or early March for your parents to attend. The other will be against other schools on Long Island in March or early April during the school day. More details will be announced on both tournaments as the dates get closer.

History Club 
This club offers an opportunity for students with an interest in history to develop and enhance research and document analysis skills, and share an interest in history and politics with classmates and new friends. We will be working in conjunction with Commack Public Library on genealogies, in order to understand the importance of historical records, and utilize local historical societies’ archives to enhance Social Studies projects in order to compete on a local and regional level in the National History Day competition. In addition the History Club looks to develop a wide variety of opportunities for field trips where we may enjoy the wealth of history that long Island has to offer.

Geography Club 
The Geography Club is open to all students in 6th, 7th, and 8 th grade who have an interest in geography and competing in the geography bee. Did you know that Egypt is the world’s second largest consumer of cotton candy? (The United States is first.) Have you ever wondered why there is a Starbucks on almost every corner in New York City? Come to a meeting and you will find out all sorts of cool and fun facts about geography. We will learn about all different types of geography like population, human, and urban geography. Students will be encouraged to participate in the geography bee with the hopes of advancing to the state level. This club will also benefit students who are looking to take AP Human Geography when they reach the high school level.