Michelle+P's+Social+Studies+Planning+Project

Forty Big Ideas
 * 1) Pre-Colonial History – Native Americans. This concept is important to teach because it explains what was going on in America before Europeans arrived. Students will learn that there is more to history beyond the European White Man.
 * 2) Colonization - This concept is important to teach because it shows how the first future states were formed. Students will learn why the eastern seaboard has it's shape and how people settled into the land.
 * 3) Great Awakening - This conept is important because it demonstrates America's highly religious background. Students will understand the the founding fathers of our country came from a highly religious society.
 * 4) French and Indian War - This war is important because it helps to explain the race relations of the time. Students will also understand what led to the taxation and American Revolution.
 * 5) Boston Tea Party and Taxation - This concept is important because it helps explain the rationale for the Declaration of Independence. Students will benefit by understanding why we became our own country.
 * 6) Declaration of Independence & Revolutionary War - This concept is important to teach because it explains how we became our own country. Students will understand how hard Americans will fight for their own freedom.
 * 7) Birth of our Nation - This is important to teach because students need to understand how Americans formed our government. Students will begin to understand how the founding fathers wanted out nation to work.
 * 8) Second Great Awakening - This movement is important to teach because it helps to explain the morals, values, and systems of thought popular during America's early history. Students will gain knowledge about the reasoning of the American people at this time.
 * 9) War of 1812 - This war is important to teach because it helps to show America's military strength as a new country. Students will learn about the warfare during the time and about the origins of our national anthem.
 * 10) Westward Expansion - This concept is important to teach because it shows how America grew and expanded as a country. Students will learn about more relations with Indians and how America began to grow.
 * 11) Trail of Tears - This concept is extremely important to teach because students need to know about how the American governent treated people who should have been American citizens. We should not shy away from our mistakes in the past, but learn from them in order to prevent them in the future.
 * 12) Gold Rush - This concept is important to teach because it explains why Americans moved out west to places like California. Students will learn about money and inflation related to this.
 * 13) Mexcian-American War - This war is important to teach because it helps to explain some of the pre-civil war boarders and slave/free state issues. Students will learn about America's southern boarder and how important slavery was of an issue.
 * 14) Civil War - This war is CRUCIAL to teach in American history because it covers some of the same topics still debated in government today! Students will learn about basic human rights, slavery, and big versus small/federal versus state government control.
 * 15) Reconstruction - This time period is important to teach because it explains how America reformed as a whole nation from a land mass splintered by war. It covers man important concepts such as the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which secure a lot of basic rights including citizenship.
 * 16) Indian Wars - These wars are important to teach because they again show how the American government treated Indians like invaders or a warring nation. Students will understand more about America's diverse history.
 * 17) Jim Crow Era - This time period is important to teach because it helps to explain the propogation of racism even after the Civil War and Reconstruction period. Students will understand more about racial tensions and where racial stereotypes orginated from.
 * 18) Industrialization - This concept is important to teach because it explains the technological revolutions that allowed America to remain a super power. Students will learn about new energy sources and the problems associated.
 * 19) Imperialism - This concept is important to teach because it helps to explain America in terms of the entire world in the 1900s. Students will understand world super powers and America colonized different regions and how this led into WWI and II.
 * 20) World War 1 - This war is important to teach because it shows how easily the world system can collaspe due to alliances and treaties. Students will understand the precarious global situation and the history behind a lot of great literary works from the Lost Generation.
 * 21) The Great Migration - This concept is important to teach because it explains how and why populations shifted in the US. Students will learn about how certain populations moved and how this related to racial tensions of the time.
 * 22) Progressive Movement – women’s suffrage This concept is important to teach because it shows how American's stood up and fought for their rights inspired by a movement within in the United States people. Students will learn more about women's rights and how they can make a change in society as a citizen.
 * 23) Roaring 20’s - This time period is important to teach because it shows the aftereffects of WWI and the causes of the Great Depression and WWII.
 * 24) Great Depression - This concept/time period is important to teach because it shows how the American system and our economy can fail due to over-speculation and greed. Students will gain by understanding how the stock market and American economy operates and how the environment can effect us/be effected by us.
 * 25) World War 2 - This war is important to teach because it represents a total and all out war around the entire world. Students will gain by understanding why this war took place and how we can work together peacefully with legislation and talks rather than guns and weapons with fascist dictators.
 * 26) 1950’s American Dream - This concept is important to teach because it explains the rational behind a lot of decisions that affect how the American system works today. Students will gain by understanding the reasoning behind the push towards education and traditional and conservation values that still pervade America today.
 * 27) Civil Rights Movement - This event is extremely important to teach because it shows how American citizens worked together for equality and basic rights that all citizens, and in some cases humans, should hold. Students will gain by understanding how they can effect government and decisions and the history behind their rights today.
 * 28) Cuban Missile Crisis - This event is important to teach because it represents how close America came to a nuclear war with communism. Students will gain by learning about President Kennedy and the current situation with Cuba and the trade embargo on communist Cuba.
 * 29) The Space Race - This concept is important to teach because it has a lot of overarching impact. Students will gain knowledge about technological innovations and the push towards math and science education.
 * 30) Cold War - This war is important to teach because it directly precedes a lot of the current world situations. Though this war ended in 1989, it still has after-reaching effects in Europeans countries and how we operate as a national power.
 * 31) Vietnam - This war is important to teach because it shows another one of America's great failures as a nation. Students will gain what it means when America goes to war poorly prepared and they effects of what a national draft means to the American citizens.
 * 32) The Counterculture - This movement is important to teach because it shows a group of people working against the mainstream in America. Students will gain about learning how they can make individual decisions as a citizen of America, hopefully in peaceful and legal ways.
 * 33) End of Cold War - This event is important to teach because it represents the fall of communism and the end of the nuclear weapons tensions. Students will gain because they will understand how Russia broke apart and America triumphed in a peaceful way.
 * 34) 1st War in Iraq - This war and series of wars is important to teach because it helps to explain the current situation in the middle east. Students will gain the knowledge and reasoning behind foreign policy relations in the current global society.
 * 35) September 11th - This event is important to teach because it is a horrific and recent terrorist attack that represents the extreme actions people will take when led by hatred. Students will learn about how terrorism and acts of war can lead to war, and how these attacks can effect the American home soil; we are not impenetrable.
 * 36) Great Recession - This concept is important to teach because it explains American society and government in today's terms. Students will learn about why our economy is working poorly and how this happened; they will learn more about how the current economy works and where they fit into the puzzle.
 * 37) The United States Constitution - This document is important to teach because it explains how the American Government is set up and what it represents to students. Students will learn more about what the government stands for and what the federal government actually has control over.
 * 38) The Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments - This is important to teach because a lot of basic civil rights are documented in these important documents. Students will learn about how to create a constitutional amendment, why it is necessary, and what amendments have come before in the past.
 * 39) Three Branches of US Government - This is important to teach so that students will understand how the Federal government operates. Students will learn about how the president is not the only leader in the country and how they, as citizens, fit into America's government.
 * 40) NC Government branches - This is important to teach so that students will understand how the North Carolina government is structured and works. They will learn about how they play a role in the NC government and how they can make a difference.

Ten Important People
 * 1) Christopher Columbus - This figure is important to teach because there is so much misinformation about Columbus! Students need to understand who this man really was and how he actually relates/does not related to the creation of America.
 * 2) Sir Walter Raleigh - This figure is important to teach because he relates directly to North Carolina History. Students will learn more about our capital city and how individuals and goverments work together to sponsor things.
 * 3) George Washington - This figure is important to teach because he played a large part in the creation of our country. Students will learn about the role of the president and the many precidents that Washingston created.
 * 4) Harriet Tubman - This figure is important to teach as an African American women who played a large role in the Underground Railroad. Students will learn more about the issue of slavery and how Americans worked against it.
 * 5) Abraham Lincoln - This president is important to teach because he worked hard to hold together a broken nation and deal with a polarized population. Students will learn more about the truth behind Lincoln and how he had to work for a more equal nation.
 * 6) Teddy Roosevelt - This president is important to teach because he embodies the American dream. He was an uneducated man who became a president for the people; students can learn more about Westward expansion and how a president should represent his people.
 * 7) Anne Frank - This individual is important to teach because she wrote a first-hand account of the horrors that can occur when racism prevails. Students will learn about the value of a democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.
 * 8) Martin Luther King Jr - This individual is important to teach because he worked hard to peacefully campion the values of equality and civil rights. Students will learn about a person can peacefully and effectively protest a corrupt system to bring about positive change for people.
 * 9) George Washington Carver - This individual is important to teach because he was such an innovative and intersting person. He worked hard to invent things that America needed from things that we had and represents how diverse people have worked to create innovations for America as well.
 * 10) Lucretia Mott - This individual is important to teach because she worked hard to champion women's rights. Students will learn more about important female role models and how women worked to change America before common times and gender equality.