Nothing Today

It's been a little crazy around here today.

Don't blame me.  Blame hackers.

I'll be sure to post tomorrow and tell what we did both days.  Don't forget you can always play the games for extra credit.

Micah Helmuth

Mr. Helmuth had his last day with us today.  He was a fantastic student teacher, and will be missed.  We had a lot to cover, but I made time in the agenda for group pictures.

Again, we all really appreciate the time, work, and effort he put into the class, and we wish him the best of luck as he continues working to become a full-time teacher.  He's going to be great.

If you're here for the extra credit, I'm sorry that didn't have time to post a full-fledged blog today.  Tell the adult what we did in class today and discuss it.  Write down 2 sentences about what you discussed, then have them sign it and turn it in on Monday.  If you're having trouble remembering, some of it doubles in THIS  POST.  - Although, we also talked about values (the story about my daughter Gwennie...)  We went more in depth on how language works, and how it developed, and I  listed the languages you needed to know for this class.  You should be familiar with Mesopotamian/Sumerian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Indus Script, and Chinese Calligraphy.  More on those on Monday.  See you then.

Geography Games

We were in the computer lab today.  When students entered, they were greeted by my daughter, Gwennie.  It's her birthday.

They spent most of the hour playing geography games.  We're studying ancient civilizations.  I want them to know that the land we're studying still exists today.  In fact, many of the present day countries are countries of key interest to U.S. foreign relations.  (Did I mention the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia, is present day Iraq?)

I won't write a long blog post.  Instead, I want students to play the games again.  Don't forget that they can get unlimited extra credit by playing them as well.  They just have to prove to me that they played.  Screen shot their scores and email them to me, or print them out.  Something.

Here's my big question though, how many of you can play these games from a Smart-phone or tablet?  That's what I want to know.  If you have one, HERE'S THE LINK.  Have the kid you're reading and discussing the blog play it once.  Then, on a scrap of paper, have them write down whether it worked or not, and tell me what device they played it on.  If you don't have a Smart-phone just play it on the computer.  Then, the adult that's reading and discussing the blog should sign that paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.

I'll write a little bit more, but don't feel like you need to read it or do anything about it.

Towards the end of class we looked at this map.  (I made it based off a map I got from eduplace.)

Hopefully, by the end of the day, they know which countries these are - along with all the countries in the Middle East.  It might be helpful to quiz them over this, as it will show up later as well.

It was a good day.  :)

Start Writing

Today's lesson was mainly about writing.  How did it originate?  How does written language work?  What ancient languages should students be familiar with in this class?

I started the lesson by connecting it to previous learning.

Students came in and had to quickly draw two pictures.  One picture depicted the reasons ancient civilizations were found near rivers.  The other picture showed some of what helps anthropologists qualify a civilization as a civilization.

Here are the pictures.  We're all artists:

If you weren't here today, you should draw these and show them to me tomorrow.  If you were here, don't worry about it.  That's not the requirement for extra credit.

Hopefully most students already knew this - as Mr. Helmuth taught it to them.  I know they spent quite a bit of time checking out Hammurabi's Code.  You know - the code of laws for Mesopotamia.

Written language (a system of writing) is crazy.  It's like magic.  Most of you are probably reading this right now.  RIGHT NOW.  You just read that.  I wrote this a while ago, and you're reading it now.  That's a big deal.  And you can read it again if you want to.  (Ok... rereading this paragraph might seem a little pointless...  but I'm sure some of you just did...)

Obviously, when writing first came about, not everyone could do it.  Scribes must have looked like magicians.

We discussed writing coming from ideograms and pictograms.  Hieroglyphs.  We looked at the move to symbols representing sounds.  Phonetics.   The Phoenicians.  We discussed how ancient languages started as a mnemonic device - and that we still use ideograms, pictograms, and mnemonic devices today.

Obviously, we covered a lot more in 45 minutes, but I don't want to overwhelm you - you were here.  I just want you to talk to the adult you read this with and tell them how class went.  You could also mention the maps we looked at (on population/ population density) or what we read on the SMARTboard.

If you've read and discussed the blog and want extra credit.  Write a sentence or two from your discussion.  Then, have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper.

Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

See you then.  What a great day!  Am I right?

Population vs Population Density

Welcome, first timers!  My students can earn extra credit by reading this post and discussing it with an adult.  Read, discuss, then follow the instructions at the bottom.

What is the difference between population and population density?

Population = total number of people.  Population density = number of people in a certain area; how tightly packed together people are.

When my students came in today, we took the population of the class.  They began working on a short bellwork I made up.

I asked questions like what's the population of Box City, what is the population/ population density for each quarter, and what's the population density for Box City...  Pretty simple.

In the middle of working on this, we took a time out and changed the population density of our class.  Generally speaking, it's pretty even.  We decided to concentrate it in a box.

I like to tie things together, so I pointed out that ancient civilizations were almost always found near rivers - population density is higher around rivers.  So, Tito was our river first hour.  You can see him forming a delta with his arms in this picture:

Tying it together even further, I mentioned that to be recognized as an actual civilization, that civilization had to develop cities.  More and more people moved to these cities by rivers.  The movement into cities is called...   EVERYBODY NOW!!!  ______________________.  (Remember this blank, you will need it later...)

So, students moved into the city - concentrating our class's population density in this box.  As of 10:31 AM, first hour has the 2014 record with 29 people in the box:

Yeah...  second hour didn't even have a chance:

Notice in that first picture - all the empty desks.  Although the population of the class didn't change, the population density did.  Our population density increased around the Tito River because of the silt, the water for transportation and trade, water for our crops and animals, for fishing, and drinking water of course.

If I remember to take pictures throughout the rest of the day, I'll post them on here around 3:15.

Students: if you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog, you were to have read and discussed it with an adult.  Explain to them the difference between population and population density.  Tell them about the map we looked at as well.  Explain to them why India was shaded darker than China - even though China had more people.

Then, find a scrap of paper (I wouldn't print anything out... ink is expensive...)  Write down the word that goes in the blank above.  If you don't remember that word, write two sentences from your conversation.  Then, have the adult you discussed the blog with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

See you then.

*Alright - here are the rest of the pictures, sorry it's after 3:15.*

Fifth hour broke 1st hour's record: 30.

Sixth hour did not break fifth hour's record: 29.  The first picture shows a town with a low population density...  Well, right now it's really low...  0 people per... square box of tape...  And behind it, the town with the much higher population density.  31 people per square box of tape...  (That's counting the river.)

Seventh hour: Helmuth makes a cameo.  They had 28, I believe.

BUT THIS YEAR'S WINNER?  EIGHTH HOUR!  WITH 31 PEOPLE INCLUDING THE RIVER!

Hopefully by concentrating our population into that box of tape the students understand the difference between population and population density.  I guess we'll find out on the test.  (Don't worry, it's not for a while.)