Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Families!

 

This week, students will have a regular class schedule on Monday and Tuesday. Students will finish up their Car Buying Project if not already completed. This week students will focus on Used vs. New cars and the steps it takes to purchase their own car. Those that are done will complete a current events lesson where students watch videos and read articles to learn about the stock market and short selling and understand how online trading communities impacted GameStop's stock.

 

May 22 -23: Purchase My Own Car and Reflection

 

 

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Families!

 

Last week, students went on their field trip to the JA Finance Park and took a quiz on budgeting. Students also began their credit and debt unit and began a project that focuses on buying a car. They should have brought home a paper where they were going to interview you about buying your first car and answer some questions based on the interview.

 

Here is the schedule for the final Car Buying Project:

May 7-10: Interview, Research Three Cars and calculate the True Cost of a Car

May 10-16: Car Loans, Car Loan Comparisons, Auto Statement, Used vs. New Car

May 16-19: Purchase My Own Car and Reflection

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Famalies!

 

Last week, students began their Financial Literacy Unit where they took interest, ability and values inventories to get a sense about what types of careers that would align with who they are today. Students then had the opportunity to learn about and explore these careers on a deeper level. 

 

This week students will learn about taxes and reading an income statement and then take a quiz on Unit 1: Income. The next unit students will be focusing on has to do with budgeting.

 

As a part of this learning, students will be taking a field trip to Junior Achievement Finance Park on May 1st. For this field trip, I will need 8 volunteers. Below is a brief description about JA Finance park and the role of the volunteer.

The JA Finance Park staff will provide a training prior to students coming from 8:30am-9:30am. If you are familiar with Young Americans Bank the volunteer role is similar;

•  ·                working with a group of students from our school
• ·                  answering questions
• ·                  helping students through a simulation

You don’t need to have any expertise in finances to help students. Your experience as an adult, managing money, and going through life is all the expertise you need! Please consider volunteering, we can’t make this a rewarding day for our students and without your support and if we don’t get enough volunteers the field trip won’t be able to take place!

Sign-up to volunteer TODAY through this link http://westgate.jacolorado.volunteerhub.com/

Important Dates:

May 1st: Junior Achievement Finance Park field trip

With new tensions over old conflicts spilling over into the lives of current-day Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and Syrians, students will choose one current event article to analyze about this new, but old conflict and how it is playing out as we speak. We will then have a Socratic Seminar roundtable discussion and see if we can find some solutions to these complicated, long-standing problems.

 

Students will then begin their Financial Literacy Unit where they learning about different careers, budgeting, debit and credit and investing as they prepare for their field trip to Junior Achievement Finance Park on May 1st. 

 

For this field trip, I will need 8 volunteers. Please look for an email coming your way which outlines what is required. It will have a link for you to sign up if you are willing to commit to the requirements of the program. This is a very cool, hands-on program where students navigate the world of personal finance as they assume the role of an “adult for the day.” Students will immerse themselves in a reality-based simulation to practice individual and family budgeting including housing, transportation, food, utilities, health care, investments, philanthropy and banking. You will answer questions and offer feedback to students about their choices and offer examples of how their choices may impact them in real life.

 

Important Dates:

May 1st: Junior Achievement Finance Park field trip

We will then have a Socratic Seminar roundtable discussion and see if we can find some solutions to these complicated, long-standing problems.

 

We will not have class on Tuesday -Thursday because of CMAS testing.

Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Families,

 

This week, students will continue their study of the conditions, motivations and actions around the conflicts of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, The 6-Day War, The Yom Kippur War and the Intifadas. We will also look at hydropolitics and how it impedes the peace-making process in this conflict. We will then look at different attempts by various nations to broker peace between Israel and Palestine and the results of these negotiations.

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Families,

 

This week students will begin to learn about the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. This will include learning about Zionism, the British Mandate, The United Nations plan to to create the state of Israel, the Palestinian point of view and the conflict with the Arab countries surrounding Israel that soon followed. We will then use what we learned from our Nearpod to explore the conditions, motivations and actions of this conflict.

 

Once students finish getting this overview of the conflict, we will look at primary sources to explore the concept of nationalism and connect the rise of nationalism in Europe to the emergence of both Zionism and Arab nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 7th Grade Social Studies Families,

 

After finishing up the Conflict and Cooperation Nearpod, we are beginning our unit on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. To set a good foundation for this area of study, we will start with lessons on the Geography of the Middle East. Students will be reading informational texts and answering different types of questions about countries, cities, geography and attractions of the Middle East. Students will also be completing a country fact sheet and map activity for one of the countries of the Middle East. This regions, its history, culture, geography, governments and religion bring together many things we have learned this year. I will be using this prior knowledge to help student deepen their understanding of these topics.

 

On Wednesday, we will be honored to have a guest speaker who lived in Ghana, Africa and studied political science. While in Ghana, he lived under many different types of governments. It will be great to have this first-hand knowledge of what it is like to live under a government that does not allow its citizens the freedoms that we value here in the United States. 

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Hello 8 grade Social Studies Families!

 

Last week,  students began their Biography Bottle Project by completing lessons on what a biography is and research fundamentals that they will need during this project. Students then picked the person from the Civil War era they will be researching. They will create a biography presentation which they will share with the class. In addition they will create a likeness of their person using a 2-liter bottle which they will need to bring in from home, and various crafting supplies that I will supply. Students are also free to bring in anything that they may think will enhance their project. 

 

 

This week students will begin the research project by conducting research on questions we came up with as a class. This week students will be focusing on early life, adult life and accomplishments. 

 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan