Greetings 8th Grade Families!

To begin the week students will use the interactive Smithsonian Native Knowledge 360 degrees website: How Did Six Different Native Nations Try to Avoid Removal? Students will work in groups to analyze primary and secondary sources to understand that different Native American tribes resisted removal from their homelands in different ways. Each group will focus on one tribe and then teach the rest of the class about what they learned. 

Next we will begin in section E of the map project as we learn how Texas evolved from a Mexican state, to it's own republic/country, to becoming the 28th state in the Union. 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

Last week students explored the theme of who discovered America by watching a documentary called View From The Shore that includes several Native Americans from tribes along the Lewis and Clark expedition offering their perspectives and thoughts on how the expedition should be remembered. This week students will use the notes they took to re-write a standard textbook description of the Lewis and Clark Expedition adding the Native American perspective. 

Next, students will continue working on the Growth of the US Map Project: Section C. They will learn how the United States acquired Florida. This will lead to a mini-unit on the causes and effects of the Indian Removal Policy and what the different Native American tribes did to resist this policy of removal. 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

 

 

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

At the end of last week, students took a pre-assessment where they were able to review the different topics we are going to learning about, and reflecting on what they already know and what they what to learn. Students will begin by looking at president Thomas Jefferson's decision on whether or not he should by the Louisiana Territory from France. Students will work in groups of 4 with roles of president, two advisors, and a press secretary to determine what to do about this amazing opportunity and to decide if the purchase is constitutional. Students will then be introduced to the Growth of the United States map project they will be completing over the course of the quarter.

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, 

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

 

Welcome to Quarter 2! This quarter students will be learning about how the United States grew from 13 Colonies to the land that we now call the United States. Like a puzzle, students will piece together the history of the United States came to be. To begin this journey, we will be analyzing the painting American Progress by the artist John Gast. This painting will resurface throughout the quarter as we discuss different themes and subjects from the painting. As part of this quarter, students will create a map that outlines the growth of the United States that we will add to throughout the quarter. This map and the notes we take will serve as a study guide for the final essay that students will write at the end of the quarter. 

 

Please let me know if you have an questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

 

This is the last week of Quarter 1 and I want to share the schedule with you.

 

To end the quarter students will be analyzing different Supreme Court cases to answer the following question: Are student's constitutional rights inside of school the same as their rights outside of school. Students will read the summary's of the court cases and make judgements on those decisions. 

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

 

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

 

I wanted to first remind everyone that grades are due this Friday and all late and missing work is due this coming Wednesday.

 

This week in Social Studies students will be taking their end-of-quarter test on Thursday and Friday. Students will be presented with their study guide tomorrow and will be able to use that to prepare for the test. This test will cover The Articles of Confederation, The Constitutional Convention, The Preamble, Articles 1 - 6 of the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. 

 

Tuesday and Wednesday, students will be representing the right they think is most important symbolically.

 

Which Right Is Most Important To You due Wednesday 9/18

End-of-quarter test due Thursday 9/25

Symbolism and the Bill of Rights due 9/24

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will deepen their knowledge of our government by playing an iCivics game called Branches of Power. In this game, students will learn how the three branches of government work together to pass a law. They will also learn about the checks and balances that each branch has on the other so that one branch does not become too powerful. Students will then participate in a simulation on how a bill becomes a law. We will divide up into four states where students will learn about the demographics of their state, the influence of constituents when trying to create laws. Students will then debate the bill and see if they can reach a consensus and  pass a bill to ban headphones and earbuds when walking in public. 

 

Constitution Graphic Novel Study due 9/5

How a bill becomes law due 9/11

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will complete their  investigation of the preamble to the Constitution to uncover what we can learn about the goals our Founders had for the country as they created the Constitution. Students will then read excepts from a graphic novel to learn about the seven articles of the Constitution and how they lay out the framework for our government. They will also be reading to understand the roles and responsibilities of the the three branches of government laid out in Articles 1 - 3.

 

Preamble to the Constitution due 9/2

Constitution Graphic Novel Study due 9/5

 

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week in Social Studies students will learning about the Articles of Confederation: our nation's first government. They will be looking at different vocabulary words and then studying the weaknesses of this document. As they analyze each weakness, they will be brainstorming possible problems that these weaknesses will cause. Following this lesson, we will look at the Constitutional Convention and some of the debates that happened as the Founders decided how best to replace the Articles of Confederation.

Articles of Confederation due Wednesday, August 20th.

Email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

Greetings 8th Grade Families!

This week students have discussing the meaning of the words hero and villain. Next we will look at the life of Thomas Jefferson by reading two essays: Thomas Jefferson the American Hero and Thomas Jefferson the American Villain. Students will gather evidence from both essay and then determine if they think Jefferson was an American hero or villain. In this analysis, students will also look at the word presentism: the concept of judging a person from history by the standards, morals, and laws of today. They will understand the dangers of doing this and apply this learning to the life of Jefferson so that they will be making their decisions based on Jefferson's life in context to the time he was living. Students will then participate in multiple mini debates where I will assign them the position they will be arguing so that they have to be prepared to argue either side. We will then pivot to the founding of our country as we uncover our nation's first constitution: The Articles of Confederation.

Jefferson: Hero or Villain due Thursday 8/14

Please email with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan

 

Greetings 8th Grade Families,

This week in Social Studies we went over the syllabus and I asked students to take that home, go over it with you, sign it and bring it back. If you haven't see it yet, please ask your student to show it to you. We then analyzed 6 reasons why it is important to study history. Students read the quotes and then in their own words, explained why that reason was important. Students then ranked the 6 reasons. Finally students wrote two paragraphs using their #1 and #2 rankings. This assignment is due on Monday, so students who did not finished put the assignment in their blue folder and should complete it over the weekend.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rowan