January 31, 2008 - Begin the First Americans

Afternoon Cate,

Today we started our new unit - The First Americans. I began by explaining my philosophy of teaching history - thru the use of telling stories. I shared two stories with the students. Each story represented a term they should know. I told a story about a mermaid as an example of a primary source (eyewitness account - person or artifact was there at the time of the event). You can read the story at
Next I shared a story from the book I wrote about my Grandfather. I used this as an example of a secondary source (2nd hand account - the person or artifact was not there at the time of the event).

Okay, then we began to talk about the First Americans. Students learned about the meaning of the word - Pre-Columbian (before Columbus). To start learning about American History you have to start at the beginning - before we were a country. We talked about the people that were here before. The students did a journal entry in which they answered three questions 1. What is an indian? 2. Where does the word indian come from? 3. When you hear the word "indian" what comes to mind? After they wrote answers we discussed there responses. For number 1. Students have an idea that indian refers to people that are indigenous to this country, there roots go back before Europeans, Africans, and Asians came here. For number 2. Indian comes from the mistake made by Columbus when he thought he was near the Indies islands off the coast of the Asian mainland. It is a word that has stuck for good and bad. For #3 - students gave a variety of answers most of them pretty stereotypical and they agreed that A. they don't know much about native americans and B. what they do know comes from TV, movies, and sports...

After all of our discussions I showed them what we will be doing in this unit and had them write down SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK NATIVE AMERICANS REALLY WANT? and they copied A. Respect, B. a chance to have culture celebrated and understood, and C. the opportunity to have their history learned alongside the rest of American history.

That's it - here is the reading and homework for tomorrow!

January 29th and January 30th! End of Geography unit!

Hi Cate,

On Tuesday, Jan. 29 we had the Great Geography Challenge to review for the test on Wed. Students were put into three teams. There were five events - these events were various map trivia games and use of the salt dough maps (and a buzzer round). It was fun and highly competitive in some classes!

Today, Wed. Jan. 30th - Big Geography Test! I faxed it down to Jemi. Good luck! Tomorrow we begin U.S. History.

January 28th, 2008

Hi Cate,

Today the students made salt maps of the United States to see how well they knew the basic physical features of the United States. This took most of the time in class. Tomorrow we have a Geography Challenge. Good luck on the test. Let me know what else I can do to help!

January 23 and January 24, 2008

Hi Cate,

How are things going down there? I don't want you to worry too much about taking the map quizzes that the students have done here. Right now the most important things are completing the maps (Political and Physical) and focusing on the notes that I am sending down to you. I will be sending the notes for the Southeast and Northeast parts of the U.S. soon. The Big Geography test is coming up on Wednesday, January 30th. The test covers all 50 states and capitals, major physical geography of the U.S. (from your maps) and info from the notes.

Yesterday and today we covered the final leg of our whirlwind tour of the U.S. We viewed the CD-Roms for the southeastern and northeastern parts of our country. We practiced our map knowledge on different maps on the smart board. The students took their last two map quizzes. This coming Monday we will make salt dough maps in class. Tuesday is a massive geo competition day with lots of different games in preparation for Wednesday's test. After this unit it will be easier to follow along with what we are doing in class.

January 21nd and 22nd

Hi Cate,

January 21st was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We had a number of activities to celebrate the day. So, no class stuff today.

Today is January 22nd, today is a special schedule day because of the chorus concert. So, all we did was discuss the three map quizzes we did so far. We continued our tour of the United States by looking at the Midwest region. We also spend some time at the Smart Board using the markers to identify certain areas. I will put together a packet of the notes we have done so far. I will also send Jemi the three map quizzes we have done too. This will all be done later today.

Mr. M

January 17th and 18th, 2008

Hi Cate,

Yesterday and today we continued our tour of the United States. We watched a segment on a CD-Rom about the western states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada)and took notes. I was not able to do what you suggested in the email regarding putting the CD-Rom on a media player and sending it to you. I will look into it with Mr. Montagne. Students took Map Quiz #2. Today we had Map Quiz #3 on the Midwest/Great Plains states. We also did a playdough geographic activity. Using a cut-out shape of the United States, students made mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts and valleys out of playdough and attempted to put them in the right locations on the map. It was fun. Have a nice weekend!

January 16, 2008

We began today with a tour of Mr. M's updated website. The U.S. Geography page is located on the American History 2008 page. Let me know if you have trouble finding it.

Students practiced some of the geography of the Pacific States on the Smartboard in class. Mr. M asked questions and they approached the board to circle or label items.

Then we finished our notes about the Pacific States. Mr. M answered questions. Then it was time for the quiz. Quizzes will be returned tomorrow. Homework for the western states is on the homework site. Talk to you tomorrow!