Experiencing History: Year-Long Curriculum

EXPERIENCING HISTORY is a complete social studies curriculum designed for middle school students of EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY & SOCIAL STUDIES. Each Google Slide/PowerPoint is a stand-alone lesson, refined over many years to provide students with a wide spectrum of learning experiences. 

There are 8 UNITS in this BUNDLE

• Colonies
• Revolution
• Constitution
• New Nation
• Expansion West
• Immigrants & Reformers
• Economics
• Civil War 

Each Unit consists of:

GOOGLE SLIDES (Powerpoints)

READINGS with Questions (Google Forms)

DBQ (Document Based Question)

STUDY GUIDE (Google Docs)

MC TESTS: 20-30 Questions (Google Forms)

DIGITAL BREAKOUT Game (Unit Review)

Lessons are broken down into this format:

TARGET QUESTION

REVIEW of “yesterday’s” Target question

HOTS (higher order thinking skills) question

VOCABULARY (If pertinent to the lesson)

READING (Available in Google Forms with Follow-up questions)

ACTIVITY/ SKILL WORK: DBQs, Debates, experientials, creative activity, ect.

REVIEW of Target question

Here is an outline of each unit:

There are 14 LESSONS in the COLONIES POWERPOINT UNIT. It introduces students to English Colonies and how they would grow to become the American Colonies. This unit includes 7 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test. 

There are 16 LESSONS and a total of 30 FILES in the AMERICAN REVOLUTION UNIT. It introduces students to the English Colonies and how they would grow to become an Independent nation. This unit includes 8 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 18 LESSONS in the CONSTITUTION POWERPOINT UNIT. Students will learn how our newly independent nation developed its own self-government, the Constitution. This unit includes 8 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 9 LESSONS and a total of 20 FILES in the NEW NATION UNIT. Students will learn how leaders from Hamilton to Jackson would help define the nation and once again reclaim its independence and sovereignty from Britain. This unit includes 4 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 13 LESSONS and a total of 30 FILES in the EXPANSION WEST UNIT. Students will learn the causes and effects of American expansion west. This unit includes 7 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 10 LESSONS and a total of 22 FILES in the IMMIGRANTS & REFORMERS UNIT. Students will learn about the obstacles immigrants had to overcome and the impact of Seneca Falls and the abolitionist movements. This unit includes 3 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 14 LESSONS and a total of 26 FILES in the ECONOMICS UNIT. Students will learn about the industrial revolution, supply and demand, economic markets, interdependence, and even marketing products. This unit includes 6 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

There are 16 LESSONS and a total of 30 FILES in the CIVIL WAR  UNIT. Students will learn about the causes and effects of the Civil War as well as the individuals like John Brown and Abraham Lincoln who had a lasting impact on the war. This unit includes 7 Readings (with questions) as well as a MC Test and Modified Test.

Academic Standards

ACADEMIC STANDARDS (All standards appear in at least one lesson)

I Questioning 

8.I.Q.1 Develop compelling questions related to the development of the United States between 1600-1877. 

8.I.Q.2 Generate supporting questions, using the disciplines of social studies, to help answer compelling questions in U.S. history between 1600-1877. 

8.I.Q.3 Evaluate the types of supporting questions each of the social studies disciplines uses to answer compelling and supporting questions.

C: Civic and Political Institutions

8.C.CP.1 Analyze the origin and purposes of rule of law, popular sovereignty,

federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances.

8.C.CP.2 Explain the origins, functions and structure of government, with reference to the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and other founding documents, and their impacts on citizens.

8.C.CP.3 Explain how a system of checks and balances is intended to prevent a

concentration of power in one branch.

C: Roles and Responsibilities of a Citizen

8.C.RR.1 Analyze the role of citizens in the U.S. political system, with attention to the

definition of who is a citizen, expansion of that definition over time and changes in

participation over time.

8.C.RR.2 Analyze expansion of and restriction on citizenship and voting rights on diverse groups in the United States from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

8.C.RR.3 Analyze how groups in the United States have challenged Constitutional provisions, laws and court rulings denying them the rights of citizens.

C: Civic Virtues and Democratic Principles

8.C.CV.1 Analyze the impact of the democratic principles of equality before the law,

inalienable rights, consent of the governed and the right to alter or abolish the

government in the United States from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

C: Processes, Rules and Laws

8.C.PR.1 Explain the relationship between federalism and local, state and national

governments.

8.C.PR.2 Explain how the U.S. Constitution was interpreted and amended through the amendment process, legislative processes, judicial review, executive actions and

Supreme Court Cases between 1789 – 1877.

Economics

E: Microeconomics

8.E.MI.1 Describe the impact of supply and demand on equilibrium prices and quantities produced in the United States from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction from 1600- 1877.

8.E.MI.2 Assess the ways factors of production are combined in innovative ways resulting in economic growth and increased standards of living.

E: Macroeconomics

8.E.MA.1 Analyze differing perspectives regarding the role of government in the

economy, including the role of money and banking.

8.E.MA.2 Assess how regions of the United States specialized based on supply and

demand due to their geographic locations.

8.E.MA.3 Analyze the purpose of taxation and its impact on government spending.

8.E.MA.4 Analyze how property rights are defined, protected, enforced and limited

by government.

E: Specialization, Trade and Interdependence

8.E.ST.1 Analyze why economic interdependence existed between the regions of the United States between 1783-1877.

E: Incentives, Choices and Decision Making

8.E.IC.1 Evaluate economic decisions based on scarcity, opportunity costs and incentives.

8.E.IC.2 Assess the impact of growth and expansion on the allocation of resources and economic incentives

Geography

G: Migration and Movement

8.G.MM.1 Interpret how political, environmental, social and economic factors led to both forced and voluntary migration in the United States from the Colonial Era to

Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

G: Human Interactions and Interconnections

8.G.HI.1 Explain how global interconnections impacted culture, land use and trade in the United States during Colonial Era through Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

G: Human Environment Interaction

8.G.HE.1 Analyze how cultural and technological changes influenced how people interacted with their environments in the United States from the Colonial Era to

Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

G: Geographic Reasoning

8.G.GR.1 Use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to analyze settlement patterns in the United States from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

History

H: Change and Continuity

8.H.CH.1 Explain the role changing political, social and economic perspectives had on the lives of diverse groups of people in the Colonial Era.

8.H.CH.2 Analyze how social and ideological philosophies impacted various movements in the United States from the Colonial Era to Reconstruction from 1600-1877.

8.H.CH.3 Explain how political, social and economic perspectives in the United States led to the rise in sectionalism between 1840-1860.

8.H.CH.4 Evaluate the impact technological innovations made on agriculture, trade

and commerce in the years leading up to the Civil War between 1840-1860.

8.H.CH.5 Explain examples of political, geographic, social and economic changes and

consistencies in the different regions of the United States between 1860-1877.

H: Cause and Effect

8.H.CE.1 Analyze how the political, geographic, social and economic choices of the Colonial Era impacted the Revolutionary Period and Early Republic Period.

8.H.CE.2 Analyze the cause and effect of Westward Expansion, the Civil War and

Reconstruction on the diverse populations of the United States.

H: Conflict and Compromise

8.H.CO.1 Explain how colonial resistance to British control led to the Revolutionary War.

8.H.CO.2 Describe the conflicts and compromises that shaped the development of the U.S. government between 1783-1877.

8.H.CO.3 Analyze how economic, social, ideological and political changes led to sectional and national tensions, inspiring reform movements between 1840-1860.

8.H.CO.4 Explain how sectionalism and slavery within the United States led to conflicts between 1820-1877.

Communicating

I: Using Evidence

8.I.UE.1 Use multiple sources to develop claims in response to compelling and supporting questions.

8.I.UE.2 Create claims and counterclaims, using appropriate evidence, to construct an argument to answer compelling and supporting questions.

8.I.UE.3 Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin,

authority, structure, context and corroborative value of the sources to guide the

selection to answer compelling and supporting questions.

I: Communicating Conclusions

8.I.CC.1 Construct explanations, using reasoning, correct sequence, examples and details with relevant information and data, while acknowledging the strengths and

weaknesses of the explanations related to the development of the United States.

8.I.CC.2 Construct arguments by drawing on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze

how multiple perspectives, diversity and conflict and compromise impacted

the development of the United States.

8.I.CC.3 Evaluate how individuals and groups address local, regional and global

problems concerning the development of the United States.

8.I.CC.4 Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions

about ways to take action on current local, regional and global issues.

8.I.CC.5 Evaluate a specific problem concerning the development of the United

States using each of the social studies disciplines.