History Happenings

This week in Social Studies, the 6th grade students learned about ancient Mesopotamia.  They first made maps to understand why people settled in the area.  Then, they worked in groups to create illustrations that showed the progression of humans from hunter-gatherers to city-dwellers.

 Erin and Maya working on the stages of human progress.

 Eli and Maddie collaborating on their drawing.

Here is an example of the finished product.  This was created by Bess and Jordan.

In 7th grade, we just finished up our Middle Ages unit.  Students played a review game called the fly swatter game.  Mr. Palmieri called out a clue and students had to be the first to swat the correct answer.

 William and Olivia P. find locations on a map of Europe.

Nathan and Diego face off to find names of important people.

The 8th grade class did a simulation to finish up their World War I unit.  They were broken up into four groups that represented the countries that fought on the successful Allied side.  They then sent a representative from each group to debate what decisions should be made during the Treaty of Versailles.  They had to make such decisions as what should happen to Germany at the end of the war and who should pay for war damages.

Hunter, Eva, Jannat, and Sam M. discuss who should take the blame for starting the war.

Isaiah, Nora, Sam, and Lindsay debate what should happen to Germany's colonies after the war.

Ben, Quinn, Hunter, and Lindsay are representing Great Britain.   Here, they are discussing their arguments before they send a representative to the conference with other countries.

8th Grade Propaganda Projects

The 8th graders are currently learning about World War I in Social Studies.  Throughout the war, several different groups or countries created propaganda to convince the public that their cause was the right one.  The students worked in groups to create all different forms of propaganda from several different points of view during the war.

Felix and Karl are creating political cartoons trying to convince Americans to stay out of the war.

Olivia, Lindsay, and Katie are creating a brochure to try and get Americans to buy liberty bonds, plant victory gardens, and join the army.

Hunter and Jannat are creating posters for a rally that they will perform later in the week.

Isaiah, Sam R. and Sam M. work on a newspaper about the Germans fighting in Belgium at the beginning of the war.

Morgan and Izzy singing a song to unite Americans in support of the war effort.  The tune may be familiar, but they wrote the lyrics, along with Elena.

Check back soon to see some of the finished products!

Meet Mr. Palmieri

This week, the middle school students had a new face in the classroom.  Mr. Caleb Palmieri is a student teacher from North Park University.  He will be in our classroom until December.  He has already started teaching in the 6th and 7th grade classes.  Welcome, Mr. P!

                         Mr. Palmieri working with the 6th graders on a lesson about early human migration.

                        Sean is working on his migration activity and is showing on a map where he would migrate if he lived in a time where glaciers covered the earth.

Mr. Palmieri also taught the 7th grade a lesson about the Black Plague in the Middle Ages.  Watch the video to see the 7th graders theatrically demonstrate some of the symptoms.  If you have a weak stomach, it might make you a little queasy!

The students learned that 1/3 of Europeans were affected by the plague.  To show just how many people that was, Mr. P had a third of the class leave the room as if they were affected by the plague to show the impact.  These are our students who aren't feeling so great.

We are excited to see what else our student teacher has in store for us!

Middle School Social Studies

Welcome to the Middle School Social Studies blog!  I will use this site to share information about what is going on in my classes.  The school year is already under way, so here are some of the things that the middle schoolers have been working on.

6th Graders discussing their project fair information about world religions.

The 7th Grade Coat of Arms projects are hanging up outside of the classroom.  Come check them out if you want to see them up close!

 The 8th Graders discussing the question of whether or not the United States should join World War I during a debate.

Check back soon to see what else the students are up to in middle school Social Studies!