US History– Ms. Ulfers' ClassroomDearborn Public Schools

May 2nd FRIDAY, May 3rd!

Yay Friday!

5/3 Quick Write: (You will be turning in FIVE Quick Writes and one Current Event today!)

Today we will do a collaborative Gallery Walk of our nine different migrant groups! The posters you completed yesterday will be hung up around the classroom, and you will walk around the room gathering information on each group:

• Reasons each group moved
• Hardships they faced
• Legacies they’ve left

You will put this information on this handout:Migrant Group Notes (GW)

After you and your partner gather this information, you will choose one of the nine groups and create a CER answering the question: “Which migrant group had the most significant impact on the West? Explain.” You will complete this CER using two pieces of evidence from the gallery walk. The CER will go on the backside of your Migrant Group Gallery Walk Notes.

This will be due at the end of class (you know you don’t want homework this weekend!)

Have a FUN and SAFE weekend!!

May 1st Thursday, May 2nd:

Another shortened class today… Social Studies M-STEP this morning!

5/2 Quick Write:

Now that the S.S. M-STEP is in the rear-view mirror, we are using our shortened class period today to create a poster of the migrant group you were assigned yesterday. Using your Migrant Group Cornell Notes and your partner, yall will co-create one poster giving information about your migrant group. This poster is due at the end of class and we will be using it for a gallery walk tomorrow.

Instructions are below:

Because we have very little time to complete this in class, you and your partner need to use your time productively! If I see groups that are consistently off-task, they will earn a PBIS signature.

Poster format is here: Migrant group poster format

Also, Current Event due tomorrow!

Apr 30th Wednesday, May 1st!

Happy May Day!

Remember to take a look at the Social Studies M-STEP review material posted from Monday! You need to have a basic understanding of the Civil War.

5/1 Quick Write:

Today we are taking advantage of having a full day of class and introducing a new topic: Migrant Groups in the West.

Migrants, a group of people who move from one place to another, have continuously reshaped and improved the United States– this happens now, and it happened in our expanding and developing West! We will look at nine different migrant groups this week, and analyze how each group made their contribution to the West.

• The Explorers (Lewis & Clark)
• The Mountain Men
• The Californios
• The Missionaries
• The Pioneer Women
• The Forty-Niners
• The Mormons
• The Chinese

For our activity today, you will be assigned a partner and a specific migrant group. Using a reading on Google Classroom (unfortunately, I cannot upload the reading onto the blog), you and your partner will read through the section of the reading that discusses your migrant group. Together, you will take Cornell Notes on your group, addressing the Essential Question: How did [_migrant group_] help gain land in the West? Instructions are below.

As a team, you and your partner will both do the reading and yall can help each other take notes. However, you will each need to do the Cornell Notes separately.

Please note: You need to be efficient with your time on these Cornell Notes. We have a shortened class period tomorrow and you will be using your Cornell Notes for our next activity.

Reminder: Current Event due this Friday!

Apr 29th Tuesday, April 30th

Let’s do this M-STEP thing! Science is today, and classes afterwards will be 30 minutes.

4/30 Quick Write:

I know your brains are probably swimming a little bit after the test this morning, so we will keep our class pretty mellow today. You will be completing your Andrew Jackson: Villain or Superhero poster. Your poster needs to be colored and clearly demonstrate Jackson as either a villain or a superhero.

Other requirements:

1. You need to include a picture or depiction of all 5 of these events:
   – The Trail of Tears
   – The Indian Removal Act
   – The Nullification Crisis
   – The Bank War
   – The Spoil System
   If you are portraying Jackson as a villain, how will you show the “Spoils System” in a negative way? If he is a superhero, how will you draw the Bank War in a positive way?
2. You MUST have a Summary: “Andrew Jackson was a __________ for America because…”

Instructions are below:

This is due at the end of class.

Apr 28th Monday, April 29th!

Happy Monday!

4/29 Quick Write:

Turn in your Current Event if you didn’t do it on Friday!

Today’s class will be split into two tasks:

1. We will review the Civil War for the M-STEP on Thursday. Remember, this is just an overview of the causes and effects of the war, because you will definitely see something about it on the social studies M-STEP.
   – Here are the overview notes we will cover in class: M-STEP overview
   – Here is a list of vocab likely to be on the test: M-STEP Possible Vocab
   – Here is a list of US History topics you can review: M-STEP Social Studies Topics Review
   – Here is a link to a sample social studies test (put in the login and password that it gives you): Social Studies practice test
   – Here is the key to the sample test above: KEY
2. The next thing we will do is debrief and begin our wrap up on Andrew Jackson.

Through our discussion of Andrew Jackson and his presidency last week, you hopefully have begun to realize how very human and complex he was (just like many of the other presidents we’ve discussed!). He was responsible for doing some horrendous things (Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears, for example), actions that many people find unforgivable. It is also likely that without him as a leader of the US, this country would not have the same economic stability or physical territories we have today.

Today’s activity will take Jackson’s contradictory actions into account: you will choose whether he is a superhero or super-villain. To do this you will follow the instructions below:

After you have marked “H” or “V” on your notes, you will:

Make sure you depict all 5 events in your illustrations.

We will finish this poster during our 30 minute class tomorrow. 

Apr 25th Friday, April 26th!

Happy Friday!

I will be collecting your Current Event and Quick Writes (FOUR of them) today!

4/26 Quick Write:

As mentioned on Wednesday and yesterday, we are finishing our notes of Andrew Jackson today.  These are the topics we should have completed notes on by the end of class:

• The Election of 1828
• The Spoils System
• The Nullification Crisis
• War on the Bank
• Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears

You can find the Jackson Notes Handout here: Andrew Jackson Notes Handout

If you missed any of the notes, you can find all Jackson Notes info here: Andrew Jackson Presidency Notes

After we wrap up these notes, we will hold off on discussion of Jackson until next week, and segue into a quick review of what to expect on the Social Studies M-STEP exam. Essentially, we will debrief on some topics that are guaranteed to be in the test, and that we haven’t covered in class– largely the Civil War! For this overview we won’t be focused on the details of what happened during the war; we will be mainly focused on what lead to the Civil War and the consequences after. We will lightly touch on these topics again before the M-STEP Social Studies test.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Apr 24th Thursday, April 25th

No Quick Write today!

Today we are taking a Social Studies Skills assessment.
Please keep these things in mind:
– This assessment will NOT affect your grade in class
– This assessment is NOT used for high school placement
– You do NOT need to study for this test– it assesses your skills, not what you already know

This is a timed test: You will have the whole period to complete this multiple choice assessment. At the end of class you will submit the assessment whether you’re completed or not.
Do you best 🙂

Remember: Current Event tomorrow!

Apr 23rd Late Start– Wednesday, April 24th!

We’re reaching the halfway point of the week!

Heads up:
Tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday we are temporarily stepping away from Westward Expansion in order to cover some social studies and assessment skills. Tomorrow you will take a social studies skills multiple-choice assessment– this will NOT effect your grade! On Friday we will cover some M-STEP prep!

4/24 Quick Write:

Today we are digging into the seventh president of the United States: Andrew Jackson. We have very lightly discussed #5 (Monroe) and #6 (John Quincy Adams), and we will likely loop back around to them throughout this unit and the next.

Andrew Jackson should sound like a very familiar name to us now: we discussed how he was a general in the War of 1812 (won the Battle of New Orleans), how he invaded and essentially captured Florida from Spain, and now we will examine his actions and decisions as president. Jackson is a complicated figure whose historical accomplishments almost rival his abrasive personality and the atrocities carried out under his administration.

In order to understand and appreciate Jackson’s impactful presidency (both the good and bad), today we will be taking notes on the following topics:

• The Election of 1828
• The Spoils System
• The Nullification Crisis
• War on the Bank
• Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears

You can find the Jackson Notes Handout here: Andrew Jackson Notes Handout

Jackson Notes Powerpoint here: Andrew Jackson Presidency Notes

Time permitting, we will complete the notes by the end of class. If not, we will finish them up tomorrow.

Reminder: Current Event due Friday.

Apr 22nd Tuesday, April 23rd

Happy Tuesday!

4/23 Quick Write:

Today we will consider why the reading we’ve covered the last few days of class was titled “Manifest Destiny and the Growing Nation.” If you could rename the article, what would you call it? We will be using our Cornell Notes to answer that question, along with a few other questions on a handout titled: “Westward Expansion Map Worksheet”

Handout: Westward Expansion Map worksheet

This worksheet should be completed by the end of class today!

Apr 21st Monday, April 22nd:

Welcome back! 3 day weekends are so refreshing… and we even got some sun out of the deal on Sunday! Hope you all are rested and ready to take on this week.

4/22 Quick Write:

Today we will continue the reading “Manifest Destiny and a Growing Nation” together as a class (see “Ch. 15 Acquiring New Land” on Google Classroom). This reading discusses how the US acquired more land in the west. On Friday, most hours got through Florida and Texas–  today we will discuss the Oregon country, the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico etc), and California. You will add on to the Cornell Notes you started on Friday (2 notes per subheading). Remember, the essential question is: How did the US acquire the lands of the West?

See Cornell Notes instructions below.

The reading can be found on Google Classroom (the file size is too large to upload onto this blog).

Reminder: Current Event due THIS FRIDAY!