7th Grade Standards

John Stokes
Capstone Portfolio

7th Grade Overview

Covered in Seventh Grade:

Citizenship and Government: (10 benchmarks
total)
o Civic Skills (1 benchmark)
o Civic Values and Principles of Democracy
(1 benchmark)
o Rights and Responsibilities (3
benchmarks)
o Governmental Institutions and Political
Processes (4 benchmarks)
o Relationships of the United States to
other nations and organizations (1
benchmark)
Economics: (4 benchmarks total)
o Economic Reasoning Skills (1 benchmark)
o Fundamental Concepts (1 benchmark)
o Microeconomics (2 benchmarks)
Geography: (I benchmark total)
o Geospatial SkillsThe World in Spatial
Terms (1 benchmark)
History: (28 benchmarks total)
o Historical Thinking Skills (1 benchmark)
o Peoples, Cultures, and Change Over Time
(1 benchmark)
o United States History (26 benchmarks)

Resources in Citizenship:
http://www.teachingcivics.org/ (Learning, Law& Democracy Foundation
in Minnesota)
https://www.icivics.org/ (Resources and games for civic education)
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/ (Resources for civics education)
Resources in Economics:
http://www.mcee.umn.edu/ (MN Council for Economics Education)
http://www.econedlink.org/ (Lesson plans and resources for teaching
economics)
http://www.econed.org/teacherresources/ (Resources and lesson plans)
 http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/middleschool/lessons
(Resources and lesson plans)
Resources in Geography:
http://lt.umn.edu/mage/ (MN Alliance for Geographic Education)
http://nationalgeographic.org/education/teachingresources/ (National
Geographic)
http://www.ourspatialbrains.com/ (Helping students think spatially)
Resources in History:
https://mnche.wordpress.com/ (Minnesota Council for History
Education)
http://sheg.stanford.edu/rlh (Reading Like a Historian-Stanford History
Education Group)
http://teachinghistory.org/ (National History Education Clearinghouse)
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/ (Library of Congress)
http://docsteach.org/documents (National Archives Docs Teach)
http://edsitement.neh.gov/subject/historysocialstudies (National
Endowment for the Humanities)

Summary of Standards

The standards covered in 7th grade in Minnesota have to do with the study of

the United States such as US History, US Politics, and US geography, US

Economics. All of these ideas built off of what was learned previously during

5th and 6th grade as students can start applying what they learned during

Minnesota Studies as well. The Minnesota Social Studies Standards list the

following ideas as the main points that teachers should focus on and what

students should learn. Grade Seven is listed as the main focus of History with

a secondary focus of both citizenship and government and also will cover a

little bit of economics. Students will learn about people, issues, and events of

significance in this nations history from 1800 to present, this is covering the

second part of US history where 5th grade is mainly dealing with the history

pre 1800. In 7th Grade students will examine the Declaration of

Independence, the constitution and Bill of Rights, and the Supreme court

decisions that have made a lasting impact. Students should also learn how to

study both civics and economic principles in depth and help examine

connections between these disciplines to try and learn and understand how

people lived, worked, and functioned in society. The strenths of the standards

for 7th grade include the ability for students to learn about the poitcal

systems have shaped and how they play out even today. The standards in 7th

grade allow students to learn more in depth about their country and as they

grow into the teenage years and adulthood it allows students to learn about

their rights and responsibilities as a United States citizen. Another strength

of the standards are that it will cover most big events that have happened in

America and how it impacted our country. A weakness of the standards it

that it doesnt allow educaors to go in depth on a specific topic as with the

standards you will have to provide mostly general details and just hit the

surface of a topic.

Lesson Plan 1

Lesson Plan 1: Transportation Revolution

Objective: Explain how economic incentives encouraged technological

change and the capital investments that led to the Transportation
Revolution.

Explore advancements in transportation, identifying ways in which they

transformed trade and promoted economic growth in the United
States.

Create a timeline illustrating advancements in transportation

technology that have occurred since the U.S. declared its
independence in 1776.
Source: http://www.econedlink.org/teacher-lesson/727/Transportation-They-
Say-We-Had-Revolution-(Part-3)

Minnesota State K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies: 7.2.4.5.1

Individuals, businesses and governments interact and exchange goods,

services and resources in different ways and for different reasons;
interactions between buyers and sellers in a market determines the price
and quantity exchanged of a good, service or resource.

Benchmark: Describe how the interaction of buyers (through demand) and

sellers (through supply) determines price in a market.

Strenths and Weaknesses: A strength of this lesson it that it shows how

the Market demand drives new technology and a new market for otems, in
this lesson that item is transportation. Studnets will learn about the
advancement of technology that happened from the start of the railways all
the way to the current planes and cars. This is important as it shows students
the advancement of technology over time and how it is still rapidly
improving. Another strength of this lesson is that it is interactive and allows
students to participate in what they are learning. A weakness of this lesson is
that it requires prior knowledge and also their really isnt a way to asdapt the
lesson for certain groups of students.

Lesson Plan 2

Lesson Plan 2: Significant Sumpreme Court Cases

Objective: Describe how the interaction of buyers (through demand) and

sellers (through supply) determines price in a market.

Source: https://cdn.icivics.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Korematsu.pdf?
_ga=1.152958713.1598786574.1490659190

Minnesota State K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies 7.1.3.4.1

Individuals in a republic have rights, duties and responsibilities.

Benchmark: Explain landmark Supreme Court decisions involving the Bill of

Rights and other individual protections; explain how these decisions helped
define the scope and limits of personal, political and economic rights.
Strenths and weaknesses: a strength of this lesson is that it has a
assessment technique Students will get worksheets at the end of each
supreme court case they choose and will complete the assigned sheet and
turn in where I will go over it to see where students are at. After the quick
presentations students will go have a worksheet on the all the cases that will
will turn in to be the next day and I will go over the cases the students
struggled with the most to better their understanding. Students also can
listen to the lesson in various ways such as using a worksheet, watching a
video, or listening. A weakness of this lesson is that it requires students to
have some background knowledge on the sumpreme court case being
discussed.