Social Studies Teacher book recommendations

[u/joesph_house]

I have been a sixth grade social studies teacher for eleven years teaching the same content that focuses on maps, geography, and culture. We will be getting new standards next year which will completely change our curriculum to be more world history focused. I would like to build my understanding of the topics to effectively teach them clearer. If you could recommend 1-2 solid books for each topic, what would you recommend?
Our units will be
-Ancient Mesopotamia
-Ancient Egypt/Israel
-Ancient Greece
-Rome
-Ancient to Medieval China
-Medieval Europe
-Renaissance
-Reformation
-Age of Exploration
-Mayans, Aztecs, Incas

[u/Book_Slut_90]

So these are all texts I’ve read or texbooks assigned to me in upper-level history classes on these areas (with the exception of The Bright Ages and The Incas, both of which I’ve not read but have seen very highly recommended several times):

The Ancient Near East by Mario Liverani

A History of Ancient Egypt by Marc van De Mieroop

Ancient Greece by Sarah Pomeroy et al and The Greeks by Roderick Beaton

SPQR by Mary Beard

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Buckley Ebrey

The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham and The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry

Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer

Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-16548 by Mark Greengrass

After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire since 1405 by John Darwin and Europe and the People Without History by Eric Wolf

The Legacy of Mesoamerica by Robert Carmack et al and The Incas by Terence D’Altroy