Discover! 8th Grade US Culture & History Kit

Written for self-directed learning, Discover! Social Studies for grades 7 and 8 is designed to promote critical thinking and integrate arts and humanities to prepare students to be informed and active citizens. Along with the focus on meeting the National Council of Social Studies C3 framework, the curriculum includes varied learning activities to meet the different learners.

The grade level kits include two Student Worktexts (Semester A and Semester B), the Instructor Guide, and the Assessments Book. Currently, these are only sold in a set–they are not available individually.

Each grade level courses include 160 days of instruction with each chapter taking about 2 days to complete the base lesson, with optional enrichment activities provided for students needing an extra layer of challenge. Chapters are organized into ten units (6-8 chapters per unit) and each unit concludes with a review and assessment. Assessments are found in the separate Assessment Book, and in the Instructor Guide. Parents have flexibility to have their student take a traditional assessment with short answer and multiple-choice questions or a performance assessment. The performance assessment is project based and includes the steps/requirements. An assessment rubric to grade the project is also included.

The daily lessons and related activities are found the Student Worktexts. Lessons follow a similar format. Day 1 complete the Explore and Read sections. Day 2 complete the Practice and Show What You Know pages. The Explore section is designed to engage the student through a short, applicable story and introduces the new concept to be learned. Day 1, the Read pages provide the informational text and concludes with a short answer, application or reflection questions, or other learning activity. These are varied and may include graphic organizers, matching exercises, drawing activities, etc. On the Day 2, the Practice and Show What You Know lessons help students prepare for the assessment through open ended questions and careful readings of documents and responsive questions. Along with these activities, students also may answer reflective questions, true and false questions, and complete graphic organizers. The Student Worktexts are designed to be written in and will become a valuable study tool for students. The Instructor Guide is a parent’s dream! Beginning with an easy-to-follow overview of the guide and suggested planning, the Instructor Guide provides parents with helpful ways to support your student through the lessons, ideas to meet (and challenge) the different learning styles, co-op activities for families using the course in a large group setting, suggested extension or enrichment activities, and answers to all the student activities. It also includes the student tests and answers. Helpful graphic organizers with examples are found in the back of the Instructor Guide. The consumable Test Book includes all ten unit’s traditional assessments as well as the performance assessment project and grading rubric.  Not reproducible.