Essays for Exams Finished!

In class on Thursday we finished the written part of our West Civ exam. Let me tell you I have never written any paper faster than I wrote those three essays. I studied my outlines really hard the two nights before so I think I got everything in that I wanted to say. I wrote a pretty good amount for each of the essays especially essay C that took up two pages for me. I wrote them just like Mr Schick instructed with a introduction, body, and conclusion paragraph. Mr Schick will also be proctoring our actual exam for West Civ on Wednesday so I'm hoping that goes just as well as the essays did. Well I have to go study for the next few days for my up coming exams. Sleep is for the weak.

Essay Preparation

I did not write for my blog last night because I was so busy studying for the essay we have to write in class today. I'm very nervous considering we only have 48 minutes to write three topic three paragraph essays. I'm gonna get back to studying now but hopefully it goes all well today.

Essays and Makeups

I have been out of classes lately due to my upcoming surgery as soon as school ends so its a very busy time for me right now. As of now I'm trying to write my outline for the essay for west civ on Thursday so I'm prepared. Tomorrow I will be making up the test I missed today on ancient Rome. I think I'll be studying most of tonight and throughout the day tomorrow. I think I'll be pretty prepared.

Exams Exams and More Exams

Friday we talked a lot about what would be on the final exam for Mr Schick's class. He told us that he is traveling to "Chi Cago" the day after exams end so he doesn't want to have to grade our essays from our exams on his trip there. So in that case we are writing our exams essays in class on Thursday. I am nervous about it because I'm feeling like I won't be able to finish it in time but I will try to make a great outline at home. Hopefully everything goes alright for the exams even though I'm extremely nervous as always.

Our Presentation

We heard a presentation on pottery and gladiators until it go to our presentation! I think my group did great and our project turned out exactly as we wanted. The powerpoint was great then we had some people play the game and they all liked it. Everyone said it was a great review game for the test which has been postponed to Tuesday. I'm very happy about it and can't wait to be finished this year!

More and More Presentations

Today we saw three more presentations for the Ancient Rome projects. First up was Jayla who made really great authentic Roman Pottery. I thought it was really well made and it seemed like she knew a bunch about the project and really answered questions nicely. Then Arthur and Alex showed us all about Roman architecture through an amazing lego model! Then Kaitlin and Trish read us their awesome diaries from Ancient Rome. The storyline was absolutely and made it feel like it was really a true story in Rome. I'm excited to present tomorrow!

Projects to Present

Today we started presenting our creative Roman projects in our first mod hour! We had a lot of time so we had 3 groups present and to our luck we had Veronica, Zaire, Rosemary, and Megan serve us a real patrician style 4 course meal! The salad was very different but tasted very vibrant and the pasta was amazing (I had 4 servings). The desert was an old style cheesecake and had a very unique but good taste just like the cinnamon apple juice. Then we had one group show us a remake of a song called Fancy and made it about Rome and it was hilarious and very informational. Then we watched David's well prepared powerpoint and that was the end of class. I'm very excited to finish my project and see everyone else's tomorrow.

Blues and Homework

Today Mr Schick shared some of his Chi Cago past with some old blues music. He also showed us our schedule for our projects next week. My Group goes on Thursday which gives a couple days for us to finish it. That's all for today!

Julius Caesar

Today we continued taking notes on ancient Rome. We talked about how the rich were keeping the plebs quiet while they were poor because they took their land. They entertained them through circuses. Then it talked about how poor people worked in the military for money then we got on the topic of Julius Caesar. We didn't learn much abut him except he had friends in very high places like another great military general like himself and the richest man in the world. I will tell more about him tomorrow.

Rome Pop Quiz

We had a pop quiz on Rome today that I got a 90 on without even studying. I have to admit it was pretty easy but a lot of people got a lot of questions wrong. For now I will continue working on my group project for Rome. I still have to make the cards but I'm working on it and I think the whole thing is coming together great!

The End of Tiberius

In class today, we finished the movie on Tiberius' rule in Rome. The government did not like the amount of power that he was getting especially because the people sided with him mostly because he wanted to give their land back. Once he got to position of Tribune and got laws voted in, the government got very angry and tried to plot against him. They told the people he wanted to be king and the people didn't like that. Tiberius tried to run for Tribune again which was against the law and this angered the government leaders greatly. They beat him to death at the voting and dumped his body in the river. Tiberius is still remembered as the hero who changed Roman government.

Mr Schick Absent

Mr Schick was absent Friday which really helped put a kick start on my group's board game project. Kendall and I have figured out the whole game board and the cards and Ellee is going to write the paper on it and help with design. Kendall and I are doing most of the work for the board game part of the project because Ellee can't meet a lot after school because she has work and driver's education. That's why she's writing the paper for it and helped out here and there on the board. We all think it's pretty equal work. We have the rest of this week to finish it up and I think it will come together pretty well. Another bonus is our class doesn't have Mr Schick on Monday's so the project isn't due for us until the day after. As of right now, we have 8 days so I'm sure we can get it together well enough for an A. Hopefully the rest of class is doing just as well. Summer's approaching very quickly as exams are so I will probably start making my flashcards for the second time around. Wish my group and I luck!

Video

We watched a video on Rome for about 10 minutes on the lesson we are learning in Rome. We didn't do anything else because we were having technical issues.

Roman Legion

The Roman Legion had 5,000 soldiers and they were not in it for the pay. The Roman's had an elite heavy infantry and they were recruited exclusively from Roman citizens. There were groups of eighty in century and the ones on horseback were the cavalry. Their armor consisted of a shield, sword, dagger, and regular armor and a tunic. The Punic Wars were from 264 to 146 BCE and it was Rome vs Carthage and there were three main parts of the war. The First Punic War lasted from 264 to 241 BCE and they were mostly naval battles for the control of the strategically located island of Sicily, which Rome won. The Second Punic War was from 218 to 201 BCE and 29 year old Carthaginian general Hannibal almost takes over Rome. He does the unthinkable and attacks Rome from the North after crossing Iberia and the Alps. He sieged to mucuh of the peninsula for 15 years but he never got to Rome. The Third Punic War was from 149 to 146 BCE and this was when Rome wanted to get rid of Carthage. Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus, and others attacked the city with no mercy. Carthage was burned for 17 days and they city was destroyed. The left over 50,000 survivors were enslaved to Rome. The rest of not destroyed Carthage territories were annexed, and made into the Roman province of Africa. This enslavement of 50,000 jumpstarted the Roman expansion. By the end of the 2nd century there was about a million slaves in Italy. Rome knocked this one out of the park!

Rule Of Kings No More

The Rule of Kings in Rome was replaced by the rule of two consuls. The consuls are elected officials elected by aristocrats. They had a term of one year in office and the leaders were always aristocrats. Patricians traced their descents from a famous ancestor. Their duties in office were dealing with justice, making laws, and commanding the army. One consul had the power to veto the other. In 5th century BCE, patrician dominance was challenged by the plebs because the plebs had to serve in the army but couldn't hold office, were threatened with debt slavery, and they also didn't have legal rights. Plebs were 98% of the population so they stood up because they were victims of discriminatory decisions in judicial trials. Rome didn't have actual laws written down so the patricians took advantage of this. The plebs refused to serve in the military until the laws were posted publicly which they were in The Law Of Twelve Tables. These laws were posted in 450 BC. SPQR means Senatus Populusque Romanum and designates any decree or decision made by the Roman Senate and people.Their new governments were democracy aristocracy and monarchy and the USA even modeled their government after ancient Rome. That's all we learned for today.

Jumping Ahead

My class happens to be very far ahead of the other classes Mr Schick teaches. We have covered all the notes that he currently has created and he will be putting up more notes as of Sunday. I think I will take the notes we already have and started to make up questions for Are You Smarter Than A Gladiator. But as of right now Mr Schick gave us his class time to finish any other homework we have to do so far today. This means that right now I have no homework because I finished it all in this class. I guess this gives me time to work on my project over the weekend so I don't have to cram it in last minute. I'll ask someone at the end of class if I missed anything yesterday. I'm very excited to start this weekend with absolutely no homework.

Grandparents Day

Today was grandparents day at JC and my grandmother visited me. I made sure she would be there for Mr Schick's class because I knew she would enjoy his teaching. Today we went over some notes we had skimmed over in the past in the power point based off of Chi Cago's hit Rome. We wanted Chi Cago to perform for the grandparent but he got cold feet apparently. Anyway I had to leave the class early to go to the lunch for grandparents so I will be looking back at the notes again and ask someone to give me anything I missed. Today was a lot of fun with the grandparents and I loved that my grandmother could visit my favorite class.

Are You Smarter Than A Gladiator?

Today we finally decided on what my group is doing for the Rome Project. We are making a trivia board game called Are You Smarter Than A Gladiator! It will consist of multiple choice trivia and fill in the blanks. I don't wanna spoil anymore so stay tuned!

Baltimore Up In Flames

We took today's class to talk about the riots currently happening in baltimore caused by the battle between police brutality conspiracy and the african american community. I do not feel comfortable saying my full opinion on the internet about it but I will say one thing. None of the violent rioting will do anything, if we want to end police violent take it up with the law professionally. People are giving cops more opportunities to fight back and then more riots will be caused. I feel like everyone should look back on the past and see what violent protest did compared to what MLK's peaceful protest did. That's all I'm going to say. Stay safe and hopefully this will all be resolved without any deaths. Rest in peace Freddie Gray.

Group Projects

In class on Friday we finally really got into our main groups for the big projects for Rome. My group consists of Kendall and Ellee and we decided that we are going to build a board game inspired by the lives of ancient Romans. We still have a lot to work out on it but I think it could be fun! Until next time.

Tarquin the Proud

Today we throughly went through the lyrics to Rome by Chi Cago in a power point explaining each line of the song. We mainly focused on the last Roman king named Tarquin who was a horrible tyrant to his people. His people kicked him out after he got his son out of trouble wiht the law for a very harsh crime. His son raped a high respected matron who killed herself soon after the rape. The Roman people thought that if they kicked Tarquin out that they wouldn't have to deal with his son as the future king. This was the end of the main Roman monarchy. The government then combined into three different types of government including Democracy, Aristocracy, and some Monarchy. Then Mr Schick talked about how the plebeians and patricians relate to our world today. The rich people get more tax breaks than the poor because they threaten to take their businesses else where if they don't get a break. It was like this in Rome back then as well. We will continue to analyze the lyrics tomorrow in the power point.

Papers on Triremes and Others

Today we finally get our group project papers back from Mr Schick. As of right now actually he is grading the papers and only has one more left to go for our class. Our class is actually the last one to get the papers back so I'm excited. I think this paper will bring my grade up a lot because I wrote a really good ending to the paper and worked really hard on my writing. My partners worked just as hard as I did and I really think we did well on this. I will be very surprised if we don't get a good grade because I doubled checked the grammar and everything on it twice before turning it in. I'm relying on the paper to bring me up to an A so I really am hoping for the best. Mr Schick said we would discuss the papers after he was done grading them and handing them out. If there is anything else to add I will update this blog later. But for now I'm hoping for an A to bump me up to first honors.

Chi Cago

I'm not going to give anything away but these other classes have a quite a treat waiting for them in Mr Schick's class today. Today we started taking notes on the development of Rome. Rome was founded in the 9th century by the Etruscans, Greeks, and Latins and the Latins were the first ones there. They thought since they were in the Mediterranean they were destined to rule over everything. Indo-European tribes moved into Italy created Rome but there were also stories of how else Rome was founded. The story of Romulus and Remus tells about two babies twin brothers who were left in the river of Tiber to die by their parents who were not able to keep the baby because they weren't married. They were taken in by a mother wolf and then adopted by a Shepard and his wive and raised into manhood. When they got older they realized their power and wanted to rule over land but argued where they would rule. Romulus killed Remus in the argument and rule over the land he called Rome. Etruscans were originated in the North and the Greek settlements in the Souht were very influencial to Rome by helping them learn the alphabet and their city-state organization. Originally, Rome was a monarchy on the Etruscan model with a council of elders called the Senate. In 500 BC The Romans overthrew their monarchy and established a Republic. Since the Senate was populated only by patricians the plebians fought for a vote in Rome's government. Each year the Senate elected two rulers, consuls who each served a term of one year. As in the Greek city-states, the Romans would appoint a single dictator in times on war or conflict. There were 12 tables of government and Res Publica means people's affairs and this was a Latin Term used to describe Rome. Can't wait for the other classes to see the surprise!

Gathering Time

In class on Friday we gathered in a circle into small groups to discuss our future projects. I had talked with a couple of girls in my class about the gods and goddess research we brought up the first day. I think this idea would be really fun and would really help us learn. Everyone would look up a god or goddess that was important in the Roman culture of their time. They would study that god or goddess and then when it would come to class time we would all have debates on topics but we would have to answer in the character of the god or goddess. I think with a class like mine things would get pretty interesting and we would still learn while having fun. Another idea was that we would dress up like Roman people and make some of their most famous food dishes. We would take these dishes either around the school or just in our class and teach everyone about them. I think this would be enjoyable and it wouldn't make much time either. We are still going to have to take notes and all of the usual things but I'm excited to do all these fun projects along with learning about the Roman culture.

Rome Projects of the Future

I am so excited to learn about Rome! Mr Schick said how he didn't want to have us just writing another boring paper and powerpoint for this unit.. He wanted us to make up our own fun projects and make them pretty memorable. This caused the class to erupt with ideas on the many projects we could do on Rome. One that I really like was we would do a video pretending to be on the view as a god or goddess and we would have to answer questions in the character of the god or goddess. It think that would be really interesting considering how funny my class is. We had some pretty crazy ideas as well like gladiator fights out on the turf which gave us all a good laugh. We also got the good idea of dressing up as ancient Romans and making famous Roman dishes and inviting the school to come and taste our food. I'm really excited about all of these and definitely will be doing a cool project and not just writing a paper or powerpoint.

Mind Blown

Today we watched a video on one of Plato's writings that was very confusing at first. There were four men tied down in a cave and had their head locked forward so they couldn't see anything but what was in front of them. Then a fire was burned behind them and shadows were shown on the wall in front of them using metal shapes. The four men sitting there were watching the shadows with no intent of leaving or escaping; completely mesmerized. One of the men was unchained and brought up to the sunlight were he was blinded by the sun's brightness. By this he was enlightened and saw that everyone had a purpose in the world outside of the cave. He then returned to the cave to the other three men and was laughed at for not being able to see the shadows he used to see. He could not see them because he had been enlightened by the sun and decided to leave their laughter in the cave and never return. It hit me at the end of this video that it was an extraordinary allegory for many different situations. One that I thought of was Socrates considering Plato was taught by him. Socrates was symbolized by the enlightened men and was laughed at or mocked by others for his philosophy ways. He was enlighten by asking questions and not staying locked under the shadows of authority. I was fascinated by this and realized that Plato could have also predicted the future of television and social media attentions. We sit locked down in front of the television with no intent of leaving and laugh and mock people for not watching the same shows as us. We watched reality television shows even though they are the exact opposite. We question people who don't indulge in this activity even though it is they who have the advantage. They are exploring the world and being enlightened instead of losing IQ points every time Kim Kardashian says literally on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This video made me realize that I really need to question my ways of entertainment or even my figures of authority. We are being manipulated every day of our lives just like the illusion of the shadows in the video and we have no intent of moving just as the other three men had. Not all manipulation is bad but we need to realize that this happens on a day to day basis. I don't want to be one of the three men; I want to explore life around me and be one of the enlightened people of Socrates' teachings.

First Day Back

Today was our first day back into West Civ class and we went over the test we had to take before we left. Surprisingly, many people got really easy questions wrong; for example someone didn't know where the Nile river was. Little mistakes like this make your grade drop a lot and the questions that I got wrong were more challenging than the other ones. I still got a good grade on it but I'm still waiting to hear back on my paper with my group. I think we did better on that than I did on the test. All we did in class today was go over the answers for the test because we had to leave early to go to an assembly today. I think Mr Schick mentioned something about Rome in our future so I'm excited. Until then.

Closing Off Greece and Opening Up to Break

As of right now I will be on spring break in about 25 minutes! I'm so happy I don't have to worry about anything having to do with school for a whole 11 days! Anyways, I just finished my test on ancient Greece which I studied really hard for. Some people said they failed and their class average was very low but I think my class did a little better than that. I least I hope we did. I'm getting a little scared right now because I'm pretty sure Mr Schick is about to pull a prank on us for April Fools. I will update later if he does. I really hope we get our grades back soon so I don't have to worry all break. I only have trouble with a couple questions which included the dates. Well I'm ending it here have a good break!

Projects and Papers Finished!

Yay!, I just finished the last part of Zaire, Jayla, and I's essay paper on the Triremes and Hoplites. We will have to print out a copy of it and hand it in tomorrow to Mr Schick. It is 1,365 words so I think the splitting up of the work really helped us all put in our own parts of the story. I'm not 100% sure but I haven't checked Mr Schick's website today, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that our test on ancient Greece is tomorrow when Mr Schick finally returns. I'm excited to hear about how the Netherlands were with his daughter. I better take home my book tonight and study off the website's link to the power point. I really want to do well on this test. (I'm also very happy that tomorrow is the last day before spring break!!!!) Wish me luck!

Papers In Progress Part 2

Today is the second day without Mr Schick and we are supposed to continue watching the video and writing our papers. Zaire and I's plan is working perfectly of splitting up the work. Jayla is going to finish her paragraph today on the phalanxes and I come right after her with the Triremes tomorrow on my Saturday. I will continue watching the video now in class. Yesterday I got to the part about the Spartans and their war based community. They took over most of the land surrounding them and when they did they would make the people of the country be their slaves. They called these people slaves helots and every once and while the Spartans would declare war on them. This showed their dominance over them as a strong war nation. This is all I have for right now but I will report more on Monday and start studying for the test.

Papers In Progress

Today was the first day of Mr Schick's vacation to go see his daughter at her college in Europe. We will have a substitute for the rest of the week and we will be working on our 1,000 word paper. Zaire, Jayla, and I have decided to take turns writing parts of the paper. Zaire said she would start the paper off with the hoplites because she was the one who knew the most about them for the power point. Either tonight or tomorrow I will continue the paper to talk about the major war weapon the triremes and after I do that Jayla will finish it off on phalanxes. We also have to watch a video before Mr Schick returns but I will probably watch that on my ride to Pennsylvania this weekend. I think splitting up the paper will help us all put an equal effort into the project so no one feels like they're doing all the work. I'm glad I didn't have to start off because I have a huge English paper to write tonight due tomorrow morning. I will most likely work on my part of the paper tomorrow during our class. I will now start the video we need to watch while Zaire works on her paragraph of the paper. Hoping for an A!

The Worst Day of My Life

I don't even know how I'm typing right now because of how upset I am. If you have not heard yet, one of the most important and loved members of One Direction has left the band due to depression. It's the best thing for him but I'm still very sad for him to go. I thought I should share that but in other news we finished up the projects in class today. First was Veronica and Adam telling us about the mythology of Greece. Greeks were polytheistic and their religion was developed around 700 BC. These gods and goddesses resembled human form and showed human feelings like anger and jealousy. The major deities of the Greek Pantheon were Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestro, Hermes, and Hesita. Zeus was the God of the sky and is the King of the Gods. He over threw his father for the thrown and he made his sons compete for it. Poseidon was the god of the sea and was forced to build the walls of Troy as a punishment but later destroyed them with a sea monster. He controls the oceans and waters with his emotions so you wouldn't want to sail on Poseidon's Monday. We went over all the other Gods but I'm going to skip to one of the most important Hades. Hades was the god of wealth and the ruler of the underworld and he myself is not the representation of death. He was one of the three major gods to the Greeks. Then Parker, Dylan, and Jeremiah went and talked about the Government of Greece which we have also have been studying in regular class. We discussed Aristocracy and the birth of Democracy and then after that we took some notes from Mr Schick's power point. We discussed the famous philosophers of ancient Greece and how they are still influential today. Tomorrow I think we will continue the notes on Mr Schick's powerpoint. Until then good luck to Zayn.

Presentation Day

Today my group presented our project on Hoplites and Triremes. We had a group go before us that explained Pericles and the Golden Age. Pericles was the leader of Greece during the time of the war between Greece and Sparta. Sparta has won that war due to their upper hand in military strength and due to the plague striking the Athenians. Today we started off our presentation with Zaire explaining Hoplites and their formations in war. Hoplites were soldiers who were healthy enough to buy their own amor and a lot of it. Their formations were absolutely spectacular with the way they had the next line ready to drop their spears down and attack. Hoplites usually had shields that also protected their neighbor and they also had large breast plates. Heaves were almost like shin guards worn on their shins and they also had helmets upon their head to protect themselves from danger. Then we went on to Triremes with me and Jayla throw into a couple of slides. We all did pretty equal work by the way which I am very happy about. Triremes were the nuclear war weapon of the time of the Persian war. They were large ancient galley boats used for warfare, trade, and piracy. They were called Triremes because they had three sets of oars. The ship was very light weight and could glide across the water swiftly and quickly. The ship itself was used to bash into the side of other boats to jump on board and steal stuff. These boats were very advanced architecture to the Greeks and helped defeat the Persians in a battle. Next we learned about philosophers from another group and art and architecture from another group we learned a lot of things that were gonna be on the test coming up. Hopefully I'll be able to remember them.

Leaders In Greece

Today we went on with our notes about the leaders of Greece. As I ended yesterday Hippias was ostracized and a new leader had to be chosen. Two other aristocrats were put in line for power and the power ended up going to another tyrant named Isagoras. Isagoras tried to banish the more favored aristocrat for power Cleisthenes. The people of Athens were so angered by their new leader for the couple years he was in power and revolted against him. This was one of the first acts of democracy in our known history. They trapped Isagoras on top of the acropolis for two days then he fled and was banished. The year 503 BCE was one of the most important years for the history of democracy. Cleisthenes was a member of a very elite rich family and was insulated from the Hoi polli. Even though he was definitely not one of the people he was a pretty crafty politician. We also talked about the impending weather that might be coming our way tomorrow and the possibility of a cyber day. We discussed our projects that are due soon and our activities that we will be doing when Mr Schick is gone. That's all for today and all for our notes.

Todays Notes

Today I will be typing my notes we take in class into my blog because I'll be getting home very late night so I want to get my blog out of the way. We are still learning the topic of Ancient Greece so here we go!
Transformation of Government
-during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, aristocrats ran the show in most of Greece
-Rich people held much more influence in society, and held much more governmental power, than the middle class or the poor
Aristocracy
-aristocracy is rule by aristocrats
-the attached symposiums meetings where the elite mean would enjoy wine and poetry, performances by dancers and acrobats, and the company of hetaeras while discussing politics (almost like underground strip clubs and shows with escorts)
An Exclusive Club
-no women except the entertainment
-no middle class
-certainly, no slaves
-sometimes, even certain aristocrats (who didn't have the right connections or who fell out of favor) were excluded
-what to do if you're on the outside
ostracized 
Tyrants Seize Control
-sometimes aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites (well-armed soldiers)  and set up alternative form of government called a tyranny
-tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis
-modern meaning of tyrant: an abusive or oppressive ruler
-the greek meaning of tyrant: someone who simply seized power (usually with hoplite help)
UPDATE: Mr Schick just threw water everywhere cool.
Clash of the Tyrants
-Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527 to 510 BCE
-his brother was murdered, and his rule became harsh
-eventually he was expelled fromAthens
-in revenge, he began working with the Persian king Darius I, helping then invade Marathon
And that's all for today!

Projects in Progress Part 2

Today we finished the google docs power point on Greek protection. I did a couple slides because I really wanted to help since I wasn't there all last week to start it. Visit Zaire, Jayla, and I's google docs to check it out before we present it next week to get a couple notes. I think most people finished today because we had the whole first mod to do the entire thing. My group added visual aids for the texts we put into our slides and I think it looks really good. I think we'll have a test soon on this material so I'm gonna start studying now. We haven't taken any other notes this week so I really don't have anything else to put. I look forward to presenting this project and I'm pretty sure we'll take more notes tomorrow so until then.

Projects in Progress

I found out that in class on Friday we started are new google docs project on ancient Greece. I wasn't there because I was still sick but I'm coming back Monday because I'm feeling much better. I heard such thing as a pop quiz lurking around but maybe not. I guess I will look over my notes just in case. Can't wait to come back and get all caught up only work.

Absent Again

I cannot seem to shake this illness I have but hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. Jayla had informed me that we were introduced to some projects in the future for the topic of Greece. I'm in a group with Jayla and Zaire for I'm guessing a power point project. We also have a paper due on April 1st and apparently it's not a joke. I want to go back to school tomorrow but I'm still not sure if I'm going to be able to. Let's hope for the best.

Slowly But Surely

I am still recovering from being sick so I was out once again today. For my blog today I'm going to attach the notes we took in class yesterday. Here we go!

Ionian sea also surrounds Greece along with the Adriatic Sea and Aegean Sea

-Ancient Greeks were skilled sailors and shipbuilders, also farmers, metalworkers, weavers and potters

-Had poor/limited resources so they needed to trade

-Only 20% of the land was arable

-Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, and olives

-Could make wine from grapes, therefore they traded a lot of wine

-lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization

-temperatures ranged from mid 40s to low 80s. It could get pretty hot in the summer but overall it was nice year round

Mycenaeans 

-Influence began around 2000 B.C.E.

-Located on rocky ridge, protected by 20 ft thick wall

-Mycenaeans dominated Greece from 1600 B.C.E-1200 B.C.E.

-Controlled trade in the region

-1400 B.C.E. Mycenaeans invaded Crete an absorbed Minan culture and language

-Around 1200 B.C.E. the "sea people" invaded Mycenae, and burnt places

-The Dorians moved into this region

-They were less advanced

-Trade based economy collapsed

-Writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer

- Greek oral tradition- stories passed by word of mouth

- Lived at the end of "Greek Dark Ages"

- Composed stories of Trojan War 750-700 B.C.E.

-The Illiad- one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans(Trojan War)

-The Odyssey- Odysseus attempt to return home but Poseidon kept throwing him off course

-Odyssey was 12,100 lines of dactylic hexameter

-Greek loved mythology and their Greek Gods and Goddesses

-"Homeric Question" Homer may have been a mythical creation himself

-Illiad and Odyssey may be culmination of storytelling

-Or Homer actually existed

Sick Day

I have been sick the past few days and could not make it to class today. I am having Kendall and Jessica send me the notes we take in class today but I think I have a pretty good idea what they're about from Mr Schick's last blog. It says a lot about how the Greeks really lived on the water and that's why they weren't really united as a country. It's too bad, maybe if they would've created even more profound inventions if they were united.

Socrates

Today for our cyber blog we are supposed to report about a famous Greek philosopher and I picked Socrates. He was such a great philosopher that he created other famous Greek philosophers like Plato and Xenophon. Socrates had married a girl much younger than him which gave him an "image" that not many liked. His wife gave birth to three kids but he was criticized by many for leaving his sons in a rather tragic way later in his life. Socrates actually started his life as a great stonecutter following after his father who actually contributed to stones used in the Parthenon. He claimed to only really dedicate himself to his true calling; discussing philosophy. Socrates even served as a soldier in different battles and even saved some people's lives. One of Socrates' most famous lines of philosophy was, "The unexamined life is not worth living". My class studied this phrase earlier in the year and you basically have to come up with a meaning that means something to you. I thought this statement meant that you need to actually live before you die. Do something with your life that makes you happy and explore the world. Discover new adventures and find different truths to different mysteries. I take great interest in this statement because of its may different possible out comes and admire Socrates profound mind. But not many other found his teachings to be so amazing. Government thought his teachings were corrupting the minds of the youth and dishonoring the city and main "truths" such as beliefs in gods and goddesses. They put him on trial and told him that if he could convince his towns people that he is not guilty he would be let go. Socrates could have won those people over in 5 minutes with his words and convincing theories. But he thought that his people already had their minds made up so he might as well just state his ideas for everyone to hear. They pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to killing himself by hemlock. Hemlock is a deadly poison that slowly and painfully shuts down your body and it is not a pretty process. Socrates' loved ones made an escape for him that was full proof for him to escape the death sentence. He turned them down and told them that he wanted to do what his people decided. He looked at them as he tipped back the poison and died in front of his loved ones eyes. Socrates' teachings are still studied today and reflected on because of their profound meanings. I think Socrates could have been one of the brightest minds in history but also a very stubborn one. Greek philosophy is one of the most fascinating subjects in history to me and I hope I get to learn more about it in the future.

Famous Greek Architecture

Today for our cyber assignments we had to look up and give some facts about some famous Greek architecture. First one I found was the Acropolis which isn't just one building, but many buildings in the same area. The group of buildings is built at the top of rocky hill to represent being closer to the gods. There were many other acropolises this one was so significant that it didn't need to specified. The Acropolis has maintained a pretty good condition over the years even after being built for over thousands of years. Walls still stand and large stone poles still stand tall. This acropolis was built as temples to honor the gods and goddesses and were sometimes used as a place of hiding if they were under attack. Athena was the main goddess honored in this building. But this building did not just have one temple it had many others to worship. Next I discovered the monument of Olympia. There isn't that much left of it but there are still some poles stand and foundation laying on the ground. Now I know what you're thinking, yes Olympia is known for being the birthplace for the Olympic Games. But it is also know for so much more, such as the place where the god Zeus overcame his fatherly figure Cronus and took his throne. This made this place a big place of honor for Zeus and his victory. Even since ancient times, they had done things such as foot races and other sports over a course of days like todays Olympics. Not much stands of the place of the building but you can still see the temple that honors Zeus. Finally I looked over the building of the Temple of Artemis. This Building is absolutely magnificent with how much is still standing and how huge it is. The look of all the stone poles and carvings amaze me and I don't know how people did this in ancient times. This temple honors the goddess of Artemis who is the goddess of war. I can't believe how artistic and technologically advanced the Greeks were and their buildings show their superior knowledge. Now down below I'm going to post some pictures of these amazing buildings in the order that I explained them. Enjoy!

Cyber Day Assignments

Today we had a very short class due to the delay this morning and the Wednesday short schedule. We took the class to talk about the Cyber Day assignments that will probably be in our future. The weather man is calling for a lot of snow tonight which could freeze and get us off tomorrow and maybe even Friday. I am really hoping for both days but I'm not looking forward to all the cyber work. I'm gonna start most of it tonight and take all my books home I might need. Mr Schick discussed that he would be posting our assignments on his blog tomorrow and possibly Friday. They would maybe be on the Greeks buildings, philosophers, or even some Greek recipes. I was going to do them all tonight but I guess I'll have to do them over the days because Mr Schick said we have to one for every day we have the assignment. I want to get most of my work done today so I don't get hammered over the few days. Fingers crossed for off tomorrow and Friday!

Greece Is the Word

Today we started our class of by checking the answers on our Ancient Egypt chapter test. I got an 88% on the test which was the class average and our class had the highest class average. Then we were introduced to our new lesson of Greece! I'm so excited to start this unit because I absolutely LOVE learning about ancient Greece even after studying their work for two years. Mr Schick said we wouldn't be touching much on the mythology of Greece but oh my gosh I love read their stories. Greek mythology was my main eighth grade study and I love reading and understanding their adventures whether they were real or not. What we mainly went over today was Greece topography on a powerpoint. Greece has at least 1,400 islands off its coast and is also a peninsula surrounded by the Mediterranean. Mediterranean actually means the middle of the Earth which the Greeks thought they were because they were so awesome. Most people were fishermen and built boats to take advantage of the peninsula. Kind of strange but Greece is a pretty mountainous area if you looked at a topography map. Even though Greece was a very advanced nation, they did not act like a nation. Sparta and Athens fought a lot and Greece stood more on the grounds of supporting your "county" more than your country. Greece was considered the peak of civilization and if things kept going like they did we might have been more advanced than we are now. I cannot wait to continue this lesson tomorrow and I'm so happy we are taking a whole month to learn it!

The Ancient Egypt Test

I just finished taking the test on the section for Ancient Egypt. We weren't allowed to use our blogs which I was kind of hoping we would because my blogs for this section were really good. It was a 26 multiple choice answers sheet and I thought it was fairly easy. It was mostly common sense and a lot of the answers were well discussed in class. I don't think I got an A but I do not think that I failed it like most other kids said they did. Other classes complained saying it was the hardest test they've taken in this class and that they all failed. I don't see why students don't just look over the notes and know the material from class. This isn't even a class you have to study super hard for and it's kind of dumb just to expect to get good grades from not paying attention in class. Other classes should maybe start listening more in class instead of just talking. Mr Schick is going to grade our tests right now so wish me luck!

Test Tomorrow on Egypt

Tomorrow is our test on ancient Egypt and I have thought up of 5 questions to review for the test. Here they are!

1. What WAS NOT apart of slaves' main jobs to their owner?
a. to tend to their crops by force
b. to tend to household duties
c. to care for their children

2. Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe which they called?
a. Hakuna Matata
b. maat
c. nirvana

3. What is NOT one the possibilities of destinations in the afterlife?
a. an after-life paradise
b. your house with all your belongings
c. the jaws of a monster

4. What did Hieroglyphs represent?
a. adorned temples
b. religious words
c. both a and b

5. Hieratic script was a shorthand developed by who?
a. scribes and priests 
b. scribes and artisans
c. scribes and the Pharaoh

Pharaohs and Pyramids

The Pharaoh of ancient Egypt was all powerful and was worshipped like a God and was intimately connected to the gods and goddesses. Egyptians relied on a saying called maat which was balance of the universe which applied to their government. These Pharaohs had many wives, and all routes to financial and social success were though the palace. Very different from many other early settlements, women could inherit money and land. Also they could divorce their husbands thought only a tiny few wielded real political power. The gods the Egyptians refer to usually were portrayed with animal heads or bodies. The Egyptians believed in an afterlife and mummified bodies to preserve them for this afterlife. They believed all souls would need to be justified at the point of death and either be sent to an after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster. The earliest Egyptian writing was formed around 3100 BC and they were small pictures known as hieroglyphs. These hieroglyphs represented religious words, parts of words, and most commonly adorned temples. Next was Hieratic script which was a shorthand developed by scribes and priests and they were usually written with ink on papyrus which was made from mash Nile reeds. These papyrus could be rolled just like in the movies. Egyptian astronomers created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles of the Nile River floods. Egyptians had excellent knowledge of human anatomy and doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created cures for a number of common ailments. Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability on the Nile River. The pyramids were absolutely massive almost like tombs stones and were originally covered with marble but that was later stripped off during the Muslim conquest. Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in a series of regulated poses. We will learn more about the drawing and pyramids tomorrow.

The Worst Experience of My Life

I have never been more frustrated in my entire life than the class I experienced today. We had to play a torturous game called pyramid challenge and Kendal was my partner. I did this game in the sixth grade and I hated it as much then as I do now. The grade Kendall and I are getting for this assignment is a C because we did not complete it fast enough to get a B or an A. You have to chose your materials to make a pyramids and your work force and location. If you chose one wrong thing through the whole entire process is ruined and you have to go all the way back ton the beginning. It took Kendall and I at least 10 different tries to finally complete it. Mr Schick finally told us 20 minutes before the end of class that you could skip one of the most time consuming part of the game. I nearly cried with joy after finishing that game. I think my entire class thinks I'm insane from how much I yelled at my computer today. I hope we never have to do this game again as you can tell from my first few sentences of this blog, I hate this game. I like the mummification challenge better on the same website as this game. It is so much more fun and does not make me want to throw my computer out the window. I do not know how some people figured it out in like the first 20 minutes because Kendall and I couldn't figure it out until the last 20. At the moment there are still people trying to figure it out and I feel their pain. I think this class saw me lose my mind today over this computer game. This is usually my favorite class of the day but today I almost as Mr Schick says, Are you crying? Honestly, my apologies to anyone who had to witness that.

5 Important Inventions of Egyptian Life

Hieroglyphics- I think hieroglyphics are the most important invention of Egyptian time. This was one of the first ways of collecting history and communication. Because they could write things down, they could take records of things happening in their lives. Writing things down helped build a set of laws to remember and help people communicate more efficiently. If hieroglyphics did not exist than the history of the fascinating Egyptian life would not exist. I mean yes the pyramids would still be standing but these writings are crucial information into the past.

Papyrus- Well, now there's writing and you can write on clay but what if you want to carry your writing around without dragging a slab of clay? That's why I thought papyrus was the next most important invention in Egyptian time. This was the first invention of paper and it was very helpful in keeping records in hieroglyphics of course. This paper was also very durable so it could last a little longer than maybe regular paper. Keeping records on this paper in hieroglyphics was a big step into civilization for Egyptians

Ox-drawn plow- Now you have all these people to feed, how are you going to keep up with them and the increasing population? The invention of the ox-drawn plow was a huge technological break through for Egyptians. This helped them farm faster and produce a food surplus for their population. 

Doctors- Egyptians didn't think illnesses were only punishment anymore, or that curing was a religious act. They now had actual doctors who learned how to heal people using herbs and different technics. And how do we know this? It's written down in hieroglyphics! 

Sails and Boats- Egyptians had all these new inventions, how would they share with the world? How could they get more supplies to build more inventions? Oh yeah, let's make another huge technological break through and make boats and sails! These Egyptians were so insanely intelligent they made boats to sail the Nile River as transportation. Carrying things on foot got tiring so why not make something that could carry all your supplies and you down the river? All of these inventions are hugely important in the developing civilization of ancient Egypt. 

Ancient Egypt

Today we had our first class since last Thursday so we had a lot of catching up to do. We finished going over the last test we took so we would have all the right answers to study for the final. Then we finally started to present the slide show of ancient Egypt history as a class. We had all taken notes on the slide show for our cyber day homework but this was our first time reviewing it together and talking about it. I got pretty far in the presentation so the whole class sounded familiar to me and made sense. I love studying this topic, I don't know what fascinates me about Egypt so much but I'm always interested in learning about it. I find the class ranks and pyramids really interesting and love to study about them. We basically just went over our notes we took and underlined anything really important Mr Schick said about the presentation. I think the slide show will be very helpful in studying for the test in the future. We will finish going over the slide show tomorrow and take more important notes on our notes we've already taken. I really like discussing the topics in class because they help me remember a lot better than just writing it down into my blog. If our next test is an open blog I'm acing this test.

Cyber Day Assignment

Today was our first cyber snow day and Mr Schick told us to take notes into our blog about the ancient Egyptians. First thing I'm learning about is their geography and their entire lives are centered on the Nile River, which is a huge resource for them. The Nile is used for irrigating, drinking, bathing, and transporting goods. In every July, the Nile floods and in every October the river leaves behind rich soil. The river's delta is a fairly large marsh-like triangular area of fertile silt which is very good for farming. As mentioned before, irrigation was a technological breakthrough for the Egyptians because this helped them manage the Nile river. Then the presentation goes on to talk about the pyramids of Egypt and one of it's most famous, the Great Sphinx of Giza. The work was built in 2555-2532 BC and it is a statue of a lion with a human's head. The Great Sphinx of Giza is the oldest monumental statue in the world. I just watched a video on these statues and pyramids in Egypt and I thought it was really fascinating how advanced the Egyptians were in their building skills. Next the presentation moves on to talk about the daily life in Egypt. They had a system of class rank which had slaves at the lowest and Pharaohs at the highest. Slaves most helped the rich people with household duties and taking care of their children. The farmers tended to the crops raised by the help of the irrigation from the Nile river. Artisans were the people who built statues displaying battles and scenes in the afterlife they believed in. In this time of Egyptian history, they used the bartering system and merchants were the people who organized these trades. Scribes were the ones who kept records of events, told stories, made poetry and were held higher up because of their writing. This writing was called hieroglyphs. Soldiers are the third highest rank for class and they used wooden weapons with bronze tips and some even rode chariots. Next was known as the white kilt class who were the priests, physicians, engineers, and Political leaders. The highest rank was Pharaoh but I am going to leave off there and pick up in class on Thursday. Tomorrow is our Monday schedule so we do not have Mr Schick tomorrow.

Test Hand Backs

On class on Thursday, we went over the two tests we have taken so far in this semester. We didn't really do much with it we just went over the answers aloud and made corrections for any mistakes Mr Schick made while grading. We went over the fact that we had to store these tests somewhere because they will come up on the final in June. Crazy to think that we are already thinking about June with finals! By that time I'll be wishing I was out of there and surprised that I made it through freshmen year. Honestly, I thought my grades were going to sink in high school but I've actually learned to be a much better student so far. My social studies class experience has changed a lot too. For the last two years, I had a horrible social studies teacher so I'm glad I got such an awesome teacher and class this year. It makes me participate more in the topic and learn better. I'm so excited to learn about ancient Egypt because believe it or not I'm a little bit of a Egypt nerd. My best friend and I have always loved learning about the pyramids, pharaohs, gods, and of course the mummies. Our favorite movie to watch together as kids was called The Mummy and we always loved to learn about it in class. I don't really know what fascinates me so much about it but I am always interested to learn more about ancient Egypt. Hopefully we will start the lesson soon because I feel like I'll do really well on this next test.

Guns, Germs, and Steel Test

I just now finished taking the test on the video for Guns, Germs, and Steel. I think this was a pretty fair and easy test I only had trouble with about 3 questions. It was twenty five multiple choice questions so that made it a lot easier for me to do. When I had trouble on a question I would just rule out the illogical answers and narrowed it down. It was all things that had been in the video we watched last week and I'm glad i paid attention to it. It really helped me remember a lot of things that were on the test. I also took really good notes which helped me drill the information into my mind. The test really didn't have anything from the presentations we did in class, which I am very happy about. I think Mr Schick is about to go put the Scantron papers into the grading machine and I'm not too too nervous. I don't think I got a perfect score but I definitely did not fail that test. I'm glad I knew most of it because I had so much homework this week and I barely had time to study for this. I hope I did as well as I think. Wish me luck!

Presentation Day

In class on Friday, I'm pretty sure my groups presentation started off the class quite well. We had to cover as I said in my last blog the subjects of animals from the video we've been watching. We had some good information in our power point and only had a few mistakes such as spelling. Over all I think the class really like our presentation because not only did it inform our class about the animals but it kept their attention with the funny pictures and videos. Then it went onto other people's projects and they talked about the other 4 subjects the website covered such as diseases and cuneiform. Mr Schick stopped the presenters a couple of times to let us know what and what not will be on the test Tuesday. I will not be in class on Tuesday because I have another very important appointment for my back to get other doctor's opinion on my condition. Hopefully that goes as well as my last appointment did because I definitely do not want surgery. I was told by Mr Schick to let him know when I wanted to take the test because I will be gone. I will most likely come on Wednesday to take it because I have lacrosse impact testing after school on Monday. I will try to study some tomorrow Monday and Tuesday so I can do really well on this video test. I think I'll do pretty well on this because I took at least 4 pages of notes and paid really close attention to the video. I also wrote some really good blogs on the video and listened to the presentations on Friday. Until then, enjoy my groups' favorite part of our presentation.

Video Presentation

Today we got into groups of 5 to make projects about subjects in the movie we watched the past few days. Mr Schick told us to make any kind of presentation so my group decided to do a power point. We got to pick first so we got the subject of animals which seemed to be the most interesting one out of all the other options. Everyone decided that I would be the one to present the power point to the class so wish me luck. We researched about all the domesticated animals used at the time of first civilization. I did the cattle slide and looked up most of the pictures for the power point slides. Everyone else in the group did amazing researching their slides I have to give it to them. Our presentation looks great and we took almost the whole class to finish it. We have a vast amount of information on the animals of the time but put it nicely into neat bullets that are easy for people to read. The information is straight forward and does not drag on like most presentation do. I feel like the class will enjoy my groups project cause we had a REALLY fun time making the slides. We added a lot of great surprises and Mr Schick even pitched into it. I cannot wait to present it tomorrow and hopefully everyone else will laugh as hard as my group did today. Be prepared!

Final Conclusion

Next the video advanced onto Jordyn where they found group of houses with major technology advances in it. They had discovered how to master fire and make plaster out of limestone which was huge because this would lead into using fire to make steel. This plaster was used as a way of old time air conditioning when it was spreading across the walls. But most of these villages built in Jordyn and most of the Fertile Crescent were abandoned because the land was too dry from people farming too much. They advanced onto the east and west lands next to the Fertile crescent which also gave them geographic luck. This means that they advanced onto the same latitude lines which meant that the animals could be raised in the same climate and farm in the same amount of day time. They thrived in these new lands because their domesticated animals adapted well tot he new environments and the new land was great for farming. Egypt exploded with civilization when the Fertile Crescent people got to the land because they created a surplus amount of food for everyone there. This eventually advanced onto spreading into Europe who then expanded to the Americas. Wheat wasn't even a local plant in America before the Fertile Crescent people brought it there and now 20 million tons of wheat is consumed by Americans a year. Diamond then concluded that wherever you go the people are fundamentally similar. He said civilization had to deal with the hand people were dealt with the land and more. New Guinea got the short hand while other countries thrived. Diamond answered the man's question from long ago with that the people of New Guinea weren't not hugely developed because they weren't smart, it was because of the GEOGRAPHY.

Animals and Grains

Today we watched more of the video we watched last week about the scientist in New Guinea. One reason New Guinea did not advance like other countries because they did not have the food resources to plant like other countries. One plant that developed farming in other countries was wheat and barley. This showed through digging through an old village which was probably the first permanent civilization discovered called Draa. People started to settle down and tried to survive through another somewhat Ice Age when they started farming wheat and barley. They even made the first granary which was where they kept the crops away from moisture and insects. Most villages were found close to water with fields full of wheat next to them. The people farming this wheat didn't realize it at the time but they were the start of plant domestication. After the Middle East, China started developing rice and the Americas started to farm corn, squash, and beans and finally Africa with plants called sorghum, millet, and yams. This doesn't mean New Guinea wasn't farming, it just means they weren't farming good grains that were storable. The whole thing came down to ultimately geographic luck as Jerod Diamond described it. Inequalities in the world could have been caused because we developed much faster than other countries by food. The humans started the evolution of animal domestication because animals provided meat, gave milk, helped plow, and gave fur for clothes. The ideal animals to domesticate were over 100 pounds and reproduced in 1-2 years. Most were social animals so if you control the alpha you can control the whole herd. 14 species over 100 pounds have been fully domesticated by humans. We will probably finish the video tomorrow.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

We started watching a video called Guns, Germs, and Steel on Friday and we were told to take some notes. Here's what I got so far. The scientist in this film is named Jerod Diamond and he loves to study birds and was a professor at UCLA. He travelled across the world to Papua, New Guinea to study a vast amount of birds in their wildlife. This country is so secluded from today's technology that they are basically living in the Neolithic Age. While Jerod was over there he kept running into the same question, what separates the haves from the have-nots? The have-nots are sometimes defined as countries that aren't as developed as other countries are. Some people this this is a disadvantage, some think this is better for the people. These people in New Guinea are so intelligent, how could they be defined as a lower class. Jerod was asked by a New Guinean, "Why you white man have so much cargo and we New Guinean's don't?" Jerod tried to think of a way to answer this question but the answer was obvious.  The New Guineans knew that "the white men" had more advanced lifestyles than them with more technology and everything. These "white men" knew it too and they took advantage of that when they come to the country years ago. They thought they were superior to them and they had to do everything for them. The video broke down 3 reasons some countries are more developed then others. Having advanced technology, a large population, and a well organized work force helps a country grow more rapidly. Then the video started to show ways people live and survive in New Guinea. No one seems unhappy in their country; they have huts that house their families and ways of getting food. They seem quite content with their lifestyle.

After(Test)shock

I just finished taking the first test on the prehistoric civilization in the fertile crescent. I think I got at least 3 wrong but I'm pretty sure I had a lot of spelling mistakes. The first section was fill in the blank and I only had trouble with like three of them. I think I did really well on the three short answers because I'm very good at explaining topics in my writings. Then we had to label a map of the fertile crescent and I think I got them all right but I just spelled Mediterranean wrong. The whole first part of the test was stuff right from the power point that Mr Schick made. I studied a lot for this last night but I still had a little bit of trouble remembering somethings that were on there. I made quizlet cards and everything so I think that's why I was really good at definitions. I hope I did okay on it because at the moment I have a 100% in this class and I'd like to keep it close to that. doing these blogs really paid off because we got to use our blogs for the test. Two of my blogs from this week were really helpful for the fill in the blank especially for spelling. I'm actually really glad we got to use our blogs because I thought we were just going to wing it. I wonder how the new students liked using their blogs for the test. I hope they write better blogs so they can use it for tests to their advantage. Fingers crossed for this one.

Test Preparation

Today we went over what will be on the test tomorrow on the history of civilization. Unlike our other tests, this one will be fill in the blank not multiple choice. I personally like multiple choice more but I guess I will just have to study a little harder for this test. Mr Schick said that we might have to know a couple specific dates which are hard for me to remember. I will make notes cards handwritten and on Quizlet because I feel like that website is really helpful for reviewing for a test. I think the hardest part for me will be to keep all the times straight of when things occurred. I feel like this lesson is going to take a while to study because it has a lot of information in that powerpoint that is very important. I feel like every single slide has important details which usually isn't the case for this class. Usually there is a lot more controversial subjects to discuss but there aren't many in this chapter. I never heard Mr Schick talk about an essay but there probably will be one so I will have to prepare for that as well. I really don't like that we don't have a word back either because I feel like I won't remember or I will spell something wrong. We mostly went over the slides today and talked a lot about each one just to cover everything. People were participating in the conversation so I think that helped people remember some topics in the powerpoint. It always helps me to hear a clear explanation from a student that understands a concept I don't because I get it from a different perspective than my own. Listening to Mr Schick give a simpler translation of the slides really helps me understand the topic deeper which helps me remember it. I have a feeling I'm going to be up very late tonight finishing my Earth Science project and studying for this test. I hope everything goes well tomorrow, wish me good luck!

Hammurabi's Code

Today we decided to take the first portion of the class talking about the test this week. There was talk of having it either tomorrow or Thursday but we didn't full decide. I just emailed Mr Schick asking which day so I know when to study for it because I need to. I'm not really great at remembering facts, I'm better at remembering concepts we talked about in class. This lesson is kind of hard for me to pick up which is why I really need to know when this test is. I really hope it's on Thursday because I'm taking up most of my night studying for an Earth Science quiz. I really need to study for Earth Science because I haven't read any of the assignments assigned so far. Anyway, we started to talk more about Hammurabi's Code today and what they really mean. Most of them are quite harsh and strange but probably made sense to the people back then. They had a very different government and environment back then so that's also contributing to these laws. Women and peasants didn't play a big role in society so when it came to their rights, there were barely any. If something happened to a rich person, their consequences or awards would be much different than a lower class man or woman. It really bothers me how low they thought of women back then and some of the laws were very degrading to them. These laws basically outlined the saying of an eye for an eye. It's weird how some of these laws can relate to the Ten Commandments of the Catholic religion. We talked about that told because they actually mention an eye for an eye in the bible. I remember writing a paper on it in my Intro to Bible class last semester. Mr Schick said he would move our test to Thursday if we had a great discussion on the Code and I think we did a pretty good job. Everyone participated and gave their opinions on the laws and we all got down to the real meaning of the laws. I really really hope Mr Schick is moving our test to Thursday so I have more time to study and prepare.

Early Civilization

While I was gone the other day, the class was introduced to the new lesson about Prehistory to Civilization today. I'll start off with saying that the earliest prehistoric age is the Paleolithic age and the Neolithic was when people started to invent tools and start farming. Humans originally emerged from southwestern Africa and travelled in groups hunting and gathering plants. The Neolithic age also evolved into permanent settlements and moved around to Southwestern Asia. At this time inventions were increasing as the status of women was decreasing because they were only good for house duties apparently. then we got into the subject of Mesopotamia. a district called Sumer took up the land in between the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates and inhabited 40,000 people. Governments were formed for the very first time like the concept of the city-state and the first writings called cuneiforms were formed. Gods and Goddesses of nature were formed along with tall tales of epics like "Epic of Gilgamesh" which talked about a huge flood that wiped out man kind. Sumerians were some of the first people to develop time and calendars according to the moon cycles. They also built high temples to praise their gods and goddesses and a pretty famous one is called the Ziggurat. The nomad people drove animals with them in their travels like in the south of Sumer of Arabia. Then King Hammurabi of Babylon created one of the first real set of rules called Hammurabi's code for people in different settlements. Basically they all circled around the saying of you back what you dish out like an eye for an eye. Mesopotamia was increasingly expanding across the land of Europe and Asia in tribes such as the Indo-Europeans who ventured to Russia's steppe and introduced the domestic horse. Our first test is Wednesday on this material and I really hope we review for it.

Back Appointment

I was not in class today because I had a very important doctor's appointment at the hospital. I have a back condition that has been affecting me for the last year or so. Today I had a check up to see if I need major surgery on it or just go back to physical therapy for a second time. My back condition has gotten worse over time since my last appointment but luckily I don't need surgery. I have checked a couple of people's blogs but I'm still not sure what we did in class today. I can email Mr Schick or just talk to someone tomorrow to know what we did in class. I'll be back tomorrow to find out what I missed and make up any missed work.

First Day of West Civ

Today was my first day in my new class  of Western Civilization! It has most of the people from my old class from last semester of Human Geo except Cody, Zack, and Jon. We are keeping Cody's seat empty as a memorial for him being such a great classmate. I like my new class but I don't think my old class could ever be topped off. We started today with going through attendance and learning the new kid's names. We heard a story about how Jayla's mom always makes her late to school which was pretty entertaining and got us to know her better. I already knew Jayla along with some other new students but I think they all really like Mr Schick. Mr Schick is really good at explaining what his class is all about and I love that about his classes. I know what my responsibilities are right at the start and that really prepares me for everything. We said goodbye to our old blogs and said hello to these brand new ones! Actually only a few of us said hello to these blogs in class, a few of us had some trouble getting on blogger in school. I just now made this account and this is my very first post but I'm no stranger to these blogs. I'm actually pretty good at keeping up with these blogs and my classwork because I have such a great teacher. These new kids are lucky because Mr Schick is honestly the best teacher I've ever had in all my years of Social Studies. While everyone was setting up their blogs, Mr Schick was talking some of my friends and I and we decided on bringing cookies to class tomorrow to welcome everyone. I have a dermatology appointment tomorrow so I'll only be there until 2:15 but I will still be blogging on whatever we do in class. I'm not leaving before I get the cookies I requested.