Ancient Egypt Test

Today in class we took the test on Ancient Egypt. We had about eight minutes to review in class before we took the test, which was nice because of the cyber day yesterday and we were able to ask Mr. Schick questions about the test. The test was all multiple choice and there was 26 questions on the test. I thought I was well prepare for the test because I studied last night and of course when we reviewed before the test. I thought I did really well on the test there were only two questions that I was unsure of so, hopefully I did well. Mr. Schick was able to grade the test in class because they were scrantons, and I got a 92%. I am satisfied with that test score. The class average was a 87% so we had the highest average again out of three classes.

Cyber Day Once Again...

For cyber day we have to write five possible questions that could appear on the test tomorrow.

1. Egyptian life was centered around ________.
A. Tigris River
B. Euphrates River
C. Nile River
D. Mediterranean Sea

2. Egyptians believed in the ____________. And mummified bodies to preserve them for this post death journey.
Answer: Afterlife


3. Which way does the Nile River flow.
A. North to South
B. South to North
C. East to West
D. West to East


4. Every _________ the Nile river flooded, and every _________ it leaves behind rich soil.
 Answers: July;October


5. Egyptian astronomers created a __________ to make better sense of the seasonal cycles.
Answer: Calendar

Notes on Ancient Egypt

Today in class we took notes on Ancient Egypt. I missed the first couple slides of the powerpoint because I was making up the Guns, Germs and Steel test that the whole class took like two weeks ago but because of the snow I haven't been able to do it. I thought I did pretty well on the test there were a few tough questions, but overall I felt prepared for it. Back to Ancient Egypt here are the notes below that I took in class:


Land of the Pharaohs
-Upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile.
-Lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile delta, that emptied into the Mediterranean Sea.
-The Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians and was much revered in lore and writing.
-Around 3100 B.C. the two lands were united under a single king or "Pharaoh"
Government by a God-King
-Pharaoh was all powerful, worshipped as a god and intimately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses.
-Egyptian relied on a harmony and balance of universe, which was called "maat"
-Pharaohs had multiple wives and all financial and social success were through the palace.
-Women could inherit money and land and divorce their husbands though only a tiny ever wielded real political power.
Gods, Humans, and Everlasting Life
- Gods were often portrayed with animal heads or bodies
- Egyptians believed in an afterlife and mumified bodies to preserve them for this post-death journey.
-All souls would need to justify themselves at a point of death and be either sent to an after-world paradise, or the jaws of a monster.
The Writing of Words of God
-Earliest Egyptian writing formed in 3100 B.C. and were small pictures known as hieroglyphs
-Hieroglyphs represented religious words, or parts of words, and most commonly adorned temples.
-Hieratic script was shorthand developed by scribes and priests.
-Was usually written in ink on papyrus, which was made from mashed Nile reeds.
-Papyrus was stored in scrolls and these scrolls were the books of ancient Egypt.
Calendars and Sailboats
- Egyptian astronomers created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles.
-Due to excellent knowledge, Egyptian doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created potions and cures for a number of common ailments.
-Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability to the Nile.
Pyramids and Temples
-Massive stone tombs, originally covered in marble but marble was later stripped of during the Muslims conquest
-Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods in a series of regulated poses, often in profile, were highly effective.

Worst Western Civ Class Ever

Today in class I almost cried. We have to build a pyramid on this online game. Karson and I took almost the entire class to finish. The grading rules were the first two teams to finish got A's the next two got B's, and if you finished in class you got a C. If you didn't finish you got a zero, but you could go home and finish it but still only get a C.This game was almost impossible, I have no idea how Paj and Evan finished so fast. I hope we don't ever have to do something like that again because next time I honestly will cry. The first 5 times that we did it Karson just did it on her computer and then after that I started on my computer. We should have started off by doing that, so that cost us time. At about 45 minutes in Mr. Schick showed us a short cut for the Nile River game which would have been nice to know to start out with. However, after about 15 tries (Combination of Karson and I) we finally finished with about 10 minutes to spare. In conclusion, as my title of this blog says, WORST WESTERN CIV CLASS EVER.

Cyber Day: Ancient Egyptian Inventions

1. Sails-  Sails/Sailing was the most important invention in Ancient Egypt because it allowed for transportation through the Nile River. This allowed for transportation of things that could not be transported on land because of distance or weight. This improved life for the Ancient Egyptians because it allowed easier and more efficient transportation to take place.

2. Calendar- A calendar was also an important invention in Ancient Egypt because it was the difference between life or death. Without the calendar the people had no idea when the Nile River would flood. Life in Ancient Egypt depended on the Nile River so, if it flooded and they weren't prepared for it, people could have died from famine.

3. Papyrus- Papyrus was an important invention in Ancient Egypt because the worlds first paper was invented using this. The Ancient Egyptians used this to keep track of all kinds of things like the days, when the Nile River would flood etc... The papyrus paper has allowed us to see what life was like in Ancient Egypt because it is very durable. This improved life for the Ancient Egyptians because it allowed them to again keep track of things and also invent a calendar.

4. Written Language- The Ancient Egyptians invented the first written language called hieroglyphics. This made it possible for the Egyptians to write and names and ideas. This improved life for the Ancient Egyptians because this helped them communicate, and talk about war, politics and culture.

5. Ox Drawn Plow- This invention cause a revolution in Ancient Egyptian agriculture. The Ox Drawn Plow made it easier and more efficient to plow lands. This improved life in Ancient Egypt because since it made it easier to plow fields that means they could plant and produce food quicker.

Ancient Egypt Presentation

Today in class we started going over the Ancient Egypt Prezi that we took notes on Tuesday for cyber day. I had already finished the prezi, so today's class was just clarifying the topics and noting what is important/what will be on the future test. But before we started doing that, the class had to finish reviewing the Guns, Germs, and Steel test that I haven't taken yet because I was absent last week. Therefore, I had to leave the classroom and roam the halls for ten minutes until they were done. But getting back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egypt is a very interesting topic to study, one of my favorites when I was in middle school. In seventh grade in my social studies class, that whole year was devoted to ancient civilizations, so I already have background knowledge on the topics we will be covering. Even though I enjoy Ancient Egypt, my overall favorite is Ancient Greece so I can't wait until we get to that unit. Tomorrow we will finish going over the prezi/taking notes in class tomorrow, I'm told it's something that you don't want to miss.



Here are extra notes that go along with my previous blog's notes:

-Nile flows south to north
-Cataract are the rough place in the river (consists of rocks-kind of like white water rafting)
-Nile is the worlds largest river, 4000 miles long
-Technological breakthroughs include irrigation, sailing, and baking bricks for building of pyramids.

CyberDay-Ancient Egypt Notes

I'M BACK!! I was not in class on Wednesday or Thursday due to a family emergency, but I am back now so here are the CyberDay notes on Ancient Egypt:

Geography:
-Egyptian life is centered around the Nile River
-The Nile River supplied water for drinking, for irrigation, for bathing and for transportation
-Every July it floods and every October it leaves behind rich soil
-The delta is a broad, marshy triangular area of fertile soil
-Managing the river required technological breakthroughs in irrigation
Pyramids:
-The Great Sphinx of Giza was built 2555-2532 B.C
-It is a recumbent lion with a human head
-It is oldest monumental statue in the world
Pyramid Video:
-Inside the pyramid there is a King and Queen chamber
- Subterranean chamber lies beneath the pyramid
-Al Amun wanted to find a special entrance in to the Great Pyrmaid that would lead to treasure
-The sarcophagus of the Pharaoh is empty
Daily Life:
-Hierarchy: Pharaoh-Nobles/Priests-Soldiers-Scribes-Merchants-Artisans-Farmers-Slaves/Servents
-Slaves/Servants helped the wealthy with household and child-raising duties
-Raised wheat,barley,lentils, onions- benefited from irrigation of the Nile
-Artisans would carve statues and reliefs showing military battles and scenes in the afterlife.
-Money and Barter system was used-merchants might accept bags of grain for payment-coinage came later
-Scribes kept records, told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and medical treatments.
-They wrote in hieroglyphs and hieratic
-Soldiers used wooden weapons (bow/arrow&spears) with bronze tips may ride chariots
-Upper Class, known as "White Kilt Class"(Priests, Engineers, Physicans)
Pharaohs
-The political and religious leader of the Egyptian people. Titles include "Lord of Two Lands" and "High Priest of Every Temple"
-"Lord of Two Lands" Pharaoh ruled Upper and Lower Egypt. Owned all lands, made laws,collected taxes, and defended Egypt from foreginers
-Hatshepsut was a woman who served as pharaoh
-Cleopatra VII also served as a pharaoh, but much later (51-30 B.C)
Gods and Goddesses
-Over 2000 gods and goddesses
- They "controlled" the lives of humans
John Green Video
-Ancient Egyptian Civilization lasted from 3000 B.C.E.- 332 B.C.E.
-Cities existed only along the Nile-made transporting goods easy
-Nile helped with bigger food surpluses
-Egyptians were buried with things that would be useful to them in the after life
-Old Kingdom (2649-2152 B.C.E.)
-Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 B.C.E.)
-New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.E.)
-Ra-God of Sun/Creation
-  Amun-Ra most widely recorded Egyptian God




 

Test Grades and Presentations

Yesterday in class Mr.Schick finally told us our grades from the test we took last week. However, he aren't going over the test until next week. Our class had the highest overall average of an 88.8%. Mr. Schick explained the system of the dings to the newbies, where one ding equals an "A" and two dings equals an "100%."I got two dings which was a little surprising to me, because there was one question I had to completely guess. After he told everyone their grades we got on with the presentations about the variable in Germs, Guns, and Steel. My group went first as promised and we did our presentations on Animals. I was a little disappointed the way our presentation went, only because there was some grammatical errors and the sound on the youtube video wasn't working. After we went we continued  on with the other presentations, I think we are almost through with everyone, but there is one or two presentations left which will presented on Tuesday.        

Doing a Little Work

Today in class we had to prepare a presentation on one of five subjects, on the variables in Germs, Guns and Steel. My group which consisted of Me, Karson, Veronica, Zaire, and Ellee got to pick first and we chose animals. At first we only had one mod to complete the assignment, and then present the next mod but Mr.Schick changed it so we had the whole class to work on it because there was no way some of us could get it done. We decided to make a power-point on our topic and we all had to split up the work because there was seven animals and only five of us. Mr.Schick even helped us by finding a youtube video that involves a goat, which everyone will see tomorrow;) We were able to complete our power point by the end of class with funny pictures and a little surprise:) Our group is kicking off the presentations so prepared because we are starting off with a bang!

Germs Guns and Steel 2/4/15

Today in class we finished watching Germs Guns and Steel. However, the first 20 minutes of class was taken up by Mr. Schick trying to fix the volume on the speaker/computer so we ended up having to use Evan's computer in order to finish watching it. The major points in the the rest of the video were:

-Making plaster from limestone, was a major technological advancement. (in Jordon, used plaster to insulate the wall to keep the wind etc... out.
-In Papa New Guinea they didn't have metal tools, because they didn't have a food surplus, which means they couldn't have specialists, which means no metal working, and therefore no metal tools.
-The Fertile Crescent's head start in farming could not continue because the climate was to dry and the ecology was deteriorating.
-America consumes 20 million tons of wheat a year- however wheat is not native to America, it is originally from the Fertile Crescent.

The conclusion that James Diamond came up with for answer the question, "Why white men have so much cargo and New Guineans have so little," was simply the geography. The New Guineans got the short end of the stick, and if American's had settled in New Guinea we would be in a similar situation.

Germs Guns and Steel Video 2/3/14

Today in class Veronica brought in donuts(: Everyone got four but I'm pretty sure Karson and I  had like eight. After donuts me continued watching Germs, Guns, and Steel. I think we are almost finished the video but it will take at least another class to finish.

These are the notes from the video so far:
-Sageo-found in sageo trees, can make into dough, doesn't last long, can't store, not nutritious
-People from Papa New Guinea have many talents that we don't have and vice versa.
-Barley&Wheat much better to plant and eat, gives nutrition.
-Draa - oldest settlement that people ever found.
-It had the world first grainary, which was a place to store grain.
-China- grew rice
-Americas- corn, squash, and beans
-Africa- sorghun and yams
- Biggest difference in farming inequality is GEOGRAPHIC LUCK
-Animal Domestication- controlling food and breeding.
-Goats and Sheep were first domesticated animals
-Ideal domesticated animals give birth in first couple years of life
-14 species of domesticated animals
-Goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, bactrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffaloes, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithams, baly cattle.
South American- llamas
-All other animals were from Asia, Europe, and North America
Cows, pigs, sheep, and goats were native to the middle east.