History Elective Period B

We discussed the homework questions and listened to a case study of the Evangelicals who turned England from a pagan to a Christian nation between 1800 and 1860.

Homework
Choose a group to convert to Christ.
Make a list of all obstacles you might encounter in helping them to convert to Christ
Brainstorm possible ways (methods) you can overcome the obstacles.
Make a list of results, changes in the peoples' lives if they convert.

Art Elective Period B

We discussed totem poles, specifically Western Native American. We began drawing our animal designs for poles and began construction of physical totem poles with paper towel and practiced drawing animals.

Assignment:
Practice drawing the animals you will use for totem poles. Also find three pictures of totem poles for reference ideas when drawing.

Music Elective Period A & B

Percussion Instruments Part 1: The Drums

History -   What drums were used for throughout time, where they came from, the parts of drums and what they are made of.

The Different Types of Drums and how they work and sound:

Bass, snare, bongos/conga, table, steel drums

 

Projects

Coloring sheet/Worksheet

Drum Experiments : Understanding the science behind their sound/vibrations

Experimenting with different shapes, sizes, and materials, made a personal mallet.

Art Elective Period A

We reviewed the work of Charley Harper and used collage to recreate a bird of choice for the front cover of our nature journals.

Over the weeks to come the plan will be to have the students work in their journals during the week at home, teaching them to observe and draw from nature.
The first assignment for this week is to choose a bird either from a bird guide book or from looking out the window.  Draw the bird in two different mediums, for example, one pencil drawing, or one colored pencils, marker, paper collage. 
Encourage them to date their pages as the use their journals.
Next week I will be sharing another two artists known for nature journaling and animal artistry.
Also, we will be preparing for the backyard bird count which happens February 14-17.  Please review information http://gbbc.birdcount.org/
Taking time to do the bird count will improve your child’s ability to notice the different species of birds at your feeder, also noting other factors like precipitation, snow cover, temperature, and daytime. 

 For Class:

Do two bird drawings in nature journal in different mediums. 
Bring nature journal to class every week.
Visit the library and check out some bird books (children’s section or animal section of adult has all the bird guides)  A fun one to listen to bird songs is the Bird song Bible.  Bring a bird book to class.
Enjoy journaling!

Period B Drama - 2/4/14

This week in class we worked on creating a story based on one prop, a cloak.  Each group had 15 min. to create a piece that involved all the actors, a cloak, and a full story (beginning, middle, end).  The results were wonderful!  This also gave us all an opportunity to be good audience members J 

The stories we are going to be telling in our year end presentation was read to the children in class.  We are all very excited about the many different roles and possible “cool props”!  Roles coming soon, stay tuned.

Period A Drama - 2/4/14

We have broken into groups and begun work on the first of two video segments that each team will be producing for the year end production.  In class they began to talk over a vision and started research, storyboarding, and even made plans to connect and continue this work during the week! 

Group 1: Asa, Oren, Rachel K.. Kylie, and Adalie

The 2^nd Great Awakening (take note, this is a switch from the 1^st Great Awakening)

The Pligram’s landing and settlement

Group 2: Jacob, Suzie, Sophia, Curtis, and Mahayla

Lewis and Clark

Explorers of the North East

13 Colonies Song

Group 3: Mitchell, Rachel G., Eden, Abigail, Caroline

Founding Fathers

British lose at Bunker Hill

Group 2, please remember you have planned to be in contact via email this week to continue your work.

Group 3, please remember you have planned a gchat on Saturday at 2pm.  This video is a helpful tutorial… https://support.google.com/chat/answer/161934?hl=en

Homework: Each group will need to be prepared to present their vision to the rest of the class on Tuesday!

The Maya - History 1&2 - 2/4/14

Mayan civilization existed long before the birth of Jesus.  In the Classic Period, from AD 250 - 900, the Maya created a remarkable civilization full of enormous architecture built entirely without metal tools.  They were an incredible people, skilled in math and astronomy.  Religion affected every area of their lives.  It was the priests who created a complicated system of glyphs to write down their history, and these same priests who studied the stars and created an extraordinarily accurate calendar. For unknown reasons, beginning in AD 800-950 they abandoned their large cities.  The surviving people moved into the jungle where they formed small villages.  Then, suddenly the Maya began building cities again.   By the time that the Spanish arrived, the Maya were again living in the jungles.

In class activities 2/4/14:

• Learned about the history, religion, and architecture of the Mayan people
• Built our own pyramids out of sugar cubes and glue
• Discussed the difficulty of building large structures without metal tools
• played the Mayan ball game Pok-a-tok
• Added true/false cards to our history notebooks

Optional lesson extension activities:

• Learn about the accomplishments of the Maya in this video: http://www.history.com/topics/maya/videos#the-mayans

• Play the Mayan ball game Pok-a-tok online: http://www.ballgame.org/main.asp?section=3

Assignment:

• Write one or two sentences describing the religion of the Mayan people.  (Parents: feel free to use this site for more information)  Don't forget to include your name and bring your paper to class next week.
• Review your timeline