Comprehensive Common Core curriculum for World History, Grades 3-5 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 3-5, introduces upper 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: Early Humans by DK Publishing
Era 2 Civilizations Emerge: The Power of Words and of Bronze (ca. 3500 bce to ca. 1000 bce) 7
Text Study: Mesopotamia by Don Nardo
Era 3 From Iron to Ideas: Religion and Freedom Take Shape (ca. 1700 bce to 400 bce) 15
Text Study: Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide by Marian Broida
Era 4 The Classical Era: Hellenistic Greece and Rome Flourish (400 bce to 476 ce) 23
Text Study: Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini, Who Was Captured and Sold as a Slave in Rome, ad 107 by Richard Platt and David Parkins
Era 5 Religion and War: Driving Change in Asian Empires (1750 bce to ca. 1650 ce) 31
Text Study: Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull
Era 6 The Rise of Islam: Religion Travels on a Road of Silk (ca. 610 ce to 1500s) 39
Text Study: Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta, 1325–1354 by James Rumford
Era 7 Europe after Rome Fell: The Middle Ages Descend (400s to 1350) 47
Text Study: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
Era 8 The Renaissance: Thought Reborn and Made Beautiful (ca. 1300 to 1648) 55
Text Study: Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
Era 9 Americas North and South: The “New” World (ca. 20,000 bce to ca. 1500 ce) 65
Text Study: The Ancient Maya by Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst
Era 10 Europe’s Global Expansion (1492 to ca. 1700) 73
Text Study: Hernando Cortés: Spanish Invader of Mexico by John Zronik
Era 11 The Revolutionary Roots: The Modern West (ca. 1600 to 1800) 81
Text Study: Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sis
Era 12 The Industrial Revolution: Nationalism Unites (1790s to 1880s) 91
Text Study: Marie Antoinette: “Madam Deficit” by Liz Hockinson
Era 13 Modern Imperialism: A Race of Conquest and Supremacy (ca. 1790s to 1900) 99
Text Study: The Slave Trade by Melody Herr
Era 14 National Rivalries: The Eruption of Global Conflict (1880s to 1918) 107
Text Study: “In Flanders Field” by John McCrae
Text Study: Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion by Linda Granfield
Era 15 Depression after Versailles: The Rise of Totalitarian Powers (1919 to 1930s) 115
Text Study: “Joseph Stalin (1879–1953)” by BBC History
Text Study: Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin
Era 16 Global Calamity: Appeasement Fails and Global Conflict Returns (mid-1930s to 1945) 123
Text Study: Remember World War II: Kids Who Survived Tell Their Stories by Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson
Era 17 Post-War World: An Iron Curtain Divides the Globe (1945 to 1960s) 133
Text Study: “Lesson on Discrimination Based on Race” by United Nations Cyber School Bus
Text Study: “Apartheid Timeline” by United Nations Cyber School Bus
Text Study: Journey to Jo’Burg: A South African Story by Beverley Naidoo
Era 18 The Cold War Thaws: Uneasy Cooperation between Nations (1960s to Present) 141
Text Study: Hands around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books by Karen Leggett Abouraya
Era Summaries 149
Era 1 From First Fire to First Community: Humanity Evolves (ca. 200,000 bce to 3000 bce) 151
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) 154
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) 158
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) 163
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 ce) 168
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) 174
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) 179
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) 185
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) 192
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) 196
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) 201
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) 209
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) 217
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) 224
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) 232
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) 240
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) 248
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) 254
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 263
Acknowledgments 265
Index 267
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.
