Welcome back!!

 

Before break, we went to International Towne, and it was incredible!

The students did an amazing job of running their countries and working together as a World to solve a crisis!  The leader at International Towne loved having our students and really enjoyed their time with us!

 

This week we will look at First People of the Western Hemisphere civilizations, and then at the later of the week we will review Ancient Civilizations. 

We are almost there for International Towne!

 

Thank you to the parents that volunteered to help with our interviews on Friday!  The students took this so seriously and I appreciate all your support in helping the students be prepared!

 

Monday the students will find our their jobs for International Towne, and then for the rest of the week the students will put on the finishing touches in preparation for our field trip!

 

Thursday, please have students bring a sack lunch! 

 

I hope that you all have a safe and fantastic Winter Break!

In International Towne this week, the students will prepare for their interviews on Friday Afternoon.  We will also be learning about the different greetings in the all the countries and currency exchanges. 

 

I sent out the permission form for the field trip on Thursday, December 18.  Please make sure that you have completed the form before Friday. Also, the students will need to bring a sack lunch on the day of the field trip. 

 

 

This week in Social Studies we will continue with our International Towne curriculum focusing on Supply and Demand. Then we will move into market economies. 

 

Please look for an email from me for permission slip to International Towne on Thursday, December 18.

This week we will continue our International Towne curriculum by focusing on Resources and World Trade. 

 

The week after Thanksgiving, please look for an email that will give information about our field trip to International Towne on December 18.  We will also need volunteers to help with the interviews for jobs and chaperones. If you have any questions, please let me know. 

 

In Social Studies class this week, we will be starting our International Towne curriculum.

The students will begin by taking a pretest to show their skills need to be successful at International Towne. After the curriculum and the International Towne the students will take a post assessment to show their learning. 

 

For the rest of this week, we will look at specific vocabulary words and build background information in order to meet with success on the day of the field trip.

 

Some vocabulary terms that we will focus on this week:

import, export, developing and developed countries, interdependence

 

We will spend the week putting all the information together with the Ancient Civilizations: the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations.  The students will create a brochure that showcase what each civilization left as a legacy, the location of each civilization, and universals of culture of each civilization. 

This week in Social Studies we will look at the Mayan and Aztec Ancient Civilizations focusing on what these cultures shared with the world.  The students will explore the rise and fall of these civilizations, and then finally create a postcard taking on the role of one of the Ancient Civilizations by conducting research to then share their new findings on a postcard. 

We will have regular Social Studies classes on Thursday and Friday only due to Outdoor Education happening at the beginning of the week. 

 

We will start exploring Ancient Civilizations of the Western Hemisphere by looking at the Olmec, Mayas, Aztec and Incas.

This week in Social Studies we will begin looking at the history of the Western Hemisphere ancient civilizations and connect how their culture shaped our world today.  We will also connect human geography and aspects of physical geography that was taught in Quarter 1.

This week in Social Studies we will begin talking about Universals of Culture which will begin to connect physical geography with human geography.  We will begin by understanding what each universal of culture represents. Together we will explore a country using the universals of culture and talk about how the physical geography plays a part in the human culture.  The next step students will choose a country of their choice and then research the culture and create a poster to represent their country.  We will then have a gallery walk so everyone can share their countries universals of culture. 

The students will take all of the knowledge that they have learned about geography and then apply it to the different regions in the Western Hemisphere.  They will collaboratively work with their table group peers to become experts on the regions. From there we will discuss how the physically geography of the Western Hemispheres contributes to human geography and compare them among the different regions. 

The students are working on a Five Themes of Geography project.  They were to choose a city of their choice and then research the five themes: place, region, location, movement and human environment interactions on how they pertain to their city.  After the research the students are creating a brochure showcasing their city.  We will finish out the week reflecting on Geography by using the Depth and Complexity concepts, Disciplines of Language, Details and Big Ideas. 

This week the focus will be on the Five Themes of Geography: location, region, place, human environment interaction, and movement. 

 

We will start by looking at the skill of Big Ideas from Depth and Complexity.  Questions that we will be focusing on are, "What overarching statement best describes what is being studied?  How do these ideas relate to broad concepts?"

 

We will introduce the Five Themes of Geography and start exploring as a whole group how do the themes apply to a specific place.  The next step will be to take the learned information and apply this to a specific place of their choice by completing a Five Themes of Geography project. 

The students had a great time last Thursday and Friday practicing latitude and longitude playing Battleship.  

This week we will focus on landforms and different locations affect geography while continuing to focus on the Detail of Depth and Complexity.