Monday 1/28, Tuesday 1/29 and Thursday 1/31 Students are debating, "Should the United States have ratiffied or rejected the Treaty of Versailles?"  Students are split into 4 groups and have to argue from the position of ratification, rejection, or modification of the treaty.  The group assigned as Senators will oversee the debate.  This activity will be done in class and there is no homework for the week.

Friday - No School Teacher Work Day

GREAT OPPORTUNITY!  ACT NOW APPLICATIONS DUE THIS THURSDAY 1/31!

Thursday February 21st is "Legislateive Day 2008"  I will hand out  applications in class Tuesday 1/ ...

Thank you for taking time out to conference with the 7/8 Team last week.  This week is a short week and students will be working on World War I.

Tuesday 1/22 - World War I essay due. Students have until 8AM tomorrow to get any electronic versions of their essay to my mail box.  In class today students took video lecture notes on WWI to gain more content knowledge on this time period.

Wednesday 1/23 - This week starts a new round of workshops.  The workshop for Social Studies will be team taught with a graduate student in history from the C.U. Boulder.  The lesson will be on Manga and Japanese Literature.  Students will look at the history of cartooning in Japan which dates back to the 12th century. ...

Students can pick any topic pertaining to WWI.  I have provided them with a list of topics and a website for WWI research.  See the attached doucment and website links on my blog that can help with this paper.  I've attached a website that helps students with MLA formatting for the citation/bibliography page.  All requirements for this assignment are detailed in the attached document.  Good Luck

*Detailed instructions were given in class, if you missed class use the attached document to get the requirements for this assignment.

 Hello Stargate Community,

This week will be a short week due to conferences.  Monday 1/21 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Denver has a really great parade at 8:30AM starting at City Park.  In addition, there are many different service projects going on around the state due to the fact that this is a national service day.  I've attached links below that provide information on the parade and service projects.  If you participate in any of these on MLK Day events you can earn extra credit for Social Studies!  Parents...I will go over these opportunities with the students in class on Tuesday, if you have any questions about how to get involved please le ...

Thank you for all of the great holiday gifts!  I hope you had a relaxing break and are ready to start school Monday:)  There is new carpet in the 7/8 classrooms and the Middle School wing is really coming together.  I look forward to seeing all of the students on Monday!

Monday 1/7 -

• Students will take a 35 minute written assessment on American Ideals and the suffragist movement. 
• Students will be assigned homework on Chapter 20 that is due on Monday 1/14.  Details of the assignment will be given in class and a copy is posted to the documents section of my blog.  Students should be able to discuss the essential question, "Why did the United States go to war against Spain in 1898, and why was the outcome significant?"  This ...

Today in my elective World Affairs Challenge (WAC) the students prepared for the current events portion of the competition.  There are a few great sites we used that I'd like to pass along to the 7/8 students.  If you are in WAC you should add these sites to your favorites!

1.  This site is from the NY Times and gives a daily 5 question quiz on current events.

http://www.nytimes.com/guests/learning/bin/answer.cgi

2.  This site is from knowledge unlimited and it has a weekly current events quiz.

http://www.newscurrents.com/intro/quiz.html

3.  This is a site that some of the students have been using to keep up with current events (thanks Paul Cody's team:)

The Movie the Great Debaters will be released on December 25th.  From the trailors I've seen it appears to be an excellent movie.  I highly recommend that students go to see this movie over the Holiday Break or in the near future.  If you see it and do a 3-4 page type written summary of the historical, social, and moral issues raised you will receive 25 points extra credit for Second Trimester. 

*Note- Extra credit for 2nd and 3rd trimester is open to any film that connects to history!  If you are interested in doing any movie just approve your choice with Ms. Posateri before viewing. 

Enjoy!  Have a good Holida ...

Monday 12/10 - There were some changes to the schedule at the end of last week.  The students needed more time to work on their immigration project so I delayed the Progressive Era Press Conference and had the students present their immigration projects today. 

Tuesday 12/11 - Students started the Progressive Era Thinkers Press Conference Project.  I explained the project expectations and assigned roles.   If you missed class see Ms. Posateri for a group assignment.

Wed. 12/12 - Community Time, Workshop, and WAC

In community my small group will launch the "Birthday in a Box" projec ...

Monday 11/3- Students will continue to work on the Immigration Power Point Project in class.  Groups worked on this last Thursday and Friday in class and should be approximately 95% done by the end of class on Monday. 

Students will be assigned a study sheet for the quiz on Thursday.  Homework is to prepare for the quiz using the study sheet.  The study sheet is posted to the documents section of my blog.

Tuesday 11/4 - Students will have the first 25 minutes of class to complete the Immigration Project slide show and then all groups will present for 5 minutes.

Wed. 11/5-Community/Workshop/Elective

Monday 11/26 - First Day of 2nd Trimester

In class students participated in an activity that simulated working conditions on an assembly line at the Turn of the Century.  All students earned points for participating in the activity.  If you missed class you will not be able to make up this in class simulation. If your absence was excused I will exempt you from this activity, it is not possible to recreate a simulation.  This was the first assignment for 2nd Trimester.

Tuesday 11/27 - Students will debrief the assembly line simulation and will work on Chapter 14 Reading Notes.  Chapter 14 is titled, "Labor's Response to Industrialism."  The essential ...