Welcome to the LJMS History Department!
Welcome to the Lawrence Jones Middle School History Department. Students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade are enrolled a year long History course. Our Common Core curriculum is enriched by our use of projects, primary source material, research and technology in the classroom. Our goal is to enhance students' understanding of how geography and history are intertwined and have influenced events of civilizations.
6th Grade
Topics of study include: Geography, Early Man, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, India and the Israelites. The time frame studied spans the breakup of Pangea to the rise of Christianity.
Projects have included: Cave paintings, crafting of Early Man tools, mummification of stuffed animals to the afterlife, Egyptology journals, Reader's Theater from India, Powerpoint presentations for the Greeks and Israelites, and field trips to Chinatown in San Francisco and the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park.
7th Grade
Topics of study include: Geography, tools of the historian, Roman civilization, early Islam, medieval Africa, China in the middle ages, medieval Japan, the Renaissance and the Reformation, the Americas, the Age of Exploration and the Age of Enlightenment. The time frame studied spans 50 BC to AD 1700.
Projects have included: Map skills, Roman newspaper, China brochure, African masks and instruments, Roman army helmets, tangrams, calligraphy, Power Points presentations, castle building.
8th Grade
Topics of study include: United States Geography, the Age of Exploration, the Thirteen Colonies, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Civil War and Reconstruction. immigration. The time frame studied spans AD 1400-early 1900s.
Projects have included: Timelines, Colonial journals, re-creation of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution exam, diorama/model/poster of a Civil War era topic, memorization of important documents and ideas through music and song.