Hello, and welcome to 7th & 8th grade History and Social Sciences and Pre-Algebra. I am so incredibly excited to start this 2023-2024 school year. I want to make it clear that if you need to contact me for any reason, I am usually available, so feel free to reach out at tmorgan@laveeneld.org. I have always been a fan of history, government, and geography. I hope that when students are done with middle school at Desert Meadows, they are, too.
In 8th grade history and social sciences we use reading, writing, discussion, videos, and interactive materials to look at the design of the United States government, under the Constitution, as well as the rights that are protected by the supreme law of the land. This will include the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Civil Rights movement, human rights around the world (including the Holocaust), and items like human effect on the environment. We will also discuss and look at economics basics.
In 7th grade history and social sciences, we will be studying Revolutions (the American, the French, and the Industrial) to start. After that, we will focus a lot of our studies on the American Century, the 1900s. This will include the Imperialism period of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and the period of time from the end of the Cold War up to today.
In pre-algebra, students will be studying what is mainly an 8th grade subject in preparation for possibly taking a 9th grade class next year. This will include writing, solving, and graphing equations, inequalities, parabolas, quadratics, and so on. The goal of this class will be to get students proficient enough in algebra that they can pass the Phoenix Union High School District’s end of year test. If they can pass that test, they will qualify for high school credit before they set foot on a high school campus. It’s an amazing opportunity for all of those students who have qualified.