In our class, we have been studying the events leading up to and occurring in the Cold War. We've been doing this by "role playing" (we act as if we are real CIA agents in that time period, and we act as if it's in the present). Notable topics include World Wars I and II, The Manhattan Project, The Berlin Airlift, The split of Germany and the Berlin Wall, Stalin's plan to spread communism, and now we're on Korea and the People's Republic of China. We've learned a lot, through videos, songs, "codes" created by Liz, real documents from the CIA or presidential libraries. With these documents, we analyze them by reading them and taking some notes based on sheets that Liz gives us. We usually work in groups or pairs, and we all discuss the topics at hand and decide whether or not we want Truman to pass them. We've also been reading a book, "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. The book has been incredibly helpful, as it gives all the vital information and also makes it interesting, so we're eager to keep reading and learn about what's going on. The class has been great, and everyone enjoys it.
I am a tenth grade student at Polaris and Middle East Studies is one of my favorite classes. We have been looking at the beginning of Islam and the core values, five pillars, etc. We started looking at the Middle East from before the Ottoman Empire until now, and so much has changed. The Middle East had churches and a fairly nomadic people. When Islam started to spread they converted most all of the churches into mosques. there are so many stereotypes about the Middle East, but in reality none of them are true at all, so if I don't take away anything else from this class it changed my perspective of the Middle East.
A very merry greetings to thee. For it is I, Casey, coming to briefly explain the fascinating subject of the Lost Tribe of Roanoke. The island of Roanoke was the home to the first English Colony of North America. A crew was sent to this island, in high hopes of creating a stable colony, by Queen Elizabeth 1. It still is highly believed that there were Natives on the island prior to the English settlement. Judging from how the English treated the Natives in Jamestown (brutally), the Natives on Roanoke most-likely endured the same fate.
An English vessel holding the Governor of Roanoke and his crew, were delayed three years from finishing the round trip to England and back to Roanoke. When the ship finally arrived off the coast of Roanoke, a cannon was fired to signal the people of Roanoke the long wait was over. No return fire. 113 people vanished from the island. No warm welcome home...no party or celebration...nothing but two trees, one bearing C-R-O, and the other: CROATOAN. Well hi there. I'm Randy and currently taking the Middle East Studies class with Liz. So far what we have been learning about was Mesopotamia. One of the papers that we read was the epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was this jerk of a king who enjoyed to kill his people. So the gods sent out a beast named Enkidu to fight with Gilgamesh. They fought for 7 days. After that they became best of friends. Once Enkidu died, Gilgamesh became a nice king because the death of his best friend made him sad. So in a way the death of Enkidu was like the death of his bad side. we currently just started learning about the Islam religion. This was started by the profit named Muhammad. Before this tho we learned about the Hammurabi law. Some of the laws were a bit ridiculous, such as 128: if a seignior [a lord or a man of property] acquired a wife, but did not draw up the contracts for her, that women is no wife. The other laws we went over were along the same lines as this.
What a great four days of school we've had to welcome students back to school and the Lizard Classroom! Students will be updating you next week, but I wanted to give you a quick overview of what has happened! (That...and the Broncos seem to play better when I'm working AND half watching the game... so there you go!)
This semester, there are three classes in the Lizard Classroom... First Hour: Middle East Studies Second Hour: US History Third Hour: The Cold War A quick run-down of what we'll be looking at from me now - and check back soon to hear about things that are happening and what students are learning! Middle East Studies Students will be studying the Middle East starting with the Ancient World. We will then hit on a variety of topics stretching from the Gunpowder Empires to the what is happening currently. Students will also be reading a book of their choice about the Middle East (fiction or non-fiction) throughout the quarter. US History Students in this class will be creating their very own history books utilizing a blank sketchbook. They will learn history "their way" by drawing and/or writing as we learn things. Throughout the class, they'll be answering the 'historical questions' - and becoming historians! Students will read books about the colonial time period as we discover how the United States came to be. Cold War Welcome to the CIA! We've turned back the clock and it's 1947 - students are not students, but agents of the CIA who are tasked with figuring out what the threat level of the USSR is. They'll be examining evidence and decoding messages all while time progresses toward 1991! Thanks for joining us! More coming soon! |