Comprehensive Common Core curriculum for World History, Grades K-2 The Alexandria Plan is Common Core's curriculum tool for the teaching of United States and World History. It is a strategic framework for identifying and using high quality informational texts and narrative nonfiction to meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) while also sharing essential historical knowledge drawn from the very best state history and civics standards from around the country. The curriculum is presented in this four volume series: Common Core Curriculum: United States History, Grades K-2; Common Core Curriculum: World History, Grades K-2; Common Core Curriculum: United States History, Grades 3-5; and Common Core Curriculum: World History, Grades 3-5.
Features of each book include:
- Learning Expectations, which articulate the key ideas, events, facts, and figures to be understood by students in a particular grade span.
- Suggested anchor texts for each topic.
- In depth text studies, comprised of text-dependent questions, student responses, and assessments based on a featured anchor text.
- Select additional resources.
- Concise Era Summaries that orient both teachers and students to the historical background.
The curriculum helps teachers pose questions about texts covering a wide range of topics. This volume, Common Core Curriculum: World History, Grades K-2, introduces lower elementary students to 18 key eras in world history, from the discovery of fire to modern globalization, through stories that they will treasure forever.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: How to Use the Alexandria Plan vii
Era 1 From First Fire to First Community: Humanity Evolves (ca. 200,000 bce to 3000 bce) 1
Text Study: Discovery in the Cave by Mark Dubowski and Bryn Barnard
Era 2 Civilizations Emerge: The Power of Words and of Bronze (ca. 3500 bce to ca. 1000 bce) 7
Text Study: Tut’s Mummy: Lost . . . and Found by Judy Donnelly
Era 3 From Iron to Ideas: Religion and Freedom Take Shape (ca. 1700 bce to 400 bce) 15
Text Study: Ancient Greece and the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce
Era 4 The Classical Era: Hellenistic Greece and Rome Flourish (400 bce to 476 ce) 23
Text Study: Pompeii . . . Buried Alive! by Edith Kunhardt
Era 5 Religion and War: Driving Change in Asian Empires (1750 bce to ca. 1650 ce) 29
Text Study: Hidden Army: Clay Soldiers of Ancient China by Jane O’Connor
Era 6 The Rise of Islam: Religion Travels on a Road of Silk (ca. 610 ce to 1500s) 37
Text Study: We’re Riding on a Caravan: An Adventure on the Silk Road by Laurie Krebs
Era 7 Europe after Rome Fell: The Middle Ages Descend (400s to 1350) 43
Text Study: A Medieval Feast by Aliki
Era 8 The Renaissance: Thought Reborn and Made Beautiful (ca. 1300 to 1648) 51
Text Study: Mario’s Angels: A Story about the Artist Giotto by Mary Arrigan
Era 9 Americas North and South: The “New” World (ca. 20,000 bce to ca. 1500 ce) 57
Text Study: Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu by Ted Lewin
Era 10 Europe’s Global Expansion (1492 to ca. 1700) 63
Text Study: Pirates by Kate Riggs
Text Study: “Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea” (National Geographic)
Era 11 The Revolutionary Roots: The Modern West (ca. 1600 to 1800) 69
Text Study: Peter the Great by Diane Stanley
Era 12 The Industrial Revolution: Nationalism Unites (1790s to 1880s) 77
Text Study: Louis Pasteur by Kremena Spengler
Era 13 Modern Imperialism: A Race of Conquest and Supremacy (ca. 1790s to 1900) 83
Text Study: Samurai by Kate Riggs
Era 14 National Rivalries: The Eruption of Global Conflict (1880s to 1918) 89
Text Study: The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War I by Mark Greenwood
Era 15 Depression after Versailles: The Rise of Totalitarian Powers (1919 to 1930s) 95
Text Study: On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne
Era 16 Global Calamity: Appeasement Fails and Global Conflict Returns (mid-1930s to 1945) 101
Text Study: Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II by Marisabina Russo
Era 17 Post-War World: An Iron Curtain Divides the Globe (1945 to 1960s) 109
Text Study: Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-li Jiang
Era 18 The Cold War Thaws: Uneasy Cooperation between Nations (1960s to Present) 115
Text Study: Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan by Jeanette Winter
Era Summaries 123
Era 1 From First Fire to First Community: Humanity Evolves (ca. 200,000 bce to 3000 bce) 125
Human Origins and Migration • Paleolithic Societies and the Emergence of
Human Culture • The Agricultural Revolution • Technology, Trade, and the Rise of Settled Communities
Era 2 Civilizations Emerge: The Power of Words and of Bronze (ca. 3500 bce to ca. 1000 bce) 128
The First Cities: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China • States of the Early Bronze Age • The Invention and Impact of Writing • The Later Bronze Age in West Asia and the Mediterranean
Era 3 From Iron to Ideas: Religion and Freedom Take Shape (ca. 1700 bce to 400 bce) 132
Bronze Age Collapse and the New Peoples of the Iron Age • Ancient Israel and the Roots of Eura Ancient Israel and the Roots of Eurasian Monotheism • The Revival of Greek Culture and the Expansion of Greek Influence • The Brief Glories of Classical Athens
Era 4 The Classical Era: Hellenistic Greece and Rome Flourish (400 bce to 476 ce) 137
Alexander’s Empire and the Hellenistic Legacy • Rome Rises • Imperial Rome and Its Breaking Point • Christianity, Constantine, and the Decline of the Western Empire
Era 5 Religion and War: Driving Change in Asian Empires (1750 bce to ca. 1650 bce) 142
India: From the Vedas to the Guptas—Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Wider World • Imperial China Emerges • China from Tang to Qing • Lands beyond China: Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia
Era 6 The Rise of Islam: Religion Travels on a Road of Silk (ca. 610 ce to 1500s) 148
Islam’s Origins and Rapid Conquests • Political Division and Cultural Achievement • Amid Chaos, Continued Expansion • Later Islamic Empires
Era 7 Europe after Rome Fell: The Middle Ages Descend (400s to 1350) 153
Europe Rebuilds in the Wake of Rome’s Fall • The Carolingian Empire and Its Successors • The Feudal States of Western Europe • European Commerce and Culture: The Medieval Revival
Era 8 The Renaissance: Thought Reborn and Made Beautiful (ca. 1300 to 1648) 159
The Changing World of Late Medieval Europe • Classical Revival, the Expansion of Learning, and the Rise of the Renaissance • Exploration and the Roots of European Expansion • The Reformation and Its Consequences
Era 9 Americas North and South: The “New” World (ca. 20,000 bce to ca. 1500 ce) 166
Early Human Settlement of the Americas • The Native Peoples of North America • The Native Peoples of Mesoamerica • The Native Peoples of South America
Era 10 Europe’s Global Expansion (1492 to ca. 1700) 170
Spain Takes On the New World • Other European Powers Enter the Americas • The African Slave Trade Intensifies • Europe Expands into Asia and Eastern Colonialism Begins
Era 11 The Revolutionary Roots: The Modern West (ca. 1600 to 1800) 175
Uneven Growth and Economic Modernization • Freedom versus Power: England and France in the Seventeenth Century • New Ideas Emerge in a Rapidly Modernizing Europe • America and France Enter the Age of Revolution
Era 12 The Industrial Revolution: Nationalism Unites (1790s to 1880s) 183
Napoleon’s Europe • Industrialization, Technology, Science—and Turmoil • Napoleon’s Wake: Rising Threats to Europe’s Old Regimes • Nationalists, Conservatives, and the Unification of Italy and Germany
Era 13 Modern Imperialism: A Race of Conquest and Supremacy (ca. 1790s to 1900) 191
European Empires Face Decline in the Americas • Britain Takes Over India as Europe Edges into Africa • The West’s Heavy Hand in the Pacific • Late-Century Climax: The Disintegration of China and the Scramble for Africa
Era 14 National Rivalries: The Eruption of Global Conflict (1880s to 1918) 199
Empires in Collision • Europe’s Tinderbox • Europe’s Tensions Erupt into World War • A New World of Science, Technology, War, and Culture
Era 15 Depression after Versailles: The Rise of Totalitarian Powers (1919 to 1930s) 207
The Versailles Settlement and Its Discontents • Totalitarians Rising • The Global Depression and the Entrenchment of the Nazis • Science Advances in a World of Growing Danger
Era 16 Global Calamity: Appeasement Fails and Global Conflict Returns (mid-1930s to 1945) 215
Fascist Aggression Intensifies • As Appeasement Fails, Europe Slides toward War • Hitler Sweeps across Europe • Global Conflict and the Devastation of Total War
Era 17 Post-War World: An Iron Curtain Divides the Globe (1945 to 1960s) 223
The Emerging Cold War • Deterrence and the Uneasy Balance of the Superpowers • The End of the Colonial Empires and the Rise of New Nations: South Asia and the Pacific • Africa and the Middle East
Era 18 The Cold War Thaws: Uneasy Cooperation between Nations (1960s to Present) 229
Global Conflict and Diplomacy: Détente, China, and the Middle East • The Cold War Ends and European Communism Falls • The Changing Post–Cold War World • Recent Trends: Global Ties and Conflicts
Who Is Common Core 237
Acknowledgments 239
Index 241
About the Author :
Common Core, Inc. (commoncore.org) is a non-profit organization formed in 2007 to advocate for a content-rich liberal arts education in Americas K-12 schools. To improve education in America, Common Core creates curriculum materials, conducts professional development, and also promotes programs, policies, and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels that provide students with challenging, rigorous instruction in the full range of liberal arts and sciences. Common Core, Inc. is not affiliated with the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
