Hello, Paideia families and students!
Here's a little post about where we've been during this first half of the quarter, and where we'll go from now until Fall Break:
7th grade: We are wrapping up our study of "America Becomes a World Power/U.S. Empire/U.S. Imperialism/U.S. Expansionism/The Spanish-American War" (take your pick of labels!). We have a few final lessons and activities before we completely move on to WW1; students should be familiar with the terms, "imperialism", "anti-imperialism", "yellow journalism", "U.S.S. Maine", "reconcentration camps", "Rough Riders", "Anti-Imperialist League", "Platt Amendment", and "Treaty of Paris"; they should also be familiar with President William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, General Valeriano Weyler, Jose Marti, Maximo Gomez, and Emilio Aguinaldo. In the next few days we will work to solidify these terms and their relationship to one another.
Once we finish reading, The Surrender Tree, we will begin reading The Kitchen Boy, which is a work of historic fiction set in Russia during the Russian Revolution (which was in the midst of WW1).
Once we move into our study of WW1, we will discuss the origins of and differences between capitalism, communism, and socialism, and how these economic systems have interacted with the governmental systems of democracy and totalitarianism. We will end the quarter studying WW1; students have been prepared for this unit in Language Arts, where they have been reading WW1 related novels for the past few weeks!
8th grade: We have been learning about different systems of rule throughout human history; students have been introduced to concepts and vocabulary such as "popular sovereignty", "autocracy", "democracy", "checks and balances", "separation of powers", "legislative branch", "executive branch", and "judicial branch", among others. I have been using the Frayer Model for vocabulary; we will spend a lot more time developing vocabulary as it relates to U.S. government. (Eventually, there will be a vocab quiz. More information forthcoming...) We will continue our study of U.S. government throughout Q1 and Q2, because I'd like to pair it with the upcoming midterm elections...
But during the latter half of this quarter (starting next week), we will get more into our study of the decline of the European colonial system; this will include studies of the "Scramble for Africa", Apartheid, Partition, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, the Opium War, the British Empire, the Spanish Empire, and the U.S. Empire. Students have been prepared for this unit in Language Arts, where they have been reading, The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck (a Core Knowledge book).
On the long-term-project front, we have used the COW in class a few times now to do some preliminary research for our "Legislative Top 10" lists; the lists will be formally due by next Monday; we will hold the draft on Wednesday, September 22nd! (Students will be allowed an out-of-uniform day, provided they come dressed up, like people do for the NBA Draft :) )
Please note that students have a map quiz tomorrow!
And please follow my tweets (on Twitter) for homework assignments and due dates: MsHoodsHoodlums. Please note: You must have or set up a Twitter account to view my tweets. (www.twitter.com)
Thanks!
Leah Hood
