Wednesday

Hey, it's Wednesday. Today we took a look at our quiz on chapter 37. We talked a bit of strategy and double checked a few questions. We also began work text coding (annotating) some articles on the upcoming elections. Speaking of elections, I am introducing a special group code tonight that I want you to join. It is DMS Election 2012 and will enable you to get some information on the elections as well as take part in the 6th and 7th grade presidential election (US National Election) that will take place on Tuesday (for students only). You will stop into the IMC at your leisure sometime Tuesday, log in to Edmodo, and place your vote. It will only let each student vote once so make it count. Then, we will hashtag the poll to Edmodo where they will enter our results in a national poll. Sounds like fun.

Tuesday After Break

Greetings. How about this, it's Tuesday already. Today students took a quiz over chapter 37 terms and legacies of ancient Rome and read background information on the middle ages as well as chose an historical fiction story from the same period. We will be reading those off and on as we study the period this quarter. Students were to complete a "Cobb Web" for quiz preparation and use it as their "ticket" to begin the quiz. One area that seems to be troubling students is preparation for quizzes. They did well on the legacies but let down a bit on the terms part. Vocabulary is a big part of social studies and each student will have to settle on a method of study to prepare for those type of quizzes. We will always be posting "tips" for study a few days before quizzes so your know what to be sure to prepare.

 This additional note is for the "parents" group. If you are following along by setting your notifications to follow teacher posts, that is fine (you can enable Edmodo to email any new posts etc by going to your account and setting notifications to do what you want it to do). But for reasons unknown to me (Edmodo thing) parents do not automatically get "notes" to students unless I post them directly to the parent groups. So, to make things more simple, go to our web blog (dmssocialstudies6.blogspot.com) and sign up for the email updates in the upper right margin. I always post a mirror post of the daily blog to that page as well as Edmodo. Students do not have to check both as the daily blog goes to Edmodo. That way my blog page will auto send an email every time there is a new post. You won't have to check the blog or Edmodo. You can just read or ignore the email. Also, if it is annoying, you can deselect very easily.

Thursday Before Break

Hey everyone. Sorry this post is a little late. Today students worked to complete their "Cobb Webs " and interactive notebooks for chapter 37. These are the two main study tools for the quiz coming up on Tuesday. It will be rather short at 25 questions and all multiple choice. We will be taking this one on paper as the computer labs are all tied up at this time. Even the laptops we have been using are tied up. I have attached the study notes, as promised, to this daily blog post. Remember, the two focus points are the terms and contributions to the legacies of Rome. You are welcome to make Study Stacks, use the Cobb Webs, or write the terms any way you want. The only requirement is that you complete the Cobb Web as that is your "ticket" to take the quiz on Tuesday. In other words, you have to have a completed web and show it to your teacher before you can begin. Good luck and have a fantastic break.

Click here for the notes:
Rome Legacies Notes

Wednesday's News

Hey all. Today students took the acuity in Mrs. Cobb's class and worked on a "Cobb Web" and chapter 37 in Mr. Hogue's class. Please check my prior post to get the information about study for the quiz next Thursday. Sorry, the post is on Edmodo. I believe I sent it out to students and parents alike.

Acuity and Legacies of Rome

Hello! Today Mr. Hogue completed acuity testing for quarter 1 on the laptops. Mrs. Cobb worked on a Cobb web for the 10 vocabulary words from chapter 37, the Legacies of Ancient Rome. The definitions and descriptions are due tomorrow. The rest of it needs to be completed (colored pictures and sentences) for Tuesday as a ticket to take the test. Students then worked on their reading notes for legacies. We will complete those and discuss on Thursday. Tomorrow we will flip flop the lessons. Looking forward to seeing the rest of you tonight!

Quiz on Origins and Spread of Christianity

Hi! Today we were able to complete the quiz on the origins and spread of Christianity with the exception of Mrs. Cobb's 4th period. This is when Edmodo's server crashed. Those students will take the quiz tomorrow. Students started work on the legacies of ancient Rome, chapter 37 when finished. Mr. Hogue's class will take the state acuity test tomorrow and Mrs. Cobb's class will take it Wednesday. Hope to see all parents tonight or tomorrow night!

Flip Flopping

Hello! Today we flip flopped classes. Mr. Hogue's class took the ancient Greece quiz on the computers through Edmodo. Mrs. Cobb's class began work on chapter 36. We previewed the chapter and began work on the interactive notebook. Students will need to complete work on sections 36.2 to 36.3 at home tonight. Tomorrow we will complete the notes and the multiple choice quiz will be on Monday.

Wednesday - Half Way Home

Hey all. It's Wednesday and we are half way home for the week. Today in Mr. Hogue's class we worked on the intro to the origins and spread of Christianity. We will be looking at the topic as it relates to central beliefs and effect the Roman Empire had on the spread of the religion. Mrs. Cobb's class took the Greece final test and tomorrow will work on Christianity as Mr. Hogue's class takes the test. We did a flip flop of computers to accomplish this. Great job Mrs. Cobb's class and the test and good luck to Mr. Hogue's for tomorrow. Homework: There is none specifically other than working toward your chapter 36 quiz which will occur on Monday. Remember, it is multiple choice and covers the video notes, chapter 36, and the terms from the Focus Sheet for chapter 36.

Reflection for Student Led Conferences

Hi! Today we were preparing for the student led conferences next week. We wrote reflections about our learning in social studies with writing. Students used essays to give support for their ideas. We then started with chapter 36 the origins of Christianity. Tomorrow Mrs. Cobb's class will use the computers to take the Performance Literacy Task (PLT) and Mr. Hogue's class will take it on Thursday. The topic of the assessment is the four types of government which were developed in the ancient Greece.
Homework: Review the four types of government of ancient Greece

Monday - BYOD

Greetings. Today students worked on completing their Study Stacks on their personal devices. There was quite a bit of frustration as students had to deal with getting on the wireless, typing in the small windows, and learning the ins and outs of Study Stack all at once. My advice to students was to complete them on their own at home and share the Study Stack code for their stack with their partner. Passwords, telephone numbers, and other personal information are not allowed on Edmodo but the code for student stacks is fine. In fact, student collaboration is encouraged. Homework: There is no specific homework tonight but information concerning the next two assessments is as follows: Greece Test - Study the four governments of ancient Greece - Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, and Democracy. It will be an essay question in the type that we have been doing over the last couple of weeks. Chapter 36 on Christianity - Rome video notes, vocabulary terms from the Focus Sheet (Study Stack terms). Chapter 36 in the text book. The quiz will be all multiple choice.

Friday - Yeah!

Friday is here! Today we talked a bit about the Arizona Smith Rome video. Students added to their notes as we discussed Roman topics. Also, we began vocabulary work using Study Stack. We ran out of time in a big way so I am extending that work through Monday's class. If you have a device to bring on Monday, bring it. You should come to class Monday having completed the definitions to all the vocabulary terms found on the Focus Sheet. I have included one in this post. Complete the Rome terms and the Chapter 36 terms. If you have time to build your Study Stack, between now and then, you will be able to begin playing with your partners directly after we talk about the returned essay over Greece legacies. Homework: View the video pushed out Thursday. Complete the vocabulary terms under "Rome" and "Chapter 36" on the Focus Sheet included on this post. Please go to your Edmodo account to get the Focus Sheet.

Geography Challenge (Rome)

Good Thursday to you all. Today students worked on the Geography Challenge for Rome. This activity is an introduction to the geography of the Italian Peninsula and surrounding area as we enter our work with Rome. We will not be doing an intense Roman unit at this time but will focus on Christianity and its spread in the period. We will come back to legacies and other important Roman contributions at a later date. We also finished the video clip featuring Arizona Smith and his conversations on Rome. I hope to push out a video clip tonight to be viewed sometime before Monday, if possible. I will put it out as an assignment so you all should get a notification of that event. Just click the "turn in" button after you have viewed it. If there are any instructions that go with the video, it will be on the post.

Alexander the Great, or was he?

Hey there. It's past the middle of the week. We walked through our essay on Alexander the Great's "greatness." Students researched a video clip, text book, and two primary source documents to grab traits of their subject over the past couple of days and "marked up their papers" today. We collected them but it will not go as a grade, just for student self assessment as we near the Greece final test next week. It will be a document based test similar to this experience. We have eased off the video pushes over the past week or so but will get back on track as begin work in Rome. We will begin with geography and there may be a video coming out later today or tomorrow. Once again, if there is a "turn in" button, it means you click it after viewing. The only homework is if you failed to complete the Alexander essay for absence reason or otherwise, you need to complete it and turn it in tomorrow.

Alexander the Great Essay

Hello! Today students discussed the directions for the prewrite  and completed them together. Then students wrote on the their own the actual essay. We talked about introduction and how they should draw the reader in and introduce the topic in general. We also talked about transitions, reminded them about how to site sources and the strucure of the essay. Most students finished this in class, but those that didn't will need to spend up to 15 minutes finishing this at home. We will mark the essay up tomorrow so students can see where they are with their writing. This will not be a grade, but next week we will complete another Greece unit assessment very similar in format to this one.

Alexander the Great...Primary Source

Hello! Today we discussed the information from chapter 30 on Alexander the Great and any added information about him being a great leader or not. We then discussed the primary source materials related to him. Students collected information on their graphic organizer. Then in some classes we discussed the pre-write. This is not an assessment. Students will complete the pre-write and then write the essay tomorrow.
Homework: make sure that you have chosen which way you believe: Great or Not!

Alexander the Great? Day 2

Happy Friday! Hope you are able to enjoy the beautiful colors of Fall this weekend! Today we discussed the partner work from yesterday which was about the character traits of a great leader. Today we talked about what character traits would make a weak leader and put in interactive notebook on page 192. Students then read with their partners chapter 30 adding new notes about Alexander and evidence of traits making him a great leader or a weak leader. We discussed some of them at the end of class, but some students didn't finish in class and will have to finish over the weekend. Monday we will view primary source documents on Alexandar and add to our graphic organizer new information in preparation for our essay on Tuesday.
Homework:  Complete reading chapter 30 and fill in handout, possible Edmodo video push

Alexander the Great??

Hello! Today we worked our way into our final topic in ancient Greece, Alexander the Great. Over the next few days, students will be presented with information about things that he did and will need to determine for themselves whether or not he was really "Great". They will then write an essay using supporting facts to express their opinion. So today, students were given a graphic organizer to keep track of his events and the character traits those exhibit. Students completed and discussed the preview page 193 in their interactive notebook to brainstorm a list of traits that might be considered great.
Homework:  None for today:)

Legacies Quiz

Well, its past the middle of the week. Students completed their Greece Legacies Quiz today, color coded them, and self assessed their learning. We also completed the Arizona Smith video clip over Greece. Students did a lot of work yesterday and today to demonstrate their learning about Greek legacies and did a fine job at that. There is no video push tonight or homework either. See you tomorrow ready to learn about Alexander the Great.

Legacies Quiz

Today in social studies students took the quiz over legacies of ancient Greece. It was an essay response to what you think is the most impacting legacy of Greece. Actually, all eleven that we studied are equally important so the choice will not effect your grade. how you argue your point and follow directions for the task is the key. Tomorrow, you will have a short opportunity to complete and refine your essay as well as an opportunity to "mark it up." I will explain how that will work at that time. There is no video push tonight or homework.