Exam Essays

Today in class we wrote out essay questions for our final exam. We were supposed to pick 3 out of the 5 but since our class was shortened from the assembly this morning we only had to pick 2 out of the 5. Which was great! It was still hard getting both essays done in less than 30 min. but we all managed to get them done.

Rome Test

Today we took our final test in class, this test was on Ancient Rome. The questions were all on the power point. The biggest problem for me was remembering what the different parts for legislative and judicial. Other than that it was good, i could always study a little more though.  

Presentations Day 3

Today we continued presenting our projects. We learned about Hadrians wall, The pantheon, and Mosaics. Dimitra and i were supposed to go today. Although, she did not come to school. So I had to present our project alone.

Presentation Day 2

Today in class two groups presented their projects. We heard about the crucifixion of Jesus, which was very interesting. We also learned about the Baths in ancient Rome.

Presentations Day 1

Today in class we started our presentations. We learned about ancient Roman food and pottery, Ancient paintings of foryums, and aqueducts.

Pop Quiz

Today in class we took a pop quiz on Rome, then we got the rest of class to work on our projects that are due next week.

Students teaching

Today in class Mr. Schick let the students teach, so four people got up and started presenting the Rome power point. It was really funny, but also interesting. I liked it because it was a change from the same thing we usually do, which is take notes from the slide. Sometimes we may understand it better if we share and talk about it to the class.

Rome video

Today in class we watched a video about Rome and Tiberius. Tiberius wanted to speak for the poor people, the rich people were taking their land; leaving them with nothing. Octavious was supposed to be Tiberius' friend but ended up going against him. Vetoing the one thing TIberius wanted for the people. When the senate saw Tiberius was gaining power, they started lying to the people; telling them that Tiberius was not going to help them and wanted to be King of Rome. Tiberius wanted to run for Trbune again but you can only run for 1 year. He tried breaking the law running again, to prove to the people that he can help them. In the summer, it was time for another election. The senate murdered him that day, throwing his body in the Tiber river.

Project day

Today since Mr. Schick was not in class, we had an opportunity to work with our group to discuss our projects in more detail. Since the due date is slowly approaching, Dimitra and I need to start gathering information to make our power point and construct our model of the Pantheon. We have already started the power point and will be completing the model this week!

absent

I was not in school today because my allergies were terrible.

Rome vs. U.S - Government

Today in class we were comparing the government of Rome to the United States. The United States government is based off the Roman one, although many of the ideas are the same we have changed them to make the laws equal. 

Executive - Rome                      Executive - U.S 

- two counsels                            - president (and VP)

- one year term                           - four year term 

- veto power                               - veto proposed laws

- controls military                      - commander-in-chief

- could appoint a dictator

Legislative - Rome                       Legislative - U.S

- Senate: 300 people                     - Senate: 100 Senators. six year terms 

- Assembles: members for life     - House of Representatives: 435 members, two year terms

Judicial - Rome                                      Judicial - U.S

- Praetors                                                - Supreme Court 

- Chosen by the Centuriate assembly    - Nine members

- One year terms                                    - Appointed by the President, confirmed by the senate            

                                                               - lifetime terms

Rome - Punic Wars

Today in class we took more notes on Rome from the power point in class. We talked a lot about the wars Rome fought in. They fought in three Punic wars, the first was from (264 -241 BCE) and Rome won. The second war was from (218 -201 BCE) this was when Hannibal tried to attack Rome from the North, but did not succeed in getting there. The third, and final Punic War was from (149 - 146 BCE) The Romans got tired of the Carthaginians and wanted them to be destroyed. The finally took everything from them, including their 50,000 slaves back to Rome. If Carthage would have entered into Rome. Things would have been a lot different now, Hannibal would have changed history.

Project

We spent the class today with our group, coming up with ideas for our projects. For our project we are building the Pantheon along with a power point to explain the building. We also had a fire drill that we did not hear at first.

Riots

Today in class we talked about the riots in Baltimore City. we had a class discussion on what we thought about the whole thing. Personally, it is sad. I never imagined seeing this happen in our city. We also talked about a protest or riot that is supposedly taking place on Thursday at 5-5:30 pm in bel air. I am curious to see if this actually takes place or not.    

Facts about Rome

Today in class we looked on different websites and took notes about the Coliseum, Circus Maximus, Roman Forum, and Aqueducts. It was a little difficult cause we do not know what information is true or not. Unless its from a well known site (national geographic)

Coliseum

1. First called the Flavian Amphitheater
2. 50,000-80,000 Romans
3. Covers 6 acres
4. 36 trap doors in the arena 
5. Had four floors

Circus Maximus

1. Was built in the 6th century BCE
2. 250,000 could fit in the arena
3. Everyone could attend to the arena, for free
4. Mainly used for chariot races
5. Built on land between Palatine and Aventine hills in Rome, Italy

Aqueducts

1. Use for irrigation, drinking, and bathing
2. Used to make the water flow better throughout Rome
3. Built arches to run pipes through to carry water.
4. 260 miles long

Roman Forum

1. Centers where people met in the middle of cities

Rome project

Today in class we spent time figuring out what we wanted to do for our Rome projects. Mr. Schick gave us a list of ideas to get us thinking about some topics. Dimitra and i will either be constructing a building or baking a dessert. If we make a dessert we will practice ahead of time to make sure we get it right.

Rome Rap

Today in class Mr. Schick rapped a song that he made to the song low by flo rida about Rome. It was very interesting. Although it is going to be good to study and start to memorize for the test, i think it will be really helpful and something that we will remember even later in life and for the final exam.

Rome and the United States

Today in class we talked about Rome. We mainly talked about how the Roman Empire fell because they had so much land to cover and rule. This lead them to disaster. Many people today think that the same thing will happen to the United States, because we are going strong now just like Rome was. Although at any time we could collapse; having nothing. This sort of thing may happen in the future but not any time soon (hopefully). We talked about this because this could be an option for our project to do on Rome.

video Plato

Today in class we finished watching the Allegory. The video was about prisoners in a cave that could only see what the people wanted them to see, once one of the men were let free they saw what was out in the wold. The man came back to tell is friends what he saw ans what they are saying and showing you is not true and you need to believe what you want instead of listening to what they tell you. Then we talked about gay relationships and if they should be allowed or not.

Today in class we talked about actors and actresses and how Mr.Schick was apart of production movies and TV shows before he started teaching. Then at the end  of class we started watching a video for class.

first day back

Today we reviewed out Ancient Greece tests. Now that we went over it i should have watched more of the Greece video to help me on some of the questions. Overall, i could have studied more, especially about Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates.  

last day of essay

Today in class we finished our essay and citations, i started watching the video on Greece for the test tomorrow, and studied more off the power point and took key notes.

Essay

Today in class we finished our essay, we just have to complete the work cited page. We have a little over a 1000 words, making our paper 4 pages long. Tomorrow we will watch the video in class to prepare for the test on Wednesday on Ancient Greece.

First day on essay

Today in class we started working on our essays that are due next Wednesday. My group is almost done and, we just have to organize the paper better and add a few more main ideas about the Hoplites. We should be able to finish up on Monday.  

Presentations

Today we finished presenting our power points.

Three great Philosophers
ARISTOTLE
-384-322 BCE
- taught Alexander the Great
- lived to the age of 62
- Thought of an element known as "Aether"
SOCRATES
- 470-469 BC
- founder of Western Philosophy
- Socratic irony, Socratic method
- father was a stonemason and taught him
-died from Hemlock poisoning
PLATO
- 427- 428 BCE
- lived to be 82
foinded the Academy of Athens
- Wrote "Apology" about Socrates

presentations

Today in class we started presenting our power points. 

Pericles and the golden age 

- hubris: Greek term/ meaning full of yourself 

- Pericles was the most prominent Greek statesman, orator, and general of Athens.

- strong economy and city-state

-golden age: peace and happiness; thriving times. 

Athens, Sparta, and the Peloponnese war 

Athens - capital

            - dependent on trade and agriculture

            - men had all rights 

            - education 

            - Women had little rights

            - household duties

Sparta  - capital 

            - dependent on farming and trade

            - men had all rights 

            - physical education 

            - army/ solders 

            - Women had more rights than Athenian women

            - had physical education do bring up healthy children

            - did more physical activity 

Peloponnese War - Sparta and Athens 

                             - Spartans won!

                             - ships brought people in with the plague and killed more than 1/3 of citizens

Athenian Art and Architecture - pottery used as decorations and in everyday life  

                                                  - doric: 1st plain style 

                                                  - lonic: 2nd scrolls at the top

                                                  - Corinthian: 3rd elaborate designs wit leaves on it (stone)

 

  

notes on Greece

Today in class we spent some time answering questions that the academic team would answer. The questions were pretty hard. Then we went over some more of the power point on Greece which i already took notes on yesterday in class.

IMPORTANT TERMS
aristocracy - rich people
Symposiums - meetings the men would attend to drink and watch performers, while talking about politics.
Tyrants - an abusive or oppressive leader.
 

more notes on Greece

Transformation of government
- artisocates ran the show in most of Greece
- Rich people held the society

Aristocracy
- attended symposiums
- enjoying preferences while discussing politics
- no women
- no middle class

Tyrants: an abusive or oppressive ruler.
- Hippias was a Tyrant who ruled from 527 to 510 BCE
- Brother was murdered
- He was ostracized from Athens
- for revenge, worked with the Persian King to invade \

Project day 2

Today in class we had time to work on our power points that we are presenting on Friday. We finished ours today, we included many pictures on each slide to make it more appealing. So nex class we will start wiring our essay ass a group.

Project day 1

today we started our power points, we collected some information about The Hoplites and Tiremes and once we get a rubric for the information that we need then we will organize it into different slides according to the group.

Pop Quiz

Today in class we took a pop quiz, I knew all the answers i just mixed up the two seas. After we took the quiz Mr. Schick told us more into detail about our project. We have to make a power point by the 20th and share it to the class and write a 1000 word essay as a group. This will be due April 1st.

Project

Project Partners - Dimitra Conits and Kelsey Boyle 

Topic - Warfare on the Land and the Sea

Today in class Mr.Schick read comments that we wrote on our survey. Then we watched some videos about babies crying. it was very comical. 

 

Greece

Greece is covered with mountains (3/4) and islands (1400). Greece has many shipbuilders and skilled sailors, this made it possible for them to trade better than other countries. They also had limited natural resources due to the mountains so they traded a lot and did it well. Only 20% to be exact is suitable land for farming. They grew grains, grapes and olives. Olives were great to grow because you could use them in many different ways. Mycenaeans is located on a rocky ridge with a 20 foot wall protecting it, they influenced around 2000 BCE and started to control trade in the reign. Then the "Sea People" came and trading collapsed in Greece and so did writing for 400 years. Lastly Homer, Homer told stories during the "Greek Dark Ages". An example of two of the books are The Odessy and The lliad. 

Cyber Day Assignment

SOCRATES 

Socrates was a Greek philosopher, he is one of the founders of Western Philosophy. Socrates was born in Athens around 470 BC and died in 399 BC. Socrates used the Socratic method as his approach, this concept was asking questions and by doing so you'll find your answer in those reposes. This method was designed to examine your beliefs. People accused Socrates of teaching the young of Athens and disrespecting the Gods. They sentenced him to death by poison (hemlock). One of Socrates famous quotes says "The unexamined life is not worth living" he says this because he wanted to teach people things that they did not know and by doing that he was killed.      

Cyber Day talk

Today in class we talked about cyber days and what is expected of us when we are not in school. We should be doing 45 min of work at home for each class that we have that day, the work is supposed to be turned in the next class and should be a graded assignment. Since we probably will not have school tomorrow, our class will not have a cyber day because we do not meet.

Greece day 1

Today was the first day we started talking about Greece, we went over the powerpoint which was our cyber day assignment. The first part of class we went over out Ancient Egypt tests, this way we would have the correct answers for our final exam.

Cyber Day - Monday March 2

Mesopotamia - Tigris and Euphrates
Egypt - Nile
India - Indus
China - Huang He










Greece
Located: in Southern Europe, on the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea
Topography: Greece is made up of mostly mountains and islands, the most important range is the Pindus. This range is 8,700 ft in elevation.
Surrounding: Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Mediterranean Sea
        All of this affected Greece's culture in many ways. First since most of the island was mountains, your space was limited to grow crops. Second, having the Mediterranean Sea available to them it was easy to transport goods.

A closer look 
-Rhodes is the large island that is southeast of Greece.

• Sparta is located in the center of the  Peloponnese 
• Athens is the capital and the largest city of Greece 
• Athens allowed girls o education while Sparta did 
• Sparta is dependent on agriculture while Athens is dependent on agriculture and trade

Test on Egypt

Today we took our test on  Egypt. We had a while in the beginning to study before we took the test, i think that i could have spent more time at home studying and preparing. I had all the notes on my blog and in my journal i just didn't study efficiently.

last notes on Egypt

Two lands

• upper Egypt- 500 mile log strip of fertile land along the Nile
• lower Egypt- wide land of Nile Delta that emptied into the Mediterranean Sea      

Pharaohs 

• powerful, worshiped as a god 
• Egyptians relied on harmony and balance of the universe, which they call "maat"
• Pharaohs had multiple wives 
• women could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands 

Writing 

• Hieroglyphs- pictures
• Hiertic- symbols that represent a letter/word 
• papyrus- paper that was used to make scrolls, these scrolls can be stored for a long time

Calendars and Sailboats 

• created Calendar off a 12 month cycle 
• used organs from the dead to create potions and cures 
• wooden sailboats made to increase transport on the Nile 

Pyramids and Temples 

• massive stone tombs 
• originally covered in marble but not anymore 
• painting and sculptures are always done in a profile image 

Build a Pyramid

Today in class we had to build a pyramid by doing an activity online working with a partner. My partner and i had a difficult time figuring out which materials to use and how many workers you need and etc. It was a challenge and really got you thinking.

Egypt videos

mummification
              Ancient Egyptians came up with mummification to preserve the body for the after life. They take out certain organs, then they cover the body with salt and let it settle for 40 days, oils were put on te body, then they would glue down the linen to the body, then they place the mummy on a wooden board and wrap some more, then they put a pouch on the chest for a religious meaning, finally they put a cover on the mummy. After all of the preaping hey would paint symbols on the outside of the cloth.

About Egypt
             Ancient Egypt civilization lasted from 3000 BCE - 332 BE. This civilization lasted so long because of their many resources, like the Nile River. Every summer the river flooded which left lots of rich soil to plant. The Nile was well tamed with the simple use of irrigation and the use of canals. Egyptians were buried with precious items because they believed in after life. There are three different time periods in Ancient Egypt, The old Kingdom, The middle Kingdom, and The new Kingdom.

Pyramid Quest
           A young man went on a quest to look for treasures in the pyramids. He didn't bring warriors but he brought architects. He ended up not finding anything inside, this left him questioning. But today we have discovered way more about the chambers in the Pyramids, we know that there is more than just a tum that was put in the massive Pyramid. There is an underground tunnel in the Pyramid too.
 

Cyber Day assignment

Five Technological breakthroughs in ancient Egypt 

1. Hieroglyphics - this is a form of writing that the Egyptians came up with. This allowed the Egyptians to record records to help form and maintain their growing empire. Jean-Francois Champollion was a brilliant sixteen year old, he understood eight different languages in all, being able to do this helped crack the hieroglyphic code. He could do this because he knew how to translate them into Egyptian words. He is the one who established the Hieroglyphic letters.

2. Astronomy -  The influence of astronomy greatly changed the life of the Egyptians. They developed a calender, this aloud them to build monuments and point them in the cardinal directions to help tell what time of the year it is. The calender helped in many ways, especially when months were changing. This helped to tell when to grow crops and etc.

3. Medicine - The ancient Egyptians had a wide variety of medicines and spells to get rid of the evil spirits that they would use on the sick. The medicines they invented were strange but they help provide a lot of information to today's historians about their ways. For one of their medicines they used honey and human brains to cure eye infections.

4. Shipbuilding - Having the Nile River being a main aspect in living in Egypt, the Egyptians had to use the river for not only growing crops but for transportation. they started with small boats using papyrus reeds but later used wood to make larger boats.


5. Makeup - Every Egyptian wore makeup, even men. They wore it for fashion reasons but also for protecting their faces from the sun; just like football players use today. The black makeup is called kohl, which is made from different minerals. This invention is still  used today because of the Egyptians.

Egypt

Today in class we review our tests we just took on Jared Diamond, we corrected them so we can use them to study for exams. The second part of class we discussed more about the daily life in Egypt, like rankings and the tasks of each person on the pyramid. We also spent time talking about how the Egyptians were not as advanced it the artistic way like the Romans and Greeks, they drew things more 2D instead of 3D. They also put animals together with human parts. For example, they would put a lion body with a human head to how that they were strong. Egyptians also believed in afterlife... this means they believe that once they are dead they will come back to life.  

Cyber day assignment - more notes on Egypt

Daily Life

• slaves and servants helped the wealthy with household and child raising duties
• raised wheat, barley, lentils, and onions
• artisans would carve statues and reliefs showing military battles and scenes in the after life 
• money /barter system - merchants might accept bags of grain for payment 
• scribes kept records, told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and medical treatments
• scribes wrote in hieroglyphics
• solders used wooden weapons with a bronze tip 
• upper class, know as the "white kilt class" 
• religious and political leaders      

Egypt - Day 1

Ancient Egypt 

Geography

• centered around the Nile River
• flows from South to North
• 3 branches of the Nile River 
• over 4,000 miles log 
• water is for drinking, bathing, irrigation, and transportation
• Egyptians invented the sailboat 
• every July it floods
• every October it leaves behind rich soil 
• Delta is a broad, marshy triangular area (like a D) of fertile soil
• manage river required technology breakthrough 

Pyramids

• the Great Sphinx of Giza                                                                                                                      - built 2555 - 2532 BC                                                                                                                    - a recumbent lion with a human's head                                                                                          - oldest monumental statue in the world                                                                                               

Daily life

1. Pharaoh
2. government officials 
3. solders
4. scribes
5. merchants
6. artisans
7. farmers
8. slaves/ servants 

Test on the movie

Today we took a test on the video about Jared Diamond. I think i did alright on this test, i could have studied the material better and put better notes on my blog from the notes i took in class. We also got our Mesopotamia tests back and reviewed them, all of this information will be on our final exam so we corrected them, so everyone had the correct answers. Tomorrow we will start learning about Egypt.

video day 3 - lock down

for the first part of class today we had a lock down drill. For this, we all had to move one side of the room where we could not be seen from the door, we had to stay quiet for 10-15 min. After the drill was over we talked more about staying safe in the building if a situation occurs. Then we watched the Guns, Germs, and Steel video for a little bit. Once they started learning that they could control fire and make steel, they started advancing and learning more techniques to construct things to build homes, weapons, and tools.

Guns, Germs and Steel - Day 2

the use of animals....

     kill them, clothing, milk, human can control them 

168 animals over 100 lbs. ..... but only 14 of them have been domesticated.

     goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, bacttian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, lamas,        reindeer, yaks, mithans, and bali cattle. 

The people there haven't advanced much because they spend all their time just trying to survive, by farming and gather food to supply to with. They do not have any type of ruler there, basically the best hunter in the group is the one that the others listen to or look up to. They dont have animals to do the work for them, they use human strength to do everything. They use pigs but they dont weigh ebough like the other animals to do the heavy work.  

     

Guns Germs and Steel - Day 1

Today we started watching a video called Guns Germ and Steel. Jared Diamond goes to an isolated island called Panigue. Black man in the beginning asked Jared Diamond why the whites have so much more Cargo than they do. This got Jared Diamond thinking and wanted to figure out for himself why they have not advanced like everyone else in the world when they can live in a time like the Neolithic Era. These people hunt and gather 24/7 and do everything with their hands, they don't use tools or anything. They are intelligent people, they know just as much as we know. maybe even more. Women gather food while men hunt, Women gather food from a tree called Sago, this tree has very little supply of food in it, and takes a long time to prepare. While the men use techniques to hunt different kinds of animals for the people to eat. Jared Diamond will find out why these people haven't advanced like other parts of the world have.    

first quiz

Today we took our first quiz in Western Civilization. We got to use our blogs on the quiz. This really helped if you took good notes during class and notes from the power point, for the most part i think i did pretty well, and think tat the notes i took were useful while studying.

review for quiz on Friday

other important information to know for the quiz....

• 200,000 years ago the first human species emerged in southwestern Africa 
• "Epic of Gilgamesh"- told of a great flood. Worlds first surviving epic
• Hammurabi's code- created a set of laws 
• earliest Egyptian writing is known as hieroglyphics 
• Papyrus- paper
• wheel and plow 

• Prehistory- a period of time before written records
  Paleolithic Age- (Old Stone Age)
  Neolithic Age- (New Stone Age) advanced tool making and agriculture
  Agriculture Revolution- also known as Neolithic Revolution, more permanent settlements, beginning in Southwestern Asia.
  Cuneiform- Sumerians invented the earliest form of writing known as cuneiform
  Ziggurat- a Sumerian temple built on top of a mountain
  Indo-Europeans- people from the grasslands of the Russian steepe who introduced the horse to the near east. 
• polytheism- studying more than one God
• hieirchers appeared in the village life 
• hitties were one of the groups 

review for quiz

Western Civilization quiz one

Prehistory- a period of time before written records

Paleolithic Age- (Old Stone Age)

Neolithic Age- (New Stone Age) advanced tool making and agriculture

Agriculture Revolution- also known as Neolithic Revolution, more permanent settlements, beginning in Southwestern Asia.

Cuneiform- Sumerians invented the earliest form of writing known as cuneiform

Ziggurat- a Sumerian temple built on top of a mountain

Indo-Europeans- people from the grasslands of the Russian steepe who introduced the horse to the near east.

locate.....Asia Minor, Fertile Crescent, Tigris river, Euphrates river, Mediterranean Sea, and Sumer. 

Jan 20. sick

I was not in school today because i was home with a fever.