What We Get to Learn in 7th Grade Social Studies!
Seventh grade Social Studies here at Martin City is AWESOME!
We will be moving through three major units during the course of the school year. The units are very unique and different from each other, which I personally LOVE because it gives us a fresh start to dive into something completely new three times a year! At 7th grade, it helps keep things fun and interesting rather than feeling monotonous.
We start out the year with our focus on GEOGRAPHY. Beginning at the local level, we get to know our neighborhood, city, and state. We branch out from there and begin learning to recognize many significant locations in our world and cultures within it. By the completion of our Geography unit, students should be able to locate 100 locations on a world map, and will be able to discuss many unique facts about cultures and traditions around our world.
Following the Geography unit, we switch to ECONOMICS. Students will learn about supply and demand, debt, credit, the various types of markets, and how various economies around the world operate. We conclude this unit by doing a really exciting career simulation! Students will draw a career, learn about salaries, taxes, insurance, and will have to create their own budget based on their income. They will learn about buying a car and renting a home. This simulation is always a lot of fun as students learn that being an adult is a challenge. During this simulation, we also discuss the importance of various education options after high school as they begin to recognize the differences in possible income levels for their future.
Our final unit is our CONSTITUTION AND CIVICS unit. Sometimes I say we save the BEST for last, but honestly, I truly like it all! We wrap up our year with students learning about our government and how it differs from other government structures around the world. They will learn the Bill of Rights, as we will stress the importance of knowing our rights as American citizens. We will also review and discuss numerous real cases where citizens' rights were in question. This always generates great discussions. We end the last month of our school year covering a juvenile criminal justice study. The students take a strong interest in this last portion as it is relevant and helps them have a clear understanding of how our life choices can carry some long and difficult consequences.
Finally, throughout the school year, we will be looking into current events weekly. I enjoy current events studies because EVERY current event day, I find myself learning something from the students! Students are always finding something and sharing news that we had not known. I go home nearly every Friday sharing what I learned from my students about various events that have occurred in our world.
So hopefully - you will find this year of Social Studies as exciting as I do every year!
