7th Grade Social Studies Checklist

Download the 7th Grade Social Studies Checklist

Module 1: Roman Empire

7.1: I can tell you about the causes and effects of the spread and fall of the Roman Empire.
7.1.1: I can discuss the strengths/contributions (citizenship, rights, art, architecture, engineering, philosophy, Christianity) and weaknesses (autonomous military powers, corruption, slavery, lack of education, distribution of news) of the Roman Empire.
7.1.2: I can talk about the geography of the Roman Empire, including its borders. I can explain the reasons its territory was threatened.
7.1.3: I can discuss Constantine, Constantinople, and the development of the Byzantine Empire. I can talk about the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic civilizations, including their views on church-state relations.

Module 2: Islam in the Middle Ages

7.2: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Islam during the Middle Ages.
7.2.1: I can find and discuss the physical features and climate of the Arabian peninsula, including land and bodies of water. I can discuss nomadic and sedentary ways of life.
7.2.2: I can describe how Islam began. I can tell you about Muhammad and Islamic teachings. I can describe how Islam is connected to Judaism and Christianity.
7.2.3: I can tell you that the Qur’an and the Sunnah contain the main beliefs and practices for Muslim people.
7.2.4: I can explain that Muslim rule expanded through treaties and military conquests. I can tell you how Islam and the Arabic language were spread and accepted.
7.2.5: I can describe how cities and trade routes grew to Asia, Africa, and Europe. I can talk about the types of goods that were traded at this time and what Arab merchants did.
7.2.6: I can tell you how Muslim scholars interacted with scholars of Eurasia and Africa. I can talk about the contributions that Muslim scholars made in science, geography, math, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.

Module 3: China in the Middle Ages

7.3: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of China during the Middle Ages.
7.3.1: I can explain how China reunified under the Tang Dynasty. I can tell you why Buddhism spread in Tang China, Korea, and Japan.
7.3.2: I can tell you about the agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during the Tang and Sung periods.
7.3.3: I can discuss how Confucianism influenced and changed during the Sung and Mongol periods.
7.3.4: I can tell you why trade between China and other civilizations was important during the Mongol Ascendancy and the Ming Dynasty.
7.3.5: I can tell you why tea, paper, woodblock printing, the compass, and gunpowder were influential.
7.3.6: I can tell you how the imperial state and the scholar-official class developed.

Module 4: Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa

7.4: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa.
7.4.1: I can talk about the Niger River. I know how the different vegetation zones (forest, savannah, desert) influenced the trade of gold, salt, food, and slaves. I can talk about the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires.
7.4.2: I can discuss the importance of family, specialized jobs, and local commerce in the growth of West African states and cities.
7.4.3: I can describe the trans-Saharan caravan trade and how it changed West Africa. I can describe the influence of Islam on West Africa.
7.4.4: I can describe how the Arabic language grew in government, trade, and Islamic scholarship in West Africa.
7.4.5: I can explain the importance of how written and oral traditions are shared in African culture.

Module 5: Medieval Japan

7.5: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Medieval Japan.
7.5.1: I can explain how Japanese society was influenced by Korea and China.
7.5.2: I can talk about what life was like for Japanese society and families when Prince Shotoku ruled Japan.
7.5.3: I can discuss the lord-vassal system (shogun, daimyo, samurai) and why this warrior code lasted into the twentieth century.
7.5.4: I can discuss how certain forms of Japanese Buddhism developed.
7.5.5: I can discuss the golden age of literature, art, and drama that happened during the 9th and 10th centuries. I can tell you how this age influenced today’s culture, including Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji.
7.5.6: I can describe how military society rose in the 12th century. I can describe what role the samurai played in military society.

Module 6: Medieval Europe

7.6: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of Medieval Europe.
7.6.1: I can learn about European geography, including its location, topography, waterways, vegetation, climate, etc.
7.6.2: I can explain how Christianity spread north of the Alps, and the role that the church and monasteries played after the Roman Empire fell.
7.6.3: I can tell you about feudalism. I know how feudalism was influenced by the geography of medieval Europe. I know how feudalism affected the economy and politics of medieval Europe.
7.6.4: I can tell you about the relationships between popes and European rulers, such as Charlemagne, Gregory VII, and Emperor Henry IV.
7.6.5: I can talk about the growth of medieval English legal and constitutional practices. I know about the Magna Carta, parliament, habeas corpus, and an independent judiciary in England. I can discuss how modern democracy came about.
7.6.6: I can discuss the Crusades and how they affected different religious groups (Christians, Muslims, Jews) in Europe.
7.6.7: I can show you how the bubonic plague spread using a map. I can talk about how this changed the world’s population.
7.6.8: I can tell you why the Catholic church was so important. I can describe some of the contributions of the Catholic church (creation of universities, roles of the clergy, creation of religious orders, keeping the Latin language and religious texts alive, the idea of “natural law,” and the combination of St. Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy mixed with Christian beliefs).
7.6.9: I can explain that the Reconquista happened when Muslim rule diminished in the Iberian Peninsula. I know that the Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms grew in power during this time.
Module 7: Meso-American and Andean Civilizations
7.7: I can look closely at the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Meso-American and Andean civilizations.
7.7.1: I can learn about the ways the geography and climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America affected the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations.
7.7.2: I can tell you about family life, warfare, religion, slavery, and the class system in each society.
7.7.3: I can talk about how and where each empire arose. I know how the Spanish defeated both the Aztec and Incan empires.
7.7.4: I can describe the art, architecture, and oral traditions in the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations.
7.7.5: I can tell you about the accomplishments of the Meso-American civilizations in the areas of astronomy and math, including the creation of the calendar and using knowledge of the seasons to help grow crops.

Module 8: The Renaissance

7.8: I can discuss how the Renaissance started, what was accomplished during this time, and how the Renaissance spread.
7.8.1: I can talk about how classical learning and the arts became popular. I can tell you that this made people interested in finding balance between intellect and faith.
7.8.2: I can tell you why the city of Florence was so important during the beginning of the Renaissance. I can discuss how trading cities like Venice helped to spread ideas of the Renaissance.
7.8.3: I can talk about the “Silk Road” reopening between Europe and China. I can tell you about Marco Polo and his travels.
7.8.4: I can talk about the new ways information was spread during the Renaissance, such as through paper production, translation of the Bible, and printing.
7.8.5: I can talk in depth about advances made during the Renaissance in literature, art, science, math, map-making, engineering, human anatomy, and astronomy. I can discuss several important people during the Renaissance such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, etc.

Module 9: The Reformation

7.9: I can look closely at what happened during the Reformation.
7.9.1: I can talk about why the Catholic church became weaker during the Reformation.
7.9.2: I can describe the ideas of key people during the Reformation (Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale).
7.9.3: I can talk about how Protestant people practiced their religion. I can explain how their self-governing churches affected the growth of democratic practices and federalist ideas.
7.9.4: I can point out the European areas that stayed Catholic and those that became Protestant. I can talk about how this separation affected the way religion spread in the New World.
7.9.5: I can discuss the Counter-Reformation, how it boosted the Catholic church, and the factors that made the Counter-Reformation possible (the Council of Trent, St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits).
7.9.6: I can tell you about missionaries and how they spread Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world. I can find missions on a world map.
7.9.7: I can tell you about the Golden Age of cooperation between Jews and Muslims. I can tell you why the Golden Age stopped when certain people and groups were mistreated.

Module 10: The Scientific Revolution

7.10: I can look closely at what happened during the Scientific Revolution and the long-term effects it had.
7.10.1: I can talk about why the Scientific Revolution began.
7.10.2: I can explain why new scientific theories (from Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and new inventions (telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer) were so important.
7.10.3: I can talk about how Bacon and Descartes used the scientific method. I can tell you how using logic led to more democratic ideas. I can discuss the ways scientific and religious beliefs were able to exist at the same time.
Module 11: Changes in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries
7.11: I can discuss the political and economic changes that happened during the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason.
7.11.1: I can tell you about discovery voyages, locate the routes that were taken by voyagers, and discuss mapmaking.
7.11.2: I can tell you about the goods and ideas that were traded among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas during the 15th and 16th centuries. I can talk about the impact of these exchanges on each continent.
7.11.3: I can discuss how modern-day capitalism first began. I can tell you about different influences such as mercantilism, the cottage industry, the market economy in 17th-century Europe, international trading/marketing patterns, explorers, and map makers.
7.11.4: I can talk about where the ideas of the Enlightenment came from, including the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Greeks, the Romans, and Christianity.
7.11.5: I can tell you about important people such as John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, and American Founders. I know how these people influenced democratic thought.
7.11.6: I can explain how the ideas in the Magna Carta were later used in other important documents, like the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence.