Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
Standards for History and Social Science Practice – Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12
1 Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
Civic knowledge includes the core knowledge in the Content Standards relating to civics and government, economics, geography, and history.
Literacy Standards for History and Social Science
Grades 6-8 Reading Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas: History/Social Science
Craft and Structure
4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
5 Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally), including how written texts incorporate features such as headings.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10 Independently and proficiently read and comprehend history/social studies texts exhibiting complexity appropriate for the grade/course.
Grade 6 – World Geography and Ancient Civilizations I
Topic 1. Studying complex societies, past and present – Supporting Question: What do the social sciences contribute to our understanding of the world?
1 Explain how different academic fields in the social sciences concentrate on different means of studying societies in the past and present.
3 Give examples of how archaeologists, historians, geographers, economists, and political scientists work as teams to analyze evidence, develop hypotheses, and construct interpretations of ancient and classical civilizations.
Topic 3. Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa
Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa - Ancient Egypt, c. 3000-1200 BCE – Supporting Question: How did Ancient Egypt’s rigid class structure affect its social and cultural development?
19 Identify the locations of ancient Upper and Lower Egypt and ancient Nubia; and explain what the terms “Upper” and “Lower” mean in this context.
25 Summarize important achievements of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms (e.g., the agricultural system; knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, the invention of a calendar; the invention of papyrus and hieroglyphic writing; the organization of monumental building projects such as the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza; the centralization of government and military power).