March 9-13

Friday, March 13 Update: Y'all all stay healthy and safe and enjoy your rest!  I'm happy to take the Jordan Royal Tour extra credit via email today.  IF there is a need to send further updates after Spring Break, I will post them all here and in ItsLearning.  I will assume not everyone has their ISN, but that you all have your textbook at home. 


Almost to Spring Break! ☘

Monday - Must have completed the Silk Road questions in ItsLearning before class today.
-debrief Silk Road
-quick vote on Wed. or Thur. for Pre-school viewing of Nile IMAX
-Nile Reading  ( We are reviewing selective highlighting, then you are going to read the article and highlight or underline in two different colors.  Color 1= how the Nile River has impacted people and culture.  Color 2 = stuff you think is cool/interesting.)

Tuesday and Wednesday - Practice STAAR testing for 6th grade.
-background on Israel and start reading Three Wishes

Tuesday after school - Nile IMAX in my room.  Starts promptly at 3:35.  Will be over by 4:30.

Jordan Royal Tour Extra Credit - must be turned in by Wednesday, 3:30.

Wednesday before school - Nile IMAX in my room.  Starts promptly at 7:45.

Thursday - Continue Reading Three Wishes and reflection questions on page 74 in the ISN

Friday - St. Patrick's Day mini-lesson
-Syria and Jordan    Wrap up Three Wishes

Jordan Royal Tour Extra Credit

Jordan: The Royal Tour

This really is a ROYAL tour.  Jordan’s King, King Abdullah II takes Peter on a tour of Jordan.  You can find it on YouTube by searching for “Jordan: The Royal Tour”.

If you watch the episode, answer the questions, and turn-in the answers by Wednesday, March 11, you may earn up to 10 points on your lowest quiz/mini-project grade for the 4^th Nine Weeks.

Answer these questions in complete sentences.  You may type or hand write.  Be sure and put your name, date and class period on the paper.

1. What is one way King Abdullah II and former Mexican President Calderon are similar? Do you think this is a quality many leaders share or just a coincidence?

2. Name your THREE favorite spots on the tour – tell me the name, the location in Jordan, and why you liked it so much.

3. What surprised you most about Jordan?  Why?

4. When they pause for a minute before entering Petra, look at the right of the screen.  You will see feet of people and animals.  There used to be full carved caravans pointing and heading to Petra.  What is this like in modern times?

5. Who made special appearances throughout the show?

March 2-6

Monday - last Friday replacement 😀

Tuesday - Rotate through the Ancient Discoveries Presentations

Wednesday - Complete presentations with debrief and reflection, update ISN and set up for the rest of the unit*

Thursday - Rosetta Stone, Start Persia - complete for homework as needed
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/persian-empire


Friday - Discuss Persia and The Silk Road, draw cross-cultural conclusions about Prehistoric and ancient civilizations

Homework - in ItsLearning - what the BrainPop video, take the practice quiz on BrainPop THEN go to ItsLearning to answer the questions for a grade.

*big sent out note:

Dear Students and Parents,

I cannot believe Spring Break is so quickly approaching. This is long, but I want to keep you all in the loop – and I am tired and terrified it’s full of typos, so I am asking for grace as you read!

We have had a lot of days where curriculum took a back seat to testing or enrichment or bad water… We also have a wonderful opportunity next month when Salva Dut will come speak to MMS about Water for South Sudan and his experience as a “Lost Boy” of Sudan.

To make sure we get A Long Walk to Water read and understand the basics of the politics and history of Sudan before his visit, I am going to need to make some cuts and adjustments to the current unit, North Africa and Middle East.  The following are dates, opportunities, and general info based on those revision.

Nile River IMAX – We normally watch most of this 48 minute video in class.  We’ll still learn the essential information, but viewing is the exciting and memorable part.  So, I’m going to offer a viewing immediately after school in my room Tuesday, March 10.  It will be done by 4:30 for the late bus or pick up. Kids are welcome to bring popcorn to enjoy during the movie.  If there is demand, I will also arrange a pre-school showing starting at 7:30 am that Wednesday or Thursday.

Jordan: The Royal Tour – We watch two episodes of this wonderful travel series each year.  The first was in Mexico with a tour by a former president.  The kids loved it. In this episode, Peter Greenberg is escorted around Jordan by their king!  This video is a balance to all the conflict and struggle we learn about in this region.  I believe it’s important, therefor I am going to offer it as extra credit. Details will be on my blog and Its Learning by the end of the week.

Assessments – The map quiz was already going to be a combined map for this region and sub-Saharan Africa.  I am now going to combine the test and ISN for these two cultural regions as well.  Since they share so much history and physical space, I think it will work out well. All three of these grades will be during the 4^th Nine Weeks.

What’s up for the rest of the flying-by-year?

We will wrap up all of Africa mid-April.  Then, we will study Asia through the first week or so of May.  Then, we will do a super-fast “trip” to Australia and Antarctica.  We will wrap the year up with a “passion project”.  The kids will choose ANY topic related to culture, spend some time researching it, and then present their findings in one of the formats we have analyzed all year – maps, political cartoons, or infographics.

You made it through!  Thanks!

Niki Connor

6^th Grade GT Social Studies

Feb. 24-28 - Ancient Civilizations - LOTS of INFO

All week you will be working on two goals:

1- go through the Ancient Civilizations Stations - these sheets need to be turned in to the turn-in box or placed on the appropriate page of your ISN by EOC Friday (2/28)
2- research and create a presentation on your assigned ancient wonder/mystery/site - this is due Monday, March 2 when you walk in the room.

Use your time wisely, and you should be fine.  Play around, and you're going to end up with a lot of homework late in the week and over the weekend. TIP: If you seem to be running out of time, you could do the textbook reading and watch the videos during Activity or as homework.

LINKS to the STATIONS sites:

 “Write Like a Babylonian” https://www.penn.museum/cgi/cuneiform.php

“Four Empires of Mesopotamia...in five minutes or less” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sPVe5mjphA

**Epic of Gilgamesh - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqOC17D3k5M  If you have time, watch the whole video, but if not start at 14:25 and go to the end.  The essential part is Gilgamesh and the influence of Mesopotamia.

Nubian Article http://www.history4kids.co/2013/02/the-land-and-people-ancient-nubia.html 

Nubian Video **https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1zgX2M4Cvo  from 3:50 on it's just pictures.  You can look at them, of course, but there is not additional information after that.

**These two videos are updates of what is on the paper copies.  I should have doubled-checked the links before I ran off the papers.

Suggested places to RESEARCH: 

• Encyclopedia Britannica on the Library Resources Page is a great place to start and get a quick overview of your location.  You may also find good terms to use for searching elsewhere. (Bonus - they give you the citation in the correct format on the page.)
• Sirs DISCOVERER - also on the Library page has most, not all of the topics and also has the bonus of citation provided - AND a nice collection of pictures.
• LEARN 360 - same as the first two resources above, plus videos.
• Ancient History Encyclopedia - https://www.ancient.eu/  Online Source dedicated to ancient history. Doesn't have citations pre-done, but gives you all the info you need to create a citation - PLUS has maps, timelines, visuals, details and sometimes videos or links to other good sources.
• Most of these sites are United Nations World Heritage Sites.  http://whc.unesco.org/  Their web site offers lots of data about each site and why it's worth protecting.  It also often has pictures from different time periods and drawings of the "missing parts".
• Finally, check out the History Channel, Travel Channel and YouTube for TRAVEL videos to your site.  CHECK the source - we don't want alien visitors tours, but reputable travel journalist. 

Copy of the assignment and rubric:

Ancient Discoveries Project!  

You’re going on an archaeological exploration.  Sadly, Indy can’t make the trip, but you can!  With the other people who have the same mystery highlighted on the back of this sheet, you will explore that site and bring back images and information to share with the rest of the class!

 We will set up stations around the room to rotate through, so that you get to “visit” each site.  Not all sites will be covered in each class, so your presentation may be shown to other classes. Your job is to make a visual presentation for your ancient discovery – pretend you went there and tell us all about it!

You must:

·       create a presentation with at least 6 images of your site. (more is great, not all the same)

·       include the name of the site.

·       give the name of its location and show its location on a map.

·       tell who built it – and when and why (political, religious, economic, etc.) they built it. (or rebuilt, or…)

·       include at least 5 interesting facts about the place in addition to the information above.

·       document your sources.

You may:

·       create a movie, a slide show, a cartoon, an online or paper scrapbook, a newscast, magazine layout, or any other visual presentation format that you have access to and can present in class.

·       use in-class time and at-home time to work.

·       ask for Activity passes to work with your group.

You may not:

·       make a presentation that takes more than 4 minutes to watch from start to finish.

·       make up anything about the historical site or its history. (Reliable sources only!)

·       tell us speculative facts, undocumented information, or conspiracy theories.

·       present live.

·       include bloopers. (Sorry, but you are welcome to show them to me between classes!)  J

________(30) Who, what, when, where and why – there, accurate

________(25) 5+ additional facts are interesting and accurate

________(20) Images and presentation are clear, appropriate, easy to follow (organized),                  

                         4 minutes or fewer

________(10) Group cooperation and participation - presentation is accessible and

                            ready to go at the beginning of class

________(15) All sources are documented (MLA Citation*) – may put at the end of presentation or turn-in separately  

*You MAY use the simple citation form for images that Mrs. Fraser taught you for the IMAGES  "Name of picture" by Name of creator on Name of site where it was found.

.

Feb. 17-21

Monday - President's Day Holiday

Tuesday - Wrap up any Introduction to Monotheistic Religions
Sects and denominations  - see charts below

Wednesday - Review for quiz on Monotheistic Religions
Go over graded tests (my recently cut up right hand willing)

Thursday - Quiz over Monotheistic Religions
Go over graded maps and add in big physiographic features

Friday - Map Analysis
Start Early Civilization Stations as time allows

Feb. 10-14

Monday - Check Test Review Part Two – study time for tomorrow’s test.

Tuesday – Europe Unit Test – also Europe Unit in the ISNs is due today.

HMWK: North Africa and Southwest Asia Map – due Friday BOC

Wednesday –  World Population Map over Time 

Start Monotheistic Religions with Judaism

Thursday – Judaism and start Christianity as time allows (update)

Friday – Maps Due BOC
Go over graded tests

Complete Christianity and begin with Islam (update)

Feb. 3-7

Nota Bene: Europe Unit Test is next Tuesday.  The map elements are the same as listed from the Map Quiz a few posts below. 

Mon. - We went over the WWI notes and talked about the Treaty of Versailles. 

Tue. - WWII

Wed. - Wrap up WWII and start Modern Europe - quick look at the UN, NATO, EU and "Brexit", Cold War and fall of the "Eastern Block"

Thu. - Wrap up Modern Europe as needed; Review Part One with political cartoons, maps, charts and graphs - due Friday, BOC.

Fri. - Check Review Part One; Work time for Review Part Two - due Monday, BOC