Grade 6 Social Studies South Dakota standards Standards

Influential Ideas in History and Civics: To 1815

Building upon skills learned in previous grades, the student learns the skills to complete the following tasks, completing each task with relative ease by the end of 6th grade.

The student can identify a statement based on an objective understanding of truth versus a statement based on a subjective understanding of truth. HC

The student can form an argument about what a primary source document is saying and cite in-text evidence to support the argument. HC

The student can make arguments about civilizations that left little or no written record, using archeological evidence, including identifying elements of the Oceti Sakowin (including select standards from Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings 1-5) culture through oral traditions, written accounts, and primary source information. HCE

The student can write a narrative essay of 4-5 paragraphs on a historical event based on class notes. H

The student can write an informative essay of 4-5 paragraphs on a historical figure based on class notes. H

The student can write a persuasive paragraph based on class notes, including a topic sentence, supporting evidence from history and class, and clear attempts to explain how the evidence proves the topic sentence. HCE

Building upon skills learned in previous grades, the student learns the skills to complete the following tasks, completing each task with relative ease by the end of 6th grade.

The student can read a map using a compass rose with the ordinal directions. G

The student can state the similarities and differences between a modern and historical map of the same region. HG

The student can identify the elements of information and distinguish between different regions.

The student can successfully select the appropriate maps for different uses.

The student can identify the six essential elements of geography: spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and the uses of geography. G

The student can state what a graph or chart indicates about geographic information, including rainfall, elevation, temperature, and population density. G

The student can identify elements that make up a person’s culture, including political culture. CG

The student demonstrates knowledge of world geography. G

The student locates on a map and describes the features of Africa’s geography, including:

Major Geographic Features: Sahara Desert, Nile River, Mount Kilimanjaro, Atlas Mountains, the Horn of Africa, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, Red Sea

Major Countries (Cities): Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt (Cairo, Giza), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya (Nairobi), Libya (Tripoli) Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town), Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia (Tunis), Uganda, Zimbabwe

The student locates on a map and describes the features of the Middle East’s geography, including:

Major Geographic Features: Arabian Peninsula, Persian Gulf, Euphrates River, Tigris River, Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, Caspian Sea, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman

Major Countries (Cities): Iran (Tehran), Iraq (Baghdad), Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv), Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Mecca), Syria (Damascus), Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara), United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Yemen

The student locates on a map and describes the features of Central Asia’s geography, including:

Major Geographic Features: Bay of Bengal, Ganges River, Indo-Gangetic Plain, Northern Mountains, Deccan Plateau, Himalayan Mountains, the Steppes, Indus River

Major Countries (Cities): Afghanistan (Kabul), India (Mumbai, Delhi), Kazakhstan (Almaty), Pakistan (Islamabad, Karachi), Sri Lanka

The student locates on a map and describes the features of Southeast Asia and Oceania, including:

Major Geographic Features: Australia, Antarctica, major Pacific islands, Coral Sea, Bay of Bengal, South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Great Victoria Desert, Great Barrier Reef, Australasia rainforest, Indo-Burma Rainforest

Major Countries (Cities): Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia (Jakarta), New Zealand, Philippines (Manila), Singapore, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi)

The student locates on a map and describes the features of northern and East Asia, including:

Major Geographic Features: Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, Gobi Desert, Himalayan Mountains, Yellow River, Yangtze River, Siberia, Korean Peninsula, Mount Everest

Major Countries (Cities): China (Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), North Korea (Pyongyang), Russia, South Korea (Seoul), Taiwan

The student locates on a map and describes the features of North and South America, including:

Major Geographic Features: Amazon River, Amazon Rainforest, Andes Mountains, Cape Horn, Panama Canal, Yucatan Peninsula, Straits of Magellan, Isthmus of Panama, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Mississippi River, Hudson Bay, Saint Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Great Plains

Major Countries (Cities): Argentina (Buenos Aires), Brazil (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro), Chile, Peru, Venezuela, United States (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago), Canada (Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal), Mexico (Mexico City), Greenland, Cuba (Havana), Haiti

The student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of influential ideas from ancient Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The student identifies the six characteristics of civilizations, which are cities, government, religion, social structures, writing, and art. CE

The student explains the major cultural features, stories, and civil and religious contributions of Ancient India, Babylon, Persia, and Ancient China, including the ideas of Siddhartha, Hammurabi, and Confucius. HC

The student explains the major cultural features, stories, and civil and religious contributions of Ancient Egypt and Phoenicia, including hieroglyphic writing and the first alphabet. HC

The student explains the major cultural features, stories, and civil and religious contributions of the ancient Hebrews, including the origins and role of the Tanakh. HC

The student compares the monotheistic religion of the Hebrews to the traditional polytheism of the ancient world, including the belief in one god, the Decalogue, individual worth of each person, and equal moral obligations of each person regardless of class or authority. HC

The student explains why the government of ancient Athens may be considered the beginning of democracy, including the polis, written constitutions, voting, a legislative body, and the rule of law. HC

The student explains the major cultural features and contributions of Athens during the classical period, including pottery, architecture, sculpture, drama, the Greek language, and the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides. H

The student explains the major ideas of philosophers and religious thinkers in antiquity, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, especially in terms of logical reasoning, truth, ethics, and politics. HC

The student tells of the conquests of Alexander of Macedon, the founding of the city of Alexandria, and the spread of Greek culture in the Hellenistic Period. H

The student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of influential ideas from the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.

The student explains the social and political organization of the Roman Republic and the influence of its governing principles and institutions, including the rule of law, the separation of powers, ideas of civic duty, and representative government. HC

The student explains the major cultural features and contributions of Rome, including in architecture, engineering, sculpture, poetry, the Latin language, and the histories of Livy and Polybius. H

The student explains the major ideas and events surrounding the life of Jesus of Nazareth and their historical effects. H

The student explains the factors that accounted for the Roman Empire’s relative stability and longevity, including its military organization and tactics, the Pax Romana, decentralized administration, the taxation system, a standard currency, and the road system. HCE

The student explains the major historical events, cultural features, stories, and religious contributions of the early Christians, including the origins and role of the Bible. H

The student compares the religion of the Christians to that of the Hebrews and of polytheist religions, including monotheism, the Trinity, the belief in Jesus of Nazareth as divine, the redeeming of a person’s sins, the individual worth of each person, and equal moral obligations of each person regardless of class or authority. H

The student explains the origins of the barbarian invasions and the other factors that led to the fall of the Roman Empire, including the power of the military establishment, political corruption, and economic instability arising from opulence. H

The student explains the role of the papacy and historical figures in establishing Christianity and Roman law in Europe and the near east, including the Christian church fathers, Arianism, the Council of Nicaea, Augustine of Hippo, and Justinian. H

The student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of influential ideas from the Middle Ages.

The student explains the ways in which society changed with the fall of the Roman Empire and the perpetuation of the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople, including the role of Christianity. H

The student explains the establishment of monasteries, the practices of monasticism, the preservation of ancient thought, and their role in the Middle Ages. H

The student explains the major ideas and events surrounding the life of Mohammed and their historical effects. H

The student explains the major historical events, cultural features, stories, and religious contributions of early Muslims, including the origins and role of the Qur’an, the preservation of Greek thought, and expansions in science, philosophy, and mathematics. H

The student explains the development and practice of feudalism in European societies, including the expectations of each class, and of slavery in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. HC

The student describes and explains Christian and Muslim art and architecture in the Middle Ages. H

The student explains the origin of the Great Schism of 1054, the Investiture Controversy, and the Concordat of Worms. H

The student tells of the Norman Conquest, the rule of King John of England, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the emergence of parliament. H

The student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of influential ideas from the Late Middle Ages and the Reformation.

The student explains the exchange of ideas and culture between Christians and Muslims. H

The student explains the developments and achievements of the high Middle Ages, including the power of the papacy, the founding of mendicant orders, the rise of universities, and the major ideas of scholasticism and Thomas of Aquino, Maimonides, and Ibn Sina. H

The student explains the origins and major ideas of the Renaissance, including a revival of classical Greece and Rome, humanism, the growth of towns, the model of Dante Alighieri, and the roles of patrons. H

The student explains the major cultural features and contributions of the Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe in painting, architecture, sculpture, and literature. H

The student explains the main ideas of major Protestant leaders, including Martin Luther, Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer, and John Calvin, and how they contrasted with Catholic ideas and practices. H

The student explains how the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent Catholic Reformation were reflected in art, architecture, and politics. H

The student identifies the historical figures and features of Elizabethan England and the English Renaissance. H

The student explains the political and religious elements to the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries, including the Anglo-Spanish War, the French Wars of Religion, and the Thirty Years’ War. H

The student demonstrates knowledge and understanding of influential ideas from the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution.

The student explains the scientific method and the major ideas and discoveries of the Scientific Revolution. H

The student explains the major ideas of the Enlightenment, including the ideas of Niccoló Machiavelli, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and their expression in neo-classical art. H

The student describes the monarchy of Louis XIV and its effect on other monarchs in Europe in the form of enlightened absolutism, including in Russia, Austria, and Prussia. H

The student explains the origins, political ideas, historical events, and effects of the English Civil War, the Protectorate, and the Glorious Revolution, and how England was the exception to absolutism. H

The student explains the origins and effects of the Agricultural Revolution, the First Industrial Revolution, and the Enclosure Movement in England, including Adam Smith’s observations on the capitalist nature of an industrial society. HE

The student explains how a free market or capitalist market indicates that laws allow individuals to possess more goods or currency than they need to survive; and to invest, produce, distribute, and buy and sell goods and services by making their own agreements with one another. E

The student explains the origins and major historical events of the French Revolution, including the ideas of Voltaire and Jean-Jacque Rousseau, government corruption, the effects of the American Revolution on France, the role of the mob and a lack of experience in selfgovernment, and widespread violence. HC

The student explains the events that led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, his conquests in in Europe, and the outcome of the Congress of Vienna. H

The student explains the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire, including romanticism, nationalism, liberalism, and socialism. H