Greetings 8th Grade Families,

This is the final week before grades are due. All late and missing work from the past two weeks is due by Wednesday. Grades will be posted Friday by midnight. 

Students will wrap up their unit on Reconstruction by looking at the brief period of Interracial Democracy in the United States where where formerly enslaved people were given freedom, citizenship, the right to vote, and equal protection under the law. We will then study the backlash to these new freedoms by the former Confederates and the terror and intimidation used to keep the formerly enslaved people from putting their newly gained rights into action.

The final week of school, we will be doing an in-depth study of the Battle of Gettysburg. As part of this study, students will be watching the movie Gettysburg. This is a PG movie and I will need your permission for your student to watch the movie. Look for a permission slip to sign. If you do not wish for you child to watch the movie, they will do an alternative assignment centered around the book The Red Badge of Courage.

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week students will be looking at the challenges of reuniting the country after the Civil War. Healing and justice will be two words we will come back to as we create, analyze and judge different Reconstructions plans. Students will create a working definition of healing and justice as they relate to the time after the Civil War and then they will collaborate with their group members to create what they think is the best way to reunite the country that balances the needs of all people, including the 4 million newly freed people. After discussing and answer various questions, student groups will create a presentation of their proposal that they will share with the class.

Please email with any questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

After studying the history of the Confederate Battle Flag last week, students will participate in a Socratic Seminar discussion about where they think this flag should be flow/viewed: anyplace, some places, or no place at all. As we come to the end of the Civil War unit, students will use what they know about the Emancipation Proclamation and answer the question: Were the enslaved people freed, or did they free themselves. Students will begin their study by listening to Podcast about how American Slavery ended.

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week, students will be analyzing the Gettysburg Address to understand what Lincoln meant by the "new birth of freedom" as the idea of what the Civil War was  being fought over. We will also look at the complicated history of the Confederate Battle Flag and persuade if it should be flown everywhere, somewhere, or nowhere at all. Finally, we will begin to answer the questions, 

were the enslaved people freed, or did they free themselves.

Please email with any questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week students will present their Civil War Battles research projects. We will sit in a circle and each student will have the opportunity to hear from each of their classmates about the battle they studied and get to see the creativity of their project. We will then look at the Emancipation Proclamation and ask the question; "Were the enslaved people freed, or did they free themselves?" 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

Last week students chose a battle of the Civil War and researched the who, what, when, where, why questions and the impact of that battle on the Civil War. This week students will be taking that research and completing a create project to teach the class about their battle. They can create a brochure, diorama (students provide their own materials), newspaper, scrap book, song, diary/journal entries, or a story. These projects are due Thursday at the beginning of class. Students will spend Friday completing a Nearpod where they will learn about the Emancipation Proclamation.

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, 

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week students will begin by analyzing primary documents to determine why the Southern states seceded from the Union. Students will analyze these declarations of secession to see the reasons these Southern states gave for wanting to break away and form their own government. Students will then analyze Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address to see how he responded to secession as what his hopes for the country would be. Finally, we will begin to look at the Civil War by comparing the North and South's advantages and disadvantages and determine who was better equipped to win the war at it's outset.

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th grade families!

After learning about the growth of cotton, how the demand for it led to the increase in the enslavement of African people, and learning about what life was like for an enslaved person by listening to a podcast on the life of Charles Ball; an enslaved person who wrote a biography after his escape to freedom, students will learn about the cause of the Civil War. Students will learn about the different causes, rank them in order and then justify why the chose their number one cause of the Civil War.

Please email with questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th grade families!

Monday students will watch two videos on public speaking and the "Do's and Don'ts" and giving a presentation. They will have the rest of the class period to practice giving their biography presentation in small groups. The rest of the week students will be presenting, and if they aren't presenting will be taking notes on their classmate's presentations to learn about these people who will be popping up over the rest of the quarter.

Always email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greeting 8th Grade Families!

Students finished their research and created their Biography PowerPoints last week including what chess piece their person would be and the bibliography slide in MLA format.

This week students will be creating the likeness of their person our of a 2-liter bottle and other crafting supplies. Student will work on the bottle this week and practice their presentations so that we can start presenting next week. 

Please email with any questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week we will have one more day to review the material that will be on the Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion test on Tuesday. There is an assignment in Teams for students to use to help study and review for the test. Students will have Tuesday and Wednesday to complete the test. 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

 

This week students will be analyzing documents relating to the Mexican-American War. Students will also role-play real people involved in the Mexican-American War and participate in a "meet and greet" where they will introduce their characters and answer questions like Who was for the war? Who was against the war? Who stood to gain from the war? Who stood to lose from the war? After analyzing these documents and participating in the meet and greet, students will state  a claim and support it with evidence to answer the question: Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico?

 

Students will end the week by completing a Nearpod assignment on the causes and effects of the California Gold Rush.

 

All late and missing work is due this Wednesday, and final grades will be posted Friday. 

 

Students will have a final exam the last week of school and that grade will be posted in Quarter 3.

 

Please email me with any questions or concerns.

 

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan