Social Studies

The Social Studies curriculum helps students make sense of the world in which they live. It allows them to make connections between major ideas and their own lives, and it helps them see themselves as members of the world community.

It offers students the knowledge and skills necessary to become active and informed participants on a local, national and global level.

The Social Studies curriculum in Grade 4 focuses on New York State and New York City from a primarily historical perspective. The role the development of New York in the establishment of the United States of America is highlighted, as the city in particular is examined in terms of its social, economic, and political influence.
 
The American Revolution, post-Independence America, the abolition of slavery, the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression - all are put in a New York context. 
 
Migration to and from New York is a key theme, ranging from early colonial immigrants through to the post-World War II migration from urban to suburban.
 
Transport is highlighted as having been central to the growth of New York, both city and state, with roads, canals and railways all shown to have played a part.
 
Grade 5 sees the United States put within the context of the history of the Americas. Early American civilizations (Aztec, Maya, Inca) are studied.
 
The students also study Asian and African cultures and civilizations, in terms of their role in early trade and exploration.
 
It is then the turn of the Europeans - the Spanish, the Dutch, the French, the British - and their role in the early history of what was to become the United States, as American colonial history is explored in more depth than in previous grades.  

The study of ancient peoples and civilizations dominates the initial semester of Grade 6. The empires and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Arabia, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Persia, and Rome are all studied.

The second half of the curriculum moves fast forward to 18th, 19th and 20th century Europe - the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Women’s Rights Movement, World War I and II, and the Cold War. 

Colonial America and the subsequent republic of the United States of America up until the post-Civil War Reconstruction in the late 1800's are at the center of the curriculum in Grade 7.

Aspects of political history touched on in Grades 4, 5 and 6 are explored in more detail. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the emergence of political parties, federal and local government are all put in a more expanded historical and geographical context.

The age of Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, the Jacksonian era, slavery, and the Civil War form the core of the second half of the curriculum, culminating in the period of Reconstruction in the South. 

The Grade 8 curriculum essentially continues where that of Grade 7 ended, following the history of the United States from the late 19th century to present day.

The period of social activism and reform known as the Progressive Era, and the post-Civil War period of industrial growth that accompanied it, are examined. New inventions, the rise of big business, urbanization, and organized labor - their economic and social impacts are all discussed.

The Progressive Era gives way to the Roaring Twenties, which in turn gives way to the Great Crash and the Great Depression, culminating in FDR and the New Deal. These events are examined in terms of their social, political and economic impacts.

War dominates much of the second half of the curriculum - World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, right up until present-day conflicts and challenges.