The Middle School Social Studies Program strives to familiarize students with the basic tools, vocabulary, and skills of the social scientist and to make students aware of different ideas and cultures around the world, past and present. The program encourages students to address the question, “How do we know about the past?” Through the curriculum, they learn that new discoveries by archaeologists, scientists, and historians change our view of history and that historical understanding matures and evolves.
Fourth graders begin by studying continuity and change in their own school locality. Students study emigration, having graduated and moved from the “old country” of First Program to the “new country” of Middle School. They learn about citizenship, the law, and civic responsibility. Their studies continue with the history of the Pilgrims, culminating in a grade-level trip to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.
The fifth grade social studies curriculum utilizes an anthropological approach to understanding human culture and begins the study of ancient civilizations in the latter part of the year. This focus is on the peoples of Mesopotamia with an emphasis on the Sumerians, and later Egypt. The study of Egypt is enhanced through the use of a multimedia software program, Exploring the Nile: from Sources to Sea. This program enables students to investigate the geography of the Nile and helps students understand the significance of the river in the lives of Ancient Egyptians.
Sixth graders continue their study of the roots of Western civilization, examining the ancient Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans. Ancient Greek and Assyrian history is studied using Archaeotype, a software program developed at Dalton to assist students as they construct interpretations of the history of these ancient sites. Students work in groups around a graphic computer simulation of an archaeological excavation to “dig up” artifacts, measure them, and make observations about their findings. Learn more about curricular technology initiatives.
Seventh grade continues the themes and skills begun in fifth and sixth grades. Notions of kingship, religious beliefs, and trade direct the student to a deeper understanding of the continuing interconnectedness of the human endeavor during the Middle Ages in the West, the Near East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Against the backdrop of feudalism and the crusades, Viking and Saxon invasions, chivalry and romantic epics, bishops, the church, cathedrals and mosques, madrasas, and universities the students develop an overview of the medieval world, leading up to the Renaissance. Students’ in-depth studies of topics such as Beowulf, the Sutton Hoo ship burial, the rise of Islam, Charlemagne, cathedrals, or the Kingdom of Mali enliven their visual and intellectual voyage.
The eighth grade social studies program continues the timeline by pursuing a survey of American history from the Colonial period to the present, focusing on the formation of our nation, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Westward Expansion, and the Industrial Age. Students working in small groups integrate their writing, research, and technology skills in a culminating unit on the emergence of the United States as a world power from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. Learn more about curricular technology initiatives.
