Welcome Back!

Welcome to the new school year in Middle School Social Studies!  I am excited to get the year started.  This week, each class will be learning how to use some new technology in the classroom.  We will focus on using Infuse Learning, Livebinders, and Notability.  The 6th graders will review some textbook skills later in the week.  In 7th grade, the students will review the 5 themes of Social Studies and begin our unit about the Middle Ages.  The 8th graders will begin their journey through American History starting at the turn of the century, as we begin our unit about Imperialism.  Check back soon to see what the students have been up to!

Mrs. Wells

6th Grade Review Projects

The 6th graders have finished their Rome unit and have now learned about six different ancient civilizations. This week, they are working in groups to create books on the iPad that review some of the themes that we saw in each civilization. The completed books will talk about each topic and how it is shown in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece, and Rome.

Penelope, Jordan, and Erin are creating a book about religion and mythology in ancient times.

Bess, Maddie, and Dana are working on a book about writing, literature, and art.

Austin, Joe, and Eli are making books about inventions, achievements, and the Golden Age of each civilization.

Sean and Jake are working on a book about geography and how it impacted the lives of ancient people.

Kate, Del, and Maya M. are writing about government and social hierarchies.

Ben and Sam are creating a project about the economy, trading, and resources.

Maeve, Maya C., and Johanna are creating a project about war, chaos, and conflict in each civilization.

Tune in soon to see what they come up with!

States practice

This week, the 7th graders will take their test on
United States geography.  The students have been using many different tools to help them practice.

Nathan and Tessa match up the states on the Promethean board.

Kevin and Jacob challenge themselves by filling our crossword puzzles with clues about the capitals and postal codes.

Georgia plays a drag and drop game on the iPad.

William uses a dry erase map to help him remember the postal codes.

David and Nathan use a good, old-fashioned puzzle map to review.

Leo, Olivia, and Avram use different iPad apps to study.  Links to the websites are available on the previous post.

7th Grade States Review

The 7th graders just started a Unites States Geography review unit.  Here are some links to some online games that will help them practice:

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/us-puzzle.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/USA_Geography/USA_GL_click_1024.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/USA_Geography/USA_G3_1024.html

7th Grade Political Cartoons

Washington

World War II.

The 8th graders are just finishing up their unit about World War II this week.  They have had some great opportunities to learn some hands-on-history lately.  Last Tuesday, the 8th grade class did our "Truman on Trial" project.  The students held a mock trial to decide if President Harry S. Truman was guilty of crimes against humanity for dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Ask your 8th grader about the verdict.

 Katie (Defense attorney) shows evidence to the Jury.

 Hunter (Hiroshima survivor) gives her testimony to Morgan (attorney for the plaintiffs)

 Izzy (Hiroshima survivor) swears to tell the whole truth to Adam (the bailiff).

 Karl (attorney for the plaintiffs) asks questions to his witness Felix (Hiroshima survivor).  All witnesses were then cross examined by the opposite side.

 Quinn (Robert Oppenheimer) gives his expert testimony to Sam M. (plaintiff's attorney).

 The council for the plaintiffs discuss their next move.

Katie asks Theresa (secretary of war Henry Stimson) some questions.

Sam R. (defense attorney) questions his expert witness, Lindsay (Albert Einstein) about the science behind the bomb.

 Elena (President Truman) defends her actions with the help of Jannat (defense attorney).

 Olivia, Nora, Isaiah, and Ben (the jury) deliberate after the trial.

 On Thursday, the 8th graders took a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry to take a tour of the U-505 German submarine that was captured by the United States.  They got to see the inside of the u-boat and explored the World War II exhibit.

On Friday, we had a guest speaker come to our class to talk about his experiences during World War II.  Quinn's grandfather, John Donovan, was in the navy during WWII and fought at Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima.  

6th Grade Debate

This week, the 6th grade class had their first Social Studies debate.  The students have been learning about ancient Chinese dynasties. The learned about the Qin emperor Shi Huangdi this week.  He was a ruler that unified China and brought a lot of advancements, but he was also cruel and eliminated anyone who disagreed with him.  The students were broken up into two groups.  One group argued that Shi Huangdi was a brilliant ruler.  The other side argued that he was a terrible tyrant.  The 6th graders did a great job expressing their opinions!

Constitution Unit

This week, the 7th graders started their Constitution unit.  Today, they learned about the Preamble, which is the introduction to the Constitution.  The Students learned what all the different parts mean and then learned a song to help them memorize it for the test.

 Mark, Diego, and William look at different services the government provides and decide which part of the preamble the service falls under.

Haley, Olivia K. and Olivia W. work together to piece together the preamble.

The students sing the Preamble with a little help from School House Rock.  Pretty soon, they will be able to do it on their own.  Here is the link if students want to practice:

School House Rock Preamble

Buddhist Temple

Today, the 6th grade class went to the Quang Minh Buddhist Temple to learn more about Buddhism. They have spent the last few weeks learning about religions that started in India. It was great for the students to see some of the things that they have been learning about and hear about the religion from someone who practices it.

The monk is telling the students the story of Siddhartha Guatama, who became the Buddha, using the pictures on the wall.

The whole class inside the temple.

Student Creations

This week in 6th grade, we finished up our unit about ancient Egypt.  The students created their own cartouches with hieroglyphics.  A cartouche is like a name tag that people in ancient Egypt would put on their tombs and anything else that belonged to them.

Here are some of the cartouches that the 6th graders made.

In 7th grade, the students have been learning about the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Discovery.  Student created journals as if the were one of the major European explorers or their crew.  They wrote about what they thought the goals, feeling, and sights of these travelers might be.

 Sophie's journal explains what it might have been like to travel to India with Vasco Da Gama.

Georgia's journal tells of the adventures of Magellan's crew as they attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

The 8th graders recently began a unit about the Great Depression.  They learned about the stock market crash by acting out several scenarios.  Then, they created a comic strip to show the cause and effects that led to the Depression.

 This comic was drawn by Olivia S.

 Morgan uses captions, pictures, symbols, and speech to explain the stock market crash.

Ask your middle schooler about what they have created in Social Studies lately!

Have a great winter break and see you in January!