2/27/13

Today in class Mr. Schick let us work on our tests if we didn't finish. I was so happy! I did not fill in some answers last time and it was such a relief to be able to ake my time and fix my wrong answers and fill in the unanswered ones. After that he gave us a Chapter 4 assignment which I am doing right now. Here are the answers to what I have so far:
1600-1100 BC- This was the Age of Bronze for the Greeks. It was an advancement in their weapons.
1200s- Rise of Hellenic Civilization and that was a part of the Dark Ages.
That is all I got today because I finished my test toward the end of class and I was making a big effort on only getting answers from the big. During the time I was looking in the book I couldn't fin any! So for the sake of just writing some down I researched those two online. I will definitely get more done tomorrow or the next time we work on it.

2/25/13

Today we had a test. I FORGOT TO SAY THE PRAYER. I was in charge of prayer and I forgot! I just remembered. Well the test...how did I do on the test. Well...let's just say I'm not very good at Western Civilization. I study really hard for the tests but I can't remember the dates or anything and I get the civilizations confused. I didn't know 2 shot answers so that is already 10 points off. I think I did really well on my essay though. Well I am gonna pray that I get a good grade.

2/23/13

Western Civ was really fun on Friday. We had a debate just like the Greeks used to have in their government. The debate was about if the Chinese students should be able to use their translators for the test on Monday or not. I was all for them being able to because it is only fair. If we were in China as American exchange students, we would need our translators. The only reasonable excuse for them not to be able to was that they had been learning the English language ever since they were four. But the argument for that was a lot of the kids in the class had been learning Spanish since they were four and they could never survive in a Spanish school. I think it was ridiculous that people even opposed the idea. It was really selfish. Considering that we sometimes have a hard time figuring out what they are saying, imagine how they feel when our whole class is talking all at the same time. Their were a lot of good arguments and it was an overall great discussion  The overall turnout was everyone voted on behalf of the Chinese students accept for 2 students. It was a pretty intense class.

2/21/13

Today is Thursday so today was our long mod. We covered a lot. The thing that interested me the most was when we talked about the old blind poet who would go around telling stories. I'm pretty sure his name was Homer. He wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. I love reading so I think me and my friend, Savannah King, are going to read to Odyssey and see if we can finish it. The short and brief description that Mr. Schick gave about the Odyssey seemed really interesting and I am really curious to read it. I don't think I could fit it in my locker though if it is 500 pages.We talked a little bit more about the Dark Ages again and how Greece still came out triumphant. We finished the outline, which Mr.Schick posted on the blog. I will probably refer to that a lot. Especially for the test on Monday.

2/20/13

Today in Western Civilization we went over an outline on Chapter 3 that Mr. Schick created. It was pretty interesting and I think I understood the material well. We talked about Greek city-states, their boats, the Sea People, a little about the Dark Ages, and the Early Europeans. The thing I found most interesting was how they built their boats. They built kind of like a tip on the front of it so they could ram into other boats and either knock the boat over, stick a hole in the boat, or just injure some people and get close enough to either go hand to hand combat or set the enemies' ship on fire. We also talked about the oars and how they needed I think around 170 people to just row one boat. We ended on that note. I also thought the Sea People were interesting. The "Sea People" conquered the Mycenaeans but there isn't a lot known about them. That makes me really curious! I'll have to look up some stuff about it to find out more.

2/9/13

Today in class we went over grades. Mr. Schick expressed the importance of the blog. Blogging can be there difference between an A or a B or a C and a D. I realized that I have been slacking on my blog not with completion but with the times. I haven't gotten them in by 12 o'clock every night so I am definitely going to try harder. After that Maheer, Ricki, Lexi and I presented our power point because ours was the only one presentation ready I think. We read our slides and went into it a lot more. We talked about the Sea people and we got more into the life of a warrior back then in 2000 B.C. I think we are finishing our presentation tomorrow.Western Civilization flew by though because I was really anxious for lacrosse tryouts at the end of the day. Hopefully I did well on my part of the power point and lacrosse tryouts!

2/16/13

Yesterday was a half day so Western Civ was cut a little short. I think it was only about 10 minutes. We went over our tests, which I am really disappointed about. I did not get the grade I wanted and I studied fairly hard. I watched all of the videos and read the text book but I guess it just never really clicked. Well I did my best. I will just have to ace the next test hopefully. After that we talked some more about our Google document power points. We have to finish them over the weekend. There are only 4 topics I think and I am doing Athens. Hopefully everything will run smoothly.

2/14/13

Today in western civ we worked on our power point of LO-1 and LO-2 in our groups. We got a lot done. We finished our part on LO-1 and we have already assigned each other categories for the slides we are to do in LO-3. We should finish the written portion today and then we might add more pictures and designs. So far we ave gotten a lot done and still had fun. We have talked about Stonehedge, and the Dark, Ages, and the Early European Barbarians. It is really interesting how the word barbarian was used back then and how it is used now. Back then it meant you were a sophisticated high class European. Now it is the complete opposite.

2/13/13

Today in human geo we had a sub because Mr.Schick was out. I think she was a French teacher because she kept saying things in French...I just kinda guess from that "little" hint. Mr. Schick sent directions with her and posted the directions on his blog. We got into groups of 4, my group was Lexi, Maheer, Ricki, and I, and we had to make a Google document. The Google document is supposed to be about the main points in LO1 and LO2. So far I have made 2 slides. One on megalithic structures and one on the Stone hedge which is the most famous megalithic structure. So far the project seems like it will go smoothly, I am starting to enjoy this chapter a lot. I'm already eager for tomorrow's class.

2/11/13

Today felt really long. Even Western Civ which usually flies by felt pretty long. We talked about the Stone Hedge which is a Megalithic structure and we shared our theories about how we thought it could of got there. I was thinking maybe they layed out the stones and then they somehow got the rock that is on top of the 2 vertical rocks and then they tied ropes to them and hauled them up straight and somehow got them to stay using something that I have no idea about. But I think we settled with the theory that aliens did it. We then watched and discussed 2 power points. One power point was from the text book and the other was from Mr. Schick who made it himself. Honestly I don't really find this chapter very interesting. I found myself wandering off a lot and having to redirect myself. But sometimes I just get a rough start so it will probably get better and more interesting once we get more into the heart of Greece.

300 Word Reading Assignment

Intro to Chapter 3
The intro began with how the Greeks started as European barbarian people. It continued talking about Greece's classical culture. Greece dabbled in art, government, science, and many more things that we will read later in the chapter. Speaking of government Greece's city-states were the first to get the people involved in government.
LO1
Greece was a start of a much more sophisticated class. Megalithic structures were being built, such as the Stonehedge, and a well-organized civilization began to form. Slowly the civilians of Greece started abandoning their earlier barbaric ways until those barbaric ways could not even be remembered anymore because of the new technologies and advancements that had begun to form. The civilization of Greece started to not just work on how to survive anymore but they started creating tradition and they took in Indo-European influences. Indo-European origin was seen through the language that was spoken. Competition started to form throughout men, who centered there lives around strength and victory. The people used gods and goddesses as their way of worship. Even though these new opportunities of wealth and success started turning up, the main job was still farming. Villages and farmsteads were made for the farmers so they could become more of a community. Tribes started to form to create a group all about kinship and for people with common interests. Tribes would sometimes fight each other or they will rise up against warrior kings. Another chunk that made up the civilization were European barbarians. European barbarians were people who spoke the Indo-European language and they were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, warfare:over all they were a well balanced and organized group of people. A funny thing about the word barbarian is how the social eye view it. They view it as unintelligent kind of good for nothing beings but scholars viewed it as more of a common word for the well balanced Indo-European civilization. Overall so far in the reading we have read about a lot of different groups that I can't see some of them getting along very well but I guess I will see more about it later in the reading.

The test and this weekend's assignment

AHHHH! I just saw the assignment right now and I didn't bring my book home and I didn't know we had to blog about the test. -___- Ugh, Now I am going to have 2 late assignment...great. Well about the test. It was a lot more challenging then I thought it would be. I studied really hard though so I will accept what ever grade I get because I know I did my best. I'm not sure how well I did on the essay. I think my short answer was longer than my essay.I regret not elaborating more on my essay. I'm just over all disappointed in my essay. Hopefully I'm exaggerating and it's not as bad as I think it is! Well I'm kinda eager to see my grade on Monday slash not so eager. Well until Monday then!

2/7/13

Today was our long mod in Western Civ. We reviewed for the test that we have tomorrow and Mr. Schick informed us that everything is on the website so we can pretty much do all of our studies online. Since this is the first test in Western Civ I really wanna ace it. It is really interesting material so it isn't a burden or anything to study it. I like talking about Egypt and their mummification process and their pharaohs and all of their gods and goddesses. It is really interesting. The videos with John Green are really funny and enjoyable and the PowerPoint and the prezi is pretty straight to the point so this shouldn't be terribly hard to study for. Well I hope I do well! Wish me luck!

2/6/13

Today was really fun! We played this pyramid building game that had multiple stages that had to be completed. The stages were things like picking who you wanted to work for you to build your pyramid, and how you wanted to treat your workers food wise and break wise. Every time I thought I finished I ended up having disaster strike or I picked my workers wrong. I was partnered with Abby and we were both struggling through it! We ended up getting our pyramids built around the last 10 minutes of class. Abby was first to get hers built and then about 2 minutes later  finally successfully built mine. We received 8 points out of 10 for credit since we finished in class. The people that finished first (Ricky and Maheer) received 10 out of 10 and the people that finished second (Katie and Nicolette) received 9 out of 10. The rest of the class would recieve 8 out of 10 if we finished in class. If you didn't finish in class you had to play the game at home and take a screen clipping, then place it on our nightly blog. Overall I thought it was a fun day. Tomorrow is our long mod but it will probably be fun. Until then!

4 day weekend

Today was a lot of things. It was our purple Thursday  our long mod for western civ, and our last day of school until our 4 days weekend. When we get back to school it will be Tuesday so we won't have western civ till Wednesday since we don't have it on Tuesdays. I feel like we haven't had a Monday in like months! But that is a good thing because I hate Mondays and Tuesdays are my good days. We have Monday off because Arch Bishop Lori gave us it off for the Super Bowl. So now we don't have to worry about staying up late then having to go to school the next day. My sleeping schedule is going to be so messed up after this 4 day weekend -_-. Well can't wait for Tuesday where I'm sure everyone will be sharing their opinions with each other about the results of the super bowl!