History 3

Course Overview

Continuing their investigation (spanning grades 1–4) into history from the Stone Age to the Space Age, third grade students will:

• Explore the Renaissance, and meet Petrarch, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Gutenberg, Galileo, and more
• Journey through the Age of Exploration with Dias, da Gama, Magellan, and more
• Get to know the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas
• Visit civilizations in India, Africa, China, and Japan
• During England's Golden Age, meet Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, and William Shakespeare
• Explore Jamestown, Plymouth, and the thirteen colonies in Colonial America
• Learn about the American Revolution

Course Outline

Where Do We Go from Here?

• Learn how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire,process, and report information from a spatial perspective
• Learn how to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on the earth's surface
• Understand that people create regions to interpret the earth's complexity

Background to the Renaissance

• Define "Renaissance" as rebirth, referring to a rebirth of interest in the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome
• Describe Greece and Rome as civilizations that valued learning, reason, and human striving and potential
• Characterize the Middle Ages as a dangerous time and an Age of Faith
• Identify Christianity as Europe's dominant faith
• Describe the late Middle Ages as a time when writers, thinkers, and artists rediscovered classical models

The Italian Renaissance

• Identify Italy (with its numerous competing city-states) as the place where the Renaissance began
• Identify Florence, Venice, and Rome as centers of Renaissance learning
• Recognize that artists and scholars were inspired by ancient Greece and Rome
• Describe the Renaissance ideal of a well-rounded individual (Renaissance man)
• Identify key figures, characteristics, and accomplishments of the Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance Elsewhere and the Reformation

• Identify the invention of the printing press as key to the spread of Renaissance ideas and ideals
• Recognize Italy's role in spreading Renaissance ideas to northern Europe
• State that strong monarchs emerged in England, France, and Spain
• Identify key artistic and scientific advances in northern Europe
• Define the Reformation as a split within Christianity
• Identify Martin Luther as a German monk who led the Reformation
• Know that the Reformation created political and religious splits in Europe

Moving from One World to Another

• Locate and identify mountain ranges around the world
• Identify selected mountain peaks on several continents
• Explain the purpose of the scale on a map
• Use the scale on a mp to measure the distance between places
• Name agricultural product maps as maps that show where crops are grown and animals are raised
• Use an agricultural product map to get information
• Understand how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective
• Recognize the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface
• Identify how physical systems affect human systems

The Age of Exploration

• Describe the Renaissance as an age of exploration and discovery
• List key advances in navigation that made voyages of discovery possible (for example, caravel, compass, and astrolabe)
• Identify European motivations for voyages of discovery
• Recognize Portugal and Spain as the leading powers of this time
• Identify key individuals and their important voyages

The World They Found

• Recognize that different civilizations and cultures inhabited the Americas before the arrival of Europeans
• List the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas as three major pre-Columbian civilizations, and describe some of their skills and abilities
• Describe the motivations of the Spanish in the New World
• Characterize the conflict of Spanish and Native American civilizations as a clash of civilizations in which the Spanish conquered the Aztec and Inca empires
• Identify key figures in the conflict: Moctezuma, Cortés, Atahualpa, Pizarro, and las Casas

Looking East: Ottomans and Mughals

• Describe the Ottoman and Mughal empires as large and expanding Muslim empires during the Renaissance
• Locate the Ottoman and Mughal empires on a map
• Describe the Ottomans as rivals for trade and territory with European countries such as Spain and Portugal
• Recognize Hinduism and Islam as two faiths present in India
• Identify key places and people in the Ottoman and Mughal empires: Istanbul, Agra, the Süleymaniye mosque, the Taj Mahal, Süleyman, Akbar, and Shah Jahan

Africa, China, and Japan

• Describe the growth of European trade with Africa, China, and Japan
• Understand the impact of New World exploration on the development of a transatlantic slave trade
• Locate the kingdoms of Benin, China, and Japan on a map
• Recognize that both China and Japan closed themselves to the west in this period
• Identify key places, dynasties, people, and products of the three areas: Benin, brasswork, the Niger River, Beijing, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Ming Dynasty, silk and porcelain, the Tokugawa shogunate, and Francis Xavier

England's Golden Age and Beyond

• Identify the reign of Elizabeth I as a golden age, or time of cultural and political flourishing
• Describe England as an increasingly strong nation-state under Elizabeth I
• Identify Spain as England's main rival
• State that England began to explore and colonize North America
• Identify Shakespeare as England's most famous bard
• Recognize historic English concern for defense of liberties in quarrel with James I and the Glorious Revolution

The America They Found and Founded

• Recognize that different cultures inhabited North America before the arrival of Europeans
• List the Pacific Northwest, desert, Plains, and Eastern Woodland peoples as major cultures, and describe some of their skills and abilities
• Describe various motivations of the English who came to the New World World (for example, gold, religious freedom, land, and freedom from imprisonment)
• Explain that many people with maverick ideas came to the British colonies in North America
• Identify key figures and events in early settlement: John Smith, Pilgrims, Puritans, William Penn, Quakers, James Calvert, Catholics, and James Oglethorpe
• Identify the physical and human characteristics of places
• Recognize the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on the earth's surface
• Observe the processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement
• Understand how physical systems affect human systems
• Learn how to apply geography to interpret the past

The American Revolution

• Describe the North American colonies as proud of their English heritage of liberty
• Explain that American colonists had made laws for the colonies in their own assemblies
• Explain why American patriots believed that being taxed by Parliament was an attack on their liberty
• Identify key events and figures in the American Revolution: Paul Revere's ride; the battle of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill; the Declaration of Independence; winter at Valley Forge; French aid; Yorktown; George Washington; John Adams; and Thomas Jefferson
• Describe the result of the American Revolution as independence from England and the formation of a modern republic

America: Present to Past

• Discover the geography of the original thirteen colonies

Number of Lessons and Scheduling

60 minutes

You might choose to split the lessons into smaller segments and take a break between investigations. The K12 online lesson tracking system allows you to pick up wherever you left off in any given lesson.

Total Lessons: 108

Materials

Please note: Course materials will be available in various formats, which may include physical and/or digital materials.

Standard Curriculum Items

• "America 1492" (Kids Discover magazine)
• Michelangelo by Mike Venezia (Children's Press, 1991)
• The Revolutionary War by Brendan January (Children's Press, 2000)
• Inflatable Globe (Grades 3–6)
• U.S./World Map (Grades 3–5)
• Map Skills and Our World—Level 3

NOTE: List subject to change.