Dr. Michael Kester-Haynes

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 10 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Colonial Governments and Self-Rule

Early colonial assemblies and town meetings introduced self-government, representation, and citizen participation, forming key foundations of American democracy despite limits under royal rule.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 9 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Midyear Project — “Our Colonial World” Atlas

Create a collaborative class atlas that uses maps, charts, and evidence-based explanations to highlight regional differences, Indigenous homelands, and Atlantic trade routes, showing how geography, environment, and movement shaped colonial America.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 8 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Life in the Colonies

Explore daily life in colonial America by comparing work, religion, economy, and community roles across diverse groups, showing how families earned, traded, and made decisions in a changing society.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 7 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Colonial Regions—New England, Middle, Southern

Compare New England, Middle, and Southern colonial regions by examining how geography and climate shaped crops, jobs, resources, and regional specializations, revealing how land and labor built distinct colonial economies.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 6 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Early Colonies and Settlements

Explore early English colonies by locating settlements like Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth while uncovering why people colonized North America and how geography, climate, and scarce resources shaped their earliest challenges.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 5 (Grade 5 Social Studies): The Atlantic World

Explore how goods, people, and ideas moved among Europe, Africa, and the Americas, highlighting interdependence, trade, taxation, and boycotts that shaped economic choices across the Atlantic world.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 4 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Exploration and Exchange

European exploration was driven by wealth, trade, religion, and competition, shaping ocean routes and encounters that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas while bringing both exchange and profound impacts on Indigenous peoples.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 3 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Peoples and Environments

Indigenous nations adapted to and shaped their environments through practices like controlled burns, irrigation, and sustainable harvesting, showing deep interdependence between people, place, movement, and trade.

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Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 2 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Indigenous Homelands and Nations

Explore the rich diversity of Indigenous nations across North America in this 5th-grade unit, as students map homelands, examine how land and environment shaped daily life, compare cultures respectfully, and recognize Indigenous peoples’ enduring presence and traditions.

Grade 5 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 1 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Geography of the Americas

Explore how landforms, waterways, and climate shape life across North America in this 5th-grade geography unit, as students map major regions, examine Indigenous homelands and colonial regions, and explain how environment influences settlement, culture, and economies.

The Admin Angle

The Admin Angle: Use Independent Lunch—A Smart, Humane Consequence That Protects Learning

Independent lunch is a structured, dignified reset during a student’s normal lunch period that protects instructional time, reduces cafeteria disruptions, and teaches replacement behaviors through brief reflection, reteaching, and a clear plan for re-entry.

Blog

Bridging the Gap: Strategies That Close the Vocabulary Divide in Math Instruction

Students thrive when math vocabulary becomes clear and accessible. This post unpacks how academic language barriers affect learning and offers strategies to build precise math talk, stronger comprehension, and confident problem-solving.

Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 36 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Cumulative Synthesis & Exhibition

Show how geography, resources, trade, and civic decision-making connect across global networks as students create maps, models, and inquiry exhibits that synthesize history, economics, civics, and spatial thinking.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 35 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Preserving Our Shared Past

Examine how archaeology, museums, and digital archives protect cultural heritage through context, provenance, conservation, and repatriation, highlighting why preserving artifacts and their stories matters for communities today.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 34 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Economics of Empire and Trade

Explore how ancient regions produced, traded, and exchanged goods by examining scarcity, opportunity cost, specialization, supply and demand, and interdependence, showing how geography shaped markets and economic decision-making.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 33 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Belief Systems and Global Values

Belief systems like Hinduism, Confucianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and polytheistic traditions shaped moral codes, laws, and social order, revealing how values such as justice, duty, and compassion guided early civilizations.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 32 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Law, Justice, and Civic Ideals Across Cultures

Compare how ancient civilizations defined justice by examining their law codes, governing structures, and concepts of rights and responsibilities, revealing diverse approaches to fairness across Mesopotamia, Greece/Rome, Persia, South Asia, and East Asia.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 31 (Grade 6 Social Studies): The Rise of Global Trade Systems

Analyze how major exchange networks connected Asia, Europe, and Africa, showing how geography, technology, supply/demand, and strategic hubs created interdependent trade systems and spread goods, people, and ideas.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 30 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Early Empires of Africa

Explore how Kush, Aksum, and early West African kingdoms used geography, resources, and trade networks to become powerful centers of exchange, culture, and innovation across Africa.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 29 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Cultural Diffusion and Innovation

Ideas, beliefs, writing systems, and technologies spread along ancient trade and migration networks, showing how geography, human connections, and cultural exchange transformed societies through adoption, adaptation, and long-lasting turning points.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 28 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Trade Routes of the Ancient World

Global overland and maritime trade networks—Silk Road routes and Indian Ocean/Mediterranean sea lanes—moved goods, ideas, and technologies across regions, revealing how geography, monsoons, supply/demand, and strategic hubs shaped interdependent Afro-Eurasian exchange.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 27 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Midyear Project—Legacies of Greece and Rome

Roman governance, the Senate, and the Twelve Tables laid the foundations of rule of law and citizenship, showing how written laws, shared rights, and civic responsibilities shaped fairness, voice, and public life in the early Roman Republic.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 26 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Rome’s Republic and Laws

Roman governance, the Senate, and the Twelve Tables laid the foundations of rule of law and citizenship, showing how written laws, shared rights, and civic responsibilities shaped fairness, voice, and public life in the early Roman Republic.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 25 (Grade 6 Social Studies): The Rise of Rome

Rome’s geography, origin stories, and early political struggles shaped its transition from monarchy to a republic, helping explain how physical location, cultural influences, and evolving civic roles laid the foundation for citizen participation in early Rome.

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Grade 6 Social Studies Units

Unit Plan 24 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Alexander the Great and Hellenistic Culture

Greek ideas, language, and science spread across the Hellenistic world as new cities, ports, and caravan routes created powerful networks of diffusion and trade interdependence from the Mediterranean to South and Central Asia.