Identity & Community: An Introduction to 6th Grade Social Studies

The 10 lessons in this unit are divided into 2 sections: the Introduction and the Lesson Plan.

The Introduction includes the following sections:

• Overview: This section provides a rationale and description of the lesson and explains how the lesson content connects to the study of world history.
• Learning goals: The activities and suggested assignments have been designed to help students master specific learning goals. The lessons also promote students’ learning in other areas such as reading, oral expression, and critical thinking.
• Materials: Following each lesson, we have included materials needed to implement the lessons, such as graphic organizers, texts, or images. Other suggested materials, such as Dr. Seuss’s story “The Sneetches,” can be borrowed from Facing History’s library. The short book The Bear That Wasn’t, by Frank Tashlin, is the central text of Lesson 3.

​The Lesson Plan includes five sections:

• Warm-up: The warm-up activity prepares students to access the material in the lesson by activating prior knowledge, introducing an important vocabulary word, or providing an opportunity for personal connection to the themes in the lesson.
• Main activity: The main activity is typically built around a specific text or hands-on project. It introduces students to new concepts and ideas and provides a structure for students to work with this material so they can make it their own.
• Follow-through: To deepen students’ understanding and encourage retention of the material, the follow-through activity often requires students to apply the material explored in the main activity to a new situation. Students might be asked to connect the material to their own lives, synthesize concepts from different lessons, or develop their own opinions about the content of the lesson.
• Homework: Suggested assignments can be used to evaluate learning goals or prepare students for the next lesson.
• Curriculum connections: In the body of each lesson, we have included curriculum connections—ideas about how you can use the lesson’s content or teaching strategy throughout the school year to help students better understand world history.

These lessons have been designed to be implemented in a 50-minute class period. Depending on your own classroom context (e.g., how many students you have, the skill level of your students, and your students’ interests) lessons may take more or less time. If you are concerned about running out of time, you can shorten the warm-up activity or assign the follow-through activity for homework. This unit could easily engage students for several weeks if you implement the optional extension activities included in most lessons.