[Nik]

I am curious about which textbook teachers would choose to teach their curriculum. I have not been able to find a textbook that fits our curriculum. The sixth grade social studies course includes Ancient Latin America, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the Middle Ages. Has anyone found a textbook they really like that covers those areas?

[Illini Teacher]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this curriculum! I used this with my sixth graders and it was also used with our seventh grade. You can pick and choose what you want, so you don't end up with useless info! Your course study is closer to our seventh grade.

They have 2 different kinds of curriculum. One is set to a textbook and the other is individual lessons.

The website is www.historyalive.com. It is a bit expensive, but my students were so engaged and learned SO much! It shows you everything they have available. I love that it engages all types of learners with the creative activities, etc.

We do have a textbook, but I really only use it for geography.

Hope this helps!

I personally hate our social studies textbook. I use it as an outline of the main ideas and vocabulary we need to cover. I've supplemented with a lot of the professional books from Scholastic and other publishers. Here's some books we really liked:

Ancient Greece! 40 Hands-On Activities, Knights and Castles, and !Mexico! (all from the Kaleidoscope Kids series)
Hands-On History - Middle Ages (Scholastic)
Greek Myth Mini-Books (Scholastic)
Ancient Civilizations Activities for the One-Computer Classroom (Scholastic)
and a book (I can't remember the title - it's at school) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of different hats you make from paper bags - There's a very cool Egyptian headdress in there.

Good luck!

[SC]

I would also have to say that I love the History Alive! curriculum. My school last year adopted it for this year...just in time for me to move and start a new job. We use a crappy program (my opinion), but History Alive! seemed to have everything already done, so you didn't have to use valuable planning time creating things that are already created.

[hrush]

I just received a sample from Glencoe, "A Journey Through Time." I believe that is the title. The material has me excited and a couple of my students have used the parts to work on assignments and said the material is cool. That says a lot when sixth graders comment on textbooks.

I like History Alive also, but my school bought InspirEd and I'm now using the Ancient Civilizations unit, which is AWESOME! The lesson plans are REALLY easy to use and require almost no prep like History Alive.

[teachfla]

Have you seen the History Pocket Books by Evan Moore? They are awesome! We use parts of them to teach our Ancient Egypt unit in 3rd grade. You could easily supplement extra stuff as needed. There are lots of activities & hands-on stuff kids love. The kids' enthusiasm during this unit actually inspired my teaching team to do our entire science and social studies curriculum in the pocket-book format!

[Nik]

Can you give me more information about this? I tried to Google it with no luck. Who is the publisher? Thank you!

[hrush]

evanmoor.com