Rome

The ancient Roman civilization is one of the biggest we study all year. It manages to incorporate pieces of every civilization we've studied this far, from Mesopotamia to Egypt to China to India to Judaism and Greece. It also leaves the greatest legacies to modern Europe and the Americas. We will be working on this unit for 3 to 4 weeks. There will be a common assessment at the end, and we will work on answering essay questions correctly as well.

There are many internet sites to visit that give information about Rome. Remember to use information that is at your level of understanding, and to search as specifically as you can for the topic... To the right are a number of sites that you can use to begin learning about Ancient Rome.

Greece

Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have officially reached our unit on Greece. In the spirit of Socrates, students will be "teaching" their classmates. I will pose a question that each pair will have to research and create a mini-lesson for the class to present the answer. I am hoping that you find lots of interesting details to add to the GRAPES outline that covers our basic curriculum. (No, you can't all do the Big 3...yes, I saw Percy Jackson.)

To the right, I am posting a list of many sites you may visit for information. Each pair will have to create some kind of handout for the rest of the class. We will have 3-4 days in the computer lab to research and type. We will go over the details in class after we pre-assess our knowledge of ancient Greece.

Have fun!

Some Short Chapters...

Students -

We are covering 3 chapters in short, condensed weeks. These chapters are important for your overall class knowledge (there will be questions on the end of the year test), but not as crucial as our "BIG" units on Egypt, Greece, and Rome. We have covered/will be covering the following chapters before Thanksgiving:
Chapter 7: The Hebrews
Chapter 5: Ancient India
Chapter 6: Ancient China

We will review these civilizations and religions on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving together in class. After Thanksgiving break, we will begin our work on Greece. (Start studying for the pre-test...)

Engineering an Empire: Egypt

We began watching a video today in class. If you want to watch parts that we skipped due to time, here is the You Tube link for the program. It is in 10 parts...
Engineering an Empire: Egypt on You Tube

Have a great weekend!

Egypt Unit

In class, we are reading the book Mummies, Tombs, and Treasure:Secrets of Ancient Egypt by Lila Perl. Along with this, we are answering questions which will be turned in. After we complete this non-fiction book, we will be working for 2 weeks on our Egypt books. I have scheduled computer lab time for research and for typing. Students are required to read and answer questions on each page they are creating, develop a table of contents and glossary, and to decorate each page as they wish (to go along with the theme). Instructions packets were passed out to students last Friday (10/8). These books will be due on Friday, 10/29. To the right in the Online Resources list, I have updated links to Egyptian sites that are informational and fun. I recommend that students start with these sites and move on to more complex or specific information if they wish.

Code of Hammurabi

Here is the link to the website with the complete text of the Code of Hammurabi.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: If you would like to earn some extra credit (maximum 10 points), then please copy 5 of the laws as written, translate them (tell what they mean in easy to understand language), and give a modern equivalent (if there is one, if not, please mention that). You could use federal, state, or local laws for the modern equivalent - please be sure to tell me which one it is.

Good luck!

Mesopotamia...No such place!

Mesopotamia, aka the Fertile Crescent, was actually a bunch of city-states and then empires which all existed around the 2 rivers - Tigris and Euphrates (you-fray-teas). It is an area that has seen continual strife for thousands of years, but it is also the "cradle" of civilization, because so many things were invented/first used there.
I've put some links on the Online Resources list if you'd like to do some peeking around!
Our test is TENTATIVELY scheduled for Tues. Oct. 5.