Second Marking Period

The second marking period is just about to end and my grades are up-to-date. That being said, some students have found themselves in a precarious situation. There are a handful of students who will not make the cut this marking period, but it is important to know that it is not over! There are two more quarters which will impact their grades (one way or another). Don't give up!

With all of these snow days, it has been hard for us all to find our groves. Plans keep changing and all due dates have been questionable. I have been very forgiving in that department - don't get used to that, because things will go back to normal.

General Classes - You should have begun to identify the countries of Southern Africa; the quiz date is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday (January 29th). In class, we will continue to study Egypt. Our focus will be on the kingdoms for the next few days which they are appropriately named Old, Middle, and New (like the Stone Age).

Honors Classes - The Egyptian Cinderella notes were due today; obviously, it will now be due tomorrow (or on our next school day). No excuses! I have secured some library time on Thursday and Friday of this week, but I'm not sure how that will be impacted by the snow day. I will let you all know when we get back to school. Continue to think about your project topics. I reviewed your plans and I have offered some suggestions which you will see tomorrow. Most of them were great - there was one that was really lacking and one that was not turned in. In any case, you will all need to work hard to accomplish the goals you have set.

Moving beyond the Geography of Egypt

Last week, we continued to focus on the geography of Egypt. Students will begin to study other aspects of Egypt in class this week. Please refer to my previous post for my Egypt presentation.

General Classes:  We will continue to move forward in an attempt to understand Egyptian religion this week. It is very different from the religions of which most of us are familiar. As we study the gods and goddesses, we will learn about their valuable role in the culture. See assignments below...

Honors Classes:  Last week we reviewed geography and began to look at the written language of ancient Egypt. We read about the Mystery of the Hieroglyphs in our literature books and took Cornell Notes. I have reviewed the notes this weekend and I will return them to students tomorrow.  See assignments below...

Assignments -
General Classes - I will collect students Egypt maps on Monday. All students should have identified all of the locations listed on the reverse of the paper. On Friday, students will be taking a quiz on the political geography of Northern Africa (period six will be taking it on Thursday due to the early dismissal on Friday).

Honors Classes - I will collect students Egypt maps on Monday. I will also be checking their political maps at that time (a classwork grade). On Friday, students in period two will be taking a quiz on the political geography of Northern Africa (while students in period eight will take it on Thursday due to the early dismissal on Friday). All honors students should also complete reading, "The Egyptian Cinderella," before class on Tuesday, January 21st (I will collect Cornell notes at the end of the class). That assignment can be found on page seventy-three of the literature book. We will also discuss the project we will begin this week.

Advice to all students:  Study your maps!  You should be studying your map each day for ten to twenty minutes leading up to the test.  Use the resources on my teacher's page to quiz yourself.  Do not wait to the last minute as you will be overwhelmed and your efforts futile.

Geography of Egypt

I am happy to say that we made good use of our time on Thursday.  We began by looking at the geography of Africa in general - we noted that Africa was made up of two distinctly different types of geography.  The Northern part of Africa (the Saharan region or Maghreb) is largely desert.  The Central and Southern parts of Africa (sub-Saharan Africa) are made up of rain forests and savannas.  Obviously, these lands are home to very different people.

Then, we narrowed our focus to Egypt and were able to begin to see the impact of the Nile River.  We will talk more about that on Monday.

Assignments for the upcoming week:

Periods 1, 3, 4, and 6 - Current Event (in journals) DUE FRIDAY

Periods 2 and 8 - Cornell Notes - The Mysterious Hieroglyphics (pages 60 to 63) DUE FRIDAY

All Periods - Physical Map of Egypt (TBA)