Welcome to 8th Grade Social Studies
CA Content Standards for History-Social Science:
HSS.8.6: Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast.
1: Discuss the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction).
3: List the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and describe the growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish immigrants and the Great Irish Famine).
4: Study the lives of black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance their rights and communities.
5: Trace the development of the American education system from its earliest roots, including the roles of religious and private schools and Horace Mann’s campaign for free public education and its assimilating role in American culture.
6: Examine the women’s suffrage movement (e.g., biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony).
7: Identify common themes in American art as well as transcendentalism and individualism (e.g., writings about and by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
HSS 8.9: Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
1: Describe the leaders of the movement (e.g., John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass).
2: Discuss the abolition of slavery in early state constitutions.
1: Discuss the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction).
3: List the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and describe the growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish immigrants and the Great Irish Famine).
4: Study the lives of black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance their rights and communities.
5: Trace the development of the American education system from its earliest roots, including the roles of religious and private schools and Horace Mann’s campaign for free public education and its assimilating role in American culture.
6: Examine the women’s suffrage movement (e.g., biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony).
7: Identify common themes in American art as well as transcendentalism and individualism (e.g., writings about and by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
HSS 8.9: Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
1: Describe the leaders of the movement (e.g., John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass).
2: Discuss the abolition of slavery in early state constitutions.
CA Common Core State Standards
Reading:
CCSS.RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.RH.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
CCSS.RH.6-8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g. in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Writing:
CCSS.WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments focused on discipline specific content.
CCSS. WHST.6-8.1.a: Introduce claims about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claims from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.1.b: Support claims with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.4: Produce clear and coherent writing, in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
CCSS.RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.RH.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
CCSS.RH.6-8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g. in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Writing:
CCSS.WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments focused on discipline specific content.
CCSS. WHST.6-8.1.a: Introduce claims about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claims from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.1.b: Support claims with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.4: Produce clear and coherent writing, in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Big Ideas and Essential Historical Questions
1. Early Immigrant Movements and Their Effect on Life in America:
· How has immigration affected the United States throughout history?
· How can we compare reactions to immigration movements in the mid-1800s and reactions to immigration now?
2. New American Styles in Art and Literature and the Changes to American Culture:
· Do the ideals of early American reforms in philosophy, art, and literature still exist in our society?
3. Social Reform Through Religion and Education:
· How can we see the effects of early American reform movements in religion and education in society today?
4. Attempts to End Slavery and the Question of Equality in American Society:
· How did the abolitionist movement affect society in the mid-1800s?
· Is the question of equality moral, political, or economic? How do we define and ensure equality? How does equality relate to the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence?
5. Women’s Rights and the Question of Equality in American Society:
· What would society look like today if the suffragist movement had failed?
· What rights do women have in society today that can be attributed to the suffragist movement?
· How has immigration affected the United States throughout history?
· How can we compare reactions to immigration movements in the mid-1800s and reactions to immigration now?
2. New American Styles in Art and Literature and the Changes to American Culture:
· Do the ideals of early American reforms in philosophy, art, and literature still exist in our society?
3. Social Reform Through Religion and Education:
· How can we see the effects of early American reform movements in religion and education in society today?
4. Attempts to End Slavery and the Question of Equality in American Society:
· How did the abolitionist movement affect society in the mid-1800s?
· Is the question of equality moral, political, or economic? How do we define and ensure equality? How does equality relate to the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence?
5. Women’s Rights and the Question of Equality in American Society:
· What would society look like today if the suffragist movement had failed?
· What rights do women have in society today that can be attributed to the suffragist movement?
Unit Goals
1. Students will understand the causes and effects of massive influxes of immigration to America in the 1800s, learning about pro- and anti-immigrant viewpoints at the time.
2. Students will learn how the ideals of transcendentalism, individualism, and romanticism affected American art, literature, and philosophy in the early- 1800s.
3. Students will understand the impacts of the movements to reform society in the mid-1800s, including: the Second Great Awakening, prison reform, and education reform.
4. Students will learn about equality as it relates to the question of slavery and how the leaders of the abolitionist movement attempted to change American society by ending the institution of slavery.
5. Students will understand the concept of equality as it relates to women’s rights, learning about the changes that occurred to American society during the suffragist movement. Students will understand the relation between the suffragist movement and feminism as it is understood today.
2. Students will learn how the ideals of transcendentalism, individualism, and romanticism affected American art, literature, and philosophy in the early- 1800s.
3. Students will understand the impacts of the movements to reform society in the mid-1800s, including: the Second Great Awakening, prison reform, and education reform.
4. Students will learn about equality as it relates to the question of slavery and how the leaders of the abolitionist movement attempted to change American society by ending the institution of slavery.
5. Students will understand the concept of equality as it relates to women’s rights, learning about the changes that occurred to American society during the suffragist movement. Students will understand the relation between the suffragist movement and feminism as it is understood today.
Unit Summative Assessments
1. Written arguments for and against immigration in the 1800s.
2. Test to interpret and classify art and literature in the 1800s.
3. Poster project with journal entries for the religious, prison, and education reform movements.
4. Essay comparing student created definitions of equality to the ideals of the abolitionist movement.
5. Small group simulated debates or discussions of arguments for and against women’s rights.
2. Test to interpret and classify art and literature in the 1800s.
3. Poster project with journal entries for the religious, prison, and education reform movements.
4. Essay comparing student created definitions of equality to the ideals of the abolitionist movement.
5. Small group simulated debates or discussions of arguments for and against women’s rights.