Hello! I will miss you all today, but I will have cool stories from my visits to other history classrooms to share when I get back!

2/4 Quick Write:

Please remember my expectations for when there is a substitute, and the consequences for any disrespect or misbehavior while I am away. Make me proud, team 🙂

Today you will acquaint yourself with the Silk Road! Since our next Investigation will intensely focus on the Silk Road, it is only fair for a little introduction.

You will be reading through Chapter 24, answering questions on your own sheet of paper. You will turn this in at the end of class, regardless of if you’re done or not!

See you Wednesday!

Hello, welcome back! Two full weeks of classes, and then one week to recover… we can do it!

2/3 Quick Write:

Housekeeping: There will be a sub tomorrow. I will be doing observations at another middle school, going into history classes for the day. As always, I have very clear expectations for how you will behave when I am away.

1. You will be respectful to the sub.
2. You will do your work as you would if I were there.
3. You will not embarrass yourself or ME.
4. Show the substitute how cool you are, just like you show me everyday.

As always, the consequences for distributing class or disrespecting the sub will be:

1. Phone call phone
2. PBIS signature
3. Lunch detention

Basically, make me (and yourselves) proud!

Today we are reviewing the Han inventions we discussed on Friday… all 16 of them! We will categorize the inventions into whether or not they are still used today, and which are the most important.

Then you will write a short story or poem describing three to five inventions. Instructions are below.

Have a great day, see you Wednesday!

Last day of January! How did that happen??

1/31 Quick Write: You are turning this in today. Make sure your name is on top and there are FIVE completed quick writes.

Today we are discussing the next Dynasty…. the HAN! It is a very influential dynasty, partially because it lasted 400 years and a lot can happen in that time.

We will look at a lot of invaluable inventions today. We will play game where we need to match the invention with the definition. See attached.

Hopefully after becoming familiar with all of the tools and treasures invented from this time, you will have a better understanding of how important this dynasty was to China, and the rest of the world!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Here we go, team!

1/30 Quick Write:

Today you are demonstrating how well you understand the types of power that empires use to keep control. You will choose ONE of the four, and write a CER OR create a poster. Instructions are below.

This is due at the end of class!! If we have extra time at the end of class, we will take a sneak peak at the next, and very famous, dynasty… the HAN!

Happy Wednesday! We are cruising through the week.

1/29 Quick Write:

We are continuing our Tree Map on the four types of power that the Qin Emperor used during his reign.

After the map is completed, you will use it to either write a CER, or create a poster… your choice!

We will continue this work tomorrow…. It will be due by the end of class tomorrow!

Hi there, happy Tuesday! It is Targeted Tuesday today, so no Advisory today!

1/28 Quick Write:

Today we are taking one of the philosophies from last week, Legalism, and seeing how it played out in real life. Welcome to the Qin Dynasty!

We are going to meet China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, a fella who was fierce, ruthless, and terrified of death. With the help of the video below, we will learn about his ancient, unopened tomb, and the 8,000 person army who still guards the tomb today.

Then we will take a look at how an empire keeps its power. Looking at the Qin Dynasty as our example, what must an emperor control in order to maintain order, and how will they control it?

We will discuss four types of power:

1. Military
2. Cultural
3. Political
4. Forced Labor

We will create a tree map and each of these powers will be one branch. Reading together as a class, we will organize and paraphrase the ideas in the text onto our maps. See instructions and the tree map handout below.

We will continue our reading and tree map tomorrow. Have a lovely Tuesday!

Hi team! Are we ready for a full week?! Well, I guess we don’t have a choice, so let’s make the best of it.

1/27 Quick Write:

Today we are reviewing the three philosophies of Chinese government that we studied last week. After review, we will take a short quiz. This quiz is for a grade, but, more importantly, I am using it to see if most of you are comfortable with the three philosophies, or if we need to go back and clarify some information.

After the quiz, we will briefly introduce the next Dynasty… the Qin! The Qin adopted the Legalist philosophy, and was a short and intense time period. To get a general overview of this turbulent dynasty, we will watch a short video.

The next few days we will take a deeper look into the highlights and lowlights of the Qin. Have a great day!

Whoof… what a weird week. But no fear, normal routine starts again next week!

1/24 Quick Write:

Today we are reviewing Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism. Remember, these are the three philosophies that came out of the Warring State Period, and each was a different way to govern a country.

We will watch a quick video which summarizes the info we talked about yesterday. While we watch you will take KWL notes– You will write down 3 things you already know from yesterday, 3 things you want to know or are confused about, and 3 things you’ve learned (once we start watching the video).

After the video, we will clear up any questions. If we have time, we will take a short quiz. This quiz is just a way for me to know what we might need to review next week.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Normal schedule… full class time!! I can sense your enthusiasm from here.

1/23 Quick Write:

Today we are taking some NOTES.. whoohoo! We will focus on the 3 different theories, or philosophies, that became popular during the Zhou Dynasty.

As a reminder, there was a lot of turbulence and violence during this time in China, and people wanted to find a way to create stability and peace. To do that, there were three very different ways of living and governing that became very popular: Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism.

There is a little twist; when we learn about Legalism and Daoism, I will operate the classroom using each philosophy respectively. Just a heads up– it may be a bit different.

See the notes below.

Have a great day!

Already almost halfway through the week! Another half day. I don’t like it– we’re not spending enough time together 🙁

1/22 Quick Write:

Today we are considering the questions:

• What is the best way to have peace and order in a society?
• How should a government rule?

These are the questions that people in the Zhou Dynasty began to ask during a time of violence and instability, known as the Warring States Period.

It is these questions that will lead us to the three philosophies of government that we will discuss in depth this week.

Once we are familiar with these ways of living and ruling (you hopefully remember something about Confucianism already!!), we will compare and contrast the effectiveness of each.

Have a good day… normal schedule tomorrow… yay!