Poll, Uh huh!

Where would you like to go on our Google Earth Trip?
	SeaWorld in San Diego
	LegoLand
	The Roman Colloseum
	Big Ben in London
	Alcatraz Prison
	Statue of Liberty
	Mt Rushmore
	Mt Everest
	The White House
	Heidelberg, Germany
	Hawaiian Active Volcanoes
	Mount Olympus
	Lake Elsinore
	Patriots Stadium
	Six Flags
	Norte Chico/Caral
	Somewhere in Sumer or Mesopotamia
	Great Barrier Reef
	Angels Stadium
	Eiffel Tower
	Somewhere in Australia
	Somewhere in Canada
	NASA
	Sesame Street
	Mexico City
	Somewhere in Scotland
pollcode.com free polls

Some Links on Ancient Greek and Egyptian Mythology and Religious Beliefs

Mr. Donn's page on Greek Gods

Mr. Donn's page on Egyptian Gods

Sixth Grade Work on Egypt

Today in class, after reviewing the Minoans and Mycenaeans, we returned to Egypt. This time, instead of the Egypt of Narmer and his Double Crown, we are now learning about the Old Kingdom. This time, instead of mastabas, we see pyramids!

What are the other changes? Read and see! Students read this page and then looked at this timeline. Students also took notes on both pages.

We're also taking pictures of our Egypt projects and sending them home this week.

Sixth Grade Work on Ancient Greeks

Today we are learning about the ancient Greeks, specifically the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. We discussed the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and then read this page on the Minoans and this page on the Mycenaeans.

From reading those pages, students need to write in their composition books Three facts you learned, Two questions you have, and One thing you find interesting. Do a 3-2-1 for Minoans and one for the Mycenaeans.

Sixth Grade Work and Quiz!

Hello, students! We are having a quiz this Friday (as we have already discussed in class.) As promised, I gave you a study guide today and your maps and foldables to help you prepare.

This quiz is on Sumer, Ancient Egypt, and Caral/Norte Chico. Below you can find the study guide reproduced.

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 Sumer/Mesopotamia 

In Asia, in what is now Iran. Part of the “Fertile Crescent” stretching from Iran through Iraq and into Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries. “Mesopotamia” means “between the rivers”, as it was located between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. “Sumer” means “land of the civilized kings.”

Sumerians developed wheeled vehicles, writing (cuneiform), a polytheistic religion (multiple gods), governments based on walled city-states (which went to war with one another), social classes with priests and kings at the top, warriors and scribes second, down to farmers and merchants with slaves and peasants at the bottom. Sumerian city-states had ziggurats (stepped pyramids) as temples in their centers.

The earliest known written story is of the Mesopotamian hero-king Gilgamesh. In the story, he is two-thirds god, one-third man. He has adventures with his friend, the wildman Enkidu until Enkidu dies. In the story, the Sumerian idea of the afterlife is of the “House of Dust” where all is dark and gloomy. Gilgamesh learns that no man can live forever.

Caral/Norte Chico 

In what is now Peru. The people of Caral built pyramids earlier than the Egyptians. They made flutes and trumpets out of bones. The people of Caral had no pottery, so they could not boil food; they could only roast food. They used gourds to store food and seeds. They had stone tools and knew how to weave reeds together. They developed a drug out of the achiote plant. They had no warfare in Norte Chico! So their cities had no walls and no defensive weapons at all! This forced some historians to change their ideas about how civilizations develop.

Ancient Egypt 

In Northeast Africa. The Nile River runs through the center and the Sahara (serving as a natural protection) surrounds it. The Egyptians called the area near the Nile the “Black Land” and the Sahara the “Red Land.” Egypt was originally two kingdoms, Upper Egypt (in the South, near the source of the Nile) and Lower Egypt (in the North, near the mouth of the Nile.) The two kingdoms were united by Narmer in ~3000 BC. Narmer then created a double crown out of the crowns of the two kingdoms.

Egyptians built mastabas in this time period, but no pyramids. They believed the afterlife was for kings, pharaohs, and the rich and powerful. The dead had to pass the test at the Scales of Ma’at (was the heart as light as a feather?), have their body preserved, and have their name written down (in hieroglyphics) to pass on to the Two Fields, an afterlife that was happy and blessed.

 How are these societies similar? How are they different? How do they compare to the other societies we have learned about?

Eighth Grade Living Constitution Slideshow

Sixth Grade Gilgamesh Short Film

Here is the short film we watched that summarizes the Epic of Gilgamesh. Students should notice that we learn a little about what the Sumerians believed about the afterlife from this story. We'll compare this with the Egyptian view of the afterlife soon!

Eighth Grade Work on Articles of Confederation and the Constitution

In our eighth grade classes, we've been discussing the first national government of the United States—the Articles of Confederation—and the shift to the Constitution. Students have noted in their composition book the strengths, weaknesses, and accomplishments of the Articles government, as well as the serious problems the country faced during that time that led to the need for governmental change (inflation, debt, foreclosures, problems with Spain and Britain, and finally, Shays' Rebellion.)

Today, students read about the ratification process of the Constitution and about what kind of government the Constitution creates. Reading pages 201, 204-207, and answering five of the following questions on a document and dropping it in the assignment folder.

Answer five of the following bullet points

• Why did three delegates refuse to sign the finished Constitution? Do you think they had a good reason?
• What approval (or ratification) process did the delegates create for the Constitution? How does this compare to the process for the Articles?
• What is Federalism?
• What are "checks and balances"? Give three examples
• What were the Federalist Papers?
• Why did Anti-Federalists oppose the Constitution?
• What fears did each side have regarding the Constitution?
• Why was the approval of New York and Virginia so important?

When done, name it "Constitution Questions" and drop it in your assignment folder. Due on Thursday before class starts.

Slideshow for Mesopotamia and Sumer

Here is the slideshow that Ms. Carranza and I used in our classes on Mesopotamia and Sumer.

Eighth Grade Work

We are moving on from the Articles of Confederation era to the Constitution. Before we leave the Articles, however, students should read Section One of Chapter Three and answer the Section Review questions at the end of Chapter Three (only numbers three and four) and this question:

What do you think was the worst problem facing the United States in the Articles era and why?

 Write your answers in your composition book.

Sixth Grade Work

This week in class we are learning about the Mesopotamians. We began to create a foldable with vocabulary:

• Cradle of Civilization
• fertility
• Fertile Crescent
• cuneiform
• Sumerians
• ziggurat

We will continue with the foldable tomorrow. We also began to fill out a map of the area, and will keep working on that tomorrow also.

We did start an assignment that needs to be turned in tomorrow. Students should draw a triangle that shows how the social classes were in Mesopotamia. Who was at the top? Who was in the middle? Who was at the bottom of their society?

There is information in section two of chapter one in the textbook. You can also find information here at Mr. Donn's site and here on the Land Between the Rivers site. Please also include illustrations on your picture.