Unit 1 (8-12 days) Human Geography:
Unit Essential Question: How does where I live change the way I live?
Global Context: Orientation in space and time: students will explore turning
points in humankind; discoveries; explorations and migrations
Significant concepts: how landforms affect settlement patterns and how
settlement patterns affect culture
This unit lays the groundwork for the study of world history by exploring the relationship
between physical geography and human geography. This will start with an exploration of the
factors which define the environment of a place, along with an examination of the ways that
geographic data is communicated (maps, charts, graphs, etc.). They will then study systems of
human organization, specifically culture and civilization, and the ways that these systems are
influenced by environmental factors.
Geography: Physical Geography, 5 Themes of Geography, Use of charts, graphs & maps,
Culture: Influence of Geography on settlement, Civilization
History: Evidence & Science of History, Primary/Secondary Sources and perspective/bias
Government: Need for leaders and laws, Citizenship- requirements & benefits
Economics: Basic concepts, Quality of Life
Essential Vocabulary: environment, climate, civilization, society, population, migration,
interaction, source, perspective, artifact
Extended vocabulary: politics, economics, religion, ideas, art, demographics, bias
Unit 2 (8-10 days) Caves to Cities
Unit Essential Question: Are the needs of humankind becoming chained to
the development of new technologies?
Global Context: Orientation in space and time: students will explore turning
points in humankind; discoveries; explorations and migrations
Significant concepts: the needs of mankind result in the development of
technology to make life easier
The points of focus in this unit include the evidence we have about early man, the effects of the
Availability and scarcity of resources on early patterns of migration and settlement, and how the
Neolithic Revolution changed life for humans.
Paleolithic Era- Early Man: Evidence & Artifacts, Lifestyle- hunter-gatherer, nomadic
depending on resources, family-based clans, oral, language
The Great Migration: Climate change- Ice Age, Push/Pull factors, Why new locations were
selected- Fertile Crescent, China, Indus River Valley
Neolithic Revolution: Farming & domestication of animals, Shared labor & pooling of
resources, Metallurgy- tools & weapons, Religion- polytheism, creation stories, Governmentleaders & divine right, Positive changes brought by revolution- Compare/Contrast Paleolithic &
Neolithic
Essential Vocabulary:nomadic, fertile, resources, polytheism, revolution, domesticate, divine,
innovation
Extended Vocabulary:archaeologists, anthropologists, fossils, hominids, metallurgy
Unit 3: (14-16 days) Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Unit Essential Question: What if I had been born in another part of the world?
Global Context: Personal and Cultural expression: students will explore the ways in
which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values, the ways in
which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the
aesthetic
Significant concepts: Different communities—including the various forms of
community, the needs of different communities, the issues within the communities, organizations
within communities
In this unit students will study the civilization that grew in Mesopotamia, taking a close look at
the city-states of Sumer and Ur, Judaism and the Babylonian Empire. The second half of the unit
looks at the civilization of ancient Egypt.
_ Mesopotamia: Geography- Why settle there? Technology/innovation developed to utilize
resources, Development of city-states, Sumer- Epic of Gilgamesh, ziggurats, writing
(cuneiform), Ur- Birth of Judaism, Abraham, 10 Commandments, tenants of religion,
Monotheism, Conflict among city-states over resources- building of empires, BabylonHammurabi, large empire, need for order & protection, Hammurabi’s Code
_ Ancient Egypt: Geography- Nile River (benefits & costs), Technology to use the river,
irrigation, channels, Ruled by pharaohs- theocracy, divine right, Social structure, Hieroglyphicswritten language used for history vs. primarily economic records, Religion, Polytheism- gods &
goddesses, Belief in afterlife- mummification, Construction projects related to religious beliefs,·
Temples, Monuments, Pyramids, Created a need for labor and money taxation- goods/crops and
corvée labor
Essential Vocabulary: empire, floods, irrigation, monotheism, polytheism, theocracy, temple,
monument, nobles, bureaucracy, quality
Extended Vocabulary: delta, pyramids, mastabas, corvée labor, mummification