8th Grade American History/Studies Course Outline

Unit/Quarter 1: Early exploration and the Colonies: Review of Geography and introduction of European Explorers and the exploration and identification of the Western Hemisphere and Continents. Foundation of early Colonial Settlements and the start of global trade.

Unit 2/Quarter 2: Revolution and Founding Philosophies: Identification of early conflicts that set the stage of independence of the United States from colonial rule. Gaining a basic understanding of the United States governmental structure and how and why it was formatted in its current structure. Creating familiarity with the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other foundational documents.

Unit 3/Quarter 3: Westward Expansion: Focus on identifying growth factors within the newly formed United States and the need for territorial expansion. Students continue to grow their knowledge of the 50 states and regions within the country. Further instructional focus is on the impact of westward expansion on indigenous groups and the setters themselves.

Unit 4/Quarter 4: The Civil War: Students focus on the differences in the evolution of society in the different regions of the United States and how it led to conflict among these regions as the country continued to expand and develop. The Industrialization, Format of Society, Religious and Early Civil Rights as well as other Political Movements are explored. The impact of these movements is then applied to the Civil War, which is identified in three main phases. The course ends with Reconstruction and the creation of the Civil Rights Amendments.

This content is subject to change as needed.