Tour of Athens

Hi! Today, in Mr. Hogue's class, students turned in their paragraph practice on Persian Wars. Mrs. Cobb's class completed this on Thursday of last week. Both classes then started with work in chapter 29 over the legacies of ancient Athens. In this activity, over the next couple of days, students will take a walking virtual tour of the ancient city which will include stops in some (6) of the cultural centers. We will wrap up our tour and discuss a bit on Wednesday in preparation for the assessment on Thursday. If you miss class during this time you may use your textbook (chapter 29, pages 279-287) to complete the Reading Notes pages 190-191. The completed Cobb web (with definitions, colored illustrations, and sentences) is due on Thursday as ticket to take the test.

Test Tips: Test Thursday
Use your complete Cobb Web to study the eleven vocabulary terms.
Make a Study Stack of the eleven vocabulary terms to study.
Reread the textbook pages 279-287.
Study your Reading Notes pages 190-191.

The test will be in two parts. The basic C level will include the vocabulary terms. The B-A level will include questions that are a little higher order thinking and more conceptual. You will need to pass the C level to score above a 75% C. This test will be all multiple choice and will contain no essay questions.

Google Drive and Paragraph Work

Hello! Today in Mrs. Cobb's class we went to the computer lab. We set up our school google accounts and created folders for each class. Later we will be able to use the those folders in google drive to share documents with teachers. It was a great experience with Mrs. Burnette leading the way! We were also able to create free accounts on the web based program called study stack. Students started their own study stack for chapter 29 vocabulary, but most did not finish. You can finish those up anytime at home and use them to help you prepare for the assessment on chapter 29. That will likely be Thursday now. This is not required, but can be used as a tool to help you study. Mr. Hogue's class discussed the pre-write and were able to use it to write an essay. Hopefully, all the students now understand the value of the pre-write. It is where you do all your thinking. When you do the writing, it practically writes itself!

 Homework: Completed Cobb web due the day of the test

Google Drive

Today Mr. Hogue's class worked in the computer lab setting up their Google Drive accounts. This will be one vehicle by which you may do your work and turn it in paperlessly. Google stores your papers and all creations in the cloud so you may access it and use it at home, as well. Mrs. Cobb's class finished up writing the paragraph that goes with the Persian Wars images and the video clip on the Golden Age of Greece. Tomorrow, Mrs. Cobb's class will work in the computer lab and Mr. Hogue's class will finish the image paragraph.

Wednesday

Today, in Mr. Hogue's class, we completed the Persian War image analysis and talked over and took notes for the pre-write for the essay response. Mrs. Cobb's class watched the video and took notes and worked on the written portion of the images analysis. None of this is for homework, unless you missed class.

Persian Wars and Golden Age Video

Hello! Today in Mrs. Cobb's class we finished up work on the Persians Wars. We began discussion on a pre-write and why they are so helpful. Students copied a pre-write for the essay on the handout about the Persian Wars. Tomorrow students will be able to see the merits of a pre-write and how easy it makes the writing. In Mr. Hogue's class today students viewed a video on the Golden Age of Athens, a pre-view for chapter 29. Students were taking notes from the video as we stopped and discussed. Tomorrow, the classes will switch. There is no homework except for working on the Cobb web which won't be due until we take the test on chapter 29 sometime next week. However, REMINDER.....the retake for chapter 26 is tomorrow! Students who need to take the retake will need to study. See previous posts for study tips. Be sure to go over very carefully your original test multiple choice section.

Monday

Today students completed most of their image analysis work on the Greco-Persian Wars. This work is similar to the model of the PLT (Performance Literacy Task) assessment. This activity will culminate with a writing assignment (in class) in which they will conclude their work with a paragraph response. Students have already begun their work in chapter 29 with the Cobb Webb work last Friday. The retake opportunity will take place Wednesday and will be the C level assessment only and allow students that scored below that to raise their score to 75%.

 Retake Test Tips:
*Students should know the eight vocabulary terms from the Focus Sheet for chapter 26. They may use or make flashcards, Study Stack, or just study their vocabulary chart that they made for the chapter. *Students should be able to explain each of the four governments.
*Students should be able to order the four governments used by the Athenians according to their use (as in which came first, second, and so on).

Friday Post (on Thursday afternoon)

Hey, it's Friday. Today in class students were given the handout "Cobb Web." This is a modified Frayer model on which a maximum of twelve vocabulary terms may be collected and displayed on one page (two sides). Students worked on locating the terms in their text books, wrote the term, illustrated it, and defined it in the appropriate boxes. Then, each of the terms were used in a compound sentence or sentences per each side. We closed the class out with CNN Student News on current events.

 I have provided another copy of the Cobb Webb and a Focus Sheet for Greece on this post.

 The retake for the Greece governments test will be Wednesday and will be only the C level. You should study your vocabulary terms and basic concepts for the governments. We will narrow your study and give your a bit more guidance on Monday in class.

Cobb Web 12 Terms
Focus Sheet Greece

Thursday

Hey all. Thursday students received their Greece governments assessments back and we looked at the correct responses as well as the details that were required for a high score on the essay portion. The test was broken into two parts as the multiple choice portion was considered to be the basic C level and the essay the B-A level. If you scored below a 75% you are eligible to retake the C level portion next Wednesday in class. We also continued our work with the image analysis handouts on significant ancient Greek battles. We completed the images of Darius and the council of war and the battle of Marathon. Most classes just began working on the battle of Thermopylae. Those videos have been pushed out here on Edmodo and are optional for you to view ahead of time. Please do not complete the handouts associated with the battles we have not yet addressed in class. They will be completed with partners in class.

Wednesday

Hello! Today we began discussing the Persian Wars. Our focus was to learn how to "read" a picture and analyze it. We viewed part of the Battle of Marathon video from yesterday's post. The videos posted here are OPTIONAL as we will be viewing and discussing them in class. They are fun to watch and you can view them again over the next few days.

Horrible Histories - Thermopolyae

Thermopylae 1/3
Thermopylae 2/3
Thermopylae 3/3

Greece Governments Assessment and Constitution Day

Hey guys! Today we took the assessment over four governments implemented by ancient Greece. Today, September 17,  is "Constitution Day" a day set aside to celebrate and remember the signing and adoption of the US Constitution in 1787 by the Constitutional Convention. I have posted the link here so that you may view CNN Student News as it has a segment on the US Constitution. It is also a day to celebrate US Citizenship and those that have become US Citizens. Viewing this video is OPTIONAL, but interesting!

CNN Student News

Preparing for Greece Government Assessment

Hello all! Just wanted to send a note specific to my classes today. We were able to discuss the retakes for the latitude and longitude quiz on Friday. Almost all students improved a great deal on the second. Great job! We discussed some possible reasons about why that happened. There is a learning curve for most students to find what it takes to perform their best on assessments. I am here to support you to figure out what it takes for you to do just that. My goal is to teach you the tools to be able to perform at your best as much as possible. Next, we completed our role playing activity and reading notes for chapter 26. We then had a discussion about Edmodo. There were very few who completed the videos posted on Edmodo on Friday and the notes. We discussed how this is designed to aid in the learning and is another tool to help you be successful. Just like one of tonight's post which is a study stack of the vocabulary words. On the test the multiple choice will be from the vocabulary and the essay will be about the types of governments. Keep your head and stay on it! You can do it! Tonight it would be helpful for you to complete the graphic organizer handout from class today to help you study. (I have attached it if you didn't remember to bring it home.) If the videos don't work, use your textbook and interactive notebook! Be resourceful! Happy studying!

Reminder ..... don't memorize the dates of the types of governments. They were there to help you figure out which ones came in what order.

Ancient Greece Government Review Graphic Organizer

Latitude Longitude Retake and Cyber Safety Lesson

Friday we took a retake test over using longitude and latitude coordinates. You may score as high as 100% on this retake. We also talked about cyber security with a lesson called "Scams and Schemes." Vocabulary such as scam, identity theft, and phishing were explained as well as examples given in the form of phishing emails. Watch what you open and a good rule of thumb is that if you don't know where or whom the email is from, it is a good idea not to open it.

This weekend we are pushing out some review videos of the four Greece government types. Please view them and use the e-handout to record your information. If you don't have a printer you may create a look-alike handout out of notebook paper. The longest video is 2:45 or so.

Test Tips: This Tuesday will be the assessment over the governments of Greece. The basic level portion will be dedicated to the eight vocabulary terms listed on the Focus Sheet and the same ones we worked with the week. You may use the tally chart you created to study the terms. You may create a Study Stack to practice the terms as flashcards. If you do not know how to create one, you probably will have to wait on this tool. You may create paper flashcards to study. The B-A level portion of the test will cover information about the governments. You may reread your text book chapter 26 and look over your interactive notebook pages for the same chapter (pages 172-173). Watch the video reviews of the four governments posted below and review your notes from those videos. Review the study chart that will be created on Monday during your class period.

Greek Government Screencast

4 Types of Government in ancient Greece Role Play

Today Mr. Hogue's class completed the activities associated with ancient Greek governments. Mrs. Cobb will complete them tomorrow. We also wrapped up the gallery walk which will conclude class time allowed for the eight vocabulary terms. We will have an assessment next week and a portion of that will include the vocab. The typical assessment opens with a multiple choice section covering the vocabulary. This is considered the basic level and passing that part will earn you a C. The B-A level of the assessment will contain more difficult items such as higher level multiple choice questions and typically some sort of essay or free response question. Remember our paragraph activity we did last week? That was a sample of a free response. You will have to answer with a main idea, support it with details, and use content vocabulary in order to earn a B or an A. Reminder....retake for the latitude and longitude quiz is tomorrow. We will be providing you with the map on the quiz and you will be locating both cities and countries. It is designed to focus solely on the skills of latitude and longitude. Be sure to bring your completed practice sheet to the retake.

Review for Quiz and Current Events

Today in Mrs. Cobb's class we reviewed the latitude and longitude practice for the quiz on Friday. We also discussed the current events situation including Syria and 9/11. We also heard from students about different types of governments in ancient Greece. In Mr. Hogue's class students completed their running word wall of the vocabulary words for chapter 26. Students then completed a gallery walk to record the definitions. I can to visit Mr. Hogue's classes today and we reviewed together the latitude and longitude skills from the review sheet. Homework for tonight includes studying for retake and completion of the handout.

Tuesday

Tuesday in class Mr. Hogue's class began work in chapter 26 which is on governments in ancient Greece. They experienced two government simulations. The governments of monarchy and oligarchy were demonstrated and students read and began completing the interactive notebook page 172 (26.2 and 26.3). Mrs. Cobb's class completed the vocabulary word wall and gallery walk for the terms in chapter 26.

 Be sure to practice your longitude and latitude coordinate work in preparation for Friday's retake test. We also practiced a couple of coordinates to locate world cities.

 If you are retaking the test Friday, you need to have ready and completed the retake practice sheet. I have included a link to a practice sheet for longitude latitude on which you place your responses and it grades them automatically.

Practice

Practice

Types of ancient Greece Governments

Tuesday in class Mr. Hogue's class began work in chapter 26 which is on governments in ancient Greece. They experienced two government simulations. The governments of monarchy and oligarchy were demonstrated and students read and began completing the interactive notebook page 172 (26.2 and 26.3). Mrs. Cobb's class completed the vocabulary word wall and gallery walk for the terms in chapter 26. Be sure to practice your longitude and latitude coordinate work in preparation for Friday's retake test. We also practiced a couple of coordinates to locate world cities. If you are retaking the test Friday, you need to have ready and completed the retake practice sheet for tomorrow. The whole completed sheet is due on Friday. I have included a link to a practice sheet for longitude latitude on which you place your responses and it grades them automatically.

Monday

Hey! it's Monday and in class today we reviewed the latitude longitude test results. Your scores were not very good and as this is a skill, I am offering a retake test on Friday. There will only be one retake and your retake will be your final score. There is no cap on this which means that anyone may retake it in order to raise your score to a max of 100%. See the retake handout. Also, we began work on vocabulary for chapter 26. You have been placed into eight groups and each is responsible for one vocabulary term. We will conclude the work tomorrow with a gallery walk so that you may each collect information on each of the eight terms (yours plus seven others).

Retake Tips:
        Be sure to practice your skill as only you can assess where you are at that skill. Be honest. If you cannot be successful at finding the city every time, then you need more practice.
       Use Study Stack for coordinates and their correct answer. There are two stacks posted from last week. Sept. 4th and 5th have part one and part two stacks and Sept. 4th has the link to "Where's Hannah" game of grid work. 
       Wednesday we will have a specific class practice session to answer any questions you may have. You are responsible for practicing your skill.

Friday

Hello! Today in class we did some preparation and practice for the quiz in the form of partner review. Students then took the quiz and read ahead to chapter 26 when they finished. We know that some students were concerned about the results of todays quiz. We would like you to think about what you did to prepare for this quiz knowing at the beginning of the week that this was coming today. Everything we experience provides us with an opportunity to grow as a person. What we are hoping is that you take a serious, honest look at your preparation. Is there anything you would do differently next time? What did you do right in preparation? What will you do again next time? Mr. Hogue and I will discuss the results and determine our next step knowing that providing an opportunity for a retake is an option, but something we are not required to do as teachers. We hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the weather as it mostly certainly won't last!

Thursday

Today students worked on longitude and latitude coordinates. We are preparing for the assessment tomorrow. Mrs. Cobb had some students working in computer lab finishing up some things. We also wrote and or scored the "Why did the Greeks colonize?" question by viewing a rubric lesson on three separate responses. Students looked at their response and compared theirs to the ones presented on the video. Remember, in order to score high on a written response you have to have the main idea correct (answer to the question) and show detailed information supporting your main idea. You also have to use content vocabulary in your response to show that you understand. A good paragraph response has all of these three elements and really explains the concept fully.

I will push out another practice set of coordinates so that you may practice or check yourself for understanding.

 I also pushed out another quiz covering the longitude and latitude video clips. It is on your class period group. Assessment Tips: Practice using longitude and latitude coordinates by playing the "Hanna" game, work with Study Stack, or practice with a friend or family member using a map, The assessment will include coordinates with which you will have to locate the city or country. It will also include the name of cities where you have to state the coordinates of their location. This will be your first social studies grade.

Below is a video clip showing an example of how writing will be scored in Social Studies.

Sample Paragraph Scoring

Study Stack Practice for Longitude Latitude.

Study Stack Longitude Latitude Practice

Wednesday

Well, we are past the middle of the week and still going strong. Love these short weeks. Anyway, today in social studies we worked on Longitude and Latitude for the second day as we move toward Friday's assessment over the same. If you are not getting the locations correct when we practice, please let your teacher know or figure out what is going wrong. You don't want to find out on Friday during the assessment. Mrs. Cobb's class finished up with the Interactive Notebook pages and discussed them. Mr. Hogue's class completed that previously. We worked on flash card vocabulary for a bit as you are able to make use of them writing your paragraph. Lastly, Mr. Hogue's class began a writing assignment which is to write a paragraph response to the question of "Why did the Greeks colonize?" Remember, in order to score high on this, a writing assignment, or an assessment response you have to write your *Main Idea (the answer to the given question), *Details (that support your answer), and *Vocabulary use (the vocabulary that we are working on at the time). Remember also, your answer could be correct but because of lack of details and or vocabulary use may not earn a high grade. And if you remember correctly there are more than one reasons they colonized. Mrs. Cobb's class will start the day off with this tomorrow. We will have a screen cast showing examples of a low grade, medium grade, and high grade response. Your response will not be for a grade. It is only practice and an opportunity for you to see how your work falls in line with what we expect a response to be. Mr. Hogue's class should bring completed paragraph or longer response to class as you will need it on hand for the review work. Homework: Study for latitude and longitude quiz on Friday and bring a headset if you have one to listen to videos in class tomorrow.


Below is a copy of the video clip we viewed today demonstrating how a written response will be scored in social studies.

Sample Paragraph to Demonstrate a Scoring Rubric for Social Studies

Semester Pre-Test and Latitude/Longitude Practice

Welcome back from a hopefully fun three-day holiday break. Today we took the pre-test for semester one content in social studies. This assessment was taken in the computer lab and should reflect what you know ahead of what we are studying. If you did poorly on this pre-assessment, that is OK as it is just an indicator of what you may already know. We will take a post test at the end of the first semester shortly after winter break to see your improvement. We also began work on latitude and longitude coordinates. You were assigned the Mentor Mob collection of short video clips (August 30 post) to view over the weekend and tonight I am posting a short "quick" quiz to cover those videos. You have to view the vids in order to score well on the quiz. This quiz will not count for a grade but will test you on your recall of the vids. The post will be directly after this one and will require you to take it on Edmodo. You will learn your score directly after submitting it. Each day we will have a warmup using longitude and latitude coordinates to locate locations on a map. Friday there will be a "real" quiz to test your skill on said coordinates. Each day at the start of class you should test your skill so we may trouble shoot any problems using the coordinates. The name of today's quiz is Latitude and Longitude Quick Quiz and is posted on Tuesday, September 3 in your PERIOD CLASSES not in all classes.

Social Studies Acuity Pre Test Semester One

Please click on your social studies teacher and follow the prompts. Please do not write on the test paper as other students will be using the same papers.

Mr. Hogue's Classes

Mrs. Cobb's Classes