History Quest: Early Times Study Guide

History Quest: Early Times Study Guide

Grade level: 1st through 6th

Pages: 270

Course type: Study guide designed to be used with the History Quest: Early Times narrative chapter book (Please see the Booklist tab for the literature books required to complete this course.)

Authors: Lisa Hawkins and Lindsey Sodano

History Quest: Early Times Study Guide is a comprehensive and engaging, full-year secular history curriculum for elementary-age children. Designed to be used with the History Quest: Early Times narrative history book and other resources, it provides 31 weeks of creative, hands-on activities, literature suggestions, geography study, discussions, and writing assignments that help bring history to life.

Each unit in the guide corresponds to a chapter from History Quest: Early Times and provides a week’s worth of engaging and interactive activities laid out in clear, easy-to-follow lesson plans. You’ll find a suggested daily schedule that focuses on a different learning technique each day, important terms and concepts related to that week’s reading, resource recommendations, and more. Best of all, each week’s plan can be followed as written in the guide or easily adapted to meet your family’s particular needs and interests.

A helpful appendix section in the back features literature and supply lists for the entire course, as well as map keys and student activity pages (conveniently perforated and reproducible for easy single-family use).

Within the curriculum, we’ve included four weeks of Hygge History, a special tie-in literature study encouraging parents and students to snuggle up together and enjoy classic tales from four cultures that are studied in this course—Sumer, Greece, India, and China. Based on the Danish philosophy of hygge, which emphasizes coziness and comfort, these units are a great way to slow down, connect, and learn more about a particular time and place through storytelling. Each Hygge History unit comes with detailed descriptions of suggested books for that week to help you choose the right one for your child.

Through History Quest: Early Times, students will gain a deep understanding of the ideas, events, and individuals that shaped early civilizations in the ancient world and take their first step in a life-long quest to explore and appreciate history.

What Material Does History Quest: Early Times Cover?

Students will learn about events that occurred from the pre-historic Paleolithic period to approximately 700 CE. Major areas of study include:

• Paleolithic and Neolithic Times
• Earliest Civilizations
• Ancient Egypt
• The Andes Mountain Civilizations
• Mesoamerica
• Babylon, Assyria, and Persia
• The Hebrews and Phoenicians
• Ancient Greece
• India
• The Roman Empire
• Ancient China
• Arabia and the Rise of the Islamic Empire 

How is the Material Covered?

Five important learning techniques are woven into each weekly lesson throughout our History Quest Study Guides at age-appropriate levels. Through these techniques, students examine multiple resources, read historically significant literature, develop and strengthen critical thinking skills, practice and refine written and verbal expression, and study world geography and geographical significances throughout the history of humankind.

Discover

Discover the story of human history from the Paleolithic period to approximately 700 CE. Read the corresponding History Quest: Early Times chapter and associated encyclopedia entry. Map the locations and geography of the cultures and ancient civilizations you are studying.

Explore

Explore ancient civilizations through imaginary time travel journeys with the History Hop! readings found within the History Quest chapter book. Create History Travel Log pages to mark and remember your journeys.

Create

Create crafts, complete projects, and try recipes that reinforce connection to the past. Make a Paleolithic painting, cook a meal Ashoka would have loved, classify like Aristotle, create an eggshell Byzantine mosaic, make a Roman clock, and much more!

Demonstrate

Demonstrate new knowledge and understanding through weekly writing, discussion, copy work, and/or dictation assignments.

Enrich

Enrich understanding through exposure to multiple sources, including books, online games, and videos. Read from the suggested literature enrichment list and visit websites found on the study guide's Weblinks page.

What is Included with the Study Guide?

• Thirty-one weekly units with lessons for:
  • Reading assignments from History Quest: Early Times and The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History with Internet Links
  • Four weeks of Hygge History literature reading (see Booklist tab)
  • History Travel Log entries (a timeline/geography activity)
  • Terms & Concepts (weekly learning goals)
  • Map work
  • Reading comprehension/writing/dictation/copy work
  • Crafts/cooking/artwork/hands-on activities
• Thirteen ancient history blackline maps
• Hands-on activity instructions
• Literature and online enrichment recommendations
• Weekly unit schedules and supply lists
• Student coloring and activity pages

What Additional Resources and Materials are Needed?

 In addition to this study guide, you will need:

• History Quest: Early Times narrative history book or audiobook
• The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History with Internet Links
• Hygge History literature books (see Booklist tab)
• Access to reference material via the library or internet
• World map
• Colored pencils for map work
• 3-ring binder or notebook

View a complete list of supplies needed for projects.

Important Copyright Information: If you choose the eBook version of this course, you are purchasing a license to use the PDF for your own children. You may make copies for your own children, but you may not share (email, download, print and distribute, resell, etc.) this eBook or any portion of this eBook to others.

Licensing is available for group, school, and co-op use. Please contact Pandia Press for details on group licensing (info@pandiapress.com).