Social Studies

Fifth & Sixth Grade - Humanities/Social Studies

The fifth and sixth grade Humanities program is a two-year, cross-disciplinary humanities program that incorporates social studies and language arts. Interdisciplinary activities are  frequently co-planned with art and drama teachers, and sometimes with teachers of science, math and technology.

The first unit of the two-year program is entitled Ancient Cultures; the second is Ancient China and the Silk Road. Ancient Cultures begins with a study of time, archeology and civilization. Students then apply these ideas specifically to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece.  Ancient China and the Silk Road begins with a study of prehistory and how archeologists gain knowledge about the past.  Students then focus on the civilization of Ancient China and how goods, ideas and cultures traveled along the Silk Road, leading to the rise of Islam. In the process, the students also explore many of the world's religious traditions.

The curriculum is designed to encourage active inquiry. Students reflect on their own cultures, begin to uncover cultural paradigms, and discern commonalities between cultures while appreciating differences. Capacities developed in our study include the making of maps and timelines, recalling vocabulary, taking notes, summarizing and paraphrasing, as well as developing discussion and presentation skills.

Social studies topics are probed through discussion, films, field trips, debates and mock trials, research, interviews, computer technology, and other projects.

        Interdisciplinary projects

• The study of Egypt includes a reproduction of an Egyptian tomb, with mummy and sarcophagus, wallpaintings, canopic jars and treasures.
• The study of the World of the Silk Road covers Asia, Africa and Europe. The year ends with a recreation of the souk of medieval Baghdad, which brings together learning about geography, trade, technology, and the transmission of knowledge. Each student takes on the role of a merchant or scholar, prepares wares or learning for display, and tells a tale about his/her character.

Seventh Grade

Finding Ourselves in the World: The purpose of this course, as the title suggests, is twofold: to educate students about the world they inhabit while also helping them find their own individual connections to the global community. The first goal is achieved by exposing students to various ways of life around the world. Students explore and become familiar with the geography, modern history and current cultures of Europe, Latin America, Africa and East Asia.  The second, more personal goal of the social studies program is achieved through students’ explorations of their own attitudes, questions, and actions.  For example, while the Holocaust is studied as a historical period, students also examine the nature of “scapegoating” and hatred in our society and in their own lives.  So, while students look at the various roles played by people in that period of history, they will also examine the choices they themselves make when faced with related issues. Above all, the course strives to have students enjoy and appreciate the diversity of the world, while recognizing the common bonds that exist between all people.

        Interdisciplinary projects

• The cross-disciplinary study of global conflict interweaves social studies, English and art: students explore the development of perspective in art; read Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet in English class; and in social studies, examine the unrest in the Sudan in Africa.
• Course work on The Age of Revolution in social studies is complemented with studies of revolutionary movements in art and the reading of Animal Farm in English class.
• During the study of the Holocaust, studies are augmented with a presentation by a Holocaust survivor, courtesy of the national speakers bureau program, “Facing History and Ourselves.”  As part of the Washington, D.C., trip in the spring, students visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Important allegorical works on the Holocaust are examined in English class.

Eighth Grade

American History: The study of American History is the study of an ongoing experiment in democracy, the goals of which are freedom, equality, and justice for all citizens. American history is filled with the struggle toward these goals. The 8th grade curriculum places special emphasis on evaluating this American experiment. Students examine various periods of American history including the colonial and Revolutionary War eras, the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, the Gilded Age and Immigration, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam era. Students are immersed in these topics through literature, films, music, field trips, and primary source material. A three-day trip to Boston in the spring complements the study of colonial America, the Revolutionary War and abolitionism. Other field trips include a walking tour of the city and a visit to the Schomburg Center for Black Culture.

         Interdisciplinary projects

• Course work on the Bill of Rights is complemented with an art project in which students exercise their freedom of expression to comment on a political issue.
• Students participate in a “trial” of abolitionist John Brown during the Civil War unit. Students prepare testimonies, cross-examinations, and opening and and closing arguments.
• The unit on 1960s protests culminates in mixed-media projects. In the past, students have written music, plays and speeches.