The goal of the Social Studies Department is to teach the past so that it enables students to live successfully in the present and prepares them for the future. Specific grade levels teach the different areas of history.

6th Grade Social Studies

Sixth grade social studies is a year-long course in which students study the people and places of the contemporary world. Societies are chosen for study from the following regions of the world: Europe, Russia and the Eurasian republics, North America, Middle America, South America, Southwest Asia-North Africa, Sub-Sahara Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Rim. Students will study the influence of individuals and groups on historical and contemporary events in those societies and identify the locations and geographic characteristics of selected societies. Students will examine the different ways of organizing economic and governmental systems and will compare institutions common to all societies such as government, education, and religious institutions.

7th Grade Social Studies

This course is a year-long course of study of the history of Texas from early times to the present. The full scope of Texas history will be examined, including the cultures of native Americans living in Texas prior to European exploration and the eras of mission building, colonization, revolution, republic, and statehood. In each era the focus will be on key individuals, events, issues, and their impact. In the geography strand, students will identify the regions of Texas and the distribution of population within and among the regions and explain the factors that led Texas to change from a rural to an urban society. Students will also analyze the impact of various scientific discoveries and technological innovations such as barbed wire and oil and gas industries on the development of Texas.

8th Grade Social Studies

This course is a year-long course of study in which students examine the history of the United States from the early colonial period through Reconstruction. Historical content focuses on the political, economic, and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, challenges of the early Republic, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. In the geography strand, students will study physical characteristics of the United States and their impact on population distributions and settlement patterns in the past and present. They will analyze the various economic factors that influenced the development of colonial America and the early years of the Republic and identify the origins of the free enterprise system.

Pre-Ap/GT Social Studies

Pre-Ap/GT Social Studies goes in depth into the study of the various units.