Video: The Greeks

Today in Western Civ we started watching a movie about the Greeks. Most of the stuff what they were telling us we already knew from previous chapters. Liam Neeson was the narrator, he is a very famous actor, he starred in Taken along with Taken 2.  We didn't finish the movie in time for the end of class so I assume we will finish it when we come back from the long weekend. I will add my notes tomorrow since I forgot my notebook at school.

Lots of Work

Today in class Mr. Schick told us we were going to do a paper about Chapter 4 that was on his website. We downloaded the paper and got right to work. So far it is pretty difficult and a lot of work and has been the hardest of all the work he has given us. It takes a while to figure out all the answers and sadly I think we have to do it for homework. The bell rung signalling the end of class along with the end of the day.

Chapter 3 Test Today!

Today we got into class and was given the test for Chapter 3. We were gratefully allowed to use our textbooks. I answered all the questions, some were challenging but it was completely fair. It took about 40 minutes to complete with some time remaining. The test overall was mixed with easy questions and challenging questions. The essay I felt pretty confident about, definitely since I had my textbook. Everyone was focused and quiet during the entire class time. Once I finished I got out my English book, Into the Wild, and finished reading the assigned chapter.  

Test Monday

Today we got right to work, Mr. Schick pulled up the Chapter 3 outline to finish going over it. After a few minutes he told us that he wouldn't be in school on Monday since he will be going on a senior class trip. Since he won't be in class he said that we weren't to use our blogs during the test since he won't be able to monitor what we will be on. He didn't want to leave us in the dark so he is going to allow us to use our textbook. He suggested us to highlight the important topics in the textbook that way it will help us study and be easier to find the answers while doing the test. Once we went over the test on Monday we continued the review while getting side track-ted a few times. We finished up the review just in time for the bell.

Chapter 3 Outline

Chapter 3 Outline Link from Mr.Schick
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HMcdfZs6KRQWm931539-S4DoUb_xfobA_v9pzBg8wqA/edit

Chapter 3 Review

Today was the most boring class ever....but not really since we got a little off topic at times. Once he started the review I was writing notes even though he has then online so he asked, "Why are you taking notes when they are online?" I replied that it helps me remember the material (which it does) which is like another way to study for me. Then he moved on. We finished LO-1 and LO-2 and were beginning to start LO-3 when the bell rung.

Student Teacher Day

Today was very nerve racking since Mr.Schick made my group present our power point in front of the entire class....of like 10 people. Mr.Schick was going through the groups trying to determine which would be the victim that would have to present the power point. Sadly our group was the only one that had the power point completed so we were the victims. We got up there going through LO-1 to LO-3 but we didn't get to finish the LO-3 slides since Mr.Schick would explain in great depth what our slides said since we didn't really know what to say besides what was up there. We were up there for about an hour till the bell rung signalling the end of the very long class.

Test Review

Today we sat down and was handed a test, I had a minor heart attack till I realized it was the test we took last week. I did pretty good on the test; we went through the test, we went down the rows that way each student had to answer a question at least twice. Once we finished we had about 10 minutes left and Mr.Schick told us our homework assignment with our group for the power point. Now we get to add half of LO-3!!!....not really.....LO-3 is really long. We have the weekend along with Monday since we are off to work on it so it is not that bad. Then the bell rung signaling the end of our short class.

A Day without Schick

Today was sadly another (really only 2nd time) day without Mr.Schick. We got to class excited for the anticipation on what we were going to be learning on a long Wednesday but once we arrived we soon found out that he was absent. Then the substitute teacher was there and said we had to add LO-2 to our power point of Chapter 3. My group got right to work and finished. Then a message came up from Mr.Schick when we were working on the power point in google present. He said we were doing a great job and that he was glad to see we were working so hard....while the others goofed off and didn't really focus or do much work. We finished our work right as the bell rung.

Power Point Worth an A++

Today we got right to work on the power point we are making on the first European Civilization. The class was split up into groups containing 4-5 people. My group was Alexandra, Mikenzhie, Rachel, and I. We finished pretty quickly while the other groups goofed off. Mr. Schick looked at our power point and said we were amazing! Once we finished our power point we did our blogs and hung out for the rest of the class!

Notes, Notes, Notes!

Today we accomplished a lot; we took tons of notes about the European barbarians (LO-1 Chapter 3). First we used the power point the company gave Mr. Schick with the textbooks then once we finished that power point we moved onto his own power point he made that had additional information that he though was important. BUT before we all started taking tons of notes we asked if our test were graded that we took on Friday and they were so we went onto Powerschool and checked them. He said the class's average score was about an 82%, not bad for our first test! Once we got into the notes we talked about the Stonehenge, a megalithic structure that is most famous built around 2000 B.C! We came to a conclusion after many minutes of discussion about how they built it that we don't know.  Some people believe that it was  aliens which makes absolutely complete sense for them to come put some rocks together, leave, and never come back.........alright sure, it was aliens. Then we moved onto some more notes!

The European Barbarians

Map of Greece
Source: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/gr.htm

Barbarian: way of life people used to live by that was based on farming, warfare, and tribal organization that developed around 2500 B.C throughout Europe

Megaliths: very large stones cut to make monuments and or tombs

Tribe: social/ political unit containing a group with similar interests, traditions, and real or mythical ties of kinship

Indo-European: a group of nomads that most likely came from the steppes

Western: Greece was the first western civilization to connect with other civilizations 

               More than 3,000 years ago life spread southwest from Egypt. With this move, life changed with advancements such as tools, family, and village life. By 3500 B.C people started settling in Europe; this settlement had an increase in wealth along with population that allowed them to make huge monuments called megaliths. A well-known megalith is the Stonehenge, built in the western part of England around 2000 B.C. Not all of their lives were focused on megaliths; in fact the main business of life was farming and would create villages that contained many related families called tribes. This way of life was barbaric; the first European Barbarians to succeed to make contact with civilization were the Greeks.  This contact stretched from mainland Greece, to the Aegean Sea, to the west coast of Asia Minor. The Aegean region farming wealth came from grain, vineyards, and olive groves; not only were they rich in farming but also in metals and wood to build ships. A civilization known as Minoan formed from the island of Crete founded on trade and the seas that established their wealth. With a large role for women society was a large into games such as bullfights but with wealth comes destruction. The Minoans were destroyed around 1400 B.C While the Minoans were forming the European Barbarians were moving into Greece and by 1600 B.C Greek chieftains formed a settlement called the Mycenaean civilization. They proceeded with the barbaric life style but did gain features from the Minoan culture. 200 years after the fall of the Minoans the Mycenaean civilization failed. About 600 years later the Greek civilization recovered and was taught by the cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia while still being itself. 

Test Today

Today was a fairly quiet day, I walked into class a little nervous about the test we were about to take. Once I sat down I was just about to look over my notes but right away Mr.Schick started handing out the tests. I got my test and started right away. About 2 minutes into the test he declared that we were allowed to use our notes from our blogger, sadly I forgot to put my notes up when I was planning to.Throughout the test Mr. Schick would tap his bell and tell us how much time was left. I finished with about 2 minutes. It consisted of multiple choice, short answer, and an essay.

Test Friday!

Today our class was first mod, we got a lot done and even had some extra time. We walked into the classroom and took out seats. After morning announcements we got right to work. We had to finish taking notes off of Prezi about Egypt. After we finished taking notes, we watched a video on mummification. During the process the first step is to take out all the organs and preserve them. The second step they do is put salt all over the body and let it rest for 40 days, this takes out all of the liquids. Once rested they wrap the body tightly many times and then place it in the tomb. After watching the interesting video we then proceeded on to have a little extra time to watch a video with John Green. In the video he messed up several times about the Nile going from North to South when it actually flows South to North.

Building A Pyramid with Mikenzhie

Today was the most eventful day in class, today we built a pyramid......online. We got in class and Mr. Schick told us to partner up with someone, that someone was Mikenzhie. Once we partnered up, he explained the game we are gonna be playing. All of the partners will be versing each other, the first person to win the game gets 10 points, second person gets 9 points, and whoever finishes in class gets 8 points. The people that do it for homework get 7 points. We all started at the same time so it would be fair. The competition was on! My partner and I did it at least 4 times, but I finally got it after so much stress! We were the first people to win meaning we got the total 10 points. Once we finished I did my blog while everyone else finished up. It felt like I conquered the world once I won the game. The class was a perfect ending to the day!