The 6th-grade history curriculum focuses on the beginning of human history and four ancient river valley civilizations. We start with a brief study of our earliest human ancestors, leading up to an investigation of the agricultural revolution. We rely on the Pollyanna Racial Literacy Curriculum to explain how the process of domesticating plants and animals gave a geographical advantage to some parts of the world instead of others. The bulk of the year is an exploration of the development of early civilizations and empires in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India/Pakistan, and China. The textbook History Alive! The Ancient World provides the structure for the curriculum, enabling students to practice note-taking, reading, and understanding nonfiction content. Textbook readings are supplemented with online assignments, class discussions, museum visits, collaborative projects, and research papers. Finally, discussions of current events help to bridge a connection between the history we study and our lives today.

In 7th-grade history, students explore different historical sources, learning how to analyze, distinguish, and define primary sources, secondary sources, and artifacts. They learn to read deeply and critically, as well as to observe, interpret, and draw inferences from historical artifacts. They explore the idea of historiography and historical narratives and interrogate the agendas and assumptions of the sources they consult. Using these tools of the historian’s trade, students study the history of the United States. The course begins with a study of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Columbian Exchange upon the arrival of the conquistadors, and it concludes with the outbreak of the American Civil War. Students demonstrate and augment their knowledge through short paragraphs, longer essays, creative assignments, and oral presentations and debates. This course is rooted in daily class discussions, in which students are expected to participate actively.

Eighth-grade students explore the arc of American history from the Civil War to Civil Rights. We examine the promise of the ideals of the Constitution and begin to explain how each era—the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights era—struggled to build a “more perfect union.” We look at the tension between an individual’s rights and an individual’s duty to the common good; between local and national issue;, and between national and global concerns. We read primary and secondary sources, debate the relationship between the past and present, and examine important current events. Students demonstrate their understanding through discussion, note-taking, critical thinking exercises, essays, presentations, and research assignments.