Happy Halloween!

Today students in Mr. Hogue's class began work with the Arizona Smith Rome video note taking activity. Mrs. Cobb's class completed the Rome Geography Challenge activity. Both classes took notes and recorded their responses in Chromebooks using Google Drive. You should have placed your document into your Rome folder in Drive. Tomorrow, we will attempt to complete the video notes in combined classes in the LGI. We will continue using our Chromebooks for note taking. Should be fun. Be safe and have fun trick-or-treating tonigh! Happy Halloween!

Focus Sheet Post

Hey all. Here is the Focus Sheet Post. Please click on the link below to view and make a copy of the Focus Sheet for Rome.

Focus Sheet Rome

Wednesday

First thing tonight; please complete this poll by clicking on the following link.
Library Genre Survey

Today students in Mr. Hogue's class discussed briefly some samples of good essays. Then, students used the remainder of class time to complete or nearly complete their Rome Geography Challenges. We completed the map on page 219 of the interactive notebook and used the textbook page 307 as a source for responses. Students recorded their responses in Chromebooks and labeled the map on page 219. Tomorrow, students will complete the same activity Mrs. Cobb's class completed.

In Mrs. Cobb's class students viewed the video Arizona Smith Rome and took careful notes on Chromebook. Tomorrow, students will do the activity that Mr. Hogue's class completed.

In Class Work- Video Notes Rome

Hello! This is your link to the video notes for ancient Rome. You will open the document, make a copy, rename to Arizona Smith Rome Video, move to Rome folder, and open it up to be prepared to take notes on the video. When you have finished and are ready to go, please stand up and check with your partner. We will start taking notes on the overview of all of Rome.


Arizona Smith Rome Video Notes Form 1

Arizona Smith Rome Video Notes Form 2

Rome Geography Challenge

Hey, it's back to school after a very nice long weekend break. Today in class students viewed their scored essays and built some organization into their Google Drive by creating a Social Studies folder with five more folders inside. Jobs well done by all. We also began work on Rome by getting started on the Rome Geography Challenge. This challenge will be completed via Google Drive for responses and using the interactive notebook to complete the map. Directions and the links are located on DMS Social Studies 6 blog site. Tomorrow, we will complete the challenge. Everyone is doing great at becoming familiar with the Chromebooks.

The start of the new quarter is tomorrow so let's get off to a great beginning.

Blue Ribbon Thursday

Hello! Today students had some time to complete essays. We then attempted to mark it up. Most students were successful, but we are still working out the bugs on chrome and google docs. Enjoy the 4 day weekend!

Tuesday - Rome Geography Challenge

This work will be completed in class on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Begin you work in Rome by completing the Geography Challenge . Click on each of the following question cards to reveal your challenge . Complete the map, as well.

Card 1
Card 2
Card 3
Card 4
Card 5
Card 6
Card 7
Card 8

You may view the map but at this time you are not able to actually mark on it. Please complete the map in your Interactive Notebook page 219.
Map


Make a copy of the answer sheet and use question stems and complete sentences.
Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet Part 2

Please use your text book map on page 307 for your information source.

Wednesday

Today students had the opportunity to complete their essay assessment where they declared the greatness or not so greatness of Alexander the Great. Tomorrow, they will "mark up" their essay and turn the essay and their Mark it Up document into their social studies teachers "turn in" folder. Period three will get another 30 minutes to complete theirs as we had an internet outage during their time.

Alexander the Great - Essay Day

Today we ventured into the sea of Chromebook. We began our essay response test over Alexander the Great. We will pick up tomorrow where you left off and complete your essay by the end of class. We should be able to begin right at the start as you all know how to fire up your machines and get to your documents. Please do not work on your essay, on Google Drive, at home as this is an assessment. As you learned in class today you are able to use your pre-write, notes, and transition sheets to complete your essay.

Test Tips: (essay)
*Some banned words for your essay: very, stuff, things, really, got, and there may be more but these come to mind.
*Indent your paragraphs. You may skip a space between paragraphs, if you wish.
*Avoid, at all costs, using "you" and "I" in your response.
*Never begin a sentence with "And".
*Don't use questions in your title (if you title your response) or your introduction. In fact, there should not be any questions in your response, if you can help it. Re-phrase any question you may want to use into a statement and back it up with source a citing.

Google Assessment

Please select Form 1 below. This is a "view only" file so you have to open it by logging into Google Drive. Make a copy and rename it with your last name, Chapter 30 Assessment, Period #. When finished, move to social studies turn in folder.

Form 1: Google Drive Assessment Form

Form 2: Google Drive Assessment Form 2

When you are ready to type your essay response, go to Google Drive and choose CREATE from the upper left. Choose DOCUMENT from the drop down. Immediately go to FILE and choose  RENAME . Rename it YOUR LAST NAME , CHAPTER 30 ESSAY , YOUR CLASS PERIOD NUMBER . You don't have to use all capital letters.

When you are writing your response, please minimize your "Assessment Form" so that you can have it on one side of your screen while you have your written response open on the other. You may want to fully minimize one or the other if the space is too small. Be sure to check back and forth between the two to make full use of the rubric portion of the Assessment Form checklist.

Monday

Today students received their scored essay responses from the chapter 31 test. We talked about the scoring and I gave details of what was expected for each legacy. We also talked and contrasted some "good" introductions with some weak ones. We discussed transition words and each student received a transition word handout which they will be able to use to on the chapter 31 essay tomorrow. We spent a little time completing student pre-writes. Students will be able to use their pre-writes on the test but not other resources such as notes or books.

 Test Tips: Tomorrow the test will be an essay response. There is really no study necessary as students viewed the video, read the textbook, and read text documents about Alexander the Great. You already took notes on the character traits of a great leader and used those notes to formulate your pre-write. You may use your pre-write to aid you in writing your response. You will use the Chromebooks and Google Drive to write your response and mark it up.

Prewrite for Was Alexander Great? Essay

Hello! Today students placed their social studies reflection in their green student led conference folder and took it with them to all of their classes. Students will practice on Monday for student led conferences. We read a short article to determine the 2 purposes of introductions. Students then completed their primary source analysis with their partners. Students then walked through the prewrite for their essay and turned it in with their notes. We will write the essay on Monday in class. Enjoy the weekend and the many fall activities!

Finishing Notes about Alexander

Hello! Today we looked at the textbook and completed our charts about Alexander from it. Students shared out with their partners. We then discussed primary sources again as we began analyzing 4 different sources. We were about half way through with that and will finish up tomorrow before we begin the prewrite. Students will only be allowed to use the handout with their notes to do the prewrite. We will write the essay on Monday.

Part Three - Using Primary Source Documents

Today students began working with documents as part three of three in note taking for character traits. They will use this document as a resource to write their pre write tomorrow and then use the pre write as a resource to write their essay "test" on Monday. There is not really anything to study other than to be sure you have completed your data chart work from this week.

Preparing for Student-Led Conferences

Hello! Today we did some preparing for student led conferences next week. As a reminder to all...if you haven't already turned in your conference form that was mailed home, please be sure to do that! They were due today. Thanks. We analyzed the ISTEP scores from 5th grade in social studies and did some reflecting on 6th grade social studies so far this year. Students will be expected to share with parents these reflections. Also attached to the reflection is a pink sheet of paper which explains to parents and students that the corporation has purshase for social studies classrooms in 6th and 7th grades a classroom set of Google Chromebooks. Students will be able to use these in the classroom and at home to access the 7th grade textbook on-line. We will also use them for other purposes as well. We are excited at what new learning opportunities this new technology will provide. We then finished discussing chapter 30 and the notes that were taken about Alexander's events and facts which describe a character trait. Tomorrow we will look at some primary source documents that will give us more information.

Alexander the Great Fact Finding

Today students worked on their data charts gathering information on the traits of Alexander the Great from their textbooks. We will spend more class time on this activity as we move toward having information to support an opinion of how great or not so great Alexander the Great really was. We will continue work on this tomorrow.

Was Alexandar "Great"? Video

Hello! Hope you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weekend! Students continued to explore the question, was Alexander "great"? We further discussed character traits of both good and bad leaders. Students began taking notes from a video about Alexander. In their notes, they were recording events or facts about Alexander's life that reveal his character. They will add to their notes the next few days creating a single piece of paper that has evidence from three different sources: the video, the textbook, and several primary sources. In the end for the assessment essay, they will be able to write an essay that supports their opinions.

Marking Up Our Assessments

Hello! Today students were given 10 minutes to revise and edit their essays from yesterdays assessment. We then marked up their essays to reveal their successes. Students were able to give themselves an estimated grade based on the information that was to be included in their answer. Now, we will look at their essays and mark it for a final grade. Typically, students grades and teachers grades are very close. We then started a preview activity from the interactive notebook on page 192 to determine the traits of a good leader. This is an introduction to our next topic, Was Alexander Great? There is no specific homework for the weekend. Enjoy the weather!

Ancient Greece Assessment

Today students took the chapter 31 assessment. They had to write a written response where they chose from the 11 legacies of ancient Greece the one that impacts them the most. They had to support their claim with details and facts concerning the legacy. Tomorrow students will evaluate their work through text coding. They will have a short period of time when they may edit their work. This work is an assessment. Tomorrow students that are eligible will retake the chapter 29 assessment level C.

Test Preparation!

Hello! Today students finished up with their study of the primary source materials to discover the legacies of ancient Greece. They then wrote about the contributions in their interactive notebook. We discussed the answers and students created a type of study sheet to help them focus on their study on the 3 legacies. It included information about the placard, the legacy details (info from the interactive notebook), and the vocabulary details (information from the alpha blocks). I have included here a copy of my alpha block information if needed. Reminder to all....if you are being tested in essay form, you should study by writing some essays!

Learning About Ancient Greece Legacies

Hello! Today students discussed and wrote their own definition for primary and secondary source materials. We then viewed primary sources related to the 11 legacies in ancient Greece. Students then completed reading the section and taking notes on that specific legacy. We discussed in all classes what was on Mr. Hogue's post from yesterday about what to study for the test on Thursday. Remember...you need to know at least 3 legacies well. You should be creating a list of the contributions in each category and the vocabulary wrods that go with it.

Front Loading Vocabulary with Alpha Block Work

Today students worked another 30 minutes making it 60 minutes in all that they worked on the vocabulary using Alpha Blocks. The vocabulary in this chapter is really the names of important people that made major contributions in the form of legacies to modern civilization. We just began talking about the next class activity which will be matching legacies to primary source documents hanging on the white board. Test Tips: Assessment Thursday The chapter 31 assessment will be one essay question in which you will respond in paragraph form. There will be no basic level questions on this test. You will be assessed based on your written response. The format will be a three paragraph response in which directions will spell out the exact format and expectations. Be sure to master information based on at least THREE LEGACIES. You will be given a vocabulary list of terms to make use of in your response and the basic level will be demonstrated by your use and explanation of such terms. The eleven legacy primary source documents will be hanging on the white board for your reference. You will be allowed to leave your seat, if necessary, to view the documents closer. The following terms will be provided on the test so that you may enhance your response using appropriate vocabulary. You will not be required to use them all but your focus should be *Main Idea *Details (support) *Vocabulary use Archimedes Hypatia Euclid Pythagoras Hippocrates pediments Thucydides Herodotus Aristotle longitude latitude Olympics democracy Hipparchus Ptolemy frieze theater Aristarchus

Begin the Legacies of Ancient Greece

Hello! Today we began the next chapter, chapter 31 on the Legacies of Ancient Greece. Students discovered the definition of the word legacy and previewed the chapter with their partner. Then the focus turned to vocabulary. Students gave each of the 8 people (there are a total of 10 vocabulary words) a designated color. They then used their alpha blocks handout to write in the names in the designated color. As students read with their partner, they filled in related words in the same color. Students did not get far in the process and we will continue this on Monday. Our assessment for chapter 31 will be an essay. Students can begin studying by really knowing the legacies from each category in the chapter. Creating a study stack on the vocabulary words would help as well.

Legacies of Ancient Greece Study Stack (Chapter 31)

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Today we prepared for chapter 29 assessment and took it. Students talked with their partners about the reading notes and the Cobb web. The Cobb web was checked as the ticket to take the test. Students then completed the assessment and read an Upfront Magazine, a current events magazine for students. Finally, we watched CNNStudent News and talked a little about the government shutdown. There is no homework tonight!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Hello! Sorry for the delay in post. Guess I didn't publish before I left school! Anyway, today we completed our stations for our visit to Athens. Students worked on making sure reading notes were completed correctly as we discussed the answers. This will be where the bulk of the B-A level of the test will come from tomorrow. The C level will be just from the 11 vocabulary words. Students can study the studystack created in class or the Cobb web. Reminder....the Cobb web is due as a ticket to take the test tomorrow (word, definition/ explanation, colored picture and sentences with the words underlined). Test in all multiple choice.

Tuesday Athens Visit

Today students continued work in chapter 29 by visiting some of the six stations representing various cultural centers of Athens. Tomorrow they will visit the remaining ones and review their interactive notebook responses. If you missed class, please complete your interactive notebook pages 190-191 for at least three sections. That will keep you up with the class for today.

Test Tips: Check out yesterday's post as it has the tips. It is not too early to be studying your vocabulary terms. Remember, you have to pass the C level first in order to score above a C.