Grade Level:
9th Grade
Unit 1: Geography
September
Content: Migration, desertification, urbanization,
cultural diffusion, Ring of Fire, “Developed” World,
“Developing” World, cultural regions, peninsula,
archipelago, strait, isthmus, terrace farming,
irrigation, elevation, climate, absolute location,
relative location, monsoons, tsunami, ethnocentrism,
political geography, physical geography
Essential Questions:
How does location affect climate?
How has man adapted to various types of physical
geogrpahy?
What types of geographic and climatic issues face
different regions of the world?
What countries make up different cultural regions?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video on geography
Assessment:
Notes, mapwork, essay, review activity, Castle learning
practice exam/exam simulation
Watertown City School District Office
Social Studies Curriculum Map
Unit 2: World Religions
October
Content: Judaism, monotheism, 10 Commandments,
Christianity, Islam, Five Pillars, Mohammad, Koran,
Allah, Hinduism, dharma, karma, reincarnation, caste
system, polytheism, Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama,
Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Nirvana,
Enlightenment, Confucianism, Five Relationships,
filial piety, Taoism, Shinto, Animism, *NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
Essential Questions:
What similarities and differences exist among the
world’s major religions?
Which regions of the world adhere to which religions?
How do religions benefit different socieites?
Which beliefs and philosophers are associated with
each major belief system?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video on world religions/belief systems
Assessment:
Notes, ‘Teach Religion’ project/presentation, Castle learning
practice exam/exam simulation,
Quarter 1 Test
09/20/16
Unit 3: Early Civilizations
November-December
Content: Bantu Migration, nomads, slash and burn,
Paleolithic Era, Neolithic Revolution, early river
valley civilizations, cuneiform writing, hieroglyphics,
papyrus, Old Kingdom, ziggurats, Sumerians,
Babylonians, Code of Hammurabi, Hittites, Persians,
Great Royal Road, Hebrews, Egyptians, Shang
Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty, mandate of Heaven,
bureaucracy, Shang, China, Qin Dynasty, Qin
Shihuangdi, Han Dynasty, Wu Ti, civil service exams,
Silk Road, Maurya India, Asoka the Great, Rock and
Pillar Edicts, Gupta India
Essential Questions:
How were the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras different?
What were some common characteristics of early
civilizations?
What were some of the achievements of early
civilizations?
How were social and political systems set up in most
early civilizations?
What factors led to the collapse of many early
civilizations?
How did geography influence the development of
different civilizations?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video on anything river valley civilizationrelated
Assessment:
Notes, ancient civilization project, Castle learning
practice exam/exam simulation
9/20/2016
Unit 4: Greece and Rome
December-January
Unit 5: Medieval Period and
Byzantine Empire
February
Content: Athens, Sparta, polis, oligarchy, tyranny,
Content: Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Justinian,
democracy, tragedy, philosophy, Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, Hellenistic Culture, Alexander the Great,
Peloponnesian Wars, Persian Wars, Trojan War,
Twelve Tables, plebeians, patricians, Pax Romana,
Julius Caesar, , Punic Wars, Hannibal, Caesar
Augustus, Edict of Milan, Attila the Hun
Great Schism, St. Cyril, the Battle of Tours,
Charlemagne, Holy Roman Empire, Magyars, Vikings,
feudalism, chivalry, gothic, Thomas Aquinas, Pope
Innocent III, Pope Urban II, the Crusades, Holy Land,
the Hundred Year’s War, Black Plague, Hagia Sophia,
Commercial Revolution
Essential Questions:
How did geography affect the development of early
Greek city states?
How were Sparta and Athens similar? Different?
How did Alexander’s conquests affect the ancient
world?
What were some of the greatest achievements of the
Greeks?
How did Rome’s location help it to develop an empire?
How does the Roman law and government system
continue to influence the modern world?
What were some of the causes of the fall of Rome?
Essential Questions:
How did the Byzantine Empire influence Russia and
Eastern Europe?
What was the significance of Justinian’s Code?
What is feudalism and why did it emerge during the
Middle Ages?
How did the Crusades help pull Europe out of the
Middle Ages?
Why did the Black Plague spread so quickly through
Europe?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video related to Ancient Greece or Ancient
Rome
Assessment:
Notes, Roman Senate simulation, Castle learning
practice exam/exam simulation
Midterm Exam
9/20/2016
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website), Kingdom of Heaven
Video, any crash course youtube video related to the
middle ages/byzantine empire
Assessment:
Notes, Crusades DBQ, Castle learning practice
exam/exam simulation
Unit 6: The Islamic World
March
Content: Muhammad, caliphate, Sunni, Shiite,
Abbasid Dynasty, Sharia Law, Ibn Battuta, Mansa
Musa, Timbuktu, Mali, gold and salt trade, Ottoman
Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, Janissaries,
Mughal Empire, Akbar the Great,
Essential Questions:
Why were Muslims able to conquer so much land so
quickly?
How did early Muslim Empires treat Christians and
Jews?
What were some of the achievements of the Muslim
“golden age”?
Who were some of the great leaders of the early
Islamic World and what did they do?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video related to Islam or Islamic Empires
Assessment:
Notes, trade route project, Castle learning practice
exam/exam simulation
Quarter 3 Test
Unit 7: Tang and Song China and the
Mongol Empire
March
Unit 8: The Renaissance,
Reformation, and Scientific Rev
April
Content: Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan,
Content: Humanism, Petrarch, Florence, , Medici,
Golden Horde, Hermit Kingdom, bushido, cultural
bridge, Tokugawa Japan, gunpowder, Japanese
feudalism, samurai, tribute system, Angkor Wat
Michelangelo, da Vinci, Northern Renaissance,
Machiavelli, Pope Leo X, Gutenberg, printing press,
indulgences, Luther, Calvin, 95 Thesis, King Henry
VIII, Catholic Reformation/Counter Reformation,
Jesuits, Council of Trent, Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon,
Newton
Essential Questions:
How were Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia influenced
by China?
How were the Mongols able to conquer such an
enormous empire?
How was feudal Japan similar to feudal Europe?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video related to the Tang, Song or Mongol
Empires
Assessment:
Notes, smart-recorder project, Castle learning practice
exam/exam simulation
9/20/2016
Unit 9: The Global Age/ Age of
Exploration
May
Content: Prince Henry the Navigator, de Gama,
Columbus, Treaty of Tordesillas, Magellan, Aztec,
Inca, Pizarro, Maya, Cortez, Montezuma, Tenochtitlan,
encomienda, peninsulares, creoles, mestizos,
mulattoes, viceroys, Middle Passage, Columbian
Exchange, mercantilism, isolationism, Slave Trade,
Qing Dynasty, Tokugawa Japan,
Essential Questions:
How was the philosophy of humanism different than
that of the medieval period?
How was the Renaissance a “rebirth” of Roman culture?
Who were some of the great artists of the Renaissance
and what were their works?
What were some of the causes and effects of the
Protestant Reformation?
How were the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific
Revolution similar?
Who were some of the great thinkers of the Scientific
Revolution and what were their ideas?
Essential Questions:
What were some of the achievements of Native
American civilizations prior to the European contact?
What motivated men to conquer the New World?
Why were systems of encomienda, slavery, and
mercantalism created in the New World?
What were some of the goods and ideas exchanged
during the Columbian Exchange?
Why were Europeans able to conquer native people so
easily?
What were some of the causes and effects of the Age
of Exploration?
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video related to the Renaissance, Protestant
Reformation or Scientific Revolution
Resources:
Book Notes (found on website); any crash course
youtube video related to Age of Exploration/Columbian
Exchange
Assessment:
Notes, smart-recorder project, Castle learning practice
exam/exam simulation
Assessment:
Notes, Explorer resume project, Castle learning practice
exam/exam simulation, ‘Change’ essay
Review
June
Content: All content from start of school year
Essential Questions:
N/A
Resources:
Assessment:
9/20/2016