Have a great holiday!!!

We spent our final day going over the physical features of Africa with a great Promethean presentation. Click on the link below to see it. Have an awesome break!! Post comments here if you want to chat :)
Physical Features of Africa

This Week

We finished up last week with our test over the Economics unit in the Middle East. This allowed us to begin our next area of study for 7th grade social studies...Africa!

Monday-We viewed a Discovery channel film on Africa
Tuesday-We went over the test from Friday and learned about our first project in Africa which would create a 3-D replica of the continent in small groups!
Wednesday- We broke out into groups and began constructing our maps
Thursday- Ice Day No school!!
Friday- Map Project continued....
Copies of the 3-D Project are available under the Assignments link to the left.

Jeopardy and Review Sheet

I have attached a link to the Jeopardy game over Economics that we played in class today. You can also print up another copy of the study guide for the test by clicking on the link from the assignments heading to the left.
Jeopardy Game on Middle East Economics

Here is the link to the documentary we saw over the last few days "Who Killed the Electric Car"
Who Killed the Electric Car

Capital or Human Resource???

Today we finished up our discussion of  three different economic approaches countries are taking in the Middle East and showed our masteryof the concepts by completing a promethean flipchart activity. A copy of the flipchart is here for your review.

Capital or Human Resources???

Tomorrow and Wednesday- We are seeing the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
Wednesday night homework will be to complete the review sheet!

Thursday- we will be playing jeopardy for our test on Friday over Economics

Friday- Unit Test!!! Don't forget to study!

End of the Week

Thursday-
We kicked off our class with some great political cartoons about OPEC as well as continued our discussion on the subject.

Friday-
We read a Gallopade section on human capital and capital investments. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Weed and Wash or Weed or Wash

Monday-
This week we started off our discussion of Middle East economies with an activity on Specialization
Weed and Wash or Weed or Wash allowed us to divide up work between two friends to make the best use of their time.

Tuesday-
We continued our talk about specialization to discuss how the countries of the Middle East have chosen to specialize. We completed a Word Splash using 4 of our new terms in a sentence.

Wednesday- We began our talk about OPEC and worked on a Problem Solution Handout for Saudi Arabia. The handout let us brainstorm ways to deal with a possible economic crisis when economies choose to overspecialize. The Problem Solution Handout is under the assignment heading to the left.

Happy Thanksgiving

If you would like to practice your economic skills over the weekend feel free to go to our Study Island link and play some games!
http://www.studyisland.com/

Once you are there...
log in:
username: lunchnumber@RCS
password: 12345678

Click the Middle East Economic Review
Click Economic Review
Click on the Games Box
Pick your favorite game to play. We played Slingshot!

You can also check out our Activote activity on trade barriers!! Have fun.
Activote Quiz on Barriers of Trade

Economic Terms!

Yesterday and Today we worked on filling out the economic terms graphic organizer. You may use the promethean presentation on Economies of the Middle East to help you fill in the answers.

Economies of the Middle East Promethean Presentation

It's Monday!

We had our unit quiz on government terms in the Middle East and finish up our group projects today on "Government at its Best"

All students must have posted on their wiki pages by Wednesday

Log in to fishersfinestclass.pbworks.com

Log in (upper right hand corner of the front page)
go to the upper tab that says folders and pages (click on it)
find your class period's folder on the left (open it)
find your page in the center (your name will be on it)
click the edit page button
add your remarks and save before you close

Remember you are commenting as a member of the U.N. as to which countries of your classmates should or should not be accepted to the U.N. and why. DO NOT COMMENT ON ANYONE'S PAGE EXCEPT YOUR OWN!!!!!

Government Flashcards for you to play!

Click on the link below

Electronic Flashcards

my username : fishersu
My password: panther1

Click the LEARN button once your in to have the site quiz you!

Promethean Presentation on Governments of Middle East

Friday-
Have a great weekend everybody and check out the link below to review the government unit of the Middle East. We used this one today in class.You can use it to help you with your quiz next Friday as well as with your projects that we are starting on Monday!
Promethean on Governments of the Middle East

Thursday

Yesterday we finished up the definitions and played with the government matching cards. Today we will apply what we learned about government structures to specific countries in the Middle East. Please finish up the hand outs for home work.

Be able to tell me what is a Theocracy and the difference between Parliamentary Democracy and Presidential Democracy!

Tuesday-

Tuesday we will be going over more government terms and use the promethean presentation to go over the answers. We also played a card matching game with some of the definititons we have learned.

I have attached  a link to the promethean presentation and you can print up the two government handouts on the assignment link to the left if you forgot them at school.

promethean presentation on government

Government Terms

Today we went over some more political cartoons and viewed a power point on government terms and played a hollywood squares game on the terms.

Click on the link below to see the powerpoint:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxZcYR4_cc6NOWI3ZmM4NjEtNjBkNi00OWI0LWE5Y2MtY2E2ZjgzMjIyYjdm&hl=en&authkey=CJWqyMYL

Middle East History Test

Wednesday - we completed our test on the History of the Middle East and went over our answers on Thursday. I hope you all remember some of those great test taking strategies in the future and avoid octopus arm moments :-)

Friday - We saw a prezi on political cartoons and looked at some cartoons from various view points on the Middle East.

Have an awesome weekend!

Jeopardy Game Click the link Below!!!

Don't forget to study for your test over the History of the Middle East tomorrow!!!


This link goes through Jeopardy!
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ARZcYR4_cc6NZGR2Z2Z3NDZfODhnNzk0OWdmeA&hl=en&authkey=CO7v4rwO

Review Sheet and Answers

All- I have attached the blank review sheet for the Middle East History and Conflict Unit under the assignments heading. I am attaching the link to the flip chart with all of the answers to it here. Please click below and make sure you are confident about all of your answers. Have a great weekend.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxZcYR4_cc6NNjg5NGY0NmUtMWY2Ny00ZWE3LWEzMDMtNmYyNDk1M2JkZWIx&hl=en&authkey=CL6oprMK

This Week

This whole week has been about now putting all of the pieces of the Middle East History Unit back together in order and making those important connections. I hope you are all completing your review sheets for Friday and getting ready for Jeopardy on Tuesday.
Unit Test Wednesday!

Last Day to Upload!!

I'm watching many of you try and upload documents with some difficulty. Remember you can save documents in Google Docs or Slideshare if you have accounts there. You must change the settings to view them for all. If you don't change the privacy setting to share to anyone with a link on google no one can see them! Also, remember to add things on to your existing page and not create new ones unless you really need to and link them to your new page. Glogsters can be uploaded on to your page by copying the "embed on the page link" and pasting it on the "add a link" on your own page. PLEASE PAGE DOWN and keep your old work on the page!!!
Best of Luck!

Movies Movies Movies!!!

Wednesday and Thursday this week we saw two great movies on conflicts in the Middle East. One concentrated on the 21 day invasion of Iraq by American troops and the other was on Afghanistan.

I hope that you are all working well on your Think- Tac Toe Assessments that are due on Monday.

Friday- Today we enjoyed PAWS Day and the Hispanic Heritage Assembly. Inclass we finished up the power point on Israeli/Pal. Conflict. See the link in the blog below!

Who's House is it Anyway?

Friday- We began an activity called Who's House where students were asked to decide which of three siblings should inherit the family home if the parents die unexpectedly. The analogy was then linked to the land of Israel/Palestine in the Middle East. Students were split into groups and asked to become experts on one of three sides in that area; British, Palestinian, or Israeli. Each expert was then assigned to educate others on their position and learn from two other different experts the remaining sides.

Tuesday- Today we will see a promethean presentation on the history of the Palestinian Crisis and discuss our assessment project Middle East Think-Tac Toe. The assignment can be viewed under the assignments link on the left hand side of the blog. If you would like to see the Promethean Presentation at home, Click on the link below.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxZcYR4_cc6NNzEwMjY2ZTItYTMwMC00MzU2LWJhY2MtZjk4Y2Y0OTJkYzAz&hl=en&authkey=CKLvjrkL

Ottoman Empire and End of WWII

Monday- We finished up Chapter 21 on the Ottoman Empire and began the Ottoman Empire Rise and Fall note taking activity

Tuesday- We discussed what each of us had put down in our notes and discussed Artificial Boundaries

Wednesday- We began our discussion of how the end of WWII affected the movement of Jews from Europe back to the Middle East. We enjoyed hearing the story The Ball.

Thursday- We read and discussed the Zionist Movement and particularly about the ship, The Exodus.

Friday

We used Friday to go over the What a Man homework assignment, go over the tests, and see our grades on the Glogs. Have a great weekend!

Rest of the Week

Wednesday- We took our test over Unit One. It covered the Geography, Culture, and Religions of the region

Thursday We began the history of the region with a Power Point presentation on the Ottoman Empire
See the attached link below:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxZcYR4_cc6NNDRhOWRmNzYtMjYwYy00NjdlLTk1NDItNDhmYzIyNGM1ZmI2&hl=en&authkey=CKicrtYE

Jeopardy Today!

See attached link for Jeopardy at home!

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ARZcYR4_cc6NZGR2Z2Z3NDZfNjlkenZnOGtwbQ&hl=en&authkey=CLjzsDg

Review Time Has Begun

Monday- Today we went over the answers to our review sheet and will continue to go over the geography, culture, ethnic groups, and religions of the Middle East with a game of Jeopardy. Get ready!

****Don't forget to review your maps as well for your Test on Wednesday****

It's Friday!!!!

Yippee! Today we uploaded our glogster posters on the three religions of the M.E. to our class wiki pages. This is our first of many cool technology assessments we will have this year. Hope you all had fun.

We spent the remainder of the class period working on our review sheets that cover the geography and cultures of the region for our test next week. Don't forget to complete it over the weekend if you didn't get it done in class.

*****Test is Wednesday, September 29th*****

Thursday

Today we reviewed the religions and ethnic groups that comprise the Middle East region. Please feel free to use the provided information in your glogs!

Don't forget that they are due tomorrow in class! You will have a test next Wednesday on the Geography and Culture so get ready to study!


Click on the link below to see the lesson from today!

 Religions and Ethnic Groups of M.E.

The Glogsters Have Begun!!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday-
We will continue to work in class on our 3 Religions Project and play with our new tool Glogster! Hope you are having fun but not too much that you forget to add all of the information to your Glogs! I love creativity but back it up with the content. Check out your #13 for what information must be included for EACH of the religions. You can add on word documents as attachments if you lack space.

PS I changed your usernames and passwords!
username: firstandlastname (without spaces or punctuation)
password: panther

Power Point of the Middle East

click on the link here to view the Power point presentation we saw in class this week!
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ARZcYR4_cc6NZGR2Z2Z3NDZfMGRncXNqY2Q4&hl=en&authkey=CPv2rpIG

3 Religions of the Middle East and Project

Thursday- We finished up our powerpoint presentation on the ethnic groups and religions of the Middle East and began charting our religion information. We also used some of class today to see how we would be using this information next week to complete our first technology assessment of the year. Students were assigned to begin gathering materials electronically to use on the project.

Friday-
We continued our chart on the monotheistic religions through the guided reading in Chapter 16 as well as played a matching game with religion cards. Some of the students received their log on access today in class as well.

Remember that you must start your glog from the project portion of your dashboard or it will not be viewed!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Ethnic Groups or Religious Group?

Wednesday- We began our discussion on the various ethnic and religious groups that are prevalent throughout the Middle East area as well as clarified the difference between ethnic and religious groups in general.

Resource Issues Continued....

Today we completed Chapter 14 and 15 on the resource dilemmas facing the various countries in the Middle East. It was great to make those connections and have great discussions with all of you! Please be sure to have the Transportation section completed for tomorrow!

Resource Issues

Monday-
Today we began our handout #8 from our folders. It introduced us to the resource issues surrounding water in the Middle East. Please see that you have completed the 6 questions on the second page for class tomorrow.

Graphic Organizer

Wednesday-
We reviewed the answers to the outline on the reading about the Middle East and discussed reading comprehension strategies. Not all questions are always in order or in the same wording!!

Thursday-
We worked in class in pairs on the graphic organizer describing the major features of countries throughout the region.
HW- if you did not complete the organizer by the end of class please complete it at home tonight. The syllabus states how to access the book online with user name and password. The S.S. links on this blog may also be helpful :-)

Map Quiz

Friday-
 We completed our map quiz on the major physical features of the Middle East. Students who scored below a 70% may come in on Thursday after school to retake the quiz and possibly raise their grades up to a maximum of 70% by averaging their two scores. Be sure to have a late bus permission slip form in at the front office in order to take it home.

Tuesday-
We viewed a Prezi presentation on the Middle East and began a reading with corresponding outline notes on the geography of the region. Please complete it as homework for tonight. We will go over it on Wednesday in class.

Crossroads

Today we will be seeing a video on the Middle East region titled Crossroads. Don't forget to study tonight for your map quiz tomorrow!!

A copy of the map is available for you to practice on under the Assignment Link to the left. There are three S.S. geography links that are also great for seeing maps and playing games.

We're Mapping the Middle East!

Monday and Tuesday we started mapping the major physical features of the Middle East. Students were asked to complete the Name That Place map and study it for their map quiz on Friday!!!

I have attached a copy of Name That Place under the assignment links on this blog so students can print a new one to study from at home.

Wednesday and Thursday we discussed how inventions are most often made for the upper 10% of the world population and how this affects underprivledged areas. See the Cooper Hewitt listing under Social Studies links. The Other 90%.

Friday we took an inventory of basic social studies knowledge to see where students needed review.

Welcome back!!!

Today we learned about how to access and evaluate different sources of information.

Homework: Create your own paragraph about yourself with 4 corresponding true/false questions. One of your questions should be false. Make sure that the listener can  identify the lie based on the paragraph you have composed!

If you are ambitious please feel free to click on the various links and explore away!

What's Blogging?

What message do you think the cartoonist was trying to make with this image?

He's got the whole world in his hands...

Loved this picture.

James Cameron Has Nothing on Me

Check out my new avatar. You can make one too at Voki. Look at my links under the 21st Century heading. Feel free to explore the possibilities. We will be using a lot of them for projects this fall.

May 31st, 2010

Excited to be off on my new blogging adventure.