Welcome!
What your child will learn with me this year....
U.S. History 1
In middle school, the study of American history is usually broken into two courses to explore the history of the United States of America in depth.
7th grade: Civics/U.S. History 1 curriculum topics include:
- Voyages of Columbus and the relationship between the explorers and the American Indians
- Colonization, the different colonies, and colonial life
- The Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary war, the constitution and the Bill of Rights
- Washington’s presidency and the new political parties
- The War of 1812 and the Monroe Doctrine
- Manifest Destiny, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830
- Sectionalism, slavery in American culture and the rise of abolition
- Life during the Civil War and the southern surrender
- Lincoln’s goals for reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow laws
As the year comes to a close, your child should have an understanding of the migration process to America, the thirteen colonies, the Revolutionary and Civil wars, the reconstruction and expansion of America and more.
- Understand the relationships between the colonies and the American Indians
- Explain the key turning points in the Revolutionary war
- Demonstrate an understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights
- Accurately describe the impact of industrialization and the economic impact of slavery
- Explain key strategies of the north and south during the civil war
- Describe the challenges faced during construction of the transcontinental railroad
U.S. History II
The topics presented across our American History 2 course will help students explain how the United States achieved its role as a world power, as well as describe the effects of US involvement in different wars.
8th grade: U.S. History 2 curriculum topics include:
The US History 2 curriculum targets the understanding of many concepts and the practice of numerous skills.
Throughout our US History II curriculum, students will have the opportunity to:
- Compare and contrast the beliefs of Marxism/Socialism and American democracy/ capitalism.
- Analyze the reasons for the rise of nativism in response to immigration.
- Assess the impact of the transcontinental railroad on transportation, settlement, and the frontier.
- Describe the achievements of the progressive movement.
- Explain the factors behind the US acquisition of Alaska and Hawaii and describe how these acquisitions occurred.
- Analyze the changing role of women in American society.
- Evaluate how war production helped to end the Great Depression.
- Explain the effects of World War II, such as the consequences of warfare, the establishment of the United Nations, and the creation of new political states.
- Explain the opposing postwar goals of the US and the USSR that led to the Cold War.
- Analyze how civil rights advocacy groups used nonviolent resistance techniques to achieve their goals.
- Organize and write a clear, coherent argumentative essay that is based on reason and evidence and uses a style appropriate to the purpose and audience.