Syllabus

Sixth Grade World History: Mr. Lemin

I. Beginning of Year Review (Introductory pages)

A) Basic vocabulary terms

B) Five Themes of Geography

C) Map skills

II. Regions / History (Chapters 1 and 2)

A) Geography

1. Physical, climate, and cultural regions

B) Comparison of cultures - U.S. and India

1. customs, religion, values, government, interaction

C) Understanding “How to Study History”

1. oral tradition, artifacts, primary and secondary sources

D) Case study: “The Iceman of the Alps”

1. archaeology, prehistory, carbon-14 dating

III. Beginnings of Civilization (Chapter 3)

A) Old Stone Age, Ice Age, New Stone Age

1. technology

2. Hunting and gathering (“Og, Mog, Pog, and Zog”)

3. Cave paintings

B) Village Life

1. Agriculture: domestication and cultivation

2. Surplus, specialization and trade

3. Catal Huyuk and civilization

IV. Ancient Egypt (Chapter 4)

A) Geography of the Nile River Valley and Delta

B) Farming and irrigation

C) Early government and history (Old Kingdom)

1. Menes, Memphis, powers of the Pharaoh, religion (polytheism), economy

2. Hieroglyphics, papyrus, the Rosetta Stone, Champollion

3. Zoser, Imhotep, Snefru, Khufu, and the pyramids

D) Middle Kingdom

1. the Hyksos, Ahmose

E) New Kingdom (Empire)

1. Hatshepsut and trade expeditions

2. Tutankhamun [Valley of the Kings], Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon

3. medicine, math, and science (calendar)

F) Daily Life

1. social pyramid

2. slavery

3. specialization (including brewing)

V. Ancient Mesopotamia (Chapter 5)

A) Geography of the Fertile Crescent

1. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Mesopotamia, Persian Gulf

2. central plateau, southern plain, Taurus and Zagros Mountains

3. flooding and droughts; irrigation, crops

B) Sumer - basic history

1. cuneiform writing; clay tablet demonstration; Oannes; Gilgamesh

2. city-states, lugals

3. Sargon and the First Empire; the spread of symbol-writing

4. Phoenicia

5. religion (polytheism), ziggurats, Nimrod and the Tower of Babel

C) Babylon - basic history

1. Second Empire, Hammurabi and the Code of Laws

2. Third Empire, Persia, Nebuchadnezzar and the Hanging Gardens

D) Hebrews - basic history

1. Judaism (monotheism), the Bible, Abraham and the covenant, Canaan

2. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph; slavery in Egypt

3. Moses and the Torah (The 10 Commandments), Mount Sinai

4. Solomon, Jerusalem, the Sabbath, and the Diaspora

VI. Ancient Greece (Chapter 8)

A) Geography

1. Map

a) The Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Ionian Sea, the Black Sea

b) The Balkan Peninsula (Attica and the Peloponnesus)

c) The Islands: Crete, Rhodes, and the "Steppingstones"

d) The west coast of Asia Minor

2. The Balkan Mountains, the lack of rivers

3. The importance of the Sea, triremes

4. Phoenicia, the alphabet, colonies

B) The Polis

1. Acropolis, Agora, citizenship

2. Governments

a. Archons, monarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, direct democracy

3. Athens and Sparta

4. Religion and Literature

a. Polytheism and mythology, the Trojan War [Homer]

5. Age of Glory

a. Persian Wars

b. Pericles, the Assembly, trial by jury

D) Legacies

1. Olympics

2. Theatre [Aeschylus and Aristophanes]

3. Philosophy [Socrates and Plato]

4. Architecture [Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian]

E) Alexander the Great

1. Peloponnesian Wars, rise of Macedonia, spread of Greek ideas

[End of first semester]

VII. Ancient Rome (Chapter 9)

A) Geography of Italian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea

1. The Alps, the Po River, the Apennines, the Tiber River Valley, Sicily

2. The Adriatic Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea

B) Early history

1. Romulus and Remus

2. Latins, Etruscans, and Greeks

3. Agriculture

C) The Republic

1. Oligarchy

2. Representative democracy

a. Senators, Tribunes, and Consuls

b.The Forum

3. Society

a. Patricians and Plebeians

4. The Twelve Tables

D) Hannibal, Carthage, and the Punic Wars

E) Civil War and the Empire

1. Julius Caesar

2. Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, and Octavian (Augustus)

3. The Pax Romana

a. Aqueducts, roads, the Pantheon

b. Taxes, trade, and the census

c. The Colosseum and the gladiators

F) Christianity

1. Jesus of Nazareth

a. The New Testament

b. The concept of the Messiah

c. The Parables

d. The Crucifixion

2. The Apostles / Saul of Tarsus (Paul)

3. The Early Church

a. The Bishops and the Pope

G) The Barbarian Invasion

1. Diocletian and the Divided Empire

2. Constantine

3. Byzantium and the Eastern Empire

H) The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

1. Legacies

a. The Latin language

b. Law and government

c. Architecture and art

d. “Bloodsports”

e. The spread of Christianity through Europe

VIII. The Middle Ages (Chapter 10, Lesson 2; Chapter 12, Lessons 1, 2, and 3)

A) The Rise of Islam [and basic beliefs]

B) Geography and climate of Europe

C) Charlemagne and the Franks, Vikings, feudalism

D) Influence of the Church, Crusades

E) Rise of Commerce / Magna Carta and basic rights

IX. The Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Exploration and Modern Science (Chapter 12, Lessons 4 and 5; Chapter 16, Lessons 1 and 2)

A) Italy: Petrarch, Lorenzo de Medici, Michelangelo, and Leonardo

B) Germany: Luther and the Reformation, Gutenberg

C) England: Elizabeth / Spanish Armada, Shakespeare, religious tolerance

D) Marco Polo, Prince Henry, new technology

E) Dias, Columbus, da Gama

F) Magellan

G) Copernicus, Galileo, Newton

X. Revolutions (Chapter 17, Lessons 3 and 1)

A) Industrial Revolution: major inventions, social changes

B) French Revolution: estates [society], Louis XVI, revolution

C) The Rise of Napoleon (preview of nationalism)

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