Decline of Feudalism

Today students continued working in Lesson 5: Decline of Feudalism. They are collecting notes such as Fact, Causes, and Impacts of the Black Death, Hundred Years War, and Magna Carta in order to analyze them as to what their contribution to the decline of feudalism may be. Students are at different places in their research. All total they will have written vocabulary terms, definitions, and written the terms out in meaningful paragraphs. They should be placed in their SS turn in folders so their teacher may have access. Students should have completed their vocabulary document and be nearing 5.4 in their TCI. Everything we have done so far in lesson 5 is accessible on Canvas and TCI. Check out the content page in your Hogue/Cobb class and TCI online. Monday, we will be getting into historical fiction on the three big ideas.

If you have been absent here is a list. These are all available on the Lesson Five Content Page in the Middle Ages module in Canvas.

Create a Drive document and record the vocabulary terms/definitions and write a paragraph/s using the terms and remember to explain each term. The paragraph/s must make sense, as well. It may be a story as long as the work is correct.

Make a copy of Mr. Hogue's Chapter 5 Decline of Feudalism Notes and proceed to recording FACTS, CAUSE, IMPACT of the big ideas Black Death, Hundred Years War, and Magna Carta.

Watch the three short video clips.

Thursday January 30th

Today students Mrs. Cobb's class looked over their results from the last test of the quarter. Mr. Hogue's class was instructed to view the rubrics attached to their responses. In class we worked on gathering information for our notes page over Lesson Five. The page contains facts of the event, its causes, and the impact of the event on the decline of feudalism in medieval Europe. You will be able to use this notes page as a resource for your assessment on the decline of feudal Europe which will take place next week on Tuesday or when we finish gathering our notes. Remember, even though you may use your notes you will not be aloud to copy/paste into your test document so you will have to fully understand what your notes are about. Also, there will be a part one in which the vocabulary terms will be tested via multiple choice.

Hello Students

Hey, I hope you are all keeping warm and dry on these very snowy, blowing, and frigid days. We will be back in class soon and we will pick up where we left off in collecting information for our notes on the three events that prompted the decline of feudalism in medieval Europe. Fear not as we will put off our assessment until we have collected our notes and are ready for it. Remember, you will be able to use your notes to complete the written portion (part two) or your test. The vocabulary portion (part one) will be multiple choice and you will have to complete it from memory and your understanding. See you soon.

Cold Weather Thursday

Today students participated in an experience exercise called the Bubonic Plague. They were assigned cities of birth and were allowed to travel from city to city taking a chance that each may contract the illness. The exercise was to show the percentage chance that each could have become ill based on the average of approximate 30% casualty rate of the real life pandemic. Students also had an opportunity to work on their note gathering as we move closer to the assessment over Black Death, Magna Carta, and Hundred Years War. The test will be sometime early next week as we battle the start delays that the weather brings.

Note: The assessment will be in two parts. Part one will be the vocabulary and will be multiple choice. Part two will be an analysis of sorts of the three big ideas (in this case events) of Black Death, Hundred Years War, and Magna Carta. You will be able to make use of your Drive Notes, so make them complete. There will be a special emphasis on the source so mark them well.

Magna Carta

Today students began work with Magna Carta (TCI Lesson 5.1 and 5.2) by experiencing a simulation of making up a Magna Carta - like document and making King John sign it. They experienced him taking taxes, putting them in jail, and generally being a poor leader and thus making them write up the document. Tomorrow we will look into the Bubonic Plague.

Tuesday - The Decline of Feudalism

Today students worked on vocabulary for lesson five. They should have completed in class the collection of the eight vocabulary terms as well as locating and recording their definitions. Students must write a paragraph which contains all eight terms. Remember, you cannot simply use the word in the paragraph you must also write what it means so that it is obvious that you understand the meaning of the term. All this vocabulary work should have been completed on a document of your own making from Drive. You may need more time to complete the paragraph as you learn better how to use the terms as we move through our reading.

Reminder: You can locate the vocabulary terms on the Lesson Five content page module in Middle Ages on Canvas.

Assessment Middle Ages Town Life

Students did a bit of review and then took the assessment in 2 parts. The first was multiple choice on the vocabulary and the second was short answer with sentences from the text explaining the BIG IDEAs. Students then completed an aptitude survey. In Mr. Hogue's class, students began work on the vocabulary for lesson 5. In Mrs. Cobb's class, students then read historical fiction short stories related to the Middle Ages. Please enjoy the 3 day weekend!

Test Review

Today students reviewed for the test by completing the reading notes in their on-line subscription to TCI, completing their Frayer Target (vocabulary), participating in a Cafe Conversation over the three big ideas of economy, government, and culture, and practicing analysis of some textbook statements and categorizing them into the big ideas. Whew! that was a mouthful.

Tomorrow is the assessment over Lesson 4. The first half of the test will be over the ten vocabulary terms. Part 2 will be statements of which they will choose 5 of 7 to categorize and write an explanation of why they categorized them the way they did. Both parts will be weighed accordingly to arrive at a final score.

Beginning Reading Notes Chapter 4 and Hello! to Molly O'Grady

Hello! Today we spend a few moments completing the Frayer Target for the 7 vocabulary words. Students then worked either by themselves or with a partner to begin the reading and notes for chapter 4 from the TCI on-line textbook. Tomorrow we will complete those and review vocabulary for the quiz which is Thursday. We will be having a student from Bethel College for the next 15 weeks in my classroom completing her student teaching experience. I want to welcome Molly O'Grady to Discovery and my class in a team teaching model. Attached you will find a letter of introduction from her.

Molly O'Grady, Student Teacher, Introduction

Completion of Town Life Video Notes

Today students completed the viewing and taking of notes on the medieval town. We placed facts and information to the three big ideas again today in effort to master the sorting of the three. Tomorrow, we will begin working in the TCI on-line text book on the same topic and will wrap that up on Thursday as well as review the topic and vocabulary. The assessment will be on Friday.

Test Tips:
Remember, the vocabulary will be ten questions multiple choice and the higher level questions will a category exercise similar to the experience we have had this week. The higher level will be free response. Vocabulary may be found on your Lesson 4 module in Middle Ages as well as a Study Stack for practice.

Town Life Video Notes

Today students who were eligible took the retake for the chapter 3 test. As they were retaking the class worked toward completing their Frayer Target vocabulary sheet. The 10 vocabulary terms are listed on the Lesson 4 module in Middle Ages in the Social Studies 6 Hogue Cobb class. The class continued taking notes from the Town video clip and categorized the notes into one of the three Big Ideas of economics, government, and culture. These three ideas are the focus for our study of town life in the middle ages and the assessment focus will not be on the details but placing statements into one of the big idea categories.

First Friday Back!

Well, we finally made it to Friday. Oh, that was only two days. Today students reviewed the three big ideas of economics, government, and culture. We placed some content into the three big ideas on the board and discussed them together. We also took a look at some pictures and tied them or related them to their appropriate idea. Some classes began work using your Chromebooks to take notes over the video clip "The Middle Ages - Towns" of which we will place important facts and information into one of the three big ideas of economics, government, or culture. The rest of the classes will get into the video on Monday.

The retake opportunity for the chapter 3 test is on Monday at the beginning of class. It will only take you a few minutes, more than likely, as it is only over the eight vocabulary terms that appeared on the test Friday before break. A 75% cap will be placed on the retake as has been customary.

The terms are as follows:
monastery
monk
pilgrimage
convent
nun
theology
monasticism
friar

Good luck and have a great weekend.

Welcome Back

Hey students! Welcome back to school in this brand new year 2014. My, how the time has flown by. Today in class we looked at the concepts of Economy, Government, and Culture. We are focusing on these as they pertain to medieval town life. The assessment will be over these three concepts as well as the ten established vocabulary terms listed below. We will try to assess before the quarter ends for our last test of the second quarter and that will take place late next week.

Vocabulary terms:
 1. surplus 4.2
 2. charter 4.2
 3. journeyman 4.2
 4. guilds 4.3
 5. apprentice 4.3
 6. commerce 4.4
 7. common law 4.7
 8. Economics
 9. Government
 10. Culture

These are also located in part on your Focus Sheet and on your lesson four module. Here is also a Study Stack for the terms: Link: Study Stack for Lesson Four Vocabulary Terms