Sixth Grade World History:
Mr. Thompson
(This Syllabus is available as a
Word Document on the 'Assignments & Handouts' Page)
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
-
Physical, climate, and cultural regions
B)
Comparison of cultures - U.S.
and India
-
Customs, religion, values, government, interaction
C)
Understanding “How to Study History”
-
Oral tradition, artifacts, primary and secondary sources
D)
Case study: “The Iceman of the Alps”
-
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)