Happy Wednesday! I’m looking forward to seeing you all today because most of you didn’t have History yesterday 🙁

3/11 Quick Write:

We are taking a look at one of India’s most influential and powerful ancient emperors… Emperor Ashoka! Ashoka is an interesting character because he started off as a fierce, violent, and confrontational leader. For example, he went to war against his own brother in order to rule over the empire. But then he had a change of heart after the Battle at Kalinga and he began to lead with Buddhist values… he encouraged peace and respect to all living things throughout his empire.

We are going to talk about Ashoka’s attitude shift, and the Edicts, or laws, he made after he came over to the light side. To do this, you will collect notes by completing a gallery walk. See the notes below.

Tomorrow we will continue our look at ancient Indian leadership and influences. Cheers!

It’s going to be a busy day! Remember to go to 1st hour. From there we will go down to the cafeteria to get into our museum groups. You don’t need bags or books, money or food. Just bring yourselves and some curiosity!

We will be leaving Smith at 9 am, and getting back about 11:30. Then we will have lunch before we will go to 5th hour.

You will attend 5th hour, Target Tuesday, and 6th hour today.

Some reminders:

• For the field trip, be respectful and helpful to the chaperones. They took the day off from work to spend time with us, and without them, these trips would never be able to happen.
• Today is election day! The school’s atrium will look a little different because people will be coming in to vote.
  • As we discussed in class, there are extra people in the school to make sure that voters are going directly to the atrium.
  • If you see an adult you do not recognize in the hallways looking lost, let one of us teachers know and we will make sure they find the atrium.

I’m excited for a fun day, y’all!

Hello team! Welcome back. I hope Day Light Savings Time didn’t mess with you too badly… at least it will be nice and bright in the mornings now!

Reminder: We have our DIA field trip tomorrow! You do not need to bring anything for it… no lunch, no snacks, no money. We will have lunch when we get back. It’s going to be a lot of fun– plus, you won’t have most of your classes!

Tuesday morning go straight to 1st hour… no A2 because it’s Target Tuesday!

3/9 Quick Write:

Today we are wrapping up Buddhism and Hinduism. We will compare the two philosophies using a Venn diagram.

After this, you will show me your understanding of both religions by creating four test questions (and answers). Teaching is the best way to show learning, so show me your learning by writing 4 different questions you might expect to see on a test. Instructions are below.

Yes, these questions are summative! So be thoughtful when creating these questions. Below are some examples of BAD questions.

Have a great day… Spring is on its way!

Hi team… yay Friday! We made it through a complete week which feels like an accomplishment, especially after the two snow days last week.

3/6 Quick Write:

Today we are wrapping up our Buddhism comic, showing the story of Prince Siddhartha and how he became The Buddha. Remember, you need two things per chapter (total of five chapters):

1. Three sentence summary of each chapter
2. A picture or sketch that represents what happened in each chapter

After we complete our comic, we will have a class discussion about the similarities and differences of Hinduism and Buddhism. After we talk about various aspects of both religions, you will fill in a Venn Diagram comparing the two. See the diagram below.

Have a very safe and enjoyable weekend!

Hi all! I know we have covered a lot of information this week, and we still have more to go! Remember to ask questions as we go…

3/5 Quick Write:

Today after a quick review of Hinduism and the caste system, we will take a look at another Indian religion. Again, some of you did your religion project on this faith, so a lot of the information may be familiar. We are going to get to know Buddha today!

Since it has been a long week, we are going to relax with some storytelling. I am going to tell you the story of Buddha. While I read, you are filling out a comic strip of Buddha’s life. There are five steps, or chapters, you will need to create a drawing or sketch for. Each sketch will also need a three sentence summary.

If necessary, we will continue our storytelling and comic strips tomorrow. Have a great day!

DIA Permission Slips! DIA Permission Slips! DIA Permission Slips! DIA Permission Slips!

Housekeeping: 4th, 5th and 6th hour

Your Investigation #3 CER scores have been posted and the assignment has been electronically returned to you on Google Classroom. If you earned under a 3, you may take the opportunity to do corrections. Take a look at my feedback and, if you have specific questions, you’re welcome to come into lunch. **Corrections are due by 3pm this Friday!**

3/4 Quick Write:

Today we are revisiting the religion of Hinduism. Before Winter Break we did religion projects and some of you already know quite a lot about Hinduism.

To get started, we will refresh ourselves on karma, Sanskrit, the Vedas, reincarnation and the caste system. Then we will watch a short video which will summarize a lot of our prior knowledge.

Pay attention during the video because after it, you and your table will work with a handheld whiteboard to answer questions from the video.

Our next focus will be the caste system, which we discussed briefly last week. We will take a second to review, then we will take a deeper look at the five distinct castes that are often still used today. We will discuss how Hinduism reinforces this caste system, and why so many millions of people believe it is a fair and just system.

Then we will watch another short video. Afterwards, we will use the whiteboards for a few more questions.

Have a jolly good day, team… two more days!

Hey team. Remember to go right to your first period class today because it is Target Tuesday!

**Remember those permission slips!!**

3/3 Quick Write:

Today we are going to take a look at one of the oldest settlements in Ancient India, what is modern-day Pakistan today. The city of Mohenjodaro was an extremely advanced settlement during the same time as Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

In class we are going to take a visual artifacts tour of Mohenjodaro. As I show you various artifacts, you will record hypotheses about what you think life and people were like in the city.

After we discuss our hypotheses, we will watch a quick video on the fate of Mohenjodaro (aliens?!) followed by a Exit Ticket.

Have a very nice day… it’s not freezing outside!

Hi all… welcome back! Last week was pretty funky with two days of guest teachers and two snow days, so I am very excited for all of us to get back into our routine.

Housekeeping: all classes!

Bring in your DIA permission slips!!!! The deadline has been extended twice. Your slip absolutely must be turned in this week.

Housekeeping: 1st and 3rd hour!

Your Investigation #3 CER scores have been posted and the assignment has been electronically returned to you on Google Classroom. If you earned under a 3, you may take the opportunity to do corrections. Take a look at my feedback and, if you have specific questions, you’re welcome to come into lunch. Corrections are due by 3pm this Wednesday!

If you’re not in 1st or 3rd hour, your scores and CERs will be posted on Tuesday!

3/2 Quick Write:

Today we are looking at one of the most sacred areas in India… the Ganges River! We will do a reading on why the Ganges is so important to many Indians, and why the Ganges River is in big trouble. Below you can find the reading.

In table groups you will be assigned one or two questions from the reading. After your table finds the correct answer, each group will share out their answers and the rest of the class will write down the information.

After all groups share and all questions have been answered, we will watch a quick video of what the Ganges River is like today.

Have a good Monday… we can get through it!

Hi all! Hopefully you all enjoyed your two days off!

You need to bring all of your work from Monday and Tuesday! This includes the two maps, definitions and four Frayer Models. You will bring this whether the assignments are completed or not.

2/28 Quick Write:

Come prepared and let’s get back to our routine!

Oh hi! We are continuing our work on India today.

2/25 Quick Write:

If you were not done with the maps from yesterday, you may have time to work on them at the end of class. But the majority of class will be spend familiarizing ourselves on vocab for our new unit.

Our assignment is broken down into two parts.

Step 1: Use the textbook to define the thirteen vocab terms we’ll be using this unit. You can use pages 135-167 or the glossary to define these words.

Step 2: Pick FOUR of the vocab terms and create a Frayer model for each word.

You are KEEPING ALL OF YOUR WORK from today and yesterday and bringing it to class tomorrow! You will turn in your vocab, Frayer Models and maps at the end of class tomorrow. So keep them safe!