11 & 12 September

The starter for today was a blue handout on the Columbian Exchange.  If you were not here, you can get a copy from Mr. Peterson.

I let the class know that the starters that we collected last time (each starter is available in the past entries of this blog), and The First Americans assignment (which was also due last time) went to "0" in Skyward.  I will still accept these for full points, but you need to turn them in!

Mr. Peterson collected the explorer letters that you wrote last time.  These will also go to "0" soon - again, you can turn these in for full points - GET THEM IN!

Today Mr. Peterson and our class looked at a wide variety of animals, fruits, vegetables, other foods, and diseases, and we played a guessing game as to whether they originated in the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) or in the New World (the Americas).

He then taught our class about the Columbian Exchange.

7 & 10 September

The starter for today was: What do you think of when you hear the word Conquistador?

Mr. Peterson discussed the starter.  We then turned in the first set of starters and The First Americans Packet.  These have been graded and the scores have been recorded in Skyward.  These assignments will receive a "0" grade if they are not turned in by next time.  You can still turn them in for full points up until the last day of the term.  Also, if you would like to redo the parts of the assignment you did not do well on, you are welcome to.  You could get 100% if you would like.

Mr. Peterson finished modern explorers with you and then he had you write a letter to your family as though you were about to embark on a great journey.  These are due next time. 

Mr. Peterson then discussed Columbus and we read a biographical sketch of Columbus.

We started working on creating a cartoon strip of Columbus' voyages.  This will be due the time after next.

5 & 6 September

We are excited to have Mr. Peterson here with us in our class.  Mr. Peterson is a student teacher from Utah Valley University who will be teaching in our class until the end of November.  Today was his first day teaching.

The starter for today: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?  Why would you go there?

Mr. Peterson gave each class 15 minutes to work on The First Americans assignment.  This is due next class time.

He then introduced the idea of explorers - including reasons for exploration and some of the early European explorers.  We read a historical account of Portugal's Prince Henry's reasons for exploration and compared how his reasons were the same or different from reasons that we might have for exploring.

31 August & 4 September

Today's starter was: Tell me everything that you know about the Aztecs, the Inca, and the Maya.

We discussed emergency procedures for this side of the building - what to do and where to go in case of a fire or other emergency.

We finished discussing the physical regions of the United States - this was a very brief overview of the geography of the country.  We handed this assignment in and it is now graded.  Remember, with this assignment and all other assignments, if you have not turned this in it can still be turned in for full points.

We briefly looked at the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Inca cultures.  We are going to begin looking at the European explorers soon and I wanted the students to see that there were cultures here in the Americas before the Europeans arrived.

We then looked at North American Indian dwellings and what they can tell us about the Indians that built them.  For example: more permanent dwellings, such as pueblos, generally meant that those Indians relied on farming for their food source - while temporary buildings, such as teepees, indicate a hunting society.

I gave them an assignment to practice this new skill - we worked on it for awhile.  I will give them time next class period, then it will be assigned as homework.