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American History & Civics Ladder · Elementary · Grade 4–5

Stories from History (ages 9–10)

For ages 9 and 10, grades 4 and 5: the story of the world told through people and places, from the first farmers, Egypt, India and China to Greece and Rome, the world's great faiths, the Middle Ages on every continent, explorers, revolutions, inventors and the 1900s. Time lines with BC and AD, maps and an activity at home in every lesson.

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31 topics in 9 units. Builds on American History for Young Learners. Not sure this is the right course? Find your rung.

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Unit 1 How We Know the Past

2 topics

Detectives of the past: sources, archaeology, and counting years with BC and AD.

  1. History Detectives
  2. Counting the Years: BC and AD

Unit 2 First Farmers and First Cities

2 topics

From hunting and gathering to farming villages, then the first cities, writing and laws in Mesopotamia.

  1. The First Farmers
  2. Mesopotamia: Cities, Writing and Laws

Unit 3 River Kingdoms

3 topics

Ancient Egypt on the Nile, the cities of the Indus Valley, and the first dynasties of China.

  1. Ancient Egypt: Gift of the Nile
  2. The Indus Valley and Ancient India
  3. Ancient China: Dynasties, the Great Wall and Silk

Unit 4 Greece and Rome

4 topics

Athens and Sparta, the great Greek thinkers and Alexander, and Rome from a republic to an empire.

  1. Athens and Sparta
  2. Greek Thinkers and Alexander the Great
  3. Rome: From a Village to a Republic
  4. The Roman Empire

Unit 5 Faiths of the Ancient World

2 topics

What Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians believe, and how these faiths began and spread.

  1. Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism
  2. The Beginning of Christianity

Unit 6 The Middle Ages Around the World

7 topics

Byzantium and the rise of Islam, castles and monasteries, Vikings, China and Japan, the kingdoms of Africa, and the Maya, Aztecs and Incas.

  1. Rome Falls in the West, Byzantium Lives On
  2. The Rise of Islam and a Golden Age of Learning
  3. Castles, Knights and Monasteries
  4. The Vikings
  5. Inventions of China and the Samurai of Japan
  6. Kingdoms of Africa
  7. The Maya, the Aztecs and the Incas

Unit 7 Renaissance and Exploration

3 topics

A rebirth of art and learning, the printing press and the Reformation, and voyages across the oceans.

  1. The Renaissance
  2. The Printing Press and the Reformation
  3. The Age of Exploration

Unit 8 Revolutions

3 topics

New ways of doing science, and revolutions in America and France.

  1. The Scientific Revolution
  2. The American Revolution
  3. The French Revolution and Napoleon

Unit 9 Inventions and the Modern Age

5 topics

Steam and factories, the long fight to end slavery, an age of inventions, two world wars, and the world from 1945 to 2000.

  1. Steam and Factories: The Industrial Revolution
  2. The Long Fight to End Slavery
  3. An Age of Inventions
  4. Two World Wars
  5. The World from 1945 to 2000