Hopefully everyone has enjoyed their long Labor Day weekend. It has been very warm for the last week with school dismissing early Wednesday-Friday. It will be nice to get a full 4 days of school this week. Below you will find the different things we have been focusing on during our first two weeks of school.
7th Grade Geography:
During our first two weeks of Geography, students have been familiarizing themselves with our new Zombie Based Learning curriculum. It has been kind of a slow start due to getting to know the students and how they learn best but overall it has been a productive two weeks. So far students have been learning how to read a map, identify it's elements, and even demonstrate their knowledge of the different types of maps. The project that correlates with this unit will have the students creating their own maps, warning the citizens of a possible zombie outbreak. Stay tuned for more information!
8th Grade US History:
The 8th grade US History students have started this school year studying the early American civilizations during the Pre-Columbian period. Students have been placed into groups and given one of the four main civilizations (Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Inca) and have been tasked with researching and presenting information about their culture. Students will have an assessment on Thursday 9/10 where they Compare & Contrast the four different cultures. One group in particular (2nd hour Olmecs) knocked their presentation out of the park with its creativity and attention to detail.
Topics in World History
This small but mighty class has been working hard understanding exactly what Big History is and how we are going to study it this semester. So far these past two weeks we have been attempting to answer the Driving Question "Why do we look at things from far away and up close?" Students have been looking at timelines and we even created a timeline on the football field that showcased the history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present. We are beginning now to discuss the Origin stories of different cultures around the world so that way students can get an understanding of not only the Judeo-Christian point of view but others as well.
10th Grade World History
Students in World History started the year creating a 75 year timeline depicting clothing from certain time periods. Each color of construction paper corresponded with a particular year (Gold-2015, Green-1990, Orange- 1965, Pink- 1940). Students seemed to enjoy themselves as they dressed up their "dolls." We have also been the process of discussing timelines more in depth. Students will be having their assessment over timelines today during class.