End of the year Survey - May 28th

I told you the year would go by fast! I hope you have a great summer! You have been an awesome class to teach! Every one of you has a bright future!

The Great Colonial EC Challenge!

The Extra Credit Opportunity available to you is to take a test covering the original 13 colonies and their distinct differences and characteristics. Remember a score of 80% or more is needed to earn any extra credit.Reviewing the information below will help you prepare!

1. Be able to identify the original 13 colonies, their location and by region, and the major cities of the colonial era.(map from class will help with this)

2. The New England Colonies (pages 109-113)

3. The Middle Colonies (pages 114-118)

4. The Southern Colonies (pages 119-123)

5. The Backcountry (the frontier) pages 126-129.

Early English Settlements Test is Tuesday, 4/15

Here is a practice M/C quiz for you - 10 questions for now...more to come!

Take my online quiz

The Great Age of European Exporation Studyblog 2008

Okay, I have tried to put together a studyblog full of ways that you can help prepare yourself for the Great Age of European Exploration Test this Wednesday, March 12th. Check it out! Here is a link to a multiple choice quiz about the Explorers and Conquistadors that you will need to know for the test.

Take my online quiz

So Why Did They Come? How and Why the Great Age of Exploration Begins - !
Voicethread about the Spanish Empire in the New World - you may need to turn the volume up on this one - plus there is a pause at the beginning but the audio is there

February 28, 2008

Cate Ziegler - how are you?

I just wanted to update you on a couple of things. I hope it didn't make you all nervous down there when the blog started to change a little bit. I needed to create some things for studying for the First Americans Test as well as for some days I was out of town.

We started a new unit on the Great Age of Exploration. Last Monday, students chose one of the more well-known explorers to use for our upcoming Social Gathering (scheduled for next week). Let me know when you are ready and I will let you choose an explorer. The students answered some questions and other things for their explorer. The questions are located below in the blog entry for that day. Once again, let me know when you are ready and I will help you with this.

Tuesday the students read an article about a Chinese sea-captain that historians are starting to call the Chinese Columbus. I want you to read this article and I will fax one down. Or, have you already seen it?

Wednesday I returned and started the unit in earnest. I began by showing the students the very well known oddysey of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado - we discussed his story and I explained why we are doing this unit. Basically, without the Great Age of Exploration there never will be a United States of America. Then we talked about who really discovered America. We had a discussion about Columbus, Zheng He (that Chinese Sea-Captain), the Vikings, and other possibilities through out history. For example - Roman coins were found in an Indian mound in Texas. The mound dated to about 800 A.D. How did those coins get there?

Thursday, today, there was a lot I had to share with the students today. We discussed the homework assignment - Europe in the 15th Century - from the history book. I used a power point and some video to help me with the lesson. I will send these on in an email to Jemi soon.

Okay, let me know if you have any questions.

Zheng He - the Great Chinese Admiral - 70 years before Columbus

Trailer for the award-winning documentary on Zheng He.

Monday, February 26th

Okay everyone, we are beginning a new unit today - the Great Age of European Exploration. Starting with some curious individuals in the 15th century it will lead to people coming over to what is now the United States. These early colonists and adventurers will help begin settlements that will one day grow into the United States of America. It will be a very long journey. I am sorry I can't be with you today and I won't be until this Wednesday. For today though you can get started on an important mini-research activity that will end with you in costume. I will explain later. Ms. Kidd will help you select the name of one of these early explorers. Once you have your explorer go ahead and get started.

Follow these directions:

Open up a new word document on your desktop.
Copy and paste the questions below to the word document.
Begin to research the answers to these questions.
When complete - save the document to a folder with your name on it.
Go to MS GROUP and place this folder into the GREAT EXPLORERS folder (in your class period).

THE QUESTIONS:

What is the name of your famous explorer?
What is his nationality? (where was he born)
What was he exploring or looking for?
What did he find?
How many voyages did he make?
What became of your famous explorer? (did he die? worshipped as a hero? etc...)
What is the major accomplishment he is remembered for?
Copy and Paste at least one picture of your explorer on the word doc.
Copy and Paste at least one map of the voyages or places explored on the word doc.

THESE LINKS (right hand side of this blog) WILL HELP YOU COMPLETE THIS TASK. Browse for your explorer. Good luck and see you Wednesday. Questions? email me at bmarkwald@usmk12.org