Summary of Skills

Age 11-13 - Concept 1: Semester 1

Unit 1: Egypt and Mesopotamia [SS]

Social Studies

Analyze the development of early civilizations in Africa, c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE.
Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia.
Describe the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean and Nile valley.
Describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind.
Discuss the main features of Egyptian art and architecture.
Identify the characteristics of a civilization.
Identify, evaluate, and use historians' methods and tools.
Know the significance of Hammurabi's Code.
Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that supported permanent settlement and early civilizations.
Relate archaeology to the study of history.
Trace the development and assess the achievements in the arts, sciences, and technology of early river civilizations, including those around the Nile (Egypt) and Tigris-Euphrates (Mesopotamia) rivers.
Trace the development and assess the achievements in the arts, sciences, and technology of early river civilizations.
Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.
Trace the evolution of language in its written forms.
Understand the relationship between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great.

Unit 1: The Hydrosphere [S]

Language Arts

Use oral and written language to communicate findings.

Science

Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing scientific texts, articles, and events in the popular press.
Analyze evidence to explain observations, make inferences and predictions, and develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
Analyze hydrospheric data over time to predict the health of a water system including turbidity.
Analyze hydrospheric data over time to predict the health of a water system, including dissolved oxygen.
Analyze the unique properties of water, including density.
Analyze the unique properties of water: polarity, cohesion, and surface tension.
Describe how humans affect the quality of water by looking at historical situations to see types of water issues. (SS)
Describe how humans affect the quality of water through economic trade-offs and local water issues. (SS)
Describe how humans affect the quality of water through possible effects of excess nutrients in freshwater reservoirs. (SS)
Describe how terrestrial and aquatic food webs are interconnected.
Evaluate evidence (such as marine ecosystems, upwelling, and turnover) that Earth's oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms.
Evaluate evidence that Earth's oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms such as in estuaries and marine ecosystems.
Experiment with variables.
Explain the structure of the hydrosphere including water distribution on Earth, local river basin, and local water availability.
Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
Observe, collect, organize, and analyze data.
Recognize that the good health of environments and organisms requires monitoring of the hydrosphere, water quality standards, methods of water treatment, maintaining safe water quality, and stewardship.
Use information systems to identify scientific needs, human needs, or problems that are subject to technological solution, as well as locate resources to obtain and test ideas.
Use mathematics such as measurement, data analysis, graphing, and prediction models to gather, organize, and present quantitative data resulting from scientific investigations.
Use technologies and information systems to research, disseminate findings to others, gather, visualize, and analyze data.

Social Studies

Describe how humans affect the quality of water by looking at historical situations to see types of water issues. (S)
Describe how humans affect the quality of water through economic trade-offs and local water issues. (S)
Describe how humans affect the quality of water through possible effects of excess nutrients in freshwater reservoirs. (S)

Unit 1: The Pearl [LA]

Language Arts

Analyze how place and time influence the theme or message of a literary work.
Analyze the connections of relationships between and among characters.
Analyze the effects of characterization.
Analyze the effects on texts of such literary devices as figurative language and irony.
Analyze the purpose of the author or creator by understanding the effects of the author's craft on the reader.
Apply and master proofreading symbols for editing.
Choose language that is precise, engaging, and well suited to the topic and audience.
Deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience.
Describe complex characters and a definite setting.
Describe multiple themes in a work of fiction.
Determine the figurative meaning of phrases and analyze how an author's use of language creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood.
Determine the importance of literary effects on the reader/viewer/listener.
Draw conclusions based on evidence, reasons, or relevant information.
Draw inferences and/or conclusions.
Engage the audience with appropriate verbal cues, facial expressions, and gestures.
Establish a context, standard plot line (having a beginning, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement), and point of view.
Evaluate the content of oral communication.
Examine changes in self throughout the learning process.
Experiment with figurative language and speech patterns.
Extend vocabulary knowledge by learning and using new words.
Identify all parts of speech and types and structure of sentences.
Identify and trace the development of an author's argument, point of view, or perspective in text.
Identify and understand the function of appositive phrases, prepositional phrases, and adverbial and adjectival phrases.
Identify, use, and understand the function of adverbial and adjectival phrases in the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Identify, use, and understand the function of appositive phrases in the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Identify, use, and understand the function of different parts of speech.
Identify, use, and understand the function of infinitives and participles.
Identify, use, and understand the function of prepositions and prepositional phrases in the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Identify, use, and understand the function of verbs and adjectives in writing.
Listen to and monitor self to correct errors.
Model an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by applying the parts of speech to clarify language usage.
Model an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by using phrases correctly, including proper punctuation (e.g., prepositional phrases and appositives).
Organize information to achieve particular purposes and to appeal to the background and interests of the audience. (SS)
Produce final drafts/presentations that demonstrate accurate spelling and the correct use of punctuation, capitalization, and format.
Recognize and use commas after introductory words and phrases.
Reflect on learning experiences by analyzing personal learning growth and changes in perspective.
Respond to expressive materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by generating a learning log or journal.
Study the characteristics of different types of literature.
Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres.
Use a range of appropriate strategies, including dialogue, suspense, and naming of specific narrative action.
Use speaking techniques including voice modulation, inflection, tempo, enunciation, and eye contact for effective presentations.
Write and speak with a command of standard English conventions.
Write narrative writing text in each genre.

Social Studies

Organize information to achieve particular purposes and to appeal to the background and interests of the audience. (LA)

Unit 2: Africa Today [SS]

Social Studies

Analyze the different forms of government developed in Africa.
Analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments in Africa.
Assess the connections between historical events and contemporary issues in Africa.
Assess the influence of major religions, ethical beliefs, and values on cultures in Africa.
Assess the relationship between physical environment and cultural characteristics of selected societies and regions of Africa.
Create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as tools to illustrate information about different people, places, and regions in Africa.
Describe different levels of economic development and assess their connections to standard of living indicators such as purchasing power, literacy rate, and life expectancy.
Describe factors that influence changes in distribution patterns of population, resources, and climate in selected regions of Africa and evaluate their impact on the environment.
Describe how different governments in Africa select leaders and establish laws in comparison to the United States and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Describe how different types of governments in Africa — such as democracies, dictatorships, monarchies, and oligarchies — carry out legislative, executive, and judicial functions and evaluate the effectiveness of each.
Describe rights and responsibilities of citizens in selected contemporary societies in Africa, comparing them to each other and to the United States.
Describe the environmental impact of regional activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization and evaluate their significance to the global community.
Describe the patterns of and motives for migrations of people, and evaluate the impact on the political, economic, and social development of selected societies and regions.
Describe the relationship between and cultural values of selected societies of Africa and their art, architecture, music, and literature, and assess their significance in contemporary culture.
Describe the relationship between the location of natural resources and economic development, and analyze the impact on selected cultures, countries, and regions in Africa.
Describe the role of key groups such as Arabs and Bantu and evaluate their impact on historical and contemporary societies of Africa.
Evaluate the varied ways people of Africa make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources.
Examine factors such as climate change, location of resources, and environmental challenges that influence human migration and assess their significance in the development of selected cultures in Africa.
Examine key ethical ideas and values deriving from religious, artistic, political, economic, and educational traditions, as well as their diffusion over time, and assess their influence on the development of selected societies and regions in Africa.
Examine the causes of key historical events in selected areas of Africa and analyze the short- and long-range effects on political, economic, and social institutions.
Examine the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment.
Examine the major belief systems in selected regions of Africa and analyze their impact on cultural values, practices, and institutions.
Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes, charts, graphs, databases, and models to pose and answer questions about space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections.
Identify examples of cultural borrowing, such as language, traditions, and technology, and evaluate their importance in the development of selected societies in Africa.
Identify examples of economic, political, and social changes, such as agrarian to industrial economies, monarchical to democratic governments, and the roles of women and minorities, and analyze their impact on culture.
Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues.
Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climate and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures in selected African regions.
Identify significant patterns in the movement of people, goods, and ideas over time and place in Africa.
Identify the concepts associated with culture — such as language, religion, family, and ethnic identity — and analyze how they can link and separate societies.
Identify the main commodities of trade over time in selected areas of Africa and evaluate their significance for the economic, political, and social development of cultures and regions.
Identify the ways in which governments in selected areas of Africa deal with issues of justice and injustice, and assess the influence of cultural values on their practices and expectations.
Identify various sources of citizens' rights and responsibilities, such as constitutions, traditions, and religious law, and analyze how they are incorporated into different government structures.
Identify ways in which people of selected areas in Africa have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs, and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.
Recognize the common characteristics of different cultures in Africa.
Recognize the relationship between economic activity and the quality of life in Africa.
Trace the development of relationships between individuals and their governments in selected cultures of Africa and evaluate the changes that have evolved over time.
Trace the historical development of governments, including traditional, colonial, and national in selected societies, and assess their effects on the respective contemporary political systems.
Use the five themes of geography and geographic tools to answer geographic questions and analyze geographic concepts.
Use tools such as maps, globes, graphs, charts, databases, models, and artifacts to compare data on different African countries to identify patterns as well as similarities and differences.

Unit 2: The Atmosphere [S]

Science

Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing scientific text.
Analyze evidence to explain observations, make inferences and predictions, and develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
Analyze evidence to make inferences and predictions and develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
Analyze variables in scientific investigations to identify dependent and independent variables, use a control, and describe the relationships between variables.
Apply safety procedures in the laboratory and in field studies: recognize potential hazards, manipulate materials and equipment, and conduct appropriate procedures.
Assess the use of technology in studying atmospheric phenomena and weather hazards: satellites, weather maps, predicting, recording, and communicating information about conditions.
Conclude that the good health of environments and organisms requires the monitoring of air quality, taking steps to maintain healthy air quality, and stewardship.
Define variables operationally.
Describe interactions among the Sun, weather, and ocean systems.
Describe properties that can be observed and measured to predict air quality: particulate matter and ozone.
Evaluate how humans impact air quality including air quality standards, point and non-point sources of air pollution, financial and economic trade-offs, local air quality issues.
Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict atmospheric conditions and weather hazards — humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, air pressure, precipitation, flooding, and storms.
Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict atmospheric conditions and weather hazards: humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, air pressure, and precipitation.
Examine evidence that atmospheric properties can be studied to predict atmospheric conditions and weather hazards: humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, air pressure, precipitation, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere, including equilibrium.
Explain the composition, properties, and structure of the atmosphere: mixture of gases, stratified layers, and the distinct properties of each layer.
Identify the role of atmospheric movement in weather change.
Know that complex interactions occur between matter and energy.
Use oral and written language to communicate findings, defend conclusions of scientific investigations, and describe strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and/or data.
Use technologies and information systems to research.

Unit 2: A Girl Named Disaster [LA]

Language Arts

Clarify and support spoken ideas with evidence and examples.
Deliver a narrative presentation that uses a range of appropriate strategies, including dialogue, suspense, and naming of specific narrative action (e.g., movement, gestures, expressions).
Deliver narrative presentations by describing complex major and minor characters and a definite setting.
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words using context clues.
Develop an interpretive response to literature exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight.
Edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling.
Emphasize salient points in oral presentations to assist the listener in following the main ideas and concepts.
Engage the audience with appropriate verbal cues, facial expressions, and gestures.
Establish a context, standard plot line (having a beginning, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement), and point of view.
Extend understanding by creating products for different purposes, different audiences, and within various contexts.
Identify and edit errors in spoken and written English by applying proofreading symbols when editing.
Identify and edit errors in spoken and written English by producing final drafts that demonstrate accurate spelling and the correct use of punctuation and capitalization.
Identify errors in written English.
Include the main ideas and most significant details in summary of text.
Make connections to related topics/information.
Model an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by choosing language that is precise, engaging, and well suited to the topic and audience.
Narrate an expressive account that creates a coherent organizing structure appropriate to purpose, audience, and context; that orients the listener to the scene, the people, and the events; that engages the listener by establishing a context and creating a point of view; and that establishes the significance of events.
Organize an interpretive response to literature around several clear ideas, premises, or images.
Reflect on learning experiences by describing personal learning growth and changes in perspective.
Respond to informational materials viewed by monitoring comprehension for understanding of what is read, heard, and/or viewed.
Revise drafts to ensure precise word choice and vivid images; consistent point of view; use of simple, compound, and complex sentences; internal and external coherence; and the use of effective transitions.
Revise writing to improve organization and word choice.
Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view for a presentation.
Summarize information from text.
Support opinions in verbal presentations with detailed evidence and with visual or media displays that use appropriate technology.
Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and support those findings with textual evidence.
Understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing.
Use different organizational patterns as guides for summarizing and forming an overview of different kinds of expository text.
Use effective rate, volume, pitch, and tone and align nonverbal elements to sustain audience interest and attention.
Write a personal narrative that has a clearly defined focus and communicates the importance of or reasons for actions and/or consequences.

Unit 3: Australia and Oceania [SS]

Social Studies

Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.
Analyze the different forms of government developed in Australia and Oceania.
Analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments in Australia and Oceania.
Assess the connections between historical events and contemporary issues in Australia and Oceania.
Assess the influence and contributions of individuals and cultural groups in Australia and Oceania.
Assess the influence of major religions, ethical beliefs, and values on cultures in Australia and Oceania.
Assess the relationship between physical environment and cultural characteristics of selected societies and regions of Australia and Oceania.
Compare characteristics of political, economic, religious, and social institutions of selected cultures and evaluate their similarities and differences.
Compare the rights and civic responsibilities of individuals in political structures in Australia and Oceania.
Create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as tools to illustrate information about different people, places, and regions in Australia and Oceania.
Describe different levels of economic development and assess their connections to standard of living indicators such as purchasing power, literacy rate, and life expectancy.
Describe factors that influence changes in distribution patterns of population, resources, and climate in selected regions of Australia and Oceania and evaluate their impact on the environment.
Describe how different governments in Australia and Oceania select leaders and establish laws in comparison to the United States and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Describe how different types of governments such as democracies, dictatorships, monarchies, and oligarchies in Australia and Oceania carry out legislative, executive, and judicial functions and evaluate the effectiveness of each.
Describe rights and responsibilities of citizens in selected contemporary societies in Australia and Oceania, comparing them to each other and to the United States.
Describe the environmental impact of regional activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization and evaluate their significance to the global community.
Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire.
Describe the relationship between and cultural values of selected societies of Australia and Oceania and their art, architecture, music, and literature, and assess their significance in contemporary culture.
Describe the relationship between the location of natural resources, and economic development, and analyze the impact on selected cultures, countries, and regions in Australia and Oceania.
Describe the role of key groups and evaluate their impact on historical and contemporary societies of Australia and Oceania.
Describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.
Evaluate the varied ways people of Australia and Oceania make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources.
Examine factors such as climate change, location of resources, and environmental challenges that influence human migration and assess their significance in the development of selected cultures in Australia and Oceania.
Examine the basic needs and wants of all human beings and assess the influence of factors such as environment, values, and beliefs in creating different cultural responses.
Examine the causes of key historical events in selected areas of Australia and Oceania and analyze the short- and long-range effects on political, economic, and social institutions.
Examine the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment.
Examine the different economic systems, (traditional, command, and market), developed in selected societies in Australia and Oceania, and assess their effectiveness in meeting basic needs.
Examine the major belief systems in selected regions of Australia and Oceania, and analyze their impact on cultural values, practices, and institutions.
Explain how the allocation of scarce resources requires economic systems to make basic decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods and services, and evaluate the impact on the standard of living in selected societies and regions of Australia and Oceania.
Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes, charts, graphs, databases, and models to pose and answer questions about space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections.
Identify examples of cultural borrowing, such as language, traditions, and technology, and evaluate their importance in the development of selected societies in Australia and Oceania.
Identify examples of economic, political, and social changes, such as agrarian to industrial economies, monarchical to democratic governments, and the roles of women and minorities, and analyze their impact on culture.
Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues.
Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climate and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures in selected regions of Australia and Oceania.
Identify significant patterns in the movement of people, goods, and ideas over time and place in Australia and Oceania.
Identify the concepts associated with culture such as language, religion, family, and ethnic identity, and analyze how they can link and separate societies.
Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.
Identify the main commodities of trade over time in selected areas of Australia and Oceania and evaluate their significance for the economic, political, and social development of cultures and regions.
Identify the ways in which governments in selected areas of Australia and Oceania deal with issues of justice and injustice, and assess the influence of cultural values on their practices and expectations.
Identify various sources of citizens' rights and responsibilities, such as constitutions, traditions, and religious law, and analyze how they are incorporated into different government structures.
Identify ways in which people of selected areas in Australia and Oceania have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.
Recognize the common characteristics of different cultures in Australia and Oceania.
Recognize the relationship between economic activity and the quality of life in Australia and Oceania.
Trace the development of relationships between individuals and their governments in selected cultures of Australia and Oceania, and evaluate the changes that have evolved over time.
Trace the historical development of governments, including traditional, colonial, and national in selected societies, and assess their effects on the respective contemporary political systems.
Use tools such as maps, globes, graphs, charts, databases, models, and artifacts to compare data on different countries of Australia and Oceania and to identify patterns as well as similarities and differences.

Unit 3: The Lithosphere [S]

Science

Analyze soil properties that can be observed and measured to predict soil quality.
Assess the use of technology and information systems in monitoring lithospheric phenomena.
Describe the processes which form and the uses of earth materials including minerals; characteristics of rocks; economic use of rocks and minerals; value of gems and precious metals; and common gems, minerals, precious metals, and rocks found in various geographical regions.
Describe the processes which form and the uses of earth materials.
Evaluate the forces that shape the lithosphere including crustal plate movement, folding, faulting, and deposition.
Evaluate the forces that shape the lithosphere including earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Evaluate ways in which human activities have affected Earth's pedosphere and the measures taken to control the impact.
Examine earthquake and volcano patterns.
Interpret ways in which rocks, fossils, and ice cores record Earth's geologic history including geologic time scale, index fossils, law of superposition, and unconformity.
Know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.
Know that Earth is composed of several layers: 1) a cold, brittle lithosphere, 2) a hot, convecting mantle, and 3) a dense, metallic core.
Know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults.
Know that evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents and the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mid-ocean ridges.
Know that evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents, the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mid-ocean ridges, and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.
Know that fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
Know that major geologic events — such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building — result from plate motions.
Know that plate tectonics accounts for important features of the Earth's surface and major geologic events.
Know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom.
Know that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
Predict land features resulting from gradual changes such as mountain building and continental drift.
Summarize the rock cycle.
Understand that the good health of environments and organisms requires monitoring of the pedosphere, stewardship, and taking steps to maintain soil quality.

Unit 3: The Hobbit [LA]

Language Arts

Analyze a range of responses to a literary work and determine the extent to which the literary elements in the work shaped those responses.
Analyze characterization as delineated through the narrator's description.
Analyze the effects of figurative language.
Analyze the effects of such elements as plot, theme, point of view, characterization, mood, and style.
Clarify word meanings through the use of definition, example, restatement, or contrast.
Construct and present book/media reviews.
Construct essays/presentations that respond to a given problem by proposing a solution that includes relevant details.
Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by using a variety of sentence types correctly, punctuating them properly, and avoiding fragments and run-ons.
Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by using a variety of sentence types correctly, punctuating them properly, and avoiding fragments.
Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by using a variety of sentence types correctly, punctuating them properly, and avoiding run-ons.
Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by using clauses correctly.
Describe conventions in myths and epic tales (e.g., extended simile, the quest, the hero's tasks, circle stories).
Describe multiple themes in a work of fiction.
Determine how personal circumstances and backgrounds shape interaction with text.
Determine the figurative meaning of phrases and analyze how an author's use of language creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood.
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words using context clues
Draw inferences and conclusions about informational materials that are read, heard, or viewed.
Experiment with figurative language and speech patterns.
Extend vocabulary knowledge by learning and using new words.
Give appropriate reasons that support opinions of literature.
Identify and analyze recurring themes across works.
Identify and use transitions for sentence-to-sentence coherence.
Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present actions or foreshadows future action.
Identify semicolons and use them correctly.
Identify, analyze, and critique persuasive techniques (e.g., promises, dares, flattery, glittering generalities.)
Identify, use, and understand the function of subordinating conjunctions in the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Respond to informational materials by summarizing information and determining the importance of information.
Respond to informational materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by monitoring comprehension for understanding of what is read, heard and/or viewed.
Study problems and solutions within various texts and situations.
Use a thesaurus to alternate word choices.
Use commas when linking two clauses with a conjunction in compound sentences.
Use dependent and independent clauses correctly, including proper punctuation.
Use figurative language in own writing.
Use semicolons to connect independent clauses.
Use simple, compound, and complex sentences; use effective coordination and subordination of ideas to express complete thoughts.
Utilize the problem-solution process within various contexts/situations.
Write complex sentences and differentiate between main versus subordinate clauses.
Write descriptive text in the fantasy genre.

Unit 4: Ancient Asia [SS]

Social Studies

Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan.
Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of China.
Analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of India.
Analyze the rise of a military society in the late twelfth century and the role of the samurai in that society.
Cite the significance of the trans-Eurasian "silk roads" in the period of the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire and their locations.
Describe the diffusion of Buddhism northward to China during the Han Dynasty.
Describe the growth of the Maurya empire and the political and moral achievements of the emperor Asoka.
Describe the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious, and philosophical influence of those countries on Japan.
Describe the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo, and samurai and the lasting influence of the warrior code in modern times.
Describe the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo, and samurai and the lasting influence of the warrior code in the twentieth century.
Detail the political contributions of the Han Dynasty to the development of the imperial bureaucratic state and the expansion of the empire.
Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions (e.g., Sanskrit literature, including the Bhagavad Gita; medicine; metallurgy; and mathematics, including Hindu-Arabic numerals and the zero).
Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions in India.
Discuss the reign of Prince Shotoku of Japan and the characteristics of Japanese society and family life during his reign.
Discuss the significance of the Aryan invasions.
Explain the geographic features of China that made governance and the spread of ideas and goods difficult and served to isolate the country from the rest of the world.
Explain the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism.
Identify the political and cultural problems prevalent in the time of Confucius and how he sought to solve them.
Know about the life of Confucius and the fundamental teachings of Confucianism.
Know the life and moral teachings of Buddha and how Buddhism spread in India.
List the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying northern China under the Qin Dynasty.
Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical setting that supported the rise of civilization.
Locate and describe the origins of Chinese civilization in the Huang-He Valley during the Shang Dynasty.
Outline the social structure of the caste system.
Study the ninth and tenth centuries' golden age of literature, art, and drama and its lasting effects on culture today, including Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.
Trace the development of distinctive forms of Japanese Buddhism.

Unit 4: Ecosystems and Ecology [S]

Science

Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing scientific texts and articles.
Analyze evidence to explain observations, make inferences and predictions, and develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
Analyze how natural or human events may have contributed to the extinction of some species.
Analyze variables in scientific investigations and be able to identify dependent and independent variables, use a control, manipulate variables, describe relationships between variables, and define them operationally.
Describe how different environments support different varieties of organisms and how organisms adapt to different resources.
Describe how human activities have modified soil, water, and air quality.
Develop appropriate experimental procedures by generating questions.
Explain how changes in habitat may affect organisms.
Identify components of an ecosystem.
Identify that changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individuals and of species.
Know that different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes and that there is competition for resources.
Know that energy enters ecosystems as sunlight and is transformed by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then from organism to organism through food webs.
Know that matter is transferred over time from one organism to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
Know that populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.
Know that the extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of the species are insufficient for its survival.
Make inferences and draw conclusions about the effects of human activity on Earth's ecosystems.
Observe and describe the role of ecological succession in ecosystems.
Understand how trophic levels and energy flow are related.
Use mathematics to gather, organize, and present quantitative data resulting from scientific investigations such as measurement and analysis of data.
Use observation to determine similarities and differences between objects.
Use oral and written language to communicate findings and defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
Use technologies and information systems to research, gather and analyze data, visualize data, and disseminate findings to others.

Unit 4: A Single Shard [LA]

Language Arts

Analyze characterization as delineated through a character's thoughts, words, speech patterns, and actions; the narrator's description; and the thoughts, words, and actions of other characters.
Analyze how the author's choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
Analyze the connections of relationships between and among characters
Analyze the development of the plot through the internal and external responses of the characters, including their motivations.
Analyze themes and central ideas in literature and other texts in relation to personal issues/experiences.
Articulate the expressed purposes and characteristics of different forms of prose (e.g., short story, novel, novella, essay).
Create an artistic interpretation that connects self and/or society to the selection.
Create documents by using word-processing skills and publishing programs; develop simple databases and spreadsheets to manage information and prepare reports.
Deliver oral summaries of books.
Demonstrate the mechanics of writing (e.g., quotation marks, commas at end of dependent clauses) and appropriate English usage (e.g., pronoun reference).
Describe multi-dimensional instructions from text to complete a task, solve a problem, or perform procedures.
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words using context clues.
Determine the speaker's attitude toward the subject.
Develop and justify the interpretation of literature through sustained use of examples.
Develop interpretations of literature exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight.
Evaluate information from different sources about the same topic.
Explore and evaluate the underlying assumptions of the author.
Extend understanding by creating products for different purposes, different audiences, and within various contexts.
Extend vocabulary knowledge by learning and using new words.
Follow and give complex instructions to perform specific tasks, answer questions, or solve problems.
Identify all parts of speech and types and structure of sentences.
Identify and analyze recurring themes across works (e.g., the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of loneliness).
Identify and trace the development of an author's point of view or perspective in text.
Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present actions or foreshadows future action.
Identify, use, and understand the function of relative pronouns (e.g., whose, that, which) in the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Interpret both explicit and implicit messages in various forms of media.
Justify interpretations of literature through sustained use of examples and textual evidence.
Listen to and interpret a speaker's messages.
Make clear references between pronouns and antecedents.
Make connections between works, self, and related topics.
Make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts.
Model an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression using pronouns correctly, including clear antecedents and correct case.
Organize interpretations of literature around several clear ideas, premises, or images from the literary work.
Present information in a consistent format.
Revise writing to improve organization and word choice after checking the logic of the ideas and the precision of the vocabulary.
Summarize or paraphrase information in a systematic way.
Support all statements and claims with anecdotes, descriptions, facts, and specific examples.
Use a variety of complete sentences (e.g., simple, compound, complex) that include properly placed modifiers, correctly identified antecedents, parallel structures, and consistent tenses.
Use different organizational patterns as guides for summarizing and forming an overview of different kinds of expository text.
Use strategies of note taking, outlining, and summarizing to impose structure on composition drafts.
Write fictional or autobiographical narratives by developing a standard plot line (having a beginning, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement) and identifiable voice.
Write responses to literature and develop an interpretation exhibiting careful reading, understanding, and insight.

Unit 5: Asia Today [SS]

Social Studies

Analyze the different forms of government developed in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Assess the connections between historical events and contemporary issues in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Assess the influence and contributions of individuals and cultural groups in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Assess the influence of major religions, ethical beliefs, and values on cultures in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Assess the relationship between the physical environment and cultural characteristics of selected societies and regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Compare characteristics of political, economic, religious, and social institutions of selected cultures and evaluate their similarities and differences.
Compare the rights and civic responsibilities of individuals in political structures in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as tools to illustrate information about different people, places, and regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Describe different levels of economic development and assess their connections to standard of living indicators such as purchasing power, literacy rate, and life expectancy.
Describe factors that influence changes in distribution patterns of population, resources, and climate in selected regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia and evaluate their impact on the environment.
Describe how different governments in Africa, Asia, and Australia select leaders and establish laws in comparison to the United States and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Describe how different types of governments such as democracies, dictatorships, monarchies, and oligarchies in Africa, Asia, and Australia carry out legislative, executive, and judicial functions and evaluate the effectiveness of each.
Describe how physical processes such as erosion, earthquakes, and volcanoes have resulted in physical patterns on the earth's surface and analyze the effects on human activities.
Describe rights and responsibilities of citizens in selected contemporary societies in Africa, Asia, and Australia, comparing them to each other and to the United States.
Describe the environmental impact of regional activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization and evaluate their significance to the global community.
Describe the relationship between and cultural values of selected societies of Africa, Asia, and Australia and their art, architecture, music, and literature, and assess their significance in contemporary culture.
Describe the relationship between the location of natural resources and economic development and analyze the impact on selected cultures, countries, and regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Describe the role of key groups such as Mongols, Arabs, and Bantu and evaluate their impact on historical and contemporary societies of Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Describe the role of key historical figures and evaluate their impact on past and present societies in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Evaluate the varied ways people of Africa, Asia, and Australia make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources.
Examine factors such as climate change, location of resources, and environmental challenges that influence human migration and assess their significance in the development of selected cultures in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Examine key ethical ideas and values deriving from religious, artistic, political, economic, and educational traditions, as well as their diffusion over time, and assess their influence on the development of selected societies and regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Examine the basic needs and wants of all human beings and assess the influence of factors such as environment, values, and beliefs in creating different cultural responses.
Examine the causes of key historical events in selected areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia and analyze the short- and long-range effects on political, economic, and social institutions.
Examine the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment.
Examine the major belief systems in selected regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia, and analyze their impact on cultural values, practices, and institutions.
Explain how the allocation of scarce resources requires economic systems to make basic decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods and services, and evaluate the impact on the standard of living in selected societies and regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes, charts, graphs, databases, and models to pose and answer questions about space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections.
Identify examples of cultural borrowing, such as language, traditions, and technology, and evaluate their importance in the development of selected societies in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Identify examples of economic, political, and social changes, such as agrarian to industrial economies, monarchical to democratic governments, and the roles of women and minorities, and analyze their impact on culture.
Identify examples of economic, political, and social changes, such as Agrarian, to industrial economies, monarchical to democratic governments, and the roles of women and minorities, and analyze their impact on culture.
Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues.
Identify key physical characteristics such as landforms, water forms, and climates and evaluate their influence on the development of cultures in selected African, Asian, and Australian regions.
Identify the concepts associated with culture such as language, religion, family, and ethnic identity, and analyze how they can link and separate societies.
Identify the main commodities of trade over time in selected areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia and evaluate their significance for the economic, political, and social development of cultures and regions.
Identify the ways in which governments in selected areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia deal with issues of justice and injustice, and assess the influence of cultural values on their practices and expectations.
Identify various sources of citizens' rights and responsibilities, such as constitutions, traditions, and religious law, and analyze how they are incorporated into different government structures.
Identify ways in which people of selected areas in Africa, Asia, and Australia have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.
Recognize the common characteristics of different cultures in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Recognize the relationship between economic activity and the quality of life in Africa, Asia, and Australia. (
Trace the development of relationships between individuals and their governments in selected cultures of Africa, Asia, and Australia, and evaluate the changes that have evolved over time.
Trace the historical development of governments, including traditional, colonial, and national in selected societies, and assess their effects on the respective contemporary political systems.
Use the five themes of geography and geographic tools to answer geographic questions and analyze geographic concepts.
Use tools such as maps, globes, graphs, charts, databases, models, and artifacts to compare data on different countries of Africa, Asia, and Australia and to identify patterns as well as similarities and differences.

Unit 5: Earth Cycles and Systems [S]

Science

Analyze evidence to explain observations, make inferences and predictions, and develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
Apply water and nutrient cycles to an artificial ecosystem.
Be able to describe energy flow in living systems including food chains and food webs.
Communicate scientific information in a clear, concise manner.
Define matter and energy.
Describe the flow of energy and matter in natural systems including when matter is transferred from one organism to another or between organisms and their environments.
Differentiate among types of energy.
Evaluate designed systems for their ability to enable growth of certain plants and animals.
Explain and illustrate the interactions between matter and energy in the water cycle.
Identify nutrients needed for plant growth.
Know that carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis.
Know that photosynthesis is a process carried on by green plants and other organisms containing chlorophyll.
Know that the major source of atmospheric oxygen is photosynthesis.
Recognize that green plants are producers of food that is used directly or indirectly by consumers.
Research, evaluate, and apply agricultural techniques that improve soil health and crop yields.
Understand that complex interactions occur between matter and energy.
Understand that energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, from the Sun through producers to consumers to decomposers.
Understand that green plants are the producers of food that is used directly or indirectly by consumers.
Understand that matter is transferred from one organism to organisms and their environments.
Understand that solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form of visible light.
Understand that the Sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on Earth's surface; it powers winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle.
Understand that water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen are substances cycled between the living and non-living environments.

Unit 5: Independent Study [LA]

Language Arts

Analyze the purpose of the author or creator by examining any bias, apparent or hidden messages, emotional factors, and/or propaganda techniques and exploring and evaluating the underlying assumptions of the author/creator.
Ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them by generating a research plan to gather relevant information about the major research question.
Brainstorm, consult with others, decide upon a topic, and formulate open-ended questions to address the major research topic.
Clarify research questions and evaluate and synthesize collected information.
Explore and analyze argumentative works that are read, heard and/or viewed by summarizing the author's purpose and stance, examining the importance and impact of establishing a position or point of view, and drawing inferences.
Explore and analyze argumentative works that are read, heard, and/or viewed by recognizing bias, emotional factors, and/or semantic slanting, as well as examining the effectiveness of style, tone, and use of language.
Generate a research plan for gathering relevant information about the major research question.
Include evidence compiled through the formal research process (e.g., use of a card catalog, Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, a computer catalog, magazines, newspapers, and dictionaries).
Organize and present ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience.
Pose relevant and tightly drawn questions about the topic.
Pose relevant questions with a scope narrow enough to be thoroughly covered.
Refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions.
Support the main idea or ideas of a paper with facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple authoritative sources (e.g., speakers, periodicals, online information searches).
Synthesize research into a written or an oral presentation that compiles important information from multiple sources, develops a topic sentence, summarizes findings, and uses evidence to support conclusions, presents the findings in a consistent format, and uses quotations to support ideas and an appropriate form of documentation to acknowledge sources (e.g., bibliography, works cited).
Write expository compositions (e.g., description, explanation, comparison and contrast, problem and solution) that state the thesis or purpose, explain the situation, follow an organizational pattern appropriate to the type of composition, and offer persuasive evidence to validate arguments and conclusions as needed.
Write persuasive compositions that state a clear position or perspective in support of a proposition or proposal, describe the points in support of the proposition, employing well-articulated evidence, and anticipate/address reader's concerns and counterarguments.
Write research reports that pose relevant questions with a scope narrow enough to be thoroughly covered and support the main idea (or ideas) with facts, details, examples, and explanations from multiple authoritative sources (e.g., speakers, periodicals, online information searches).

Social Studies

Make informed judgments about bias, propaganda, and media techniques.

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