Mr. Glenn

Ancient Greece Project

We have begun learning about Greek Mythology.  We have discussed the importance of Greek Myths, as well as, why Greek Mythology is important to study.  Now, we will begin studying Greek gods and goddesses.  You will complete a project on the Greek gods and goddesses.  This project is broking up into three activities.

 Activity 1 (25 points)

Students will complete the Greek Gods and Goddesses Webquest.

• Using different resources, research each god and goddess. (Students watch the following video in class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP_NeirFIkM)

Activity 2 (25 points)

Students will create illustrations or use clip art to create a profile sheet of the Greek gods and goddess (All 12 of the Olympians).  In addition to the pic, students are to write one sentence about the god or goddess based on information found in their webquest.

Example

Apollo was the god of the sun, medicine, music, and prophecy.

Activity 3 (50 points)

 You are required to research one Greek god or goddess thoroughly.  After researching this god or goddess you are required to prepare a presentation. (see expectation sheet and rubric)

Project is due on 1/26/2011

The following link may be helpful for Activity 1:

http://www.schools.manatee.k12.fl.us/webdisk/652JHUFFINE/c__documents_and_settings_huffinej_my_documents_microsoft_powerpoint_-_introduction_to_greek_mythology.pdf

Eighth grade should complete the cause and effect organizer on the French and Indian War.  We will begin coverage of the American Revolution on Monday.

Seventh grade needs to work on completing the concept map that illustrates the global impact of the Industrial Revolution.  Students will also continue to work on the Journal Entry written from the prospective a child laborer in a English factory which is also due on Monday.  The Journal Entry is worth 400 homework points and needs to be neat, creative, well-organized, easy to follow, and free of grammatical errors.  Students should refer to their rubrics for clarification.

Sixth Grade will be wrapping up their unit on Russia next week.  The unit will conclude with a test on Russia.  There is a link for the study guide.  Students this weekend will answer questions 2 & 3 on page 358.  Students should also begin preparation for the test on Friday.  If there are any questions feel free to call or email me.

The deadline for the Eighth Grade Civil Rights Project is November 17, 2011.

Sixth grade this week has learned about the Bolshevik Revolution.  Students discussed how Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to seize and maintain power in Russia.  Students also learned about Stalin’s New Economic Plan.

Students today learned about propaganda techniques.  Students examined several propaganda techniques used by Stalin.  Students for their homework this weekend will create propaganda posters for Stalin, as he wanted to be portrayed to the people of Russia.

Seventh grade social studies will have a test on Next Wednesday covering the information in Chapter 8 (Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5) and Chapter 10 (Sections 1 & 2).  Study guides were past out today.  Feel free to contact me, if you have any questions.

My Country In-Depth projects are due Next Thursday.

Sixth grade Social Studies wrapped up an in-depth analysis of Fiddler on the Roof.  Students explored issues of tradition, progress, family and religious values, persecution, and limitations on rights.

Sixth grade has begun a unit on the Russian Revolution.  Students in class today discussed the causes of the Russian Revolution.  The Russian Revolution grew out of the displeasure between the students and works and the Russian government.  While Russia ranked only behind USA, Great Britain, and Germany in steel production, they remained significantly behind in advanced made in the industrial field.  The workers were exposed to long hours and unsafe work conditions.  Child labor,  low wages, and high taxes also plagued the Russian working class.  In addition, the citizens of Russia had very little political rights.

Students this weekend need to create a mini-poster as a worker protesting for rights in Russia.  Students’ mini-posters should include a slogan, illustration, and three issues that the Russian workers were protesting.  Mini-poster should be neat, colorful, and have accurate content.

Seventh grade this week learned about the Agricultural Revolution.  Students explored the factors that led to the Agricultural Revolution and its effects.  Students learned about the positive & negatives of going from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian society.  Students learned how one people settled down and began to farm and domesticate animals that villages began to develop.  Villages grow into cities and cities into civilizations.

Mesopotamia is Greek meaning the “land between two rivers.”  Mesopotamia is one of the world’s oldest civilizations.  Sumer is one of Mesopotamia most important city-states.  City-states were formed to address challenges such as lack of resources; threat of invasion; and growing populations.  Sumerians created one of the first writing systems, cuneiform, in response to the ever growing demands of trade.  Cuneiform was used as the first accounting system.  Sumerians also had other achievements such as a water-clock, calendar, the wheel, the plow, and the sailboat.

As cities develop so did social hierarchies.  Kings, priest, and wealthy property owners formed the top social class.  Kings were at the top of society controlling military, political, and economic aspects of a city-state.  Priest were responsible for overseeing the religious aspects of  society, including performing rituals at the ziggurat.  The middles class consisted of skilled workers, merchants, and farmers (Bednarz, Miyares, Schug, & White, 2003, p. 219).  Slaves made up the bottom social class.  A person could become a slave by committing a crime; being captured in war; or falling into debt (Bednarz et al., 2003, p. 219).

Scribes contributed a great deal to Sumerian society.  Scribes record important information and wrote literary and scientific works (Bednarz et al., 2003, p. 221).  Scribe would also read letters and epics to individuals and audiences.

Students should study their Mesopotamia handout for the quiz on Monday.

Reference

Bednarz, S., Miyares I., Schug, M., & White, C.  (2003).  World Culture and    

        Geography: Eastern Hemisphere.  McDougal Littel:  Evanston, IL.

Eighth grade students in social studies are wrapping up the unit on Civil Rights and Voting Rights.  Students should enter the classroom prepared to present their interview, newscast, and re-enactment.  Students should use recess time to make any last minute preparations.  Students should also be prepared to take a quiz on the Greensboro Sit-in.

Next week will like be the last opportunity to submit work from the Civil Rights Project for review.  After next week students can submit work prior to the deadline but will not have an opportunity to receive teacher feedback.