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History 6
A sixth-grade tour of ideas that changed the world, from ancient Greece, Rome and the Israelites through the Enlightenment, revolutions in France and Latin America, the Industrial Revolution and America's Gilded and Progressive Eras. Most eras are taught twice: a first look, then a deeper return.
180 lessons
One a day for a school year
10 units
Each opens to its lessons
Every era taught twice
A first look, then a deeper return
Standards
Core Knowledge Grade 6 history & geography
What's taught, unit by unit
Greece and Rome: a first lookDays 1–12
How historians work, then the world's great deserts, Athenian democracy, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, Alexander the Great, the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar and Augustus, why Rome fell, and Roman engineering and law.
- 1 · Welcome to History 6: Thinking Like a Historian
- 2 · The World's Great Deserts
- 3 · Ancient Greece: The Birth of Democracy
- 4 · Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
- 6 · Alexander the Great and Hellenism
- 7 · The Roman Republic
- 8 · Julius Caesar and Augustus
- 9 · The Decline and Fall of Rome: A Historical Debate
- 11 · Roman Engineering and Law
Plus 3 review days, not listed.
The Enlightenment, French Revolution and new economic ideasDays 13–30
Hobbes, Locke and Montesquieu and their ideas about government, then the French Revolution (the Estates, the Bastille, the Terror), Napoleon, Rousseau and Romanticism, Adam Smith's capitalism, and Marx and Engels's socialism.
- 13 · The Enlightenment Begins
- 14 · Thomas Hobbes and the Social Contract
- 16 · John Locke and Natural Rights
- 17 · Comparing Hobbes and Locke
- 18 · Montesquieu and Separation of Powers
- 19 · How Enlightenment Ideas Shaped the World
- 21 · France Before the Revolution: The Estates
- 22 · The Storming of the Bastille
- 23 · The Reign of Terror
- 24 · Napoleon Bonaparte Rises to Power
- 26 · Napoleon's Empire and Downfall
- 27 · Rousseau and Romanticism
- 28 · Adam Smith and Capitalism
- 29 · Marx, Engels, and Socialism
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
Latin American independence and the Gilded Age: first lookDays 31–50
Haiti's revolution, Bolivar, San Martin and Mexico's Hidalgo; then immigration, the Robber Barons, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Populists, muckrakers, Theodore Roosevelt, Washington and Du Bois, and the fight for women's suffrage and the 19th Amendment.
- 31 · Latin American Independence Movements Begin
- 32 · The Haitian Revolution and Toussaint L'Ouverture
- 33 · Simón Bolívar, the Liberator
- 34 · José de San Martín
- 36 · Mexican Independence
- 37 · Immigration to America in the Gilded Age
- 38 · Industrialization and Robber Barons
- 39 · The Chinese Exclusion Act
- 41 · The Populist Movement
- 42 · Muckrakers Expose Injustice
- 43 · Theodore Roosevelt and Trust-Busting
- 44 · Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois
- 46 · The Fight for Women's Suffrage
- 47 · The 19th Amendment
- 48 · Comparing Progressive Era Reformers
- 49 · The Legacy of the Progressive Era
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
The Israelites, Jesus and early ChristianityDays 51–60
The ancient Israelites and the idea of one God, Moses and the Exodus, David and Solomon, the prophets, exile and the Diaspora, then Jesus, Paul, the spread of Christianity and how both faiths shaped Western thought.
- 51 · The Ancient Israelites and the Idea of One God
- 52 · Moses, the Exodus, and the Law
- 53 · Kings and Prophets: David, Solomon, and the Call for Justice
- 54 · Exile, Return, and the Diaspora
- 56 · Jesus of Nazareth: A Jewish Teacher in Roman Judea
- 57 · Paul and the Spread of Christianity
- 58 · From Persecuted Faith to Rome’s Religion
- 59 · Lasting Ideas: How Judaism and Christianity Shaped Western Thought
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
Ancient Greece and Rome in depthDays 61–90
Athens versus Sparta, Solon, the Persian Wars, Pericles, the Peloponnesian War, the trial of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander and the Hellenistic world; then Rome from the Gracchi and Cicero to Augustus, the Pax Romana, Justinian and Rome's legacy.
- 61 · Athens and Sparta: Two Ways to Run a City-State
- 62 · Solon and the Road to Democracy
- 63 · The Persian Wars: How Greece Survived
- 64 · How Athenian Democracy Worked: Assembly, Council, Courts, and Ostracism
- 66 · Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens
- 67 · The Peloponnesian War and the Limits of Democracy
- 68 · The Trial and Death of Socrates
- 69 · Plato’s Republic: Justice and the Philosopher-King
- 71 · Aristotle’s Politics: Sorting Out Governments
- 72 · Greek Science, Medicine, and History
- 73 · Alexander’s Conquests Up Close
- 74 · The Hellenistic World After Alexander
- 76 · Patricians, Plebeians, and the Struggle of the Orders
- 77 · Polybius and the Mixed Constitution
- 78 · Conquest Changes Rome: Hannibal, Wealth, and Slavery
- 79 · The Gracchi Brothers and the Republic in Crisis
- 81 · Caesar’s Rise: The First Triumvirate and the Conquest of Gaul
- 82 · Cicero: The Voice of the Republic
- 83 · Augustus and the Principate: A Monarchy in Disguise
- 84 · The Pax Romana and the Empire at Its Height
- 86 · The Crisis of the Third Century and the Divided Empire
- 87 · Historians Argue: Gibbon and the ‘Fall’ of Rome
- 88 · Justinian’s Code and Rome’s Legal Legacy
- 89 · Rome’s Living Legacy: Words, Buildings, and Republican Symbols
Plus 6 review days, not listed.
How geography shapes history, and the world's desertsDays 91–100
How deserts form, how geography shaped Greece, Rome and the Haitian Revolution, climate and American cities, and a tour of the Sahara, Kalahari, Namib, Atacama, Gobi, Taklamakan, Mojave and Sonoran deserts.
- 91 · How Deserts Form: Trade Winds, Rain Shadows, and Cold Currents
- 92 · How Geography Shaped Greek City-States
- 93 · How the Mediterranean Shaped Rome
- 94 · Geography's Role in the Haitian Revolution
- 96 · The Sahara and the Sahel
- 97 · How Climate Affected the Progressive Era's Cities
- 98 · Deserts of the Southern Hemisphere: Kalahari, Namib, Atacama, and Australia
- 99 · Deserts of Asia and North America: Gobi, Taklamakan, Mojave, and Sonoran
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
Enlightenment, French Revolution and Romanticism in depthDays 101–130
Descartes, Newton, Locke, Voltaire, Diderot, Beccaria and Wollstonecraft; France's slide to revolution, the Rights of Man, the Terror and Robespierre; Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna, Rousseau, Frankenstein and the Romantic poets.
- 101 · The Scientific Revolution Sets the Stage: Descartes and Newton
- 102 · Absolute Monarchy: What the Enlightenment Challenged
- 103 · Locke’s Two Treatises and the Case for Toleration
- 104 · Voltaire: Free Speech and Religious Toleration
- 106 · Diderot’s Encyclopedia and the Salons
- 107 · Beccaria and Enlightenment Justice
- 108 · Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women
- 109 · The Enlightenment’s Blind Spot: Slavery and the Rights of Man
- 111 · France Goes Broke: The Old Regime’s Final Crisis
- 112 · Sieyès and the Tennis Court Oath
- 113 · The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- 114 · Women in the Revolution: The March on Versailles and Olympe de Gouges
- 116 · The Revolution and the Church
- 117 · From Monarchy to Republic: Varennes to the King’s Trial
- 118 · Jacobins, Girondins, and a Nation in Arms
- 119 · Robespierre’s Republic of Virtue
- 121 · Napoleon’s Reforms: Code, Concordat, and Careers Open to Talent
- 122 · Napoleon’s Wars and the Spread of Nationalism
- 123 · The Congress of Vienna and the Age of Restoration
- 124 · Rousseau’s Challenge: Inequality, Freedom, and Education
- 126 · The Romantic Poets: Nature, Feeling, and Imagination
- 127 · Frankenstein and the Romantic Warning About Science
- 128 · Romantic Music and Painting
- 129 · Romanticism and Nationalism: Folk Tales, Heroes, and Greek Independence
Plus 6 review days, not listed.
The Industrial RevolutionDays 131–141
Why industry began in Britain, cotton and the factory system, steam and railways, life in industrial cities, child labor reform, Luddites and Chartists, supply and demand, Robert Owen's experiment and Marx's predictions.
- 131 · Why the Industrial Revolution Began in Britain
- 132 · Cotton, Machines, and the Factory System
- 133 · Steam Power and the Railway Age
- 134 · Life and Death in the Industrial City
- 136 · Child Labor and Factory Reform in Britain
- 137 · Luddites and Chartists: Workers Push Back
- 138 · Supply, Demand, and the Free Market
- 139 · Utopian Socialism: Robert Owen’s Experiment
- 141 · Marx’s Predictions Meet Reality
Plus 2 review days, not listed.
Latin America, Haiti, Mexico and Ireland in depthDays 142–155
Colonial Latin America's class system, Saint-Domingue and Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haiti after independence, Bolivar, O'Higgins and San Martin, Brazil, Mexico (Morelos, Juarez, Diaz) and the Irish Potato Famine.
- 142 · Colonial Latin America: A Society Ranked by Birth
- 143 · Saint-Domingue: The Richest Colony and the Uprising of 1791
- 144 · Toussaint the Statesman and Dessalines’ Victory
- 146 · Haiti After Independence: Freedom and Its Price
- 147 · Bolívar’s Long War: From the Jamaica Letter to Gran Colombia
- 148 · O’Higgins, Chile, and San Martín in Peru
- 149 · Brazil: Independence Without a Revolution
- 151 · Mexico’s Long Road: Morelos, Guerrero, and the Plan of Iguala
- 152 · Benito Juárez, La Reforma, and Cinco de Mayo
- 153 · Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution of 1910
- 154 · The Irish Potato Famine and the Flight to America
Plus 3 review days, not listed.
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era in depthDays 156–180
Immigration and Angel Island, nativism, inventions, railroads, Carnegie and Rockefeller, tenements and Tammany Hall, unions and strikes, Jane Addams, Jim Crow and Ida B. Wells, progressive reforms, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson and the suffrage movement.
- 156 · The New Immigrants: Push, Pull, and the Golden Door
- 157 · Angel Island and the Chinese American Struggle
- 158 · Nativism and the Melting Pot Debate
- 159 · Inventions That Built the Gilded Age
- 161 · Railroads Remake America
- 162 · John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil
- 163 · Captains of Industry or Robber Barons? The Gospel of Wealth Debate
- 164 · Cities Explode: Tenements, Bosses, and Tammany Hall
- 166 · Labor Organizes: The Great Railroad Strike and the Knights of Labor
- 167 · Samuel Gompers, the AFL, and the Pullman Strike
- 168 · Children at Work and the Triangle Fire
- 169 · Jane Addams and the Settlement House Movement
- 171 · The Farmers’ Revolt: The Grange, Free Silver, and the Cross of Gold
- 172 · Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Ida B. Wells
- 173 · Washington and Du Bois in Their Own Words
- 174 · More Muckrakers: Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Jacob Riis
- 176 · Remaking Democracy: Progressive Political Reforms
- 177 · Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal and Conservation
- 178 · Taft, Wilson, and the Election of 1912
- 179 · The Long Road to Suffrage: Anthony, Wyoming, and the 1913 Parade
- 180 · Congratulations! You Completed History 6!
Plus 4 review days, not listed.
By the end of the year, your child can
- Explain how Greek and Roman ideas about government shaped later nations
- Compare Hobbes, Locke and Montesquieu on the purpose of government
- Describe the causes and main stages of the French Revolution
- Explain why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and how it changed daily life
- Trace independence movements in Haiti and Latin America and name their leaders
- Describe how Progressive Era reformers tried to fix problems of the Gilded Age
Other 6th Grade subjects: Math 6 · Reading 6 · Writing 6 · Science 6