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 Download the EH Museum rubric as a pdf Eckstein’s 6th grade humanities teachers would like to invite you once again to attend the Eastern Hemisphere Museum on Thursday, March 11 2010 from 6 – 8pm. Students will be turning in their artifacts on Wednesday morning. They have already been instructed to turn in their work depending on which region of Africa they focused on: north, west, and central African artifacts will be room 208 while eastern and southern African artifacts will be in room 209. When students turn in their artifact, they will need to place a copy of the grading rubric next to it. During the museum night, we will also have related assignments on display including the Praise Poems from language arts and the Heroes of Modern Africa reports we have been writing on the Eck208 wiki.
 Today we began work on the Heroes of Modern Africa Project. Students are researching how individuals and organizations are working together to solve problems faced by the people of Africa, such as poverty, famine, threats to the environment, human rights issues, and more. Students are first taking notes on their topic using an individual wiki page. Next week, they will collaboratively write a report about their topics with students from other classes using the wiki. You can visit the project page at http://eck208.pbwiki.com/Heroes-of-Modern-Africa.
Meanwhile, students should have begun work on their African artifacts at home. We will not provide any more class time to research the artifact, though we will continue to work with individual students to get their artifact captions typed.
Update: the survey is now closed.
Click this link to go the topic selection survey
Use the file below to format the caption for the Eastern Hemisphere Museum Project.
Directions
- Right-click on the icon above.
- Select “Save target as…”
- When the save dialog box pops up, navigate to your home folder by going to “My Computer” then selecting your home folder. Hint: look for the drive letter “H” which has your username in the title (as in “ECK_fmlast”).
- Open your file and begin typing your caption. Remember to save early and save often as you work.
- See this previous post for more information about writing and formatting the caption.
Today we began writing rough drafts of the caption that provides contextual information about the artifact for the Eastern Hemisphere Museum project. The rough draft of the caption is due Friday, February 12, 2010. After turning in the captions, students will begin drawing a design for their artifact replicas. The design is not due until Thursday, February 25, 2010. Students are not expected to work on the project over Mid-Winter vacation, but if they are behind on the note-taking or writing the caption, it is a great opportunity to get caught up.
Related Files
On Friday, students showed the signed EH Museum Topic Selection Letter to Ms. Falls and I. We initialed the letter to let students know if we approved their topic choices. In order to get a variety of artifacts in the museum, we did not be let every student have their first choice. On Monday, students will begin taking more detailed notes from books provided in class using the following forms:
- Artifact Context Notes – students should record notes about the context in which their artifact was created. This includes looking at the tribe, culture, or kingdom that created the object and examining the geographic features of the region where it was made. The sheet also has a prompt for “Source(s)” to help students keep track of where they find their information. On this line, students can write “Book #1″ or “Web site #2″, which are references to the resources they list in the Research Sources worksheet described below.
- Artifact Description Notes – this forms has a series of questions to guide students to take detailed notes including what the artifact looks like, how it was used, when and where it was created, and more. This information will help students write the caption and it will also help students remember physical attributes of the object when creating the replica. Students should also record their sources on this sheet.
- Research Sources – as students take notes, they are expected to record the sources they use for information. This form has prompts for information commonly used in citations, such as author, title, date published, and more. If students cannot find some of the information, such as publisher or edition, after five minutes of searching, they can leave it blank. Students are required to have at least one print resource and at least one online resource.
Students will have time in class on Monday and Tuesday/Wednesday, then the notes will be checked during class on Thursday, March 11 2010.
 During the next month, all 6th graders at Eckstein will be converting their social studies and language arts classes into museums. Each team will focus on a different region of the Eastern Hemisphere, including Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China. Our team will focus on the rich cultural history of Africa. Each student will create a reproduction of an African artifact and write a caption explaining the historical and geographic context of the object. Their work will be on display during the Eastern Hemisphere Museum Night on March 11, 2010 at 6pm.
On Monday, February 1, students will receive a letter that summarizes the project and lists important due dates, which they must get signed by a parent/guardian and return to Mr. Miller and Ms. Falls by Friday, February 5, 2010.
The first step is for students to select a topic. We’ll begin by assigning each table to a region in Africa. Students will first record general information about the geography and people of that region using the topic selection worksheet on the back of the family Letter. Next, students will list their top two artifacts choices on the front page of the family letter. Parents/guardians should then sign the letter showing that they agree that the artifact choices would provide an appropriate challenge for their student.
When the letters are turned in on Friday, February 5, Mr. Miller and Ms. Falls will notify students which topic is approved. Since we are looking for a variety of artifacts for the museum, not every student will receive their first choice.
Artifact Ideas
Here are some of the common artifacts students often choose to make. Students are not limited to these choices and originality is encouraged!
- Statue, sculpture, or stone carving
- Mask or headdress
- Jewelry or beadwork
- Clothing, blankets, or fabric pattern
- Musical instrument
- Pots, bowls, or eating utensils
- Scale model of a house or village
- Diorama of a ceremony or other scene from daily life
- Game or sport equipment
- Tools or weapons
- Replica of money or valuable objects
Example Artifacts from Previous Eastern Hemisphere Museums
Click each image for a larger view.
We are now moving on from the Middle East to Africa. We will begin by creating a map of the physical features of the entire continent. We are beginning this assignment on Thursday, December 17, 2009, but it will not be due for many days after we return from winter vacation. Work time in class will be provided in January so this assignment should not be considered homework during the vacation.
Handouts
- Africa Map Directions – directions listing what features need to be labeled.
- Africa Map Challenge Features – list of additional features to be labeled. This list is required for all 4th period Spectrum students. It is optional for students in periods 1, 2, 3, and 6. If students choose to do the challenge, it counts as an additional assignment, not “extra credit”.
- Africa Map Blank – blank Africa map for labeling and coloring.
Coloring the Map
The map should be colored to show water, desert, savanna, rainforest, and “land” (areas that do not seem to fall into one of the other categories). To help students with the coloring, I’ve labeled the satellite photo below with the major climate zones. For more helpful information, read the Wikipedia article about the geography of Africa.
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