Social Studies Department-

Ronald Ruiz (Department Chair)

Dani Barese
George Castagnola
Alberto de Calvo
John Grech
Bill Olzman
Kent Wilson
Eric Wycoff

Course Offerings-

Graduation Requirement: 40 Credits

GEOGRAPHY/HEALTH (P)
Grade 9 1 Year
This class is an academic skills class which uses geography as the body of knowledge to teach high school success skills. Students will learn those techniques needed to get an academic advantage for future high school and college classes. Emphasis will be on note and test taking skills, basic reading and writing skills, visual perception techniques along with any other academic survival skills.

Current Issues in Health is a comprehensive health and personal relations’ curriculum. Topics to be covered will include: substance abuse, communication skills, self-esteem, STD’s, AIDS education, and many family life issues. Discussion and activities will focus on topics relevant to life today.

INTEGRATED ENGLISH I/HUMANITIES (P)
Grade 9 1 Year
This includes freshmen level English IA, and Geography/Humanities and Health. Integrated Humanities is one-year course that is double-blocked. The integrated humanities course includes but is not limited to the arts of literature, painting, music, sculpture, architecture, performing arts, and discipline of philosophy. While the sciences explore the physical world and the social sciences make discoveries about the behavior and activities of people in various groups, the arts and humanities probe the inner meaning “What does it mean to be human?” This course will stretch the students’ imaginations, enrich their experience, and increase their distinctively human potential. Study of the literature, arts, health, and social science will cover cultural diversity, ways of life, human interests, and value. Lessons are drawn from classical texts of western and non-western cultures. Selections from literature and the arts include major forms of expression and offer students modes of learning no other discipline provides. In the first semester the course explores world diversity. In the second semester the course concentrates on the development of Western culture.

WORLD CIVILIZATIONS (P)
Grade 10 1 Year
In this course, students examine major turning points in the shaping of the modern world, from late eighteenth century to the present. The year begins with an introduction to current world issues and then continues with a focus on the expansion of the West and growing interdependence of people and cultures throughout the world.

ACCELERATED WORLD CIVILIZATIONS (P)
Grade 10 1 Year
The purpose of this course is to provide motivated students who possess a keen love and appreciation of history a rigorous study of the modern world with an emphasis o the post 16th century world. Standards of student performance for this course are of greater depth than the college-prep World Civilization courses offered.
PREREQUISITE: To apply for the class, a student must complete an application form and a writing sample.

UNITED STATES HISTORY (P)
Grade 11 1 Year
The yearlong course covers the economic, political, and social development of the United States beginning with the Civil War era and continuing to the present.
Expectations: Students shall exhibit a general knowledge of the economic, political, and social history of the United States, and be able to relate orally and/or in writing the relationship of historic happenings to current history. Students will be able to analyze how past events have influenced present happenings. The student can connect historical occurrences with economic trends and place major events in the corrected historical file.

US HISTORY (AP)
Grade 11 1 Year
This rigorous course will focus on American history since European settlement in the 17th Century. Although chronologically organized, students will focus on themes of injustice, migration and how the ideals of the founding fathers have been put into practice. Major units include the Civil War, the Progressive Era, U.S. Imperialism, and the transition into a world power. Students are expected to read and write far more often than in most courses in preparation for the Advanced Placement examination in May. The course will utilize extensive outside sources of reading and commentary designed to evoke critical analysis of events in U.S. History.
PREREQUISITE: Submission of application, including a writing sample, to this course is required.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (P)
Grade 12 1 Semester
This course will cover the organization and functions of the federal government.
Expectations: The student will gain the knowledge of what government is and some of the rationale for having such a social institution. The student will gain knowledge of what form of government we have, its makeup and its operations. The student will gain the ability to see the relationship between social and economic problems and how our government attempts to solve them.

ECONOMICS (P)
Grade 12 1 Semester
This course is designed as a one semester survey course in a micro and macroeconomics. The goal of this course is to provide students with understanding of the role economics plays in society as well as our everyday lives. Areas of study will include: supply, demand, business organizations and market structures, business cycles, monetary policy, inflation, economic growth, etcetera. The achieve “C” grade in this course a student will have to achieve 70% on homework, quizzes and tests.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (AP)/ECONOMICS (P)
Grade 12 1 Year
This challenging course features college level curriculum and will require students to understand philosophical tenets behind the United States Constitution, political parties, national institution and public policy. Macro and microeconomics will be integrated throughout the year as it influences government policies and decisions. Studying social and economic problems as they affect government will prepare students to excel on the Advanced Placement United States Government exam. Class work will be centered around in-depth reading of primary sources, analysis and class discussions.

US HISTORY (ESL)
Grades 9-12 1 Year
US History taught in Spanish for Spanish speaking ESL students. A waiver request by parents is required.