LA Comprehensive Curriculum

1
LA Comprehensive Curriculum

• 6th Grade Social Studies
• Guiding Questions

2
Unit 1 Hunters, Gatherers, Farmers (Beginnings)

1. Can students locate places on a map or globe
   using latitude, longitude, cardinal directions,
   and intermediate directions?
2. Can students explain the difference between a
   primary and secondary source and use both to
   describe world civilizations?
3. Can students interpret artifacts?

3
Unit 1 Hunters, Gatherers, Farmers (Beginnings)
II

1. Can students describe the wandering, nomadic life
   of hunter-gatherers?
2. Can students describe the food, shelter,
   clothing, and tools of hunter-gatherers?
3. Can students explain the roles specialization and
   inventions played in the development of early
   human communities?

4
Unit 1 Hunters, Gatherers, Farmers (Beginnings)
II

1. Can students explain why and how humans made the
   transition from hunting and gathering to farming
   (cultivation)?
2. Can students describe climatic changes and
   geographical features that influenced the
   development of early civilizations?
3. Can students explain why and how the
   domestication of plants and animals for farming
   took place?

5
Unit 2 River Valley Civilizations (4000-1000
B.C.)

1. Can students identify land and climatic
   conditions that were conducive to early human
   settlement?
2. Can students explain how different physical
   features affect human activities like
   cultivating, herding, defending land, etc.
3. Can students identify major river systems and
   describe the physical settings that supported
   permanent settlement along their banks?

6
Unit 2 River Valley Civilizations (4000-1000
B.C.) Continued

1. Can students explain the growth of cities and the
   defining characteristics of a civilization?
2. Can students describe the cultures, governments,
   religions, architecture, technological
   innovations, and writings of the four major river
   valley civilizations?
3. Can students explain cultural diffusion and, in
   particular, how the four early river valley
   civilizations influenced cultures around them?

7
Unit 3 People and Ideas on the Move (1000
B.C.-A.D. 300)

1. Can students describe the defining
   characteristics of the Hittite, Minoan,
   Mycenaean, and Phoenician civilizations?
2. Can students explain the reasons for different
   patterns of migration among early people?
3. Can students explain the different ages of
   technology an, in particular, the development of
   the plow and of iron tools and weapons?

8
Unit 3 People and Ideas on the Move (1000
B.C.-A.D. 300) Cont.

• 4. Can students explain the significance of
  Phoenician trade in the Mediterranean Sea?

9
Unit 4 Great Empires (1000 B.C.-A.D. 300)

1. Can students explain the economic interdependence
   that existed among various ancient civilizations?
2. Can students explain how various ancient
   civilizations established and maintained
   political boundaries?

10
Unit 4 Great Empires (1000 B.C.-A.D. 300)
Continued

1. Can students identify the essential elements of
   Greek and Roman government that influenced the
   U.S. government?
2. Can students explain how the sharing of ideas,
   goods, and services through trade between the
   Greek and Roman civilizations influenced other
   cultures?

11
Unit 4 Great Empires (1000 B.C.-A.D. 300)
Continued

• Can students describe the key characteristics of
  four classical civilizations-Persia, Greece,
  Rome, and China?
• Can students make valid arguments for why
  civilizations and empires rise and decline?

12
Unit 5 Spread of Culture and Religion (A.D.
300-1000)

1. Can students identify the major new religions
   during this period and how they relate to the
   different empires?
2. Can students explain the different ways that
   religions spread, including through trade,
   empire, Diasporas, colonization, and
   proselytizing?

13
Unit 5 Spread of Culture and Religion (A.D.
300-1000) Cont.

1. Can students explain the differences in beliefs,
   leaders, and locations of the different major
   religions and how they spread?
2. Can students explain the effect of major
   religions on European, Asian, and African
   civilizations?

14
Unit 6 Rise and Fall of Empires and Kingdoms
(A.D. 300-1000)

1. Can students identify the functions and
   characteristics of different mediums of exchange,
   including money?
2. Can students describe why empires rise and fall
   apart, especially the Roman Empire?
3. Can students explain the economics of European
   feudalism and of other empires of this era?

15
Unit 6 Rise and Fall of Empires and Kingdoms
(A.D. 300-1000) Cont.

1. Can students explain changes and developments
   that were brought about by the emergence and
   collapse of major empires and kingdoms in Europe,
   Asia, Africa, and the Americas, especially their
   break-up into smaller political units?
2. Can students describe major events, key figures,
   and social structures of the Middle Ages?

16
Unit 6 Rise and Fall of Empires and Kingdoms
(A.D. 300-1000) Cont.

• 6. Can students identify the major technological
  inventions that would lead into a period of
  intensive exploration, colonization, and world
  interaction?

17
Unit 7 The Rise of New Empires and Expansion of
Communication and Trade (A.D. 1000-1500)

1. Can students describe the African trading empires
   of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai and how they
   facilitated the spread of Islamic culture?
2. Can students explain factors that facilitated
   cultural diffusion like the Crusades and the Silk
   Road?
3. Can students explain how Europe responded to the
   fall of the Roman Empire?

18
Unit 7 The Rise of New Empires and Expansion of
Communication and Trade (A.D. 1000-1500) Continued

1. Can students explain how Mongol conquests and
   rule affected Asia?
2. Can students describe the Aztec and Inca Empires
   in the Americas?
3. Can students explain the effects of exploration
   and trade on the economic and cultural
   development of Europe, Africa, and Asia prior to
   1500?

19
Unit 8 The Renaissance, the Reformation, and
Global Exploration (A.D. 1300-1600)

1. Can students define the word Renaissance and
   describe the major contributing factors that led
   to the Renaissance?
2. Can students describe the achievements of some of
   the major figures of the Renaissance?
3. Can students explain the causes and effects of
   the Reformation?

20
Unit 8 The Renaissance, the Reformation, and
Global Exploration (A.D. 1300-1600) Continued

1. Can students explain some of the major
   technological inventions that powered the
   Renaissance, Reformation, and global exploration?
2. Can students explain the major social, economic,
   political, and cultural underpinnings for global
   exploration and colonization?

21

• Created for use by social studies teachers in the
  Lafayette Parish School System.