Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks 6th Grade Social Studies Activities

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.

Civic intellectual skills encompass knowing how to identify, assess, interpret, describe, analyze and explain matters of concern in civic life.

Civic participatory skills encompass knowing how to make and support arguments, use the political process to communicate with elected officials and representatives of government, and plan strategically for civic change.

3 Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources. Student researchers gather and organize information from a variety of online, print, and other sources. In the history and social science fields, they pay close attention to whether the source is primary or secondary. Primary sources were created during the period under study (e.g., census data, a map, an interview, a speech, or an artifact such as a building, painting, or tool). Secondary sources are later interpretations or commentaries based on primary sources. Often students will use primary and secondary sources together to compose an argument, because each source provides a different type of information. This Standard corresponds to Reading Standards 1-3 for Literacy in History and Social Science.

4 Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact. Students need to be exposed to readings that represent a variety of points of view in order to become discerning and critical readers. They need to be able to identify the purpose of a document and the point of view of its author. As students search primary sources for answers to questions such as What really happened in Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775?, they begin to understand that eyewitness accounts of the same event can differ. This Standard corresponds to Reading Standard 6 for Literacy in History and Social Science.

Literacy Standards for History and Social Science

Grades 6-8 Reading Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas: History/Social Science

Key Ideas and Details

1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate. (See grades 6–8 Writing Standard 8 for more on paraphrasing.)

2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

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.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7 Integrate visual information (e.g., charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

9 Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

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 2. Human origins, the Neolithic and Paleolithic Eras – Supporting Question: How did life on Earth begin and why did humans form complex societies?

9 Explain that scholars have attempted to define the characteristics of a complex society (sometimes called “civilization”) since the early 20th century, and although debates are ongoing, many cite these characteristics:

a. an economy that produces food surpluses

d. specialized occupations

e. developed systems of government, religion, and learning

f. achievements in technology, art, and monumental architecture

10 Explain the ways in which complex societies interact and spread from one region to another (e.g., by trade, cultural or linguistic exchanges, migration, religious conversion, conquest, or colonization).

11 Construct and interpret a timeline that shows some of the key periods in the development of human societies in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras. Use correctly the words or abbreviations for identifying time periods or dates in historical narratives (decade, age, era, century, millennium, CE/AD, BCE/BC, c. and circa). Identify in BCE dates the higher number as indicating the older year (that is, 3000 BCE is earlier than 2000 BCE).

Topic 3. Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa

Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa - Mesopotamia, c. 3500-1200 BCE – Supporting Question: What are the best explanations for why writing developed in Mesopotamia?

15 Explain how the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers contributed to the development of agriculture and ancient complex societies; explain why historians have called the region that surrounds these rivers “the Fertile Crescent.”

17 Describe how irrigation, mining and metalsmithing, agriculture, the domestication of animals, and inventions such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow contributed to settlement and the growth of Mesopotamian civilizations.

18 Analyze the important characteristics and achievements of early Mesopotamia:

a. a complex society with rulers, priests, soldiers, craftspeople, farmers, and slaves

c. monumental architecture (the ziggurat) and developed art (including large relief sculptures, mosaics, carved cylinder seals)

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.

20 Describe the significance of the Nile River to ancient Egyptians.

22 Analyze the role of the pharaoh as god/king, and describe how pharaohs were represented in painting and sculpture, the concept of dynasties, and significant acts of at least one pharaoh or queen (e.g., Khufu, Akhnaten, Ramses II, Nefertiti, Cleopatra).

23 Describe the relationships among social classes (e.g., the relationship of the pharaoh to priests, nobles, government officials, soldiers, scribes, artisans, farmers, and peasants, laborers, and slaves).

24 Describe the polytheistic religion of ancient Egypt with respect to beliefs about death, proper behavior, the afterlife, mummification, and the roles of deities.

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).

Western Asia, the Middle East and North Africa - Ancient Israel, Palestine, c. 2000 BCE-70 CE – Supporting Question: What were the consequences of the unification of tribes for ancient Israel?

31 Describe the history of ancient Israel and early Christianity:

c. the emergence of Christianity as a distinct religion, with roots in Judaism, but increasingly diverse followers throughout the Roman Empire and the relationship of early Christians to the officials of the Roman Empire;