NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Unit Plans:
SOCIAL STUDIES
Grade 6
NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCHOOL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
2013-2014
Ms. Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson, Chairperson
Mr. Marques-Aquil Lewis, Vice Chairperson
Mr. Rashon K. Hasan
Mr. Alturrick Kenney
Ms. Eliana Pintor Marin
Ms. DeNiqua Matias
Dr. Rashied McCreary
Ms. Ariagna Perello
Mr. Khalil Sabu Rashidi
Mr. Jordan Thomas, Student Representative
NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATION
2013-2014
Cami Anderson, State District Superintendent
Chief of Staff & General Counsel: Charlotte Hitchcock
Assistant Superintendent: Mitchell Center
Assistant Superintendent: Brad Haggerty
Assistant Superintendent: Tiffany Hardrick
Assistant Superintendent: Roger Leon
Assistant Superintendent: Aqua Stovall
Assistant Superintendent: Peter Turnamian
Special Assistant, Office of Curriculum and Instruction: Caleb Perkins
School Business Administrator: Valerie Wilson
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1 Overview
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Summative Assessment
Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings
What was the most important development by
-The study of early human remains and artifacts helps in
prehistoric people?
understanding our place in human history.
-New methods for obtaining food and the development of
technology laid the foundations for modern civilizations.
-Contemporary civilizations share the same characteristics
typical of ancient civilizations.
Focus Questions
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Intro to the study of history - How do
How did early humans adapt to the
What cultural achievements
we know about the past?
environment they encountered as they
characterized life in the Paleolithic
migrated?
age?
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
Why is farming one of the most
What cultural achievements
What was the most important
important developments of
characterized life in the Neolithic age? development of prehistoric peoples?
humankind?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Academic Vocabulary
Depiction
Moderate
Lurked
Alloy
Skeptical
Indicating
Framework
Docile
Exaggerated
Altered
Perished
Disrepair
Epilogue
Burrowing
Galloping
Foundation
Paraphrased
Exploit
Crude
Charred
Interpret
Churn
Vigorously
Fragment
Fragment
Drafty
Abstract
Tinge
Efficiently
Limbs
Rectilinear
Deposit
Enabled
Schematic motifs
Burnished
Smelting
Casting
Archaeologist
Excavating
Ancient
Artifact
Trench
Cuneiform
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Vertebrae
Pigments
Cro-Magnon
Irrigation
Flint
Archaeology
Ocher
Anthropology
Hominids
Barter
Australopithecines
Mediterranean
Obsidian
Shrines
Coiling
Kiln
Surplus
Neolithic
Hammurabi Code
Fossilized
Fertile Crescent
Domesticated
Paleontologist
Semi-nomadic
Species
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.1.a, 6.2.8.B.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.c
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Unit 1 Overview
Unit Rationale: In this unit, students gain an understanding of the origins, development, and achievements of
early human beings. Students will investigate how the study of archeology provides historical and scientific
explanations for how ancient people lived. First-person accounts from archeologist’s discoveries, maps,
artifacts, and other primary and secondary source materials may be used to answer historical questions.
Historical Thinking:
The study of history rests on knowledge of facts, dates, names, places, events, and ideas. However, true
historical understanding requires students to engage in historical thinking: to raise questions and to marshal
solid evidence in support of their answers; to go beyond the facts presented in their textbooks and examine the
historical record for themselves; to consult documents, journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art,
quantitative data, and other evidence from the past, and to do so imaginatively--taking into account the
historical context in which these records were created and comparing the multiple points of view of those on the
scene at the time.
“Facts are crucial to historical understanding, but there is only way for them to take root in memory: Facts are
mastered by engaging students in historical questions that spark their curiosity and make them passionate about
seeking answers.” (“Reading Like A Historian”, Wineburg, Martin, and Monte-Sano, Teachers College Press,
New York, 2011.)
Four main skills help to facilitate historical understanding: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and
corroborating.




Sourcing-Historians begin reading a document at the end by sourcing it. They glance at the first couple
of words but then go immediately to the document’s attribution. Who wrote this source and when? Is it
a diary entry? A memo obtained through the Freedom of Information Act? A leaked e-mail? Is the
author in a position to know first-hand or this account based on hearsay? Sourcing transforms the act of
reading from passive reception to engaged and active interrogation.
Contextualizing-Contextualizing is the notion that events MUST be located in place and time to be
properly understood.
Close Reading-Primary and secondary sources provide students with an opportunity for close reading.
They are the place to teach students to slow down and read closely, to think deeply about word choice
and subtext.
Corroborating-Corroborating is a strategy in which a reader asks questions about important details to
determine points of agreement and disagreement. By comparing and contrasting multiple account,
students can start to build a real understanding of what happened in the past and why.
Discipline Specific Literacy:
Research has shown that a key to literacy is exposing students to a rich diet of texts that mix genre and style “at a variety
of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics.” Primary sources confront readers with varied styles and textures of
language that push the boundaries of literacy.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit I
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 1
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
Intro to the study of history - How do we know about the past?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Imagine Living in Ancient Times – Activity from the Society for American Archeology webpage. In this activity students
consider how past peoples satisfy their basic needs based on information and details from a historical account.
http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/pubedu/ape/vol5no1/vol5no1-article6.pdf
-Artifact Interpretation – Activity from the Society for American Archeology webpage. In this activity students will gain
an understanding of the amount of information that the study of a single artifact can yield about a society.
http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/pubedu/ape/vol5no2/vol5no2-article5.pdf
-Picture This: Using Photographs to Study the Past - Activity from the Society for American Archeology webpage. In this
activity students will gain an understanding of how an old photograph provides a basis for discussion about life in the past,
and demonstrates the values of photos as primary sources.
http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/pubedu/ape/vol6no1/vol6no1-article6.pdf
-Read pages 8-9 Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans titled Finding
the Evidence for a similar perspective of how we learn about the past. There are many helpful images that students can
examine as well.
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Academic
Domain
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
Depiction
Archeologist
The Oxford Press, 2005
Skeptical
Excavating
Epilogue
Ancient
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric
Paraphrased
Remains
Interpret
Artifact
Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans.
Trench
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Cuneiform
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.D.1.c
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages” Week 1 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the world of archeology and
the study of history. The work of an archeologist is essentially the same as a detective. In this case they are investigating the
ancient world. Students explore the tools archeologists and historians use to learn about the past. In the first reading
Hammurabi’s collection of laws written in cuneiform is used as an introduction to the use of artifacts and primary sources in the
study of history. In the following reading students will learn the questions they need to ask when analyzing a primary source. It
is important they know it is not a clear cut business. Primary sources can be interpreted in different ways. Students will be
doing the work of historians by interpreting primary and secondary sources and creating their own arguments backed up by
evidence found in the primary and secondary sources. Once students get used to analyzing primary sources, they will realize
that history is much more than a lot of facts to be memorized. It is a puzzle, full of characters, unsolved mysteries, twists, and
disputes. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the
use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of ancient history. Students will need to consider the
emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the
passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along
with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s
knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students
following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as
frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, textdependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore,
rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of
the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual
clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage
in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While
many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular
supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity
focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this
particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences
they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities
that result in a close reading of the introduction of Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and
Podany. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired
regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that
provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop
fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students
the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing
them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their
teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Introduction: Detectives Exploring the Ancient World Pages 18-20 out loud to the
class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Reporting Live from the Ancient World pages 19-22 out loud to the class as
students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Detective Historians on the Case Pages 22-25 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the tools archeologists and historians use to study the past and cite evidence of the difficulties of using artifacts
and primary sources to learn about the past.
Week 1: Focus Question - Intro to the study of history - How do we know about the past?
Text Dependent Questions:
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 1 - Introduction: Detectives Exploring the Ancient World Pages (18-20)
1. According to the author, how would you have found the city of Susa by the year 1902? What happened
to the city?
2. In the second paragraph, why did the author include the phrase, “but they mostly ignored the remains of
the ancient buildings”?
3. According to the author, what “took DeMorgan’s breath away?
4. According to the text, why was the discovery of the Laws of Hammurabi so important?
5. According to the author, how do historians do detective work?
6. What does the author mean when he states, “primary sources…they can open up whole new worlds to
you”?
Day 2 - Reporting Live from the Ancient World (pages 19-22)
1. According to the author, how is being a historian like being a reporter?
2. What does the author mean when he asks, “Was the source written at the same time as the events and
ideas it describes”?
3. In the fourth paragraph, why does the author say “you could expect the source to be accurate”?
4. According to the author, what is the most important question you need to ask when analyzing a primary
source?
Day 3 – Detective Historians on the Case (Pages 22-25)
1. What does the author mean when he says, “documents we have from the ancient world are like clues
from a mystery”?
2. In the second paragraph, how was the author able to state that “Hammurabi was indeed considered to be
a fair and able king”?
3. In the fourth paragraph, why did the author mean when he says “straightforward”?
4. What does the author mean when he says “We can guess”?
5. Why does the author include two different translations of law 148?
6. In the second to last paragraph, what does the author mean when he says, “Never trust a primary source
to tell you the truth”?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 2
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
How did early humans adapt to the environment they encountered as they migrated?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-The Human Journey: Migration Routes – Go to the National Geographic website and have students analyze this map.
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/human-journey/
-Map of Human Migration – Go to the PBS site and examine the interactive map and timeline on human migration.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/science/dna/timeline_flash.html
-Students plot the times of existence for the several species of hominins (formerly "hominids") on a two-dimensional time
line chart. Can be expanded to include new discoveries, and relative divergence of ape lines.
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/chronlab.html
-Look at map on page 15 – Which continents have Homo Erectus sites
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Fragment
Moderate
Reveal
Indicating
Altered
Burrowing
Churn
Domain
Paleontologist
Ancestors
Hominids
Australopithecines
Fossilized
Semi-nomadic
Domain
Vertebrae
Anatomical order
Indicative
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring
History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover
the long-ago world of the first humans.
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany,
Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times:
Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.B.1.a, 6.2.8.B.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.c, 6.2.8.C.1.b
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 2 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the prehistoric mystery of how the
human race began and how early humans found ways to adapt to the environment as they migrated from Africa throughout the rest of
the world. Being that the origin of the human race is one of the biggest mysteries of all time, alternate theories are provided for
students to analyze with their teachers. One of the most important terms studied during this week comes from the book Prehistoric
Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans, by Philip Brooks. In the first treading the author introduces the term
hominid. These are animals that share many features with humans and may be the missing link between us and where we come from.
As hominids evolved throughout the past 4 million years they found ingenious ways to survive by adapting to their environment.
They found ways to make tools so they could eat animals and eventually evolved as they migrated on their search for food. Students
will also analyze a primary source from The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany in
order to find out what our early ancestors were like and how they coped when the climate and environment changed from a diary entry
of an archaeologist. In the primary source Rick Potts writes in his diary about an archaeological dig in Africa in 1999. By reading
and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary
sources and secondary sources in the study of prehistoric peoples and how they evolved through the environment. Students will need
to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing
about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of the introduction of Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans and The World in
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to
reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always
reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text,
helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The Toolmakers from pages 10-11 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The Spread of Hominids from pages 14-15 of Prehistoric
Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads primary source, Rhinoceros for Dinner Pages 29-31 out loud to the class as
students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the ways hominids adapted to their environment as they migrated.
Week 2: Focus Question - How did early humans adapt to the environment they encountered as they migrated?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans.
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 3
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the Paleolithic age?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – What type of achievements have been created in your lifetime or before that you know about? Think
about technology.
-Online activities with images and virtual tours – Go to the following link http://earlyhumans.mrdonn.org/caveart.html
At the bottom of the page there are links. Go to the links and discover virtual tours of cave art and have students take notes
on what they see. Describe all the paintings and the conditions of the caves. Follow up with a discussion.
-Go over timeline terms on the second page of each passage for this week’s reading so students can grasp the difference
between pre-agricultural and post-agricultural societies.
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source:
Brooks,
Philip. Exploring History
Academic
Domain
Domain
- Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the longMastered
Cro-Magnon
Ocher
ago world of the first humans. London:
Drafty
Wooly mammoth
Pigments
Southwater Books. 2008.
Limbs
Flint
Efficiently
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany,
Enabled
Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times:
Lurked
Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
Framework
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Perished
Galloping
Crude
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.B.1.b, 6.2.8.C.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.c, 6.2.8.D.1.a
Day 1 – The Toolmakers - Pages 10-11
1.
According to the passage, what is “the biggest prehistoric mystery of all”?
2.
Why connection does the author make between paleontologists and hominids in the fourth sentence of the first
paragraph?
3.
According to the text, where did the earliest hominids live and how did they interact with the land?
4.
According to the author of this text, why was the discovery of paleontologist Louis Leakey so important?
5.
What evidence in the text shows that Homo habilis ate meat?
6.
What does the author mean when he says, “they were probably seminomadic”?
Day 2 – The Spread of Hominids - Pages 14-15
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
According to the passage, why did tropical animals travel northward and eastward?
Why did the author use the word ‘gradually’ to start the second sentence?
What evidence from the text, proves that the Homo erectus migrated to the continents of Europe and Asia?
According to the passage, what evidence did archeologists find in the camps of Zhoukoudien, China that prove
the Homo erectus lived there?
According to the text, what did the Homo erectus do in order to survive colder climates?
What is the purpose of the last two paragraphs on pages 14? What does it tell you about the study of the first
human?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005.
Day 3 – Rick Potts, diary Published in 1999. Finds from 780,000 Years Ago - Rhinoceros for Dinner Pages 29-31
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The author starts the document with the word ‘site’. What does the word site mean in this document?
What does anatomical order mean? According to the author, why is it significant that the animal’s bones are
“arranged in roughly the correct anatomical order”?
According to the author, what does the presence of sharp tools prove?
In the second paragraph of the document, what does the author mean when he says “the details of this excavation
pose some good challenges”?
In the third paragraph, the author discusses what else was found at site B7/8-1. How does the evidence at the site
prove that modern plants and animals have altered the original ancient soil?
In reading the last paragraph of the document, what can you infer about the field of archeology?
Could the Homo erectus discussed in the first reading eaten rhinoceros just like the ones from this document?
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages” Week 3 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the achievements of the
Paleolithic Age. The time period covered in this week’s readings starts around 1.6 million years ago and goes up until about
11,000 B.C. All three readings come from the book Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans, by
Philip Brooks. The first reading explains how a group of hominids called Homo erects (upright man) is described as creating
fire and tools. Pay close attention to the connections the can be made between these readings and week two’s readings. As
humans migrated from Africa and adapted to their environment and at the same time they developed things such as tools, fire
and art. The first humans in Europe, also known as the Cro-Magnons, achieved many things as well. Their tools became more
advanced and hunter-gatherer societies became more complex. In the last reading students will analyze the first art which is a
very significant achievement that occurred during the Ice Age. Cave art and sculptures shed light on these hunter-gather
societies; however, there are still mysteries to why they produced such art. By reading and rereading the passages closely,
combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources
to evaluate the importance of the achievements of the Paleolithic Age. Students will need to consider the emotional context of
words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher
feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along
with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s
knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students
following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as
frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, textdependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore,
rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of
the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual
clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage
in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While
many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular
supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity
focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this
particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences
they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities
that result in a close reading of three passages from Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans. The
goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding
how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence
for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and
reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students
the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing
them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their
teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The Coming of Fire from pages 12-13 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The First Europeans from pages 20-21 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled Images of the Ice Age from pages 24-25 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Evaluate the impact of the achievements of the Paleolithic Age.
Week 3: Focus Question - What cultural achievements characterized life in the Paleolithic age?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans.
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Day 1 – The Coming of Fire - Pages 12-13
1. In the second sentence of this passage, why does the author say, “which must have brought a huge change in their
lives”?
2. What evidence does the author provide to prove fire gave early hominids a safer and more comfortable life?
3. Why did the scientists call the hominids who created fire ‘Homo erectus’?
4. According to this passage, how were the Homo erectus more technologically advanced from early hominids?
5. What evidence does the last paragraph of this passage provide on how early humans adapted to their environment
as they traveled?
Day 2 – The First Europeans - Pages 20-21
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
According to the first paragraph of this passage, why was “life hard for the first humans who lived in Europe”?
Why does the author of this passage introduce the term Cro-Magnon at the beginning of the passage?
Why did the Cro-Magnons build homes?
What evidence does this text provide to prove the Cro-Magnons were skilled toolmakers?
According to the author of this document, what was the greatest achievement of early European people?
What similarities and differences can you find between the way the Cro-Magnon from this passage adapted to
their environment and the way Homo erectus adapted to their environment from previous readings?
Day 3 – Images of the Ice Age - Pages 24-25
1. According to this passage, where was the first prehistoric art found?
2. Why does the author of this passage describe animals “galloping and running across the cave walls as I they are
being chased by human hunters”?
3. According to this passage, what other forms of art did prehistoric people create?
4. According to the second paragraph of this passage, what are some possible theories of why this art was created?
5. What does the author mean when he says, “the act of making the image seems to have been more important than
the finished result”? Second to last sentence of the second paragraph.
6. Why does the other end this passage saying, “With these simple techniques, Ice age artists produced images that
were surprisingly complex for such a simple society”?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 4
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
Why is farming one of the most important developments of humankind?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – How do you think farming began?
-Look at the timelines on pages 37 & 39 in order to have scope on when agriculture began.
-Look at the map on page 39 and have students explain where the first agriculture began.
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source:
Brooks,
Philip.
Exploring
History - Prehistoric Peoples:
Academic
Domain
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans. London:
Vigorously
Mediterranean
Southwater Books. 2008.
Afield
Fertile Crescent
Abstract
Livestock
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Rectilinear
Surplus
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
Burnished
Neolithic
The Oxford Press, 2005
Schematic motifs
Domesticated
Docile
Cultivate
Species
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.1.a, 6.2.8.B.1.b, 6.2.8.C.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.a, 6.2.8.D.1.c
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages” Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the development of
agriculture and how it impacted human society. The birth of agriculture dates back to around 9000 B.C. There are three
readings that come from the book Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans, by Philip Brooks
and one primary source document from Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany.
Farming made it so humans did not have to go from place to place to find their food anymore. Gradually people in
farming villages were able to dedicate themselves to other tasks and this is how complex religions, trade economies and
class structure developed. All these developments from agriculture gave birth to civilization. In the primary source by
archaeologist Andrew Moore he writes about Stone Age (Neolithic) village from 9,000 years ago in Northern Syria. In
early farming villages existed some of the first domesticated animals, which is another effect of agriculture. By reading
and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts,
primary sources and secondary sources to analyze the importance of the development of farming. Students will need to
consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined
with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of the introduction of Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first
humans and The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. The goal is to foster student confidence
when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The First Farmers from pages 36-37 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text. Returning to the
text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The Farmers World from pages 36-37 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
&
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads primary source, A Neolithic Village Pages 31-32 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled Plants and animals from pages 38-39 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing
Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Evaluate the impact of farming on society.
Week 4: Focus Question - Why is farming one of the most important developments of humankind?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans.
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Day 1 – The First Farmers - Pages 36-37
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 5
1. Why did the author begin the passage describing the lives of hunters and gatherers?
2. According to the passage, where and when did farming begin?
3. What evidence does the text provide to prove farming “was one of the most important developments of
humankind”?
4. According to the passage, how did the climate affect the development of farming on the Fertile Crescent?
5. In the fourth paragraph the author says, “they realized that they could plant these grasses and harvest them”.
What were the essential effects of this statement for farmers?
6. According to the document, how did Jericho develop into one of the first farming towns in the world?
Day 2 – The First Farmers - Pages 36-37 (The green sections at the bottom of the pages)
1. In the section titled, THE FARMERS WORLD, the author says, “the people of the first agricultural villages did
not spend all their time in the fields”. What aspect of early farming allowed farmers to concentrate on other
things?
2. According to the same section, what were three other things these agricultural societies did when not farming?
3. On page 37 in the section titled FARMING IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT, how did geography affect
agriculture in this region?
4. In comparing the readings about hunters and gatherers, what differences can you find between farmers and
hunters and gatherers?
&
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005.
Day 2 – Andrew Moore. “A Neolithic Village.” Published in 1979. Finds from 9.000 years ago. Page 31
1. According to the primary source document, what was the layout of the Neolithic Village Abu Hureyra look like?
2. According archeologist Andrew Moore, what did the houses look like?
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans.
London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Day 3 – Plants and Animals - Pages 38-39
1. What is the significance of the word ‘simply’ in the first sentence of this passage?
2. According the first paragraph, what can you conclude about farming throughout the world?
3. In the third paragraph the author says, “Soon they developed a new species, domesticated einkorn”. What does
the word domestic mean and how can it be applied to animals as well?
4. According to the passage, how did early farmers decide which animals to domesticate?
5. On the bottom of page 38 there is a section titled, ON EARLY FARMS, how does the author describe the
differences from these ancient farms to modern day farms?
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the Neolithic age?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – Image analysis – Page 40 & 41 of Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world
of the first humans. Also, compare image of Catal Huyuk with an image of a modern day town/city and have students list
the similarities and differences.
–Think back to the earlier achievements you learned about in the previous weeks. Make a list of the first achievements
from the Paleolithic Age and save them for you to compare the achievements from the Neolithic Age.
-Visit this website for updated information on the Catal Huyuk Research Project - http://www.catalhoyuk.com/
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples:
Academic
Domain
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans. London:
Disrepair
Catal Huyuk
Southwater Books. 2008.
Foundation
Obsidian
Casting
Shrines
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Coiling
Pottery
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
Charred
Kiln
The Oxford Press, 2005
Fragment
Bronze Age
Smelting
Alloy
Tinge
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.B.1.b, 6.2.8.C.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.a, 6.2.8.D.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.c
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages” Week 5 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the achievements of
the Neolithic Age. The Neolithic Age, also known as the Neolithic Revolution started when the agricultural revolution
took place at around 9000 B.C. For thousands of years humans survived by hunting and gathering, with the birth of
farming came many other cultural achievements, such as more advanced farming methods, domestication of animals,
permanent settlements that will eventually turn into cities, working with metals, pottery and trade. There are three
readings that come from the book Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans, by Philip Brooks
that describe some of these achievements. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom
discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources to analyze the
cultural achievements that characterized the Neolithic Age. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words
and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher
feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of the three passages from Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the
first humans. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they
have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the
passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text,
helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The Coming of Trade from pages 40-41 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled Pots and Potters from pages 42-43 of Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage titled The First Metal Workers from pages 38-39 of Prehistoric
Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first humans out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Evaluate the cultural achievements that characterized the Neolithic Age.
Week 5: Focus Question - What cultural achievements characterized life in the Neolithic age?
Text Dependent Questions
Day 1 – The Coming of Trade - Pages 40-41
1. According to the passage, how did farming set the stage for trading?
2. In the second to last sentence of the first paragraph, the author called the ancient mound he is describing
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 6
a ‘tell’. What is a tell?
3. According to the text, where and when did the early town called Catal Huyuk flourish?
4. According to the document, how did the people of Catal Huyuk get rich from trade?
5. What evidence does this passage provide to prove life got more and more complex as farming towns
developed?
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples: Discover the long-ago world of the first
humans. London: Southwater Books. 2008.
Day 2 – Pots and Pottery - Pages 42-43
1. What does the author mean when he says, “We take pottery, such as cups, bowls, mugs, and plates for
granted”?
2. According to the document, when and how was the use of pottery probably invented?
3. According to the text, how has pottery helped archeologists study ancient societies?
4. In the section below titled POTS AND POTTERS, how does the author describe how “pottery and
farming flourished together”?
5. What can you infer about the use of pottery in trade for early farming societies?
Day 3 – The First Metal Workers - Pages 52-53
1. According to this passage, why did the process of using metals take so long to develop?
2. What does the author mean when he says, “which were soon highly valued” at the end of the first
paragraph?
3. According to the text, what was the importance of using a kiln in working with metal?
4. According to this passage, why were “metals such as gold and copper….good jewelry, but poor tools?
5. In the second to last paragraph the author says, “Bronze became a popular material for jewelry, tools,
and weapons”. What is the difference between this statement and other statements about different
metals mentioned previously?
6. Why did the author decide to close this passage by mentioning the fact that “the development bronze
working is so important that historians sometime call this period the Bronze Age”?
7. Why differences or similarities can you find in the tools created by metals and other tools you have read
about in previous weeks of unit 1?
Summative Assessment
Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples.
Focus Question
What was the most important development by prehistoric people?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Analyze and describe images from the book that support your argument.
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
The Oxford Press, 2005
Source: Brooks, Philip. Exploring History - Prehistoric Peoples:
Discover the long-ago world of the first humans. London:
Southwater Books. 2008.
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.1.a, 6.2.8.B.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.a, 6.2.8.C.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.b, 6.2.8.D.1.c
“The Beginnings of Human Society: Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages”
Week 6 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to synthesize the readings of the
past five weeks.
Reading Task: Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that
compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the documents for the purpose of addressing the summative
assessment question.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the texts in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in an examination of the historical question posed. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering
complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a
text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This
gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their arguments after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the texts and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summative Assessment
This unit looks back to the very beginnings of the human story. It starts at a time when people lived in
caves and sheltered under cliffs, when the only tool were made of stone, when everyone had to hunt or
forage for their own food, when clothes had to be made from animal skins. These developments are
impressive, however, the progress made by early people, starting with the invention of pottery and the
beginnings of farming, helped humans develop into advanced civilizations.
Considerations:
What is your evaluation of these two positions? What evidence do you have to support your claim? Which
of these documents in this unit do you believe is most trustworthy? Why? What other evidence would you
need to strengthen your claim?
Writing Task:
Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2 Overview
“Early River Civilizations”
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on which river valley civilizations was the most culturally advanced.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings
What are the most significant changes in culture that
-The development of the first early river valley civilization in
affect the development of technology and achievement? Mesopotamia in Asia reflects a development pattern that has
occurred repeatedly throughout history.
-People must continue to adapt to the environment.
-Nations continue to develop trade with other nations while
finding ways to protect themselves from invasion.
-Government and religion were immediately connected in the
ancient river civilization. This connection has developed
differently for nations across the globe.
Focus Questions
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
What cultural achievements
What are the political, economic, and
What cultural achievements
characterized life in the ancient
social effects of written language in
characterized life in the various
civilizations of Mesopotamia?
Mesopotamia?
periods of ancient Egypt?
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
To what extent did religion affect
What cultural achievements
What cultural achievements
ancient Egyptian Culture?
characterized life in the ancient Indus
characterized life in the Yellow River
valley civilizations?
Valley Civilizations in China?
Week 7:
What are the most significant changes
in culture that affect the development
of technology and achievement?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Academic Vocabulary
Conflict
Conquered
Grave
Alongside
Appointed
Procedures
Pronouncements
Conclusive
Regulated
Impressed
Prosper
Contemporaneous
Advised
Proclamation
Wisdom
Thriving
Exalting
Caned
Corpse
Sanitation
Portrays
Headmaster
Debased
Situated
Emphasizes
Arithmetical
Abominate
Posed
Anonymous
Dispensed
Slandered
Paramount
Embrace
Diverted
Homage
Seized
Mode
Countenance
Bridewealth
Crooked
Breadth
Mesopotamian
Irrigation
Babylonians
Civilization
Fertile Crescent
City-State
Empire
Astronomy
Merchant
Artisan
Scribe
Ziggurat
Babylonians
Rebel-lands
Code of Hammurabi
Disinherit
Thus
Aromatics
Infusion
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Reed Stylus
Obelisk
Cuneiform
Dynasty
Epic
Rhind Papyrus
Capital offense
Necropolis
Stela
Embalmers
Embankment
Field of Reeds
First-Ranking Wife
Mummification
Hieroglyphics
Natron
Pharaoh
Canopic Jars
Reed
Afterlife
Mastabas
Bark of the Governor
Tombs
Offering Measure
Mummy
Pasturage
Limestone
Plummet
Surveying
Frankincense
Old Kingdom
Disemboweling
Natrum
Sepulchral chamber
Clyster
Mauryan period
Channels
Drainage
Antiquities
Successor
Descendants
Oracle bones
Inscriptions
Ritual
Harvest
Locusts
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.2.a, 6.2.8.A.2.b, 6.2.8.A.2.c, 6.2.8.B.2.a, 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.b, 6.2.8.D.2.c,
6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Unit 2 Overview
Unit Rationale: In this unit, students gain an understanding of the origins, development, and achievements of
the first complex civilizations. Students will investigate how the study of archeology provides historical and
scientific explanations for how people lived in the ancient river valley civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt,
India and China. First-person accounts from archeologist’s discoveries, maps, artifacts, and other primary and
secondary source materials may be used to answer historical questions.
Historical Thinking:
The study of history rests on knowledge of facts, dates, names, places, events, and ideas. However, true
historical understanding requires students to engage in historical thinking: to raise questions and to marshal
solid evidence in support of their answers; to go beyond the facts presented in their textbooks and examine the
historical record for themselves; to consult documents, journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art,
quantitative data, and other evidence from the past, and to do so imaginatively--taking into account the
historical context in which these records were created and comparing the multiple points of view of those on the
scene at the time.
“Facts are crucial to historical understanding, but there is only way for them to take root in memory: Facts are
mastered by engaging students in historical questions that spark their curiosity and make them passionate about
seeking answers.” (“Reading Like A Historian”, Wineburg, Martin, and Monte-Sano, Teachers College Press,
New York, 2011.)
Four main skills help to facilitate historical understanding: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and
corroborating.




Sourcing-Historians begin reading a document at the end by sourcing it. They glance at the first couple
of words but then go immediately to the document’s attribution. Who wrote this source and when? Is it
a diary entry? A memo obtained through the Freedom of Information Act? A leaked e-mail? Is the
author in a position to know first-hand or this account based on hearsay? Sourcing transforms the act of
reading from passive reception to engaged and active interrogation.
Contextualizing-Contextualizing is the notion that events MUST be located in place and time to be
properly understood.
Close Reading-Primary and secondary sources provide students with an opportunity for close reading.
They are the place to teach students to slow down and read closely, to think deeply about word choice
and subtext.
Corroborating-Corroborating is a strategy in which a reader asks questions about important details to
determine points of agreement and disagreement. By comparing and contrasting multiple account,
students can start to build a real understanding of what happened in the past and why.
Discipline Specific Literacy:
Research has shown that a key to literacy is exposing students to a rich diet of texts that mix genre and style “at a variety
of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics.” Primary sources confront readers with varied styles and textures of
language that push the boundaries of literacy.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
Early River Civilization
Week 1
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – What is an Empire? Do any exist today?
-Look at the map on page 6 – What modern countries was once part of the Fertile Crescent?
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Mayfield, Christine, and Quinn, Kristine
Academic
Domain
Domain
M. Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia.
Conflict
Mesopotamian
Ziggurat
California: Teacher Created Materials. 2007.
Appointed
Irrigation
Babylonians
Regulated
Babylonians
Rebel-lands
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
Advised
Civilization
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Exalting
Fertile Crescent
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
Portrays
Middle East
2005
Emphasizes
City-State
Anonymous
Empire
Paramount
Astronomy
Homage
Merchant
Countenance
Artisan
Breadth
Scribe
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS:
“Early River Civilizations” Week 1 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the cultural achievements of
ancient Mesopotamia civilizations. Mesopotamia was the earliest civilization that arose and it was organized into city-states.
The development of this civilization is so important because these types of settlements are a reoccurring theme in the study of
history. The geographic region of Mesopotamia is known as the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia means in Greek “the land
between rivers” because of its location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As farming gave birth to civilization in
Mesopotamia the city-states grew and so did large conquering empires. Is these city-states’ society become very complex and
new inventions were created such as the plow and the wheel. There were also complex institutions such as schools, religion,
government, trade and they even created their own system of writing. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined
with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study
of ancient Mesopotamia. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects
an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper
understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along
with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s
knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students
following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as
frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, textdependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore,
rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of
the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual
clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage
in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While
many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular
supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity
focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this
particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences
they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities
that result in a close reading of Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia by Mayfield, and Quinn and a Fearsome Goddess from
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal is to foster student confidence when
encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding
of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives
students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students
the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing
them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their
teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia pages 4-7 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia pages 10-13 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia Pages 16 -17 & A Fearsome Goddess:
Enheduanna, “The Adoration of Inanna in Ur.” Pages 38-39 out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine development of civilization in Mesopotamia.
Week 1: Focus Question - What cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Mayfield, Christine, and Quinn, Kristine M. Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia. California:
Teacher Created Materials. 2007.
Day 1 – Pages 4-7
1. What does the author mean when he says, “People today are really lucky the ancient Mesopotamians
lived so many years ago”?
2. According to the paragraph on page five, what important qualities were reflected in Mesopotamian art?
3. According the document on page five, what things do we use today that ancient Mesopotamians created
thousands of years ago?
4. According to page six, what geographic features characterize what was ancient Mesopotamia?
5. According to the author, which empires eventually controlled Mesopotamia?
6. The last sentence of page six says, “Each city-state or empire had an amazing history”. What can you
infer about the people of Mesopotamia in that sentence?
Day 2 – Pages 10-13
1. According to the text, why is ancient Sumer known as the “cradle of civilization”?
2. According to the author of this passage, why did the Sumerians put their language into writing?
3. According to the paragraph on page 5, what were scribes and how could someone in Sumer become a
scribe?
4. What can you infer about economic classes in Sumer by reading the first two paragraphs of page 12?
5. According to the text, how was a system of trade developed and regulated in Sumer?
6. On page 13 in the section titled Inventions, Inventions, how did the plow and wheel impact the
development of societies?
Day 3 – Pages 16 -17 & A Fearsome Goddess: Enheduanna, “The Adoration of Inanna in Ur.” Pages 38-39
1. In reading the first paragraph on page 17, how can you tell that religion was a very important part of
daily life?
2. According to the text, what is astronomy and why were the Babylonians the first to study it?
3. According to the text, why are ziggurats so important?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
4. In reading the first 4 lines of the hymn, what can be deduced about religion and war in Mesopotamian
society?
5. In what ways does the author of the hymn describe Inanna a goddess of war?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
Early River Civilization
Week 2
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What are the political, economic, and social effects of written language in Mesopotamia?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – How does our government maintain order?
-Compare Hammurabi’s laws with laws in the U.S.
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Mayfield, Christine, and Quinn, Kristine
Academic
Academic
Domain
M. Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia.
Conquered
Seized
Code of Hammurabi
California: Teacher Created Materials. 2007.
Procedures
Bridewealth
Reed Stylus
Impressed
Disinherit
Cuneiform
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
Proclamation
Grave
Epic
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Caned
Pronouncements
Gilgamesh
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
Headmaster
Capital offense
2005
Neglected
Stela
Arithmetical
Embankment
Dispensed
First-Ranking Wife
Embrace
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.2.a, 6.2.8.A.2.b, 6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 2 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the political, social and economic
effects of the development of written language in Mesopotamia. Sumerians created a system of writing made on clay tablets in about
2300 B.C. Soon, children in Mesopotamia began going to school to become scribes where they were required to speak Sumerian.
Written language in Mesopotamia allowed for the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest known epic poem from any civilization to be passed
on and discovered from around the 18th century B.C. The epic includes some universal themes that people have thought about for
centuries, including friendship, adventure, the purpose of life, and the finality of death. Most notably, King Hammurabi of Babylon
had his collection of laws carved on an eight-foot black monument and placed in the middle of the town for all to read. It was one of
the first documents about citizen’s rights. Hammurabi’s political contributions are still seen today. They include an organized court
system with judges. He had separate departments of government that reported directly back to him. By reading and rereading the
passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and
secondary sources in the study of the political, economic, and social effects of written language in Mesopotamia. Students will need to
consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing
about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia by Mayfield, and Quinn and the following primary source
documents: What Did You Do in School?, Enjoy Yourself Always, and Rules for a Just Society from Ancient Times: Primary Sources
& Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to
reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always
reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text,
helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia pages 14-15 and The World in Ancient
Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume Page 37out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume Pages 37-41
out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume Pages 42-43
out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: What
were the most significant effects from the creation of a written system in Mesopotamia?
Week 2: Focus Question - What are the political, economic, and social effects of written language?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Mayfield, Christine, and Quinn, Kristine M. Primary Source Readers: Mesopotamia. California: Teacher Created
Materials. 2007.
Day 1 – Pages 14-15 and the Ancient Near Eastern World Page 37
1. According to this passage, the word Babylon means “gate of the god”. Think back to last week’s readings and
explain why this city was called this.
2. According to the text, how did King Hammurabi create one large empire?
3. According to the author of this text, what types of things did the Code of Hammurabi address?
&
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
4. According to this passage, how did the writing system of cuneiform work?
5. According to the document, what were some ways the invention of writing was used?
Extension Question
6. What can you infer about a society that has a system of writing?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 2 – Rules for a Just Society: Hammurabi’s Laws, About 1755 BCE – Pages 42-43
1. In Law 3 of Hammurabi, what type of crime does a person have to commit in order to be killed?
2. What does Hammurabi mean when he says, “If a man comes forward to give false testimony?”
3. Law 23 states, “before the god”. What implication does this have for this society?
4. What is the actual crime in Law 53?
5. According to Law 148, what happens to a man’s wife if she gets skin disease?
6. What is the purpose of the epilogue at the end of the document?
Extension Question: What similarities and differences can be found in Hammurabi’s laws and modern day laws of the
United States?
Day 3 – What did You Do in School? A Scribe’s Exercise. “Schooldays.” About 2000 BCE
1. According to the document, what is the boy studying to be?
2. How does the boy describe what he is doing in the first sentence?
3. What type of mood is the boy displaying in the sentences where he repeatedly says, “He caned me?”
4. What does the father mean when he says, “My little fellow has opened (wide) his hand, (and) you have made
wisdom enter there?”
Day 3 – “Enjoy Yourself Always” Epic of Gilgamesh, 18th or 17th Century BCE - Pages 40-41
1. According to the first four lines of the epic poem, why is Gilgamesh “wandering”?
2. What does the tavern-keeper mean when he tells Gilgamesh, “when gods created mankind, death they dispensed
to mankind?”
3. What life lesson can be learned from the third stanza of the poem?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
Early River Civilization
Week 3
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the various periods of ancient Egypt?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-KWL – Egypt
-Analyze map on page 4 of the Primary Source Readers: Egypt
-Compare Cuneiform with Hieroglyphics
-Egyptian Mathematics activities - http://www.discoveringegypt.com/egyptian-mathematics-numbers-hieroglyphs.htm
-Egyptian Medicine http://web.archive.org/web/19981205144321/http://www.teleport.com/~spindel/Egypt/EgyptPAge.html
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Prosper
Hieroglyphics
Surveying
Wisdom
Pharaoh
Old Kingdom
Reed
Obelisk
Mastabas
Dynasty
Tombs
Rhind Papyrus
Mummy
Limestone
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source
Readers: Egypt. California: Teacher Created
Materials. 2012.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.b, 6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 3 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the cultural achievement that
characterized the different periods of ancient Egypt. Similar to the Mesopotamian civilization of the Fertile Crescent, a similar
civilization emerged along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. One main difference between Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt is that
Egypt did not form individual city-states; however, it united into a single kingdom rather quickly. This gave rise to strong central
governments and shared culture that lasted for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians had created a written language, and some
people could read and write. Just like the scribes of Mesopotamia, they kept records in pictures and codes called hieroglyphics.
Egyptians were also innovators in the fields of science and math. They developed a system of numbers which allowed them to apply
mathematical equations to help survey land, build pyramids, and have a complex economy. Religion played an important role in
everyday life. They believed in different gods and goddesses and built huge temples to honor these gods. Egyptians even believed in
the afterlife which gave them a very optimistic view about death. Many of their achievements are directly influenced by their culture
and what they believed in. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will
explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the cultural achievement of ancient Egypt. Students
will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined
with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of Primary Source Readers: Egypt by Jordan and a secondary document on the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus.
The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how
to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the
question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use
of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Egypt pages 4-7 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Egypt pages 10-11 and the Rhind Papyrus out loud to the
class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Egypt pages 12-15 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: How
did culture play a role in the achievements and innovations of the ancient Egyptians?
What is the Rhind Papyrus?
In 1858, A. Henry Rhind bought a scroll that was 18 feet long and 13 inches
high, which now is called the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. A scribe named
Ahmes made this copy around 1650 or 1700 BCE (different sources are
inconsistent with the date), and he copied it from a document that dated 200
years before that, making the original from around 1850 BCE. The Rhind, also
called the Ahmes Papyrus, is the greatest source of information on Egyptian
mathematics from that time.
Although scholars are not exactly sure what the purpose of the Rhind originally
was, it seems to be a sort of guide to Ancient Egyptian mathematics. It contains
87 math problems, including equations, volumes of cylinders and prisms, and
areas of triangles, rectangles, circles and trapezoids, and fractions. The
Egyptians used unit fractions, which are fractions with one in the numerator, in
the Rhind Papyrus. In order to simplify things, the Egyptians included an
important table in the papyrus, so they could look up the answers to arithmetic
problems. This table showed the number 2 divided by all the odd numbers from
3 to 101. The answers to these division problems were stated in the table as
several fractions added together, although the plus signs were omitted. For
example, the fraction 5/8 would have been written like this: 1/2 1/8. Addition
and subtraction were accomplished in this way, but multiplication and division were a different matter. In fact,
the only multiplication that the Egyptians used was with the number 2. If they wanted to multiply 17 by 4, they
would have doubled 17 to get 34, and then they would have doubled 34 to get a final answer of 68. Although
this method was effective it was also time consuming! Division was accomplished by successively doubling the
denominator of a fraction.
The Oracle Think Quest. (June 21, 2013). The rhind papyrus. The Oracle Think Quest. Retrieved from
http://library.thinkquest.org/25672/areasand.htm.
Week 3: Focus Question - What cultural achievements characterized life in the various periods of ancient
Egypt?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt. California: Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Day 1 – Pages 4-7
1. According to the author of this passage, why is it important to learn from the past including looking
back to the history of ancient Egypt?
2. According to the second and third paragraphs on page 5, in what ways did the early Egyptians lead the
way in ingenuity for the next 5,000 years?
3. According to the section titled Keeping Records on page 5, how were early Egyptians similar to the
ancient Mesopotamians?
4. According to the passage on page six, how did the construction of houses eventually lead to building
tombs?
5. On the first sentence of the third paragraph on page six, the author says, “a very smart man was born.”
Why did he begin the paragraph with this statement?
6. According to the text of page seven, what was the significance of pyramids and the Great Sphinx?
Source: Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt. California: Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Day 2 – Pages 10-11
1. According to the text on page 10, what were the post important factors of the Egyptian system of
numbers?
2. After reading pages 10 and 11, describe the ways the Egyptians applied their system of numbers to
everyday jobs.
The Oracle Think Quest. (June 21, 2013). The rhind papyrus. The Oracle Think Quest. Retrieved from
http://library.thinkquest.org/25672/areasand.htm.
3. Where did the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus come from, and why do you think the author of this passage
pointed to the difficulty of pinpointing the date of when it was created?
4. According to the author of this document, what was the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus possibly used for?
5. After reading the second paragraph of this document, do you think Egyptians who created the Rhind
Papyrus were effective in how they used math?
Source: Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt. California: Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Day 3 – Pages 12-15
1. According to the first paragraph, how did ordinary people learn about the gods?
2. According to this passage, in what ways did the gods affect everyday behavior for people in Egypt?
3. On page 14 the author says, “The people of Egypt believed their pharaoh was a god.” What does that tell
you about the connection between government and religion in ancient Egyptian society?
4. According to the passage why was it important “for children within the pharaoh’s family to marry each
other”?
5. Why do you think the author thought it was important to mention that, “when a pharaoh died, sometimes
there was conflict over the throne” at the end of page 15?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
Early River Civilization
Week 4
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
To what extent did religion affect ancient Egyptian culture?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – KWL Egyptian mummification
-Have students visit this website to do additional research http://www.egyptartsite.com/mummy.html
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Corpse
Necropolis
Plummet
Debased
Embalmers
Frankincense
Abominate
Field of Reeds
Disemboweling
Slandered
Mummy
Natrum
Diverted
Mummification
Sepulchral chamber
Mode
Natron
clyster
Crooked
Canopic Jars
Aromatics
Afterlife
Infusion
Bark of the Governor
Offering Measure
Pasturage
Suggested Text(s)
Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt.
California: Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The
World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Herodotus “The Histories” 440 BC
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the extent to which religion
affected ancient Egyptian culture. Religion played a very important role in everyday life in ancient Egypt. An Egyptian man or
women wanted to live forever. Egypt was a polytheistic society and they worshipped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. One of
the most important gods was Osiris, the god of the dead. Death was an extremely important aspect of Egyptian life and it went hand
in hand with religion. In order to prepare for the afterlife the Egyptians developed a complex process of mummification which
involves embalming the corpse to keep it from decaying. They believed the spirit of a person who died would travel to another world.
The Book of the Dead contains spells designed for helping a soul arrive to the afterlife. There is a section of the book called “The
Negative Confession”, which was to be spoken by the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Herodotus, also known as the father of
history is one of the most well-known historians of all time. He was a Greek who through his travels and observations in Egypt
described the processes of mummification in detail. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom
discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the effects of religion on
ancient Egyptian culture. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an
author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of
we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of Primary Source Readers: Egypt by Jordan, part of “The Negative Confession” from Book of the Dead. NO.
125. 16th Century BCE, and a section from Herodotus’ The Histories written in 440 BCE. The goal is to foster student confidence
when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding
of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives
students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Primary Source Readers: Egypt pages 16-19 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume Pages 56-58
out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Herodotus: Mummification, from The Histories out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the effects of religion on everyday life in ancient Egypt.
Herodotus: Mummification, from The Histories – 440 BC
The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process, is the following:- They take
first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the nostrils, thus getting
rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a
cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents of the
abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm wine, and again
frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with the purest
bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spice except frankincense, and sew up the
opening. Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days, and covered entirely over. After
the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and
wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum,
which is used generally by the Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back
to the relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose,
shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in a sepulchral chamber,
upright against the wall. Such is the most costly way of embalming the dead.
If persons wish to avoid expense, and choose the second process, the following is the method
pursued:- Syringes are filled with oil made from the cedar-tree, which is then, without any
incision or disemboweling, injected into the abdomen. The passage by which it might be likely
to return is stopped, and the body laid in natrum the prescribed number of days. At the end of
the time the cedar-oil is allowed to make its escape; and such is its power that it brings with it
the whole stomach and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dissolved the
flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and the bones. It is returned in this
condition to the relatives, without any further trouble being bestowed upon it.
The third method of embalming, which is practiced in the case of the poorer classes, is to clear
out the intestines with a clyster, and let the body lie in natrum the seventy days, after which it
is at once given to those who come to fetch it away.
Herodotus. The Histories.
Herodotus (440 BC ) Mummification, from The Histories Retrieved from
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/herodotus-mummies.asp
Week 4: Focus Question – To what extent did religion affect ancient Egyptian culture?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt. California: Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Day 1 – Pages 16-19
1. According to the first paragraph on page 16, what was the importance of maintaining a well-treated
corpse?
2. According to the author of this passage, what were two effects of the belief in the afterlife?
3. How does the author describe what the Egyptians believed would happen after death?
4. According to the passage on page 18, how was process of mummification discovered by the Egyptians?
5. What does the author mean on page 17 when he says “dries out a corpse and leaves it quite lifelike?”
6. According to the description of the mummification process on page 19, which step is most important for
when the mummy returns to life?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 2 – I Didn’t Do It – “The Negative Confession.” Book of the Dead. NO. 125. 16th Century BCE Pages 5758
1. According to the summary of this primary source, what was the purpose of the Book of Dead?
2. According to the summary of this document, what was the traditional process the Egyptians developed
for the “The Negative Confession”.
3. After reading “The Negative Confession”, find at least four lines that require the dead person they did
no wrong to humans.
4. After reading “The Negative Confession”, find at least four lines that require the dead person they did
no wrong to the gods.
Extension Question: To what extent is “The Negative Confession” similar to the 10 Commandments?
Day 3 – Herodotus: Mummification, from The Histories – 440 BC
1. The first sentence of the Histories starts out by saying, “The mode of embalming.” What does
embalming mean?
2. According to Herodotus, summarize the basic process of the best way of embalming the dead.
3. What can you infer about socio-economic classes in ancient Egypt being that there are three different
processes for the mummification based on expense?
4. According to the document, what do all three embalming processes entail?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
Early River Civilization
Week 5
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient Indus valley civilizations?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook activity – look at the pictures on pages 6-11. What do they tell you about how we learned about the Indus Valley
Civilizations?
-In order to explore early Indus Valley Civilization visit this webpage contains grade level readings on different aspects of
Indus Civilization society and offers great images. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/
-Harappa Latest Discoveries images to be analyzed by students. http://www.harappa.com/indus2/index.html
- This webpage contains a wealth of information on the city of Mohenjo Daro - http://www.mohenjodaro.net/
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Conclusive
Mauryan period
Channels
Contemporaneous
Drainage
Thriving
Antiquities
Sanitation
Suggested Text(s)
Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient World: Ancient
India. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.B.2.a, 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the cultural
achievements characterized life in the ancient Indus valley civilizations. Nineteenth-century explorers searching for the
beginnings of ancient India faced many mysterious questions. They had already learned a lot about India from its
religious texts but they lacked evidence from other aspects of life. Eventually, in 1924, Sir John Marshall, a British
archaeologist, published an announcement describing a dig site near the small village of Harappa, in modern day Pakistan.
These early Indian cultures were as advanced and powerful as earlier Egyptian and Sumerian cultures. Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro are the earliest links to ancient Indian civilization. Sometime between 1800 BCE and 1700 BCE, the Indus
Valley civilizations began to disappear for various reasons including decline in trade or floods. By reading and rereading
the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary
sources and secondary sources in the study of the cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient Indus valley
civilizations. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an
author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper
understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient India. The goal is to foster student confidence when
encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India Pages 6-11 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India Pages 15-17 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India Pages 55 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient Indus valley civilizations
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
“Early River Civilizations”
Week 6
Week 5: Focus Question – What cultural achievements characterized life in the ancient Indus valley
civilizations?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient World: Ancient India. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Mystery of the Forgotten Civilization Pages 6-11
What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “It was a mystery without a main character?”
According to the first paragraph, what major achievements are described?
According to the end of the third paragraph, what were archeologist’s seeking to discover?
On page nine, what does the author mean by an “urban culture?”
After reading page ten, describe the importance of archeologist John Marshall’s dig site at Harappa.
How does the author of this passage compare early Indian cultures to that of their Egyptian and
Sumerian neighbors on page ten?
7. According to the last sentence on page 11, what types of legacies did the earliest civilizations of India
leave behind that still exist in modern day India?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Day 2 – The First People: Indus Valley Culture Pages 15-17
1. According to the first paragraph on page 15, what are two of the most well-known Indus Valley cities
and how do we know about them?
2. According to the passage on page 16, what does “signs of manufacturing facilities and supplies of raw
materials” suggest Indus Valley Civilizations?
3. According to the first paragraph on page 17, what could have happened to the Indus Valley?
Day 3 – The Past is Present – Keeping it Clean Page 55
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Why does the author of this passage mean when he describes Mohenjo Daro as, “thriving?”
According to this passage, what is another word for channels?
Reread this passage and describe how this ancient sewer system works.
Is “Keeping it Clean” an appropriate title for this passage?
What economic inference can you make about Mohenjo Daro after reading this passage?
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What cultural achievements characterized life in the Yellow River Valley Civilizations in China?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook activity – KWL China
-Have students further research the ancient Yellow River Valley Civilization
http://www.rivervalleycivilizations.com/yellow.php
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Situated
Successor
Ritual
Posed
Descendants
Locusts
Oracle bones
Inscriptions
Suggested Text(s)
Sonneborn, Liz. The Ancient World: Ancient
China. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The
World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.2.a, 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.c, 6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the cultural achievements
characterized life in the Yellow River Valley Civilizations in China. As farming increase in the Yellow River Valley, people
began living in larger settlements. The Xia dynast is the first civilization to emerge along the Yellow River Valley. Historians
debate whether the Xing Dynasty is mere legend or if there is evidence of this civilization. The Xia Dynasty is famous for the
powerful ruler Yu who had his decedents rule for a total of seventeen generations. The Shang period is the next Yellow River
Valley Civilization. The Shang Dynasty lasted from about 1600 to about 1050 BCE. Unlike the Xia Dynasty the Shang had
written evidence of its existence. The Shang used oracle bones as a way to predict the future. It was a very important part of
their culture. It would be used to helps such problems of drought which affected this agriculture society deeply. The people
during the Shang society were very religious and believed they could communicate with the souls of dead ancestors. Many
cultural achievements were important to the Shang period, including the use of pottery and bronze. By reading and rereading
the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources
and secondary sources in the effects of religion on ancient Egyptian culture. Students will need to consider the emotional
context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage
and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along
with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s
knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students
following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as
frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, textdependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore,
rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of
the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual
clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage
in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While
many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular
supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity
focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this
particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences
they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities
that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient China by Sonneborn, and Telling the Future with Oracle Bones, 12
and 11th Centuries BCE. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills
they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the
passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping
them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students
the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing
them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their
teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient China pages 12-13 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently The Ancient World:
Ancient China pages 12-13
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume Pages 13-15
out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Oracle Bones on page 88 out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the cultural developments of the Yellow Rover Valley civilization.
Week 6: Focus Question – What cultural achievements characterized life in the Yellow River Valley
Civilization of China?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Sonneborn, Liz. The Ancient World: Ancient China. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Pages 12-13
1. In the first sentence on page 12, what is the significance of the author starting with the phrase, “Legend
claims”?
2. According to this passage, how did Yu maintain power with his family?
3. According to the first paragraph on page 13, why do “many modern historians believe that ancient
stories about the Xia are nothing but made-up legends?
4. In what ways in the Xia Dynasty of China and the Harappa Civilization from the Indus Valley similar in
terms of the evidence they left behind for us to learn about them?
Day 2 – Pages 13-15
1. In reading the introduction to the Shang period on page 13, what was different about then Shang and the
Xia Dynasty?
2. According to the passage on page 13, what type of situation s were oracle bones used for?
3. According to the first paragraph on page 14 why is it significant that “inscription (on the oracle bones)
are written with characters that are close to the characters of modern Chinese?”
4. What does the author mean when he says “the Shang’s subjects were rural farmers?”
5. After reading ages 14 and 15, describe the relationship between people of the Shang period and their
dead ancestors.
6. According to the last paragraph on the Shang period on page 15, what other achievements were essential
to Shang culture?
Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume.
New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 – Telling the Future with Oracle Bones, 12th and 11th Centuries BCE Page 37
1. According to the summary of the oracle bone primary source on page 37, what was the purpose of the
oracle bone?
2. According to the first three lines of the document, what word is used in all three lines and why is that
important?
3. What does the author mean when he says, “Should the king go to offer a wine sacrifice and perform the
plowing ritual”?
4. What does this document tell you about the importance of agriculture in Shang society?
5. How does this primary source give you an idea of how the people of the Shang period viewed religion?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 2
“Early River Civilizations”
Week 7
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on which river valley civilizations was the most culturally advanced.
Focus Question
What are the most significant changes in culture that affect the development of technology and achievement?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Analyze and describe images from the book that support your argument.
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Mayfield, Christine, and Quinn, Kristine M. Primary
Source Readers: Mesopotamia. California: Teacher Created
Materials. 2007.
Jordan, Shirley J. Primary Source Readers: Egypt. California:
Teacher Created Materials. 2012.
Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient
Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York: The
Oxford Press, 2005
Herodotus “The Histories” 440 BC
Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient World: Ancient India. New York:
Scholastic. 2013.
Sonneborn, Liz. The Ancient World: Ancient China. New York:
Scholastic. 2013.
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.2.a, 6.2.8.A.2.b, 6.2.8.A.2.c, 6.2.8.B.2.a, 6.2.8.C.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.a, 6.2.8.D.2.b, 6.2.8.D.2.c,
6.2.8.D.2.d
“Early River Civilizations” Week 7 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to synthesize the readings of the
past five weeks.
Reading Task: Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that
compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the documents for the purpose of addressing the summative
assessment question.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the texts in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in an examination of the historical question posed. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering
complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a
text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This
gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their arguments after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the texts and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summative Assessment
This unit looks back to the very beginnings of complex civilizations. It starts at a time when people
abandoned the nomadic lifestyle and begin settling down in permanent settlements. They lived next to
rivers which gave sparked the birth of agriculture and allowed people to have a surplus of food and
concentrate on other aspects of society. Soon, complex institutions, written records and division of labor
emerged to create civilization as we know it today.
Considerations:
What is your evaluation of these two positions? What evidence do you have to support your claim? Which
of these documents in this unit do you believe is most trustworthy? Why? What other evidence would you
need to strengthen your claim?
Writing Task:
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on which river valley civilizations was the most culturally advanced.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3 Overview
“The Classical Civilization of Greece”
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most enduring achievement of Ancient Greece.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings
What is the most enduring achievement from the ancient -The seeds of much of Western cultural heritage were planted
Greek civilizations?
during this time period.
Focus Questions
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
What is the Polis and how did it
What political achievements
To what extent did geography
influence the development of Sparta?
characterized ancient Athens?
influence the development of Greek
Civilization?
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
To what extent was the development of To what extent was the development of What caused the fall of ancient Greece
ancient Greek civilization tied to its
ancient Greek civilization tied to its
and what was Greece’s most important
cultural creations of daily life?
religious beliefs and its literature and
legacy?
art?
Week 7:
What is the most enduring achievement
of Ancient Greece?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Academic Vocabulary
Periodically
Tone
Inseparable
Embodiment
Adjacent
Paralleling
Scapegoat
Moderation
Affairs
Bawdy
Contemplate
Excessive
Fundamental
Somber
Fidelity
Worldly
Precisely
Reinforce
Inferring
Cult
Constituted
Prized
Ignoble
Steeped
Vastly
Densely
Improvisations
Mourns
Proposal
Prosper
Realm
Contemporary
Disposition
Relatively
Distinctive
Scope
Appointed
Ultimately
Cornerstone
Recoiled
Dispute
Intellectual
Implied
Cringing
Rendered
Resourcefulness
Enhancing
Bearing
Administration
Perilous
Rigorous
Distaff
Merit
Subtlety
Comprised
Sleight of hand
Hindsight
Instinct
Innovation
Fated
Implanted
Periodic
Universal
Clan
Polis
Political unit
Assembly
Lycurgus
Citizen
Helot
Aristocratic
Agoge
Ritual
Ephors
Ekklesia
Hereditary
Xenophon
Infantry
Enomotarch
Polemarch
Democracy
Demokratia
Ekklesia
Assembly
Citizens
Legislators
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Decrees
Isthmus
Polis
Vessel
Amendments
Famine
Debate
Drought
Dispute Dikasteria
Altitude
Boule
Athenian
Infantry
Tragedy
Oration
Sophocles
Statesman
Yoke
Gettysburg Address
Tragedies
Colonization
Symposia
Polis
Androns
Climate
Aristocratic
Import
Partheneion
Religious Rite
Panhellenic
Deities
Olympic Games
Barracks
Mentor
Infantrymen
Deities
Polytheism
Immortal
Epic Poem
Climate
Votive
Philosophy
Humanity
Kinsmen
Republic
Rhetoric
Horsehair crest
A flash in arms
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.c, 6.2.8.A.3.d, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.B.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a,
6.2.8.D.3.f
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 1 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the development of the Greek polis
and the role it played in the creation of Sparta, one of the most powerful city-states of Greece. There are many situations within a
society that inspire people to do innovative things. The ancient Greeks have contributed immensely to the way the modern world
deals with social order. Individual political units or city-states developed in ancient Greece mainly due to geography. The mountains,
rivers and sea separated many regions and each settlement developed independently from one another. These city states are called
polis. City-states often allied with one another in order to protect themselves from outside invaders. These experiences developed a
sense of common Greek culture; however, each city-state maintained loyalty to the polis. Sparta was one of the largest and most
influential city- states. In order to dissolve tensions among citizens and the different classes, Sparta’s developed the law code of
Lycurgus. Sparta would not be known only for bringing law and order to society, but also known for its advanced military tactics. By
reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts,
primary sources and secondary sources in the development of the Greek polis and the role it played in the creation of Sparta, one of
the most powerful city-states of Greece. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice)
affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper
understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece and Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Spartan War Machine, c. 375
BCE. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding
how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for
the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their
use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 34-38 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 40-45 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads primary source document Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Spartan War
Machine, c. 375 BCE out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: How
did the Spartans deal with the common problems of the polis?
Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Spartan War Machine, c. 375 BCE
As to the idea, commonly entertained, that the tactical arrangement of the Spartan heavy infantry is highly
complicated, no conception could be more opposed to facts. For in the Spartan order the front-rank-men are all
leaders, so that each file has everything necessary to play its part efficiently. In fact, this disposition is so easy
to understand that no one who can distinguish one human being from another can fail to follow it. One set have
the privilege of leaders, the other the duty of followers. The evolutional orders by which greater depth or
shallowness is given to the battle line are given by word of mouth, by the enomotarch, (commander) and they
cannot be mistaken. None of these maneuvers presents any difficulty whatsoever to the understanding.
Further, the law enjoins upon all Spartans, during the whole period of the campaign, the constant practice of
gymnastic exercises, whereby their pride in themselves is increased, and they appear freer and of a more liberal
aspect than the rest of the world. After the gymnastic exercises, the senior polemarch (leader of war) gives the
order by herald to be seated. This serves all the purposes of inspection. After this the order is given "To get
breakfast," and for "The outpost to be relieved." After this, again, come pastimes and relaxations before the
evening exercises, after which the herald’s cry is heard "To take the evening meal." When they have sung a
hymn to the gods to whom the offerings of happy omen have been performed, the final order "Retire to rest at
the place of arms, is given.”
Fred Fling, ed., A Source Book of Greek History, (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1907), pp. 73-75
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/xenophon-spartanwar.asp
Week 1: Focus Question - What is the Polis and how did it influence the development of Sparta?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Solving the Riddle of Social Order Pages 34-38
1. According to the first paragraph of this passage, how did geography influence the development of
separate city-states?
2. On page 36 the author says, “These experiences gave citizens of each polis a sense of common Greek
Culture.” What does he mean by that?
3. Why is the third paragraph on page 36 particularly important?
4. According to the last paragraph on page 36, why was it essential to develop the code of Lycurgus in
Sparta?
5. What is the main purpose of the last paragraph on page 38 and why did they end this passage with this
topic?
Day 2 – The Politeia: Sparta’s Constitution Pages 40-45
1. According to the first paragraph of this passage, who were the helot’s and how did they pose a problem
to Sparta?
2. Based on the text, how was Sparta innovative in dealing with tensions between social classes?
3. In the third paragraph on page 40, how did Sparta maintain a balance of political power?
4. On page 42, the author of the passage says, “made decisions by majority rule”. What does this mean?
5. What weaknesses can you find about the ekklesia?
6. According to the author, to what extent was the military important in civic life in Sparta?
7. In this passage, how was “Spartan government…remarkable for coherently blending elements of
monarchy and democracy?
Day 3 – Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Spartan War Machine, c. 375 BCE
1. According to the document, what was Xenophon’s opinion about the “tactical arrangement of the
Spartan heavy infantry?”
2. How does Xenophon describe the simplicity of his disposition?
3. According to the first paragraph of the document, what two roles does Xenophon describe?
4. According to Xenophon, how does the Spartan warriors benefit from gymnastic exercises?
5. What is Xenophon mean when he says, “When they have sung a hymn to the gods to whom the
offerings of happy omen have been performed?”
6. What is the purpose of the second paragraph of this document?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 2
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What political achievements characterized ancient Athens?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – KWL – What is the role of government?
-Have students analyze picture on page 46 of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. Can they figure out what is happening?
-Venn diagram – Athens and Sparta
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Academic
Domain
Domain
Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Appointed
Direct Democracy
Dikasteria
Dispute
Demokratia
Boule
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
Rendered
Ekklesia
Infantry
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Administration Assembly
Oration
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
Merit
Legislators
Statesman
2005
Decrees
Polis
Amendments
Debate
Dispute
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.c, 6.2.8.A.3.d, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.D.3.a,6.2.8.D.3.d
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 2 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore political achievements
that characterized ancient Athens. From about 508 to 321 BCE, the polis (Greek city-state) of Athens maintained a direct
democracy. This form of government is very different from the representative form of democracy found in the United
States. The word for democracy comes from the Greek word demokratia, meaning “the rule of the people”. Democracy
implies freedom, not only to participate in the government, but also freedom to live as you want and speak your mind.
One of the most important figures responsible for the development of democracy in Athens was Pericles. Pericles ruled
Athens from 461 to 429 BCE and not only strengthened Athenian democracy but brought glory to Athens. By reading
and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts,
primary sources and secondary sources in the study of political achievements that characterized ancient Athens. Students
will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When
combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the
past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece and the primary source document A Tribute
to the Athenian War Dead from Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal
is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding
how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides
evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop
fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 45-48 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 45-49 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads primary source document Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles’s
Speech delivered 430 BCE out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: What
political achievements characterized ancient Athens?
Week 2: Focus Question - What political achievements characterized ancient Athens?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Athenian Democracy Pages 45-49
1. According to the first paragraph on Athenian democracy on page 45, what type of democracy did
Athens first have and how was it different from the democracy of the United States?
2. What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “Then, as now, democracy was tied up with
the concept of liberty?”
3. In the first paragraph of this passage the author mentions “the Greek word demokratia, meaning the rule
of the people.” How does this state conflict with the second paragraph when the author details which
Athenians have political rights?
4. According to the passage on page 46, what was the process for making laws?
5. According to this passage, what types of issues were debated by the courts?
Day 2 – Pages 45-49
6. On page 47 the author says, “Most often, ten (judges) were grouped, one coming from each tribe.” Why
is this important for a democratic government?
7. According to the description of the ekklesia (assembly) on page 45 and 46 and the dikasteria (courts) on
page 47 and 48, was every male citizen allowed to participate in every part of the democratic process?
Explain with evidence from the text.
8. What does the author mean when he says, “Participation in Athenian democracy, especially the courts,
could be very time-consuming?”
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 –A Tribute to the Athenian War Dead – Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles’s
Speech Delivered 430 BCE Pages 110-111
1. According to the summary of this primary source document, who were Thucydides and Pericles?
2. What does Pericles mean when he says, “Our government does not copy our neighbors’, but is a model
to them?”
3. According to the document, who is protected under the law?
4. What is the main purpose of the second paragraph?
5. What distinction does Pericles make between private and public life?
6. Why does Pericles say, “Athens is the School of Greece?”
7. In reading the last paragraph of this document, what can say about Pericles and the patriotism of Athens
about their city?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 3
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
To what extent did geography influence the development of Greek Civilization?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Analyze map of Ancient Greece Page 55 in book Ancient Greece. Then compare it with a political map of the modern
world.
-Go over geographic terms (landforms).
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Hindsight
Colonization
Isthmus
Fated
Polis
Vessel
Periodic
Climate
Innovation
Prized
Classical Age
Famine
Densely
Import
Drought
Prosper
Maritime trade
Altitude
Establish
Climate
Intellectual
Athenian
Resourcefulness
Tragedy
Perilous
Yoke
Sleight
Subtlety
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.B.3.a, 6.2.8.B.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.c
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 3 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the extent to which
geography influenced the development of classical Greek Civilization. One of the many achievements of the ancient
Greeks was their ingenuity in adapting to rough geographical conditions. The Greeks were almost destined by the god to
develop as they did due to these geographic conditions. Its mountains, lakes, and rivers encouraged the formation of
numerous, isolated city states. Its long coastline fostered colonization and overseas trade. Its relative lack of farmable
land guaranteed periodic food shortages. These conditions brought one polis into conflict with another. Greece’s variety
of climates helped establish local cultures and patterns of trade, which in turn spread cultural practices. By reading and
rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts,
primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the forces that shaped ancient Greece. Students will need to
consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined
with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece and the primary source document What a
Wonder Is Mankind from Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal is to
foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to
build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence
for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and
reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 50-56 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 57-59 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads primary source document by Sophocles, What a Wonder Is Mankind! Pages 107108 out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the extent to which the ancient Greeks were innovative in dealing with geographic conditions.
Week 3: Focus Question - To what extent did geography influence the development of Greek Civilization?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Forces that Shaped Ancient Greece Pages 50-56
1. According to the second paragraph on page 50, where was ancient Greece located?
2. After reading the passage on page 51, to what extent to geography play a role in creating borders and
causing war?
3. According to this passage, what role did geographical landforms (mountains and rivers) play in religion
and culture of the ancient Greeks?
4. According to the second paragraph on page 56, how did the ancient Greeks overcome the challenge of
slow trade?
5. What does the author mean when he says, “The importance-the danger-of maritime travel continued to
be an inspiration for Greek innovation?”
6. According the passage at the end of page 56 and the beginning of page 57, what were the significant
effects on ancient Greek culture by creating outposts for trade?
Day 2 – Two Seasons, Many Climates Pages 57-59
1. Why does the author begin the passage on climates by stating, “The development of ancient Greece was
also shaped by its climate?
2. According to the passage on page 58 and 59, what challenges did the Greek’s face due to the climate?
3. According to this passage, what effect did the climate and the growth of population have on trade?
4. According to the last paragraph on page 59, what was the most significant impact on ancient Greeks
being that they were located “at the point where Europe, Asia, and Africa meet?”
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 –What a Wonder is Mankind! – Sophocles. Antigone. About 440 BCE Pages 107-108
1. According to the summary of the primary source document, what was the purpose of ancient
Athenian tragedies?
2. What does the author of the summary mean when he says, “the resourcefulness of humans in
conquering the sea and Mother Earth”?
3. In the first stanza of this poem Sophocles says, “Wonders are many on earth, and the greatest of
these is man.” How does Sophocles use the earth to prove that man is the greatest wonder?
4. Sophocles says, “The immortal mother of gods”, in the second line of the second stanza. What does
this tell you about ancient Greeks and what they think about the earth?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 4
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
To what extent was the development of ancient Greek civilization tied to its cultural creations of daily life?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook activity – Ask students what types of things we have in our daily lives that we take for granted. What type of
entertainment do we enjoy?
-Venn Diagram – Ancient Greek daily life & U.S. daily life
-Create a simulation or play with the class
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Academic
Domain
Domain
Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Bawdy
Comprised
Tragedies
Somber
Instinct
Symposia
Source: Aristotle. Poetics.
Reinforce
Implanted
Androns
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/aristotleTone
Universal
Aristocratic
poetics-ex.asp
Paralleling
Contemplate
Partheneion
Realm
Fidelity
Religious Rite
Distinctive
Inferring
Panhellenic
Cornerstone
Ignoble
Deities
Implied
Improvisations
Barracks
Enhancing
Mentor
Rigorous
Infantrymen
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the extent to which the development
of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural creations of daily life. Dance, music, theater, festivals, and games were important
parts of daily life in ancient Greece. Greek dance was believed to be a gift from the gods to mankind. Music and dance together were
considered essential to celebration and maintaining communication with the gods. At Panhellenic festivals many musicians and
entertainers were brought together which contributed to a sense of identity and shared experience. Athletic games, such as the
Olympics, were the most popular competitions. These types of festivals influenced the Greeks and helped produce a very competitive
society. Another important aspect of Greek culture was the importance placed on education. Poetry was used to help educate students
and the art of imitation was very important to develop young scholars. Each polis had a different style of education. Sparta placed its
importance on the goal of enhancing the polis’s military might. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with
classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the
extent to which the development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural creations of daily life. Students will need to
consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing
about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the extent to which the development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural
creations of daily life. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece and the primary source document Aristotle’s Poetics (excerpt). The
goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to
build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the
question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use
of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 68-71 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 71-75 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads an excerpt from the primary source document Aristotle’s Poetics out loud to the
class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the extent to which the development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural creations of daily life.
Aristotle: Poetics, excerpts
Poetry in general seems to have sprung from two causes, each of them lying deep in our nature. First, the
instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals being
that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less
universal is the pleasure felt in things imitated. We have evidence of this in the facts of experience. Objects
which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced with minute fidelity: such
as the forms of the most ignoble (unworthy) animals and of dead bodies. The cause of this again is, that to learn
gives the liveliest pleasure, not only to philosophers but to men in general; whose capacity, however, of learning
is more limited. Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in contemplating it they find
themselves learning or inferring, and saying perhaps, 'Ah, that is he.' For if you happen not to have seen the
original, the pleasure will be due not to the imitation as such, but to the execution, the coloring, or some such
other cause.
Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being
manifestly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their
special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry.
Source: Aristotle. Poetics. http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/aristotle-poetics-ex.asp
Week 4: Focus Question – To what extent was the development of ancient Greek civilization tied to its cultural
creations of daily life?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Pleasures of Daily Life Pages 68-71
1.
2.
3.
4.
According to this passage, what did the Greeks consider important?
According to the text, what type of situations did dance play a major role?
What does the author mean when he says, “regardless of social class” in the third paragraph?
Why did the author of this text close the third paragraph by saying, “”The polis was much more than a
city of walls and buildings: it was a social grouping united by common cultural experiences?”
5. According to the passage on page 69, how did Panhellenic festivals help “to forge the sense of a shared
culture among the people?”
6. Based on your reading of the text, what can you infer about the ancient Greeks being that placed so
much importance on competitive festival such as the Olympic Games?
Day 2 – World within the World Pages 71-75
1. What does the word ‘cornerstone’ mean in the first sentence of this passage?
2. According to the text on pages 71-72 how did Greek education change?
3. According to the passages on pages 72-73, what was the main difference between Sparta and Athens in
terms of education?
4. What does the author mean on page 74 when he says, “Athens instituted group schooling to educate
citizens for the new state?
5. According to the last paragraph of this passage, how did education take on a more important role?
Extension Question
6. Is the title of this passage appropriate? Explain.
Day 3 - Aristotle: Poetics, excerpts
1.
2.
3.
4.
What connection does Aristotle make between poetry and nature?
According to Aristotle, what is one main difference between man and other animals?
What does Aristotle mean when he says, “We have evidence of this in the facts of experience?”
According to Aristotle, where will man get the pleasure from if not seeing the original poet reciting a
poem?
5. To what extent did the ancient Greeks place importance on imitating poems?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 5
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
To what extent was the development of ancient Greek civilization tied to its religious beliefs and its literature and art?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity- Ask students how much people rely on religion during their everyday lives.
-Have students take a look at page 78 in The Ancient World: Ancient Greece – Modern-Day Mythology
-Venn Diagram – Greek Mythology and Marvel Comic Books http://greekmythology.com/
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Domain
Inseparable
Social Structure
Philosophy
Embodiment
Deities
Humanity
Moderation
Polytheism
Kinsmen
Excessive
Immortal
Rhetoric
Worldly
Epic Poem
Horsehair crest
Cult
Votive
Aflash in arms
Steeped
Mourns
Contemporary
Scope
Recoiled
Cringing
Bearing
Scapegoat
Distaff
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.f
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 5 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the extent to which the
development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its religious beliefs and its literature and art? Religion was inseparable from
Greek culture. Religion was a shared public experience amongst all Greeks. It was, along with political life, the foundation of social
structure. Some Greek deities originated and evolved from earlier deities of other civilizations. The Greeks practiced polytheism,
which means they worshipped more than one god. Some gods or goddesses ruled over one aspect of nature and some presided over
mysterious realms. City-states were also under the protection of one specific god or goddess. For example, Athena was central to
Athens and Zeus to Olympia. The Greek gods were an essential part to almost all aspects of Greek life. The gods also played a major
role in literature. Literature, especially the epic poetry of Homer, played a central role in Greek culture. Homer’s The Iliad and The
Odyssey reflect the Greek’s fascination with the age of colonization. Themes of war, glory and heroism play a key role in his epic
poems. One of the most important and infamous aspects of Greek society is philosophy. Philosophical questions are found in poems
and in Greek tragedies. The Athenian philosopher Plato’s writings include dialogue which offer different perspectives on moral and
political questions. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore
the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the extent to which the development of ancient Greek
civilization was tied to its religious beliefs and its literature and art. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and
how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback,
students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece and the primary source document Homer’s the Iliad (Excerpt) from
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal is to foster student confidence when
encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a
text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students
another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 68-71 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 71-75 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads an excerpt from the primary source document Aristotle’s Poetics out loud to the
class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the extent to which the development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural creations of daily life.
Week 5: Focus Question – To what extent was the development of ancient Greek civilization tied to its religious
beliefs and its literature and art?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Glory of Ancient Greece Pages 76-82
1. What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “Religion was inseparable from Greek
culture?”
2. How does the author describe where Greek deities evolved from?
3. According to the passage on page 79, how were Greek gods infused to everyday life?
4. What is the main purpose of the first and second paragraphs on page 81?
5. What can you infer about the ancient Greeks and religion after reading this passage?
Day 2 – Literature, Philosophy and the Theater Pages 82-84
1. According to the introduction of this passage, which epic poem played a central role in Greek culture?
2. What types of themes are reflected in some of the famous literature of ancient Greece?
3. What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “Tragedies often helped citizens connect their
daily lives with larger philosophical questions”, on page 83?
4. According to the first paragraph on page 84, why did Plato deem it important to have his writings take
the form of dialogue?
5. How did the author of this passage describe the connection Plato made between the individual and the
polis?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 –A Soldier’s Family – Homer, The Iliad, About 750 BCE Pages 102-103
1. According to the summary of the primary source document on page 102, why are Homer’s poems the
Iliad and the Odyssey called “epics”?
2. After reading the second and third paragraph of the summary of the primary source, find two themes that
can be found in the Iliad.
3. What does Homer mean when he describes Hector’s son as “cringing against his nurse’s full breast?
4. Why does Homer say “shining Hector” and “glorious Hector” on page 102? What does this tell you
about Hector?
5. How is war portrayed in this excerpt of Homer’s the Iliad?
6. According to the text, how does the importance of family differ from how humans place importance to
the gods?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 3
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 6
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What caused the fall of ancient Greece and what was Greece’s most important legacy?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity- Look at the statue on page 91. Why do you think they made statues?
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Academic
Domain
Fundamental
Corinth
Imposed
Macedonian
Overturned
Heritage
Splendor
Nero
Assimilated
Justinian
Middle Ages
Renaissance
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS:
“The Classical Civilization of Greece” Week 6 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the causes of the fall
of ancient Greece and Greece’s most important legacy. The Roman Republic’s destruction of the wealthy polis od
Corinth in 146 BCE signaled a change in Greek history. The spread of Christianity throughout Greece and the destruction
of local cults determined the end of traditional Greek polytheism. Greek’s legacy lived in in Europe during the
Renaissance and into the early years of the United States history. By reading and rereading the passages closely,
combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary
sources in the study of the causes of the fall of ancient Greece and Greece’s most important legacy. Students will need to
consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined
with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. The goal is to foster student confidence
when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 90-92 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 92-96 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then The Ancient World: Ancient Greece pages 96-97 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as:
Examine the extent to which the development of ancient Greek civilization was tied to its cultural creations of daily life.
Week 6: Focus Question – What caused the fall of ancient Greece and what was Greece’s most important legacy?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Legacy of Ancient Greece Pages 90-92
1. What does the author of this passage when he says, “a fundamental shift in Greek history?”
2. According to the first paragraph on page 91, how did Roman rule regard Greek culture and achievement?
3. According to this passage, what did the Greeks to try and restore their greatness?
4. To what extent did the spread of Christianity affect Greek culture?
5. What can you infer about the last sentence of this passage on page 92? “Centuries later, it would flower
magnificently on other shores?
Day 2 – Renaissance and Revival Pages 92 & 94-96
1. According to the passage on page 92 where was classical Greek art, literature and philosophy revived?
2. What is the main theme of the paragraphs on page 94 and 95?
3. What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “The sophisticated climate of these cities also produced
men whose talents fueled the rebirth of classical learning?”
4. What can you infer about Greek art, literature, architecture and learning after reading the first and second
paragraph on page 96?
Day 2 – Page 96 (last paragraph) page 97
1. According to the passage, where else did Greek revival take place?
2. What does the author of the this passage mean when he says, Historians have suggested that Abraham Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address displays striking parallels with the great funeral oration delivered by Pericles to honor the
dead during the Peloponnesian War?
3. Reread the last paragraph of the book on page 97. What is the author synthesizing and why did he end the book
with this paragraph?
Day 3 – Page 37 - The Past Is Present – An Enduring Style
1. What is the main focus of this paragraph?
Extension Question
2. Is the title, “An Enduring Style” appropriate? Explain
Day 3 – Page 52 – The Past Is Present – “I Swear By Apollo…”
1. According to this passage who was Hippocrates?
Extension Question
2. Why was this section chosen to be part of ‘The Past Is Present’ section of the book?
Day 3 – Page 93 – The Past Is Present – The Voice of the People
1. According to the author of this passage. Who did Cleisthenes believe was important in shaping the political
process?
2. What can you infer about this passage being that it was the last passage of ‘The Past Is Present’ section of the
book?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 1
“The Classical Civilization of Greece”
Week 7
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most enduring achievement of Ancient Greece.
Focus Question
What is the most enduring achievement of Ancient Greece?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Analyze and describe images from the book that support your argument.
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Greece. New
York: Scholastic. 2013.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
The Oxford Press, 2005
Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): The Spartan War Machine, c. 375
BCE
Source: Aristotle. Poetics.
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.c, 6.2.8.A.3.d, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.B.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a,
6.2.8.D.3.f
“Early River Civilizations”
Week 7 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to synthesize the readings of the
past six weeks.
Reading Task: Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that
compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the documents for the purpose of addressing the summative
assessment question.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the texts in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in an examination of the historical question posed. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering
complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a
text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This
gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their arguments after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the texts and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summative Assessment
This unit looks back to the very beginnings of ancient Greece. Greece is known for many things such as
philosophy, art, architecture, trade, astronomy and its ability to adapt to rough geographic conditions.
Greece would soon decline due to internal warfare, disease and invasion; however, the Greek legacy can be
seen in modern day society in almost every corner of the western world.
Considerations:
What is your evaluation of these two positions? What evidence do you have to support your claim? Which
of these documents in this unit do you believe is most trustworthy? Why? What other evidence would you
need to strengthen your claim?
Writing Task:
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most enduring achievement of Ancient Greece.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 4 Overview
“Ancient Rome and Christianity”
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most enduring achievement of the Roman Empire.
Essential Questions
Enduring Understandings
What is the most enduring achievement from the
-The early Romans established a republic, which grew
Classical Roman civilizations?
powerful and spread its influence.
-The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model
of political organization and control.
-Christianity has spread has spread throughout the world and
today has more than a billion followers.
Focus Questions
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
To what extent did social and
How did the Roman Government set
What were the most significant
economic change shape Roman
the stage for American government?
technological achievements of the
institutions?
Roman Empire?
Week 4:
What was the most enduring
achievement of the Roman Empire?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Academic Vocabulary
Consequently
Enact
Aforementioned
Prevail
Retained
Underlying
Rendered
Depths
Invariably
Dismantle
Furthermore
Demise
Invested
Concessions
Belittle
Integrated
Prominent
Preside
Concur
Grandeur
Decrees
Administer
Requisite
Unconditional
Discretion
Underlying
Herein
Squandered
Persisted
Override
Vulnerable
Summon
Indicated
Decline
Stripped
Functions
Counteract
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Monarch
Censor
Judicial Branch
Germanic
Hierarchy
Plebeians
Veto
Mercenary
Magistrate
Seceded
Consul
Outpost
Curiate Assembly
Tribune
Ratify
Millennium
Republic
Aedile
Treaties
Greco-Roman
Empire
Checks and Balances
Ambassadors
Legacy
Patriarchal
Emperor
Ministers
Architectural
Clan
Institution
Bill
Prodigal
Roman Senate
Roman Republic
Adjournment
New Testament
Elders
Constitution
Military reversal
Parable
Representative
Polybius
Pandemic
Estate
Curiae
Executive Branch
Famine
Curia
Legislative Branch
Kingship
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.B.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.f
“Ancient Rome and Christianity”
Unit 1 Overview
Unit Rationale: In this unit, students gain an understanding of the origins, development, achievement, and
legacy of ancient Rome. Students will investigate the roots of Roman ingenuity and innovation. First-person
accounts from archeologist’s discoveries, maps, artifacts, and other primary and secondary source materials
may be used to answer historical questions.
Historical Thinking:
The study of history rests on knowledge of facts, dates, names, places, events, and ideas. However, true
historical understanding requires students to engage in historical thinking: to raise questions and to marshal
solid evidence in support of their answers; to go beyond the facts presented in their textbooks and examine the
historical record for themselves; to consult documents, journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art,
quantitative data, and other evidence from the past, and to do so imaginatively--taking into account the
historical context in which these records were created and comparing the multiple points of view of those on the
scene at the time.
“Facts are crucial to historical understanding, but there is only way for them to take root in memory: Facts are
mastered by engaging students in historical questions that spark their curiosity and make them passionate about
seeking answers.” (“Reading Like A Historian”, Wineburg, Martin, and Monte-Sano, Teachers College Press,
New York, 2011.)
Four main skills help to facilitate historical understanding: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and
corroborating.




Sourcing-Historians begin reading a document at the end by sourcing it. They glance at the first couple
of words but then go immediately to the document’s attribution. Who wrote this source and when? Is it
a diary entry? A memo obtained through the Freedom of Information Act? A leaked e-mail? Is the
author in a position to know first-hand or this account based on hearsay? Sourcing transforms the act of
reading from passive reception to engaged and active interrogation.
Contextualizing-Contextualizing is the notion that events MUST be located in place and time to be
properly understood.
Close Reading-Primary and secondary sources provide students with an opportunity for close reading.
They are the place to teach students to slow down and read closely, to think deeply about word choice
and subtext.
Corroborating-Corroborating is a strategy in which a reader asks questions about important details to
determine points of agreement and disagreement. By comparing and contrasting multiple account,
students can start to build a real understanding of what happened in the past and why.
Discipline Specific Literacy:
Research has shown that a key to literacy is exposing students to a rich diet of texts that mix genre and style “at a variety
of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics.” Primary sources confront readers with varied styles and textures of
language that push the boundaries of literacy.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 4
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 1
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
To what extent did social and economic change shape Roman institutions?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – KWL chart for US Government
-Review graphic organizer of the Structure of Government under the Roman Republic http://rome.mrdonn.org/senate.html
-Page 12 in The Ancient World: Ancient Rome – Keeping Count – Introduce the U.S. Census
Academic & Content-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Academic
Domain
Domain
Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Consequently
Monarch
Censor
Retained
Hierarchy
Plebeians
Invariably
Magistrate
Seceded
Invested
Curiate
Tribune
Prominent
Assembly
Aedile
Decrees
Republic
Checks and Balances
Discretion
Empire
Emperor
Persisted
Patriarchal
Constitution
Summon
Clan
Stripped
Elders
Dismantle
Curiae
Concessions
Curia
Preside
Kingship
Enact
Underlying
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.c,6.2.8.A.3.e , 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.d
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 1 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the extent to which social and
economic change shaped Roman institutions. From the beginning, Rome’s governmental institutions were shaped by social and
economic forces. Rome responded to social change, including population increase and class tensions between patricians and
plebeians, by inventing new offices and changing the duties of existing offices. In Rome’s early years, the king held almost all of the
government’s power. Only the senate and the curiate Assembly existed to check his powers. During this time of the republic, consuls
had more limited powers then the king had possessed, since each checked the other. The republic also brought about the rise of a
hierarchy of magistrates. In addition, a number of legislative assemblies enacted laws and tried cases. By the time of the Roman
Empire, the legislative assemblies had grown weaker as the Senate’s influence increased. By reading and rereading the passages
closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources
in the study of the extent to which social and economic change shaped Roman institutions. Students will need to consider the
emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the
passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along with
the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of
the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be
reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as frequently and independently as
possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to
examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the
instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of the
context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual clues, and
students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage in a
close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While many
questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular supported practice
in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise
meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice
will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering complex
text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle
is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with
the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions expressed in
the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students the opportunity to
revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing them to refashion both their
understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 44-49 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 49-54 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 55-57 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: To
what extent did social and economic change shape Roman institutions?
Week 1: Focus Question - To what extent did social and economic change shape Roman institutions?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Rule of Kings Pages 44-49
1. According to the first passage on page 44, who “eventually formed the settlements that would grow to
become Rome?”
2. What does the author mean when he says “patriarchal structure” on page 46?
3. According to the passage on page 46 and 47, how did the king come to power?
4. What is the main purpose of the paragraph that starts on page 47 and continues to page 48?
5. According to the paragraph on page 47 and 48, how did the King, Senate and Assembly share and limit
each other’s powers?
6. According to the last paragraph of this passage on page 49, what role did religion play in the
government?
Day 2 – The Republic and Social Change Pages 49-54
What does the author mean when he says, “social unrest” in the first paragraph of this passage?
How does the information in the second paragraph solve the problem of “social unrest?”
Describe how the passage goes in and out of new government positions.
According to the paragraph on page 52, what effects can you list from the fact that the plebeians seceded
from the senate?
5. What can you infer about ancient Rome after reading the following statement found on page 53,
“Twenty-five years later, it was further established that one of Rome’s two consuls must be plebeian.”?
6. According to the last paragraph of this passage, how was the distribution of power unequal?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Day 3 – Standing on the World Stage Pages 55-57
1. According to the paragraph on page 55, what is the connection between wealth and political power?
2. Based on the text, what problems arise can arise between the senate and the emperor?
3. Reread the last paragraph of this passage. Describe what happened to political power as Rome went
from a republic to an empire.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 4
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 2
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
How did the Roman Government set the stage for American government?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – KWL Chart – Structure of U.S.Government
-Visit this webpage for further comparison between the United States Government and the Roman Government
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp
-Venn Diagram
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Academic
Domain
Domain
Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Administer
Institution
Treaties
Underlying
Constitution
Ambassadors
Source: Polybius 6.11-18: (Excerpt) [Polybius
Override
Polybius
Ministers
here sets forth a general analysis of the Roman
Indicated
Executive Branch
Adjournment
constitution at the time of the Second Punic War.]
Counteract
Legislative Branch
Aforementioned Judicial Branch
Source: Article II Section 2. U.S. Constitution
Rendered
Veto
(Excerpt) the Presidency & Article I Section 7.
Concur
Supreme Court
U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) the Legislative Branch
Requisite
Congress
Herein
Consul
Ratify
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.c, 6.2.8.A.3.d, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.d
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 2 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore how the Roman
government set the stage for American government. The institutions created by the ancient Romans no longer exist, but
the ideas underlying them are still very important in American society. The U.S. government is based heavily on many
of the ideas established during the Roman Republic. The authors of the U.S. Constitution were especially influenced by
an account of Rome’s political structures written by the Greek historian Polybius. The U.S. government relies on a
separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches. IT is designed to include checks and balances
that prevent any branch from becoming too powerful. This system is very similar to the way plebeian legislative
assemblies, aedlies, and tribunes ensured that patrician institutions did not become too powerful. By reading and
rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts,
primary sources and secondary sources in the study how the Roman government set the stage for American government.
Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message.
When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we
study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. The goal is to foster student confidence
when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 45 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Polybius 6.11-18: (Excerpt) out loud to the class as students follow along in the
text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Article II Section 2. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) & Article I Section 7. U.S.
Constitution (Excerpt) the Legislative Branch out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: To
what extent did social and economic change shape Roman institutions?
Polybius 6.11-18: (Excerpt) [Polybius here sets forth a general analysis of the Roman constitution at the
time of the Second Punic War.]
I have now indicated how the various functions of the state are divided among the different parts of the
government. Now I will indicate how each can counteract the others, should it so wish, or work in harmony
with them. Whenever the consul should set out on a military expedition invested with the aforementioned
powers and with imperium, he appears to have absolute authority as regards the mission at hand, yet he requires
the cooperation of both the people and the Senate, and without them he lacks sufficient power to bring his
operation to a successful conclusion. For it is clear that supplies must always be sent to accompany his armies,
but neither food nor clothing nor pay for the soldiers can be allocated without a decree of the Senate, with the
result that the commander's plans are rendered ineffectual if the Senate chooses to be negligent or obstructionist.
Furthermore, it lies with the Senate whether the commander's plans and designs ultimately come to fulfillment
or not, since the Senate has the authority to send the new consuls out to supersede the old at the end of a year's
time or to extend the command of the consuls in the field. It also has the power to celebrate and thus increase
the fame of the consul's achievements, or to belittle them and render them obscure. For the celebrations that
they call triumphs, in which the spectacle of the general's achievements is brought strikingly before the eyes of
the citizens, cannot be organized as is fitting -- and at times cannot be held at all -- unless the Senate should
concur and should provide the requisite expenditures. As for the people, it is altogether necessary for the
consuls to court their favor, even if they should happen to be quite far from Rome. For it is the people who
ratify or reject truces and other treaties, as I have noted above. Of greatest weight is the fact that, upon laying
aside their office, it is before the people that they must submit an account of their actions. The result is that it is
in no way safe for the commanders to slight the Senate or the good will of the people.
Ancient Rome
Constitution of the Roman Republic
Gary Edward Forsythe: Assistant Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago.
Author of The Historian L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi and the Roman Annalistic Tradition. Robert A. Guisepi:
Author of Ancient Voices
http://history-world.org/Roman%20Constitution.htm
Article II Section 2. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) the Presidency
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of
the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall
appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of
the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by
law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the
President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by
granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
Article I Section 7. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) the Legislative Branch
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law,
be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with
his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes
of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the
bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like
manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall
not be a law.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
Week 2: Focus Question – How did the Roman Government set the stage for American government?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Past Is Present – A Government Ahead of its Time Page 45
1. What does the author mean when he says, “but the ideas underlying them are as important as ever?”
2. According to this document, what are the similarities and differences between Roman Republic
Government and the United States Government?
3. Is the title of this passage appropriate?
Day 2 – Polybius 6.11-18: (Excerpt)
1. What does Polybius mean when he says, “Now I will indicate how each can counteract the others,
should it so wish, or work in harmony with them?”
2. Why did Polybius use the word “appears” in the second sentence of the document?
3. According to the document, what problems can the army run into if they are not supported by the
senate?
4. Reread this sentence. “As for the people, it is altogether necessary for the consuls to court their favor,
even if they should happen to be quite far from Rome.” What does “court their favor” mean?
5. According to the document, what powers do the people have?
6. What can you infer about the Roman government after reading this document?
Day 3 – Article II Section 2. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) & Article I Section 7. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt)
1. What did the writes of the U.S. Constitution mean when it says, “consent of the Senate?”
2. According to section 2 of Article II of the U.S. Constitution what powers does the president have over
the Supreme Court?
3. According to section 7 of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, what power does the president have over
the legislative branch?
4. Reread this statement. “If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill,
it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law.” How does a law
become official after it has already been rejected by the president once?
5. What similarities and differences can you find between these excerpts from the U.S. Constitution and
the excerpt from Polybius 6.11-18?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 4
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 3
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What legacy did Rome leave behind after its collapse?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – What does the word legacy mean to you?
-Page 95 in The Ancient World: Ancient Rome- A Lasting Language – Latin
-Analyze map and images dealing with the collapse of the Roman Empire Using this website
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World:
Academic
Domain
Domain
Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Vulnerable
Military reversal
Architectural
Prevail
Pandemic
Prodigal
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H.
Depths
Germanic
Parable
The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources &
Demise
Mercenary
Estate
Reference Volume. New York: The Oxford Press,
Integrated
Outpost
Famine
2005
Unconditional
Millennium
Squandered
Greco-Roman
Legacy
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.c, 6.2.8.A.3.d, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.e, 6.2.8.D.3.f
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 3 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the legacy Rome left behind
after its collapse. There are various causes that led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. There are many theories and
arguments that point to one specific event being more significant than the other, but no one event can take all the blame. Some
historians place the blame on military weakness, tribal invasions, economic crisis, pandemics and even the spread of
Christianity. Before the downfall of the Roman Empire it had split in two, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman
Empire. In the east, the empire lived on a millennium after the collapse in Rome. Its survival preserved Greco-Roman culture
long after it disappeared in Western Europe. In spite of the collapse of the Roman Empire, we are witness to its many legacies
left behind. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the most widespread legacies left behind. Rome’s architecture can be seen
in some of the most important buildings in the U.S. The many beliefs and values that come from Roman tradition will last far
into the future. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will
explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the legacy Rome left behind after its collapse.
Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message.
When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the
past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following along
with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s
knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students
following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on their own as
frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, textdependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary sources. Therefore,
rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful reading of
the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary from contextual
clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should engage
in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey meaning. While
many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students should receive regular
supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in unpacking text complexity
focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might have constructed the sentence in this
particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack meaning from syntactically complex sentences
they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities
that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient Rome and the primary source document What a Wonder Is
Mankind from Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume, by Mellor and Podany. The goal is to foster student
confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend
their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text
evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford students
the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher feedback, allowing
them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their
teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 92-96 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient Rome pages 96-97 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Gospel According to Luke, New Testament out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: To
what extent did social and economic change shape Roman institutions?
Week 3: Focus Question – What legacy did Rome leave behind after its collapse?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Monuments and Memories Pages 92-96
Why did the author of the passage include the word “unavoidable” in the first sentence?
According to this passage, what is the most significant cause of the downfall of the Roman Empire?
What are the economic and political causes of the fall of the Roman Empire listed in this passage?
What argument does the author make to attempt to prove that Christianity was the main cause of the
downfall of the Roman Empire?
5. Reread the last paragraph on page 96. What can you infer about the downfall of the Roman Empire?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Day 2 – An Ever-Present Legacy Pages 96-97
1. What does author mean when he says, “Many times each day we encounter the legacy of ancient
Rome?”
2. What does the phrase “ever present mean?”
3. According to this passage, what is the connection between Latin and the Roman Catholic Church?
4. What is significant about the word “overlook” in the first sentence of the last paragraph on page 96?
5. Many of Rome’s legacies can be seen in modern day societies including the U.S., according to the last
paragraph what other legacies can be described?
6. Is the title, “An Ever-Present Legacy” an appropriate one for this passage?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 – The Prodigal Son – The Gospel According to Luke, New Testament Pages 129-130
1. According to the summary of this primary source document, what is a parable?
2. What does the phrase “the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there
squandered his wealth in wild living” mean?
3. According to the passage, why did the younger son want to go back to his father?
4. According to this document, why did the older brother react the way he did?
5. What phrase does the father use twice in this document to describe what happened to his younger son?
6. What can you infer about the importance of family and morals in the Roman Catholic Church?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 4
“Ancient Rome and Christianity” Week 4
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most enduring achievement of the Roman Empire.
Focus Question
What is the most enduring achievement from the Classical Roman civilizations?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Analyze and describe images from the book that support your argument.
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Source: Benoit, Peter. The Ancient World: Ancient Rome. New
York: Scholastic. 2013.
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in
Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference Volume. New York:
The Oxford Press, 2005
Source: Polybius 6.11-18: (Excerpt) [Polybius here sets forth a
general analysis of the Roman constitution at the time of the Second
Punic War.]
Source: Article II Section 2. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) the
Presidency & Article I Section 7. U.S. Constitution (Excerpt) the
Legislative Branch
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.A.3.b, 6.2.8.A.3.e, 6.2.8.B.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.f
“Ancient Rome and Christianity”
Week 4 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to synthesize the readings of the
past five weeks.
Reading Task: Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of concise, text-dependent questions that
compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the documents for the purpose of addressing the summative
assessment question.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the texts in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing activities that
result in an examination of the historical question posed. The goal is to foster student confidence when encountering
complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their understanding of a
text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under discussion. This
gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most important human development of prehistoric peoples. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their arguments after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the texts and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summative Assessment
This unit looks back to the very beginnings of ancient Rome. Much of the modern world has been
influenced by the achievement of ancient Romans. Rome was politically and technologically advanced and
its superior military engineering drove its military to create an enormous empire. Many factors led to the
collapse of the Roman Empire; however it has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten.
Considerations:
What is your evaluation of these two positions? What evidence do you have to support your claim? Which
of these documents in this unit do you believe is most trustworthy? Why? What other evidence would you
need to strengthen your claim?
Writing Task:
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which
they select and defend a position on the most enduring achievement of the Roman Empire.
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 5 Overview
“The Golden Age of India and China”
Summative Assessment
Students will write a an argument citing evidence from primary and secondary source documents in which they select and
defend a position on the most significant cause of the downfall of the Gupta empire from India and/or Han empire from
China.
Essential Questions
What was the most significant factor that led to the fall
of the major empires from the Golden Age of India and
China?
Week 1:
Which empire, the Mauryan or the
Gupta, had a more significant impact
on Indian history?
Week 4:
What was the most significant factor
that led to the fall of the major empires
from the Golden Age of India and
China?
Enduring Understandings
-The diversity of people, culture, beliefs and languages in India
still create challenges and in unifying the Indian people today.
-Strong central government has remained an essential part of
Chinese life.
Focus Questions
Week 2:
Week 3:
Which ancient Indian Empire had the
What are the most significant
most enduring accomplishments?
accomplishments of the Qin and Han
dynasties?
Learning Targets
- Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Academic Vocabulary
Ambitious
Efficiency
Ambitious
Inscribed
Sophisticated
Upheaval
Flourish
Insightful
Schemer
Unperturbed
Abroad
Uniformity
Expenditure
Merit
Self-deliberation
Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Mauryan Empire
Subcontinent
Realm
Chandragupta
Mauryan
Mandate of Heaven
Dynasty
Commerce
Nobles
Campaign
Provinces
Divine
Alliance
Rajjukas
Artisans
Ashoka
Emperor
Reforms
Rock Edicts
Kautilya
Rebellion
Buddhism
The Arthashastra
Warring states
Missionaries
Guptas
Samudragupta
Tribute
Golden Age
Petitions
Nalikas
Brahmins
Vedas
Currency
First Emperor
Legalism
Afterlife
Terra-cotta warriors
Civil service
Reign
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.b, 6.2.8.D.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.e, 6.2.8.D.3.f
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 5
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 1
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
Which empire, the Mauryan or the Gupta, had a more significant impact on Indian history?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity – KWL – What do you already know about India? Think back to Unit 2
-Cause effect chart for succession of rulers in the Mauryan and/or Gupta Empire
-Venn Diagram comparing both empires
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Academic
Domain
Domain
Source: Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient
Ambitious
Mauryan Empire
Missionaries
World: Ancient India. New York: Scholastic.
Inscribed
Chandragupta
Guptas
2013.
Upheaval
Dynasty
Samudragupta
Insightful
Campaign
Tribute
Unperturbed
Alliance
Golden Age
Uniformity
Ashoka
Petitions
Merit
Rock Edicts
Buddhism
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.B.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.e
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 1 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore which empire, the
Mauryan or the Gupta, had a more significant impact on Indian history. In 321 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya seized power
and created a dynasty. With the use of extensive military campaigns and the forging of alliances his empire grew
powerful. After a succession of sons took the throne the Mauryan Empire began to decline. For the next several
centuries, India was without a dominant leader. In about 320 CE, a new dynasty began in Northern India known as the
Gupta Empire. The Gupta period is often referred to as the golden age of ancient Indian History. It was marked with
many accomplishments in art, architecture, literature and philosophy. By reading and rereading the passages closely,
combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary
sources in the study of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words
and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher
feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient India. The goal is to foster student confidence when
encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 25-28 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 29-30 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 32 out loud to the class as students follow
along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: Which
empire, the Mauryan or the Gupta, had a more significant impact on Indian history?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 5
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 2
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
Which ancient Indian Empire had the most enduring accomplishments?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity –What accomplishments have you learned about thus far?
Academic & Domain-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Academic
Domain
Domain
Source: Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient
Efficiency
Subcontinent
Kautilya
World: Ancient India. New York: Scholastic.
Sophisticated
Mauryan
The Arthashastra
2013.
Flourish
Commerce
Nalikas
Schemer
Provinces
Brahmins
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda
Expenditure
Rajjukas
Vedas
H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary
Self-deliberation
Emperor
Sources & Reference Volume. New York: The
Oxford Press, 2005
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.B.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.d, 6.2.8.D.3.e
Week 1: Focus Question - Which empire, the Mauryan or the Gupta, had a more significant impact on Indian
history?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient World: Ancient India. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Rise of the Mauryan Empire Pages 25-28
1. Why did the author of this passage describe Chandragupta Maurya as “ambitious?”
2. According to this passage, how would you describe the succession of leaders after Chandragupta
stepped down from power?
3. According to the third paragraph on page 26, how did one event lead to another for Ashoka?
4. Reread the following sentence from the bottom of page 26and describe what the author is saying. For the
next several centuries, India was without a single, dominant political force.”
What can you infer about the death of Ashoka? Day 2 – The Rise of the Guptas Pages 29-30
1. According to the passage on page 29, how can one powerful family gain even more power and
authority?
2. According to the text, what was Samudragupta’s goal and how did he follow through with it?
3. What does author mean when he says, “The Gupta period id often referred to as the golden age of Indian
History?”
4. Reread this passage of the book. What can you infer about large kingdoms if they don’t have a strong
leader?
Day 3 – Ruling Ancient India Page 32
1. What type of information can be found on Ashoka’s Rock Edict?
2. What does Ashoka mean when he says, “so that they can do their duties unperturbed, fearlessly and
confidently?”
3. What does Ashoka feel is most important about the law?
4. What connection between religion and law can you see in this primary source document?
5. Why is Ashoka distinguished from other ancient Indian rulers?
5.
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 2 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the accomplishments
of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires of ancient India. The Mauryan emperor Chandragupta became famous for his
established network of military and government. There was a strict political hierarchy beginning with Chandragupta
himself to a council of ministers and administrative departments. He was so organized that he developed a system for
collecting taxes, managing trade, running the military, maintaining public places, road and irrigation projects and religious
sites of worship. The Gupta Empire was similar to that of the Mauryan in that it was ruled by an emperor with a council
of ministers who advised the emperor. One of the main differences was that the Gupta king allowed the regional
governments to rule as they wanted. Meanwhile Indian culture flourished and daily life was at its height during the Gupta
Empire. By reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will
explore the use of artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires.
Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s message.
When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper understanding of we
study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient India and Kautilya’s Arthashastra. The goal is to
foster student confidence when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to
build and extend their understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence
for the question under discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and
reinforcing their use of text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 39-41out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 41 & 66-67 out loud to the class as
students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads Never a Dull Moment for a Good King. Kautilya, The Arthashastra, About 250
BCE out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: Which
ancient Indian Empire had the most enduring accomplishments?
Week 2: Focus Question - Which ancient Indian Empire had the most enduring accomplishments?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Lassieur, Allison. The Ancient World: Ancient India. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – The Mauryans Pages 39-41
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Why does the author of this passage call India a subcontinent?
How does the introductory paragraph of this passage set the stage for the rest of the passage?
What does the author of this passage mean when he says, “The network was structured in layers?”
According to this passage, how did Chandragupta maintain control both politically and economically?
Why did the emperor need royal secret agents?
How would you describe the type of ruler Chandragupta was based on what you read about him from
this passage?
Day 2 – The Guptas Pages 41 & 66-67
1.
2.
3.
4.
According to the first paragraph on page 41, how was the Gupta Empire similar to the Mauryan Empire?
According to the last paragraph on page 41, what was the main difference between the two empires?
According to this passage on page 66, how do scholars think about the Gupta Empire?
After reading this passage, what can you say about daily life for people in the Gupta Empire?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 – Kautilya, The Arthashastra, about 250 BCE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
According to the summary of this primary source, what is the Arthashastra?
According to the summary, why do they describe Kautilya as a “dishonest schemer?”
What does Kautilya mean when he says, “If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic?”
What can you conclude after reading the second paragraph?
Why did Kautilya start a new paragraph for the third one?
What is similar about Kautilya’s opening and closing statement?
Newark Public Schools
Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 5
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 3
Formative Assessment
Text dependent questions that follow the primary source and secondary source documents.
Focus Question
What are the most significant accomplishments of the Qin and Han dynasties?
Learning Targets
-Use historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating to answer historical
questions.
-Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
-Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related
to history/social studies.
-Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and
digital texts.
-Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the
topic or text, using credible sources.
-Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
-With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
-Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
Possible Activities and Support
-Hook Activity –What accomplishments have you learned about thus far?
Academic & Content-Specific Vocabulary/Terms
Suggested Text(s)
Academic
Domain
Domain
Source: Sonneborn, Liz. The Ancient World:
Ambitious
Realm
First Emperor
Ancient China. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Notable
Mandate of Heaven
Zheng
Employing
Divine
Legalism
Artisans
Afterlife
Reforms
Terra-cotta warriors
Rebellion
Civil service
Warring states
Reign
Currency
Han era
Qin Dynasty
Standards Alignment:
CCSS: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.1.b, WHST.6-8.1.e, WHST.6-8.2.c, WHST.6-8.2.f,
WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9,
NJCCCS: 6.2.8.A.3.a, 6.2.8.C.3.b, 6.2.8.C.3.c, 6.2.8.D.3.a, 6.2.8.D.3.b, 6.2.8.D.3.c
“The Golden Age of India and China” Week 3 Overview
Learning Objective: The goal of this week long plan is to give students the opportunity to explore the accomplishments
of the Qin and Han dynasties of ancient China. Between 256 and 221 BCE, Qin succeeded in conquering its rival
territories and the Qin dynasty began. Zheng, who called himself the First Emperor, is well known for his array of
achievements. Under the First Emperor, was the creation of a central government, civil service and uniting the empire
through new infrastructure. After the First Emperor died, the Qin dynasty was eventually destroyed after his son
succeeded him. Many of the most notable thinkers lived during the Han period which came after the Qin dynasty. By
reading and rereading the passages closely, combined with classroom discussion about it, students will explore the use of
artifacts, primary sources and secondary sources in the study the accomplishments of the Qin and Han dynasties of ancient
China. Students will need to consider the emotional context of words and how diction (word choice) affects an author’s
message. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will form a deeper
understanding of we study the past.
Reading Task: Students will silently read the passage in question on a given day—first independently and then following
along with the text as the teacher and/or skillful students read aloud. Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the
teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud
with students following might be reversed. What is important is to allow all students to interact with challenging text on
their own as frequently and independently as possible. Students will then reread specific passages in response to a set of
concise, text-dependent questions that compel them to examine the meaning and structure of the primary and secondary
sources. Therefore, rereading is deliberately built into the instructional unit.
Vocabulary Task: Most of the meanings of words in the exemplar text can be discovered by students from careful
reading of the context in which they appear. Teachers can use discussions to model and reinforce how to learn vocabulary
from contextual clues, and students must be held accountable for engaging in this practice.
Sentence Syntax Task: On occasion students will encounter particularly difficult sentences to decode. Teachers should
engage in a close examination of such sentences to help students discover how they are built and how they convey
meaning. While many questions addressing important aspects of the text double as questions about syntax, students
should receive regular supported practice in deciphering complex sentences. It is crucial that the help they receive in
unpacking text complexity focuses both on the precise meaning of what the author is saying and why the author might
have constructed the sentence in this particular fashion. That practice will in turn support students’ ability to unpack
meaning from syntactically complex sentences they encounter in future reading.
Discussion Task: Students will discuss the exemplar text in depth with their teacher and their classmates, performing
activities that result in a close reading of The Ancient World: Ancient China. The goal is to foster student confidence
when encountering complex text and to reinforce the skills they have acquired regarding how to build and extend their
understanding of a text. A general principle is to always reread the passage that provides evidence for the question under
discussion. This gives students another encounter with the text, helping them develop fluency and reinforcing their use of
text evidence.
Writing Task: Students will write an explanatory paragraph using their understanding of the word choice and emotions
expressed in the selection to present their opinions about what the author is trying to explain. Teachers might afford
students the opportunity to revise their paragraphs after participating in classroom discussion or receiving teacher
feedback, allowing them to refashion both their understanding of the text and their expression of that understanding.
Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in a week of instruction and reflection on the part of students and
their teacher.
Summary of Close Reading Activities
Day One:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient China pages 26-34 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Two:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 34-37 out loud to the class as students
follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Three:
Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently.
Teacher or a skillful reader then reads The Ancient World: Ancient India pages 64 & 20-25 out loud to the class as
students follow along in the text.
Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding reading questions about the text.
Day Four:
Socratic seminars are named for their embodiment of Socrates’ belief in the power of asking questions, prize inquiry over
information and discussion over debate. Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align
with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.
Elfie Israel succinctly defines Socratic seminars and implies their rich benefits for students:
The Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on the text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the
context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and
articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others. They learn to work cooperatively and to
question intelligently and civilly. (89)
Israel, Elfie. “Examining Multiple Perspectives in Literature.” In Inquiry and the Literary Text: Constructing Discussions in the English Classroom. James Holden
and John S. Schmit, eds. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.
In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good
discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in
response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is
not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while
examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner.
Day Five:
Teacher then assigns a culminating writing assignment that asks students to synthesize the entire reading such as: What
are the most significant accomplishments of the Qin and Han dynasties?
Week 3: Focus Question – What are the most significant accomplishments of the Qin and Han dynasties?
Text Dependent Questions
Source: Sonneborn, Liz. The Ancient World: Ancient China. New York: Scholastic. 2013.
Day 1 – Ruling the Realm Pages 26-34
1. What does the author mean when he says, “Kings were the highest authority during the early dynasties
of China?”
2. What does the phrase “divine source” mean on page 27?
3. According to the paragraphs on page 29 and 30, what is the best way to maintain a powerful army?
4. According to the passage on page 31 and 32, how can an emperor build a strong central government?
5. According to this passage, what is the best way to maintain unity in an empire?
Day 2 – A Harsh Ruler Page 34-37
1. What does the author mean when he says, “people are evil by nature?”
2. According to the second paragraph of this passage, what positive and negative things did the emperor,
do to his subjects?”
3. On the last sentence on page 34 the author writes, “But he also had a massive army of a different kind to
serve him in the afterlife.” What does he mean by that?
4. According to the passage on page 37 how was the Han dynasty different from the Qin dynasty?
5. Why is the invention of the civil service one of China’s greatest legacies?
Source: Mellor, Ronald, and Podany, Amanda H. The World in Ancient Times: Primary Sources & Reference
Volume. New York: The Oxford Press, 2005
Day 3 – The Past is Present – Writing it Down – Page 64
1.
2.
3.
4.
According to this passage, what famous invention was created during the Han era?
Why does the author of this passage use the word “probably” in the second sentence?
Describe the technique used to make paper in this passage.
What are some of the most significant effect of the invention of paper listed in this passage?
Day 3 – The Han Era Page 20-25
1. According to this passage, how did the Qin dynasty collapse and the Hand dynasty begin?
2. What academic, philosophical and cultural achievements are notable during the Han era?
3. What can you infer from the way the Han empire collapsed?