The course syllabus for
7th Grade World History
Mr. Alex Lehman
lehmana@graceacademyonline.org
Course Description
This 7th grade World History course will cover a vast amount of history, starting with the ancient
civilizations of Greece, Rome, and Egypt and ending with an overview of the twentieth century.
We will focus especially on creating a broad basic timeline of the world’s major events into
which students will be capable of inputting past and future learning.
Enduring Understandings
The student will understand:
 What was necessary for early civilizations to survive and thrive.
 What contributions early civilizations made to society.
 The general order of events and kingdoms beginning in the Biblical era.
 The living conditions and hierarchy which existed during the Middle Ages.
 The Renaissance and Reformation and what those movements lasting legacies were.
 What drove the Age of Exploration and Imperialism
 The way in which regions of the world like India and China developed into their present form.
 The many political changes that have resulted in the changing of borders and power in the 20th
century.
Content Topics
Unit 1
Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome
Unit 2
The Middle Ages: Towns, Renaissance, Reformation
Unit 3
Major kingdoms in Africa and Asia during the Middle Ages
Unit 4
Age of Exploration and Imperialism: The European settlement of the Americas
Unit 5
Europe during the 1800’s: Radical transformation
Unit 6
The Eastern world during the 1800’s
Unit 7
The Twentieth Century: What has happened in the last 100 years.
Assessments
Grades will be based on homework assignments, projects, journals, writing assignments, chapter
quizzes, and unit tests.
Required Materials
 I would strongly advise that each student has a 3 ring binder for my class. I would prefer a
binder rather than folders because things tend to get lost in folders very easily.
 Each student should have three dividers for my class: Homework, Quizzes and Tests, and
Worksheets and Classwork. The homework divider could actually be a folder with three holes
that students could simply take out of their binder and take home each night.
 Each student also have a spiral notebook which should only be used for the journal entries at
the beginning of class. Each day we begin class with a quote which the student must copy and
two thought questions which the student must answer. These are later collected and graded.
Attendance Policy:
See Grace Academy Handbook. I expect students to be in my class as much as possible.
Grading Policy:
 Homework and Classwork Assignments- worth 5-10 points each
 Journal Entries - worth 20 points every two weeks.
 Writing Assignments- worth between 10 and 25 points.
 Quizzes – worth between 20 and 30 points roughly every other week.
 Unit Tests – worth between 50 and 100 points roughly twice a marking period
 Note- my classes are intentionally set up to reward those who do their homework and
classwork. Consequently a student who works hard, but may not be a great test taker can still
do satisfactorily in my class.
The Pass System:
The middle school is experimenting with a punch pass card. Please refer to the attached handout
regarding the system.
God Bless,
Alex Lehman