Dates Essential Questions Content Skills

September
What were the causes of the Civil War?

How do the views of African-Americans change
throughout the war?

How did life change for African-Americans during
Reconstruction?

What changes were there in civil rights after the
Civil War?
What lasting social and economic changes
occurred in the South as a result of
Reconstruction?
Civil War,
Reconstruction, Civil
Rights
Students will learn how to think
historically by analyzing text, context,
subtext and identifying bias.
Students will be able to analyze primary
source documents and political cartoons
by looking for the author, time period
and context.
Students will be able to examine
historical events from multiple
perspectives.
October
What were the motivations for people to move
West?
What challenges did pioneers face when moving
West?
What new problems occurred in the United
States due to Westward Expansion?
How did industry change in the late 19th
century?
How did changes in industry affect the lives of
Americans?
Westward Expansion,
Industry
Students will learn how to analyze a map
by looking at the key, scale, symbols,
time period, etc.
Students will also learn to conduct
research by finding reliable sources,
using multiple sources and cross
checking their information.
Students will also learn how to use
evidence to support their argument
when writing a research paper.
November
Why did people come to the United States in the
late 19th and early 20th century?
What was life like for immigrants in the United
States?
What conditions in the United States led to the
Progressive Era?
What changes were made during the
Progressive Era?
Why did the US choose to end its isolationism
policy?
Immigration,
Progressives,
Imperialism/Foreign
Policy
Students will learn how to think
historically by analyzing text, context,
subtext and identifying bias.
Students will be able to analyze primary
source documents and political cartoons
by looking for the author, time period
and context.
December
What events led to World War I?
What role did technology play in World War I?
World Power, World
War I
Students will be able to analyze
documents for their text, context, and
subtext and will be able to answer
questions based on those documents.
Students will be able to read historical
documents and assess their validity by
cross-checking with other historical
documents.
January
Why was the United States economy booming
during the 1920s?
What were the other economies of the world like
in the 1920s?
What effects from the 1920s caused the Great
Depression to happen?
The Roaring 20s, The
Great Depression
Students will be able to analyze primary
source documents and political cartoons
by looking for the author, time period
and context.
Students will be able to devlop social
understanding of how political events
impact society.
February
What New Deal implementations were the most
successful in getting America to recover from the
Great Depression?
What were the effects of America getting into
another World War?
New Deal, World War
II
Students will be able to analyze primary
source documents by looking for the
author, intended audience, time period,
context etc.
Students will be able to use technology
to synthesize and present information
and/or an argument.
March
How did WWII affect America's foreign policy
and how did that compare to foreign policy after
WWI?
What are Human Rights, and why is it important
for us to learn about them?
How did the aftermath of WWII lead into the
Cold War?
World War II, Human
Rights, Cold War
Students will learn how to analyze a map
by looking at the key, scale, symbols,
time period, etc.
Students will be able to analyze primary
source documents by looking for the
author, intended audience, time period,
context etc.
Students will also learn to conduct
research by finding reliable sources,
using multiple sources and cross
checking their information.
April
Why was there tension between the United
States and the Soviet Union during the Cold
War?
How did the Cold War impact the daily lives of
Americans?
How was the Vietnam War related to the Cold
War?
What impact did the Vietnam War have on
American society?
Cold War, Vietnam
War, 1950s, 1960s
Students will learn to conduct research
by finding reliable sources, using
multiple sources and cross checking
their information.
Students will be able to visually
represent and synthesize information
and/or an argument.
May
How was the Cold War played out in various
theaters around the world?
Why did reform movements and counterculture
take hold in the United States during the 1960s?
What events led to the end of the Cold War?
1960s-Present, Civil
Rights Movement, End
of the Cold War
Students will be able to synthesize
information to create an argument and
write an essay.
Students will be able to use multiple
sources of current events to create an
informed opinion.
June Assessment Review
Students will be able to analyze
documents for their text, context, and
subtext and will be able to answer
questions and write an essay based on
those documents.
Assessments Standards
Short essay questions. Students will pick two out of five possible
essay questions and write a response that is approximately 300
words. They must choose the question, "Did Reconstruction work?
Why or why not?". They are allowed to choose one other question
from the list of four possibilities.
Make a political cartoon about civil rights. Students will draw a
political cartoon in which they comment on what Civil Rights were like
for African Americans during Reconstruction.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 5.
NYS SS CCLS
8.1.
Westward expansion map quiz. On the map, students will identify
the United States after the American Revolution and each
subsequent addition of territory. For example, they will label the
Louisiana Purchase, Florida, Texas annexation, Oregon territory,
Mexican cession, and Gadsden Purchase. Research paper about
industrialization.
Students will research how changes in industry affected the lives of
Americans. Within their paper, they must include information about
industry changed in the United States during the 19th century. The
paper will be approximately 2 pages double spaced.
NYS SSS 1, 3, 4,
5. NYS SS CCLS
8.1.
Journal reflection about the lives of immigrants and conditions they
faced in the United States. Students will write 1-2 pages about the
hardships many immigrants endured upon their arrival. They should
include information about where immigrants often lived, what types of
jobs they worked, what their pay was like, and any other
discrimination they faced.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.2.
Short answer/DBQ test about Imperialism, World Power, and World
War I. Students will answer questions in short answer response
format. They will also answer several document based questions.
The answers for these questions can be found in the document.
They will then write a brief essay (about 1 page) in which they
synthesize the information from the documents to demonstrate how
imperialism and world power caused World War I.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 4,
5. NYS SS CCLS
8.3.
RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) about changes in life for
Americans from the Roaring 20s to the Great Depression. Some
possible roles - rich businessman who lost his fortune, farmer hit
hard by the depression, a middle class housewife whose husband
lost her job, etc. Possible formats include a letter, a poem, a diary
entry. Possible audiences include family members, employers, the
President, etc. The topic will be how their lives have changed from
the 20s to the Depression.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.3. NYS
SS CCLS 8.4.
New Deal Quilt about various government relief programs. Students
be broken into groups of 3-4. In their groups, students will write a
script and then create a video (approximately 60 seconds) in which
they explain a government relief program created during the New
Deal. The video should be informative, entertaining and appropriate
for school. The teacher will patch together all of the separate 60
second videos into one longer video which the students will be able to
watch for review.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.4. NYS
SS CCLS 8.5.
World War II podcast project. Students will be split into groups of 3-
4. In their groups, students will write a script for a podcast in the
format of a trailer (approximately 45-90 seconds long for a movie, tv
show, etc.). In their trailer, they will describe an event from WWII.
Possible topics include, Hitler's aggression, the Holocaust, Battle of
Britain, Operation Barbossa, Pearl Harbor, Battle of Stalingrad,
Normandy Landings, Battle of the Bulge, and Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. They will work in the computer lab to record their podcast
and add music, sound effects, etc. to make it into a more realistic
trailer. The trailer should be both entertaining and informational.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.5. NYS
SS CCLS 8.6.
Poster project about events from the Cold War. Students will work in
groups of 2-3 to create posters based on one the following Cold War
topics: Berlin Blockade & Airlift, Korean War, Space Race, Bay of
Pigs, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, SALT and START, Soviet
War in Afghanistan, Fall of the Soviet Union. After completing their
posters, each group will present them to the class.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.7. NYS
SS CCLS 8.8.
Thematic essay on the Civil Rights Movement. Students will write an
essayon the impact of the Civil Rights Movement. In their essay, they
should compare the sucess and changes of the Civil Rights
Movement to past pushes for rights. Possible examples they could
include would be the Reconstruction Era and the Women's Suffrage
movement.
Multiple choice quiz about 1970s and 1980s. This will be a brief quiz
(approximately 20 MC questions) going over the major events of the
70s and 80s in the United States. Some topics included will be
Watergate, Iranian hostage crisis, Iran-Contra, the Space Race.
NYS SSS 1, 2, 3,
4, 5. NYS SS
CCLS 8.7. NYS
SS CCLS 8.8.
Final assessment - muliple choice and DBQ assessment on all of the
topics covered this year.