December 4th: We had our first glimpse of a successful English colony... Jamestown. Successful is a word I use loosely, because more than half the people die!
December 1st: Hello December!!! The next couple of weeks will feel like they are flying by. We started the day with a quick review of New France. Now that New France and New Spain have been covered, it must mean that England is next. We began by looking at what England was and was not, and what they wanted to be. They wanted to be powerful like other European countries but needed wealth. Steal it from the Spanish...check. Use it to build a better navy... check. Next is getting a colony... Virginia. That will take a couple of attempts... Roanoke twice. Next week, we will hear about their successful Jamestown Colony. During the colonization attempts, the Spanish had enough, and the greatest armada ever assembled in Europe was sent to Bring England under their rule and make them Catholic again. Through luck and skill, the smaller English navy prevails. Now, they are ready to become an empire.
November 30th: New France was on the menu today. The kids had to write a summary of each section independently... French Settlement in North America, The Growth of New France, Exploring the Mississippi, and Founding of Louisiana. It was not an easy task, but the kids got quiet, focused on the work, and almost everyone accomplished the task.
November 29th: The kids now have a pretty good understanding of what New Spain was... the good and the bad. They learned about of how New Spain was built, the borderlands, ranches and haciendas, and the missions. They showed improvement in summarizing, but we will definitely continue to work on that throughout the year.
November 28th: Now that the exploring is done, it is time to start settling. We began by looking at New Spain. We started the day writing a summary of the first section together. After that practice, the kids worked on summarizing the rest on their own or in small groups.
November 27th: The kids got to show what they learned about the explorers on the quiz today. Last week, the kids presented an explorer to the class and the class took notes. All the questions came from their notes. The average was 84% across the three classes. Not too bad.
November 22nd: I spoke to soon! There were some kids that were out that needed to give their presentations. Now, we are done. We had shortened classes today because of the Walk-a-Thon, but still had time for to close out the presentations. The kids fill out a self-reflection form to hopefully help them on future presentations.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
November 21st: We're done! The kids are done with their explorer presentations and I think that most of them actually enjoyed doing it. Tomorrow is an early dismissal and (weather permitting) Walk-a-Thon at MSU. Almost done...
November 20th: More kids presented today and we should finish up tomorrow. It has been good for the kids to see different presentations so that they can make adjustments in the future.
November 17th: We learned about Portugal's Prince Henry. His dad, King John I, wanted him to find a sea route to Asia. He brings together shipbuilders, sailors, and cartographers. They will improve the compass and astrolabe. They will also develop a better ship... caravel. It will take decades and 50 voyages, but Portugal will be the first around Africa and make it to India. Wealth and power come from these future trips.
Now, it is time for the kids to teach. We started with Columbus thinking he reached India, and John Cabot thinking he made it to China. Vespucci will prove them wrong with his maps and Balboa, who will cross the Isthmus of Panama and see the Pacific Ocean. Balboa establishes for a fact that these are two previously unknown continents to the Europeans. More to follow next week.
Now, it is time for the kids to teach. We started with Columbus thinking he reached India, and John Cabot thinking he made it to China. Vespucci will prove them wrong with his maps and Balboa, who will cross the Isthmus of Panama and see the Pacific Ocean. Balboa establishes for a fact that these are two previously unknown continents to the Europeans. More to follow next week.
November 16th: No, there were no presentations today. I wanted to give the kids a little extra time to make adjustments to their work and read the comments that I left. Today, we looked at what caused these explorers to explore. Tomorrow, we will start the presentations. I know they will be great!
November 15th: The kids worked on their explorer presentation and let me tell you... I was impressed. They got right to work researching, writing notes on index cards, and finding pictures to put on their slides. They remembered that the notes should not be on their Slides.
November 14th: We now have a good idea of where the world is in the 1400s. China has seen the world and decided they didn't need it and closed up shop. Others in Asia were on board with trading, including India, Japan, and Korea. African empires have been trading with Europe and Asia. Europeans have gotten a taste (literally - spices) of the rest of the world and want more. All is going well until... that is for later. The kids received the name of an explorer. In class, they will research and produce a Google Slide presentation with pictures and very, very few words since they will be the expert presenting to the class.
November 13th: Aztecs was the topic today. The kids learned about who they were, what the built, how they communicated, and even their calendar.
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November 8th: The Age of Exploration is our topic for the next couple of weeks. Why did the European explorers explore? Before we get there, we need to understand what was happening around the world in the 1400's. Today, we examined what was happening in the Americas. We got to spend some time looking at the Incas and their city of Machu Picchu.
October 3rd: Today was the end of social studies... at least for a couple of weeks. A couple of last-minute presentations occurred, and the kids got to take their notebooks out for a spin, or I should say, use them for their quiz. All but one of the questions came right from their notes. Overall, the kids did well and learned that good note-taking has its benefits.
October 2nd: Presentation day! There was so much improvement in the kids presentations compared to their early one. Voices were being projected, less reading from note cards, and most importantly... better information being presented to the class.
September 29th: September is over! The kids put the finishing touches on their work and practiced giving their presentation with their groups. No one should have to work on this over the weekend, but if they have very little accomplished... they might want to spend a few minutes. The classes will present on Monday and then we will begin our science unit on matter.
P.S. Movie Night has been postponed because of the rain.
P.S. Movie Night has been postponed because of the rain.
September 28th: The kids were broken up into groups to research a tribe. They can tell you that the tribes we know today came from the early civilizations that we learned about earlier in the week. We had to spend time with IXL to finish the assessments, but the kids will have plenty of time to complete their projects and be ready to present on Monday.
September 27th: We finished our note-taking on the early civilizations in North America. They included the Olmec, Anasazi, Mound Builders, and Mayas. Ask your kid the Olmec's nickname... "Mother of Civilizations in the Americas". The kids did a great job of understanding what was important and should be included in their notes. Yes, we did this together, but they will be able to work independently in time.
September 22nd: Ancient Indians were our topic today. How did they hunt mammoths and mastodons? How did they use them? Stone technology was explored and the kids had a hard time believing that a stone could be tech. True, it is not an iPhone, but like an iPhone, it allowed them to do something better.
September 21st: We came up with theories on how the earliest people got to North and South America. The kids came up with many ideas ranging from boats, trains, walking, Oregon Trail... and then we examined each one to determine if they could work. They settled on walking over the Land Bridge (Beringia - thanks ice age), boats, and origin stories (the Original People had always been there). We finished class by reading the creation story of the Blackfoot. They did great!
We will move on to how these early people lived and learn about who they were.
We will move on to how these early people lived and learn about who they were.
September 20th: The students started the year by becoming the teacher. They finished creating their presentations to teach a section of "Our Country's Geography". Some kids were nervous about presenting, but they all did it. I filled in any gaps and talked to the groups about how they could improve on future presentations.
