8th grade U.S. History & Geography (Period 2,4,6 )

8/12        Aim: Intro. To 8^th Grade U.S. History

Welcome to Ms. Kampschroer's U.S. History class, Rm. 29. Email is [email protected]. Make sure you check daily my Millikan website for classwork , homework, links, etc.

WARMUP-

Course Philosophy

Who we are as a nation of people today has everything to do with the history of this vast, diverse country. It is my belief that it is necessary for students to explore where we started as a nation, to explore how decisions by both individuals and our leaders have affected who we are as a nation, and to explore the flow of events that have led to the year 2014. The keyword for 8^th grade U.S. history is EXPLORE! Through exploration and critical analysis of a sense of place and purpose, it is my hope that you will become better citizens of the United States and even more importantly, better citizens of the world.

Course Overview

Students will study why the U.S. was founded, by analyzing the Founding documents and looking at the rights, freedoms, responsibilities outlined in these documents. You will then study events in U.S. history and analyze how the actions of the nation have aligned (supported) or not aligned with its founding principles.

Course Objectives

The main purpose is to make history come alive for you. The history of the U.S. covers a huge amount of info. that is impossible to cover in a school year; therefore this course will be an “exploration survey.” We will make stops along the way to help history come alive by delving into particular topics and events. Content is a major element of a course such as this, but a more important element will be the development of students as social scientists or amateur historians. I want you students to THINK like historians. The course will also be a course in problem solving. It will challenge you, hopefully, to use your imaginations, go beyond the text, question, interpret primary and secondary sources and to make thoughtful decisions. Students will be risk takers to share their point of view and will have to use empathy to put themselves into “someone else's shoes.” A major outcome that I hope to achieve is that students understand the importance of ACCURATE information before forming their opinions. Specific skills such as critical reading, analysis(examination), synthesis (combining), and evaluation (judge) will you students to develop into historians. At times, our study will connect to the 8^th grade English and Science curriculum to provide a cross disciplinary evaluation of history.

Rationale (reason for the class)

This class will be concerned with understanding the role that history has played in forming the community of the U.S. and the world community where different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, and religiouns must work to find a way to live harmoniously. Students can affect positive chanage and they have an obligation to learn to live with and respect all people. Students must know how to conduct research, be open to new ideas, question everything, and be effective oral and written communicators.

Classwk=
1. Why should we study history?

2a. Living timeline...Students will get cards (please return at end of activity) with names of events in U.S. history. Stand up, put yourselves into chronological orer as a living timeline. Reach a consensus as to what happened first, next, etc.

b. Look to your right/left. Is there some connection with the event you have in your card and the one in front of or behind you? Make an educated guess ( I do know you may not know much about U.S. history, but you did take U.S. history in 5^th grade , so draw from your memories there).

100. Why did I start this class with this activity? Make an educated guess here.

500. Always look at the timeline at the beginning of the chapter in Creating America. Not for the sake of Memorizing dates or the ordering of events, but to realize, there's something more COMPLEX going on!!

e. Citizenship Test?