Ms. Watkins' Social Studies Class
7th Grade East Alexander Middle School
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Academic Excellence
Discovery and Learning
In Ms. Watkins' Social Studies Class, an effective education doesn’t just come from memorizing or lecturing. Active participation in the learning process entails analyzing, discussing and collaborating - in order to comprehend and retain. All courses are designed to encourage deep mental processing and student engagement with the class material.
Schedule
Monday - Thursday
7:40-9:02 1st Block
9:05-10:22 2nd Block
10:25-12:15 3rd Block
11:31-12:05 Lunch
12:18-1:35 Rotations
1:38-3:00 4th Block
Friday
7:40 - 8:53 1st Block
8:56 - 10:04 2nd Block
10:07 - 11:15 Rotations
11:18 - 1:00 3rd Block
11:35 - 12:09 Lunch
1:03 - 2:11 4th Block
2:14 - 3:00 Flex
Clubs:
Literary Recommendations
As we continue to enhance our students' learning experiences, I encourage you to consider asking your student to read one book per Social Studies unit. This approach can enrich our lessons and foster a deeper understanding of the topics we explore.
Thank you for your dedication to our students' education.
The Shakespeare Stealer
By: Gary Blackwood
Renaissance Unit
Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else.
Shakespeare's Scribe
By: Gary Blackwood
Renaissance Unit
In this sequel to "The Shakespeare Stealer", the Black Plague has closed the Globe Theatre, forcing the acting troupe to take to the road.
Luther: Echoes of the Hammer
By: Susan K. Leigh
Reformation Unit
It was a war waged with words. The most powerful people in the world were against him. He fought tradition and law and even his own beloved church. Discover the story of Martin Luther in this graphic novel.
Plymouth Pilgrim
By: Donald W. White
Reformation Unit
A Plymouth Pilgrim tells of persecutions, secret meetings, angry negotiations, religious disputes, savage storms, kidnapping and sabotage, fear and faith, and the Pilgrims' desperate struggle to survive. This is William Bradford’s own story—the Plymouth Pilgrim
A Journey to the New World
By: Kathryn Lasky
Reformation/Exploration Unit
Twelve-year-old Remember ("Mem") just arrived in the New World with her parents after a journey on the MAYFLOWER. Despite harsh conditions, Mem is fearless. She helps to care for the sick and wants more than anything to meet and befriend a Native American.
Nzingha
By: Patricia C. McKissack
Exploration Unit
In 1595, Nzingha is the strong, intelligent daughter of the Ngola (leader) of the Mbundu people of Ndongo (in modern-day Angola), loyal to her people and willing to fight for them.
Who Was Isaac Newton?
By: Janet B. Pascal
Scientific Revolution Unit
When the plague broke out in London in 1665 Isaac was forced to return home from college. It was during this period of so much death, that Newton gave life to some important theories in modern science, including gravity and the laws of motion.
Isaac The Alchemist
By: Mary Losure
Scientific Revolution Unit
Before Isaac Newton became the father of physics and a leader of the scientific revolution, he was a boy living in an apothecary’s house, observing and experimenting.
Who Was Galileo?
By: Patricia Brennan Demuth
Scientific Revolution Unit
Born in Pisa, Italy, in the sixteenth century, Galileo contributed to the era's great rebirth of knowledge. He invented a telescope to observe the heavens. From there, not even the sky was the limit!
Great Battles For Boys: The American Revolution
By: Joe Giorello
Enlightenment Unit
Following enlightened ideas early colonial protests brought even more tyranny from King George III. With a declaration of war and the appointment of George Washington as commander of the Continental Army, the revolution’s real battles begin.
Give Me Liberty
By: L.M. Elliott
Enlightenment Unit
Life is tough for thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Dunn, an indentured servant in colonial Virginia. The year is 1775, and as colonists voice their rage over England's taxation, Patrick Henry's words "give me liberty, or give me death" become the sounding call for action.
Johnny Tremain
By: Esther Forbes
Enlightenment
In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper The Boston Observer and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, Johnny is involved in events of the American Revolution, from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington.
In the Reign of Terror
By: G.A. Henty
French Revolution Unit
Harry Sandwith accepts a job as a companion to the sons of a French marquis. Can Harry rescue the marquis' family from imprisonment and certain death at the hands of the merciless mob?
Robespierre: Master of the Guillotine
By: John DiConsiglio
French Revolution Unit
Recounts the life of Maximilien Robespierre, including his childhood, his participation in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, and his execution.
Uprising
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Industrial Revolution Unit
The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers, is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and the disaster, brought attention to the labor movement.
The Breaker Boys
By: Pat Hughes
Industrial Revolution Unit
Nate Tanner is a rich boy whose family owns coal mines. He has everything a kid could want or need – except a friend. Then he meets Johnny, an easygoing Polish American boy who works sorting coal in a filthy, dark building called a breaker.
Lyddie
By: Katherine Patterson
Industrial Revolution Unit
When Lyddie and her younger brother are hired out as servants to help pay off their family farm's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family once again.
Cixi Evil Empress of China
By: Sean Stewart Price
Imperialism Unit
Discover the life of Cixi, the Empress of China, her devious rise to power to the consequences of supporting the Boxers.
Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame
By: Supriya Kelkar
Imperialism Unit
In 1857 India, 13-year-old Meera escapes a life she has no say in only to end up a servant to a British general. When a rebellion against British colonizers spreads, she must choose between safety or standing up for herself and her people.
Who Was Gandhi?
By: Dana Meachen Rau
Imperialism Unit
Though Ganghi studied law in London and spent his early adulthood in South Africa, he remained devoted to his homeland and spent the later part of his life working to make India an independent nation.
World War I: Great Battles for Boys
By: Joe Giorello
WWI Unit
Readers experience an unforgettable journey into WWI. They learn about battles, leaders, tactics, and strategies that helped the Allies topple the Axis. They'll also learn about new inventions, like airplanes and tanks, which proved crucial to “The Great War."
War HorseBy: Michael Morpurgo
World War I Unit
Joey, a horse bought by the Army for service in WWI in France and the attempts of 15-year-old Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home.
6pts.
The Devil's Arithmetic
By: Jane Yolen
Holocaust Unit
A Jewish girl from New York is sent back in time to experience the Holocaust.
6pts.
Prisoner B-3087
By: Alan Gratz
Holocaust Unit
10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. That is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over.
Farewell to Manzanar
By: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
World War II
During World War II the incarceration camp called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose? To house thousands of Japanese Americans.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
By: Eleanor Coerr
World War II
The star of her school’s running team, Sadako is lively and athletic…until the dizzy spells start. Then she must face the hardest race of her life—the race against time. Based on a true story.
World War II and Cold War Units
Insight into the early life of Joseph and how he came to power along with the influence of the German philosopher Karl Marx.
A Night Divided
By: Jennifer Nielsen
Cold War Unit
Germany is a country divided. In the early 60s a wall goes up in Berlin to separate West Berlin and East Berlin. Greta’s father and older brother are visiting West Berlin when the barbed wire goes up on the Berlin Wall and the gates slam shut
Breaking Stalin's Nose:
By: Eugene Velchin
Cold War Unit
Now that it is time for Sasha Zaichik to join the Young Pioneers everything goes awry. He damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.
Civil Rights Unit
Though slavery had ended in the 1860s, African Americans were still suffering under the weight of segregation a hundred years later. But by the 1950s, black people refused to remain second-class citizens and were willing to risk their lives to make a change.
Broken Memory: A Novel of Rwanda
By: Elisabeth Combres
.....
Hiding behind an armchair, five-year-old Emma does not witness the murder of her mother, but she hears everything. And when the assassins finally leave, the young Tutsi girl somehow manages to stumble away from the scene.