The Legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Mr. Miller

Image of a Greek VaseTo wrap up our unit on Greece and Rome, students will read about the cultural contributions of the Greeks or Romans and create a drawing to show their connection to the modern world.

Assignment Due Friday, June 4

Choose one of the following readings:

The Legacy of Ancient Greece (History Alive! pages 297 – 303).
The Legacy of Rome in the Modern World (History Alive! pages 361 – 371).

Download the handout, then use the vase image to draw a Greek contribution to our culture or the column to show a Roman contribution.

  • Use drawings and/or symbols.
  • Use color
  • Fill the space

At the bottom of the page, explain how your drawing shows a connection between past and present.

Handout: Legacy of Greece and Rome Drawing

Research Links

Students are being provided with readings from History Alive! that include enough information for this assignment.  However, students who were absent on Tuesday/Wednesday will need to use one of the following Wikipedia links to learn more about a topic for their drawing:

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Twitter Week in Review for 2010-05-30

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Mr. Miller
  • Mon: we began work on the Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire skits by reading the historical information from History Alive! #
  • Tues/Weds: we are writing scripts and using PowerPoint to create virtual sets for our Rise and Fall of Rome skits #
  • Thurs: we rehearsed the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire skits. #
  • Fri: we performed the informative and entertaining Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire skits #
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Update on Roman Empire Skits

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Mr. Miller

In my previous post about the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire skits, I mentioned that we had to reschedule the performances from the original date of Friday, May 28 to next Tuesday/Wednesday. As it turns out, there are several issues that make that time even more problematic for performances. Thus, we told students today that the show will have to go on Friday, May 28.

If students are absent the day of the performance, they will not get full credit for the assignment. To earn back the missing points, students should complete the following assignment:

Use the links at http://www.rome.mrdonn.org/ to help you answer the following questions. Write 2 – 3 complete sentences to answer each question.
  • What events caused the failure of the Roman Republic and made it become an empire?
  • How did Caesar Augustus improve life in Rome?
  • What events caused the fall of the Roman Empire?
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Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire Skits

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Mr. Miller
Statue of Caesar Augustus

Statue of Caesar Augustus

Purpose Statement

Students will create a series of skits to learn and share information about the expansion of Rome, its transition from republic to empire and its downfall. Each group of students will focus on a different time period so we can cover nearly a thousand years of history in one week. The skits will cover some of the most famous events in Rome’s history, including Hannibal’s march over the Alps with elephants to attack Rome, Julius Caesar’s murder in the senate, the rise of Caesar Augustus as the first emperor and the eventual defeat of Rome by barbarians.

Assignment

Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire Skits (click to download the assignment as a pdf). Performances will be on Tuesday, June 1 and Wednesday, June 2 (the handout states the performances will be on Friday, May 28, but we decided to postpone until after the Memorial Day weekend).

Set Backdrops

To make the plays more realistic, students will create backdrops by inserting images into PowerPoint that fill the entire screen. Here are some pictures Mr. Miller took in Rome that students may use for their sets. Click the thumbnail to view the full size image.

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Twitter Week in Review for 2010-05-23

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Mr. Miller
  • Mon (4th period): we read about the Roman Republic and defined key terms, then compared it to Greek democracy #
  • Mon (1,2,3,6): we looked at this week's complicated testing schedule, then we began reading about 4 types of Greek governments #
  • Tues: MSP math test, then periods 1,2,3 finished Greek governments & began defining terms related to the Roman Republic #
  • Wed: all 6th graders attended a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, then we had early release day #
  • Thurs: MSP reading test, then period 4 will compare Athens & Sparta, period 6 will work on the Roman Republic worksheet. #
  • Fri: we watched the movie "Time Life Lost Civilizations: Greece" to learn about the cultural achievement of the ancient Greeks #
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Twitter Week in Review for 2010-05-16

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Mr. Miller
  • Mon: continued work on China Infographic, including a mini-lesson on analyzing graph & data to write the title that includes a fraction or % #
  • Tues/Wed: last day to work on China Infographic; focus is on writing, adding graphics and citing sources #
  • Thurs: China quiz, then we began our unit on Greece and Rome by looking at the geographic challenge of living on a mountainous peninsula. #
  • Fri: finish and turn in China Infographic, continuing geography of Greece, then comparing Athens & Sparta. Busy day! #
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China Review Words

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Mr. Miller

We will have a vocabulary quiz on Thursday, May 13 that will draw words from our entire China unit. Use the flashcards to study for the quiz. The entire word list is included below the flashcards.

More flashcards, word search, and hangman provided by StudyStack.com

Word List

  • Confucius – ancient Chinese philosopher who taught “do not treat people the way you would not like to be treated”.
  • Ghengis Khan – brutal leader of the Mongols who created a vast empire.
  • Marco Polo – explorer who travelled from Venice to China in 1272 and wrote a journal to describe his experience.
  • Moa Zedong – leader of the 1949 Communist Revolution who ruled China for 27 years.
  • Qin Shihuangdi- the first emperor of China, he began building the Great Wall.
  • Changjiang – long river flowing through the fertile basin in Southeast China.
  • Huang He – river named after the yellow silt it carries through northern China.
  • Taklamakan – deadly desert in western China.
  • Tiananmen Square – site where protesters gathered on June 5, 1989 and were attacked by the army.
  • Tibet Qinghai Plateau – a remote, large area with a high elevation that borders the Himalayas.
  • Bronze – a mixture of copper and tin and allowed the Shang Dynasty to become powerful.
  • Little Red Book - given to students during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960′s to teach them to be good communists.
  • logographs – symbol that represents a thing or idea.
  • Oracle bones – were used by Shang emperors to help them predict the future.
  • Opium – a highly addictive drug that the British sold in the China during the 1800′s that caused a war.
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Twitter Week in Review for 2010-05-09

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Mr. Miller
  • Mon: mini-lecture on 3 Chinese philosophies (Taoism, Confucianism and Legalism) followed by more time to work on Marco Polo Journals #
  • Tues/Wed: we are creating flow charts to show events in Modern China, including the Opium War, Communist Revolution and Tiananmen Square #
  • Thurs: Day 1 of the China Infographic assignment; we looked at example infographics then began collecting data about China #
  • I updated my China Infographic post with a pdf of my PowerPoint introduction to infographics: http://bit.ly/aSObf7 #
  • Fri: more time to work on the China Infographic, with a focus on creating graphs in Excel #
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China Infographic

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Mr. Miller
Graph showing China's population growth since 1960

Graph showing China's population growth since 1960

“When you are one in a million in China, there are 1,300 people just like you” – Did You Know?

Purpose Statement: students will be creating a small poster that includes a graph, an image, writing and other design elements in order to analyze the demographics of modern day China.

Assignment

Due Friday May 14, 2010

Teacher Examples

Find Data

  1. Demographics of China (Wikipedia)
  2. Historic population growth (Wikipedia)
  3. CIA World Factbook
  4. World Bank Data
  5. Google Public Data Explorer
  6. US State Department data
  7. Gapminder (look for an “Indicator” you want, click “Visualize”, then find “China”).

Ideas

  1. Graph China’s population growth over time.
  2. Compare the population of China’s largest cities.
  3. Compare the population of China to other large countries, such as India and the United States.
  4. Graph the population density of several cities in China and compare to cities in the United States.
  5. Graph the major ethnic groups of China.
  6. Compare China’s fertility, birth or death rate to other countries.
  7. Compare education and literacy rates in China to other countries.
  8. Compare environmental conditions to other countries such as pollution and air quality.
  9. Compare economic conditions to other countries, such as employment rate or how much the average worker is paid per hour.
  10. Compare how much energy China uses compared to how much it produces.
  11. You are not limited to these suggestions. Be original!

Inspiration

  1. How to Make an Infographic (Mr. Miller’s PowerPoint)
  2. Exports from US States to China
  3. Google in China Stats
  4. China’s Growing Wealth Gap
  5. China Investment Tracker at Forbes.com
  6. What does China censor online?
  7. China vs. United States: A Visual Comparison
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May the Fourth be With You!

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Mr. Miller

On Tuesday, May 4, Eckstein celebrates “May the Fourth be with you”. Please wear a Star Wars themed costume on Tuesday. Remember, no masks are allowed (just don’t tell that Darth Vader). Be sure to check out these Darth Tater puns my students wrote years ago.

Image of Darth Tater Mr. Potato Head

Image of Darth Tater Mr. Potato Head

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