Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents day, and in class we took notes. These are the notes from class:


Greeks
- They had colonies around the Mediterranean sea
- Romans borrowed: Religious beliefs, alphabet, much of their art, military techniques and weaponry
Latins
- first to settle
-descendants of Indo-Europeans
-settled on the banks of the river Tiber
-situated so trading ships-not far warfleets could navigate as far as Rome-no port
-Commercial  port, but not susceptible to attack
-built on seven hills
Drained a Swamp
- Many streams flowed into the Tiber
-There was a marshy area called the Forum, between Palatine and Capitoline hills
-Tarquin the prouds grandfather built the Cloaca Maximum (largest anicent drain) channeled water into the Tiber
Tarquin
- Lucius Tarquinas Superbus
-the seventh and final king of Rome
-known as Tarquin the arrogant
-a true tyrant, in old and modern sense
-Tarquin seized power like an old school tyrant

Project Meeting

Today in class we met with our groups to finalize our project idea. My groups project is going to be called "Are you smarter than a Gladiator?" and it will be a trivia board game. My group consists of Ellee, Karson, and I and we are going to start working on the project week on Wednesday and Thursday.

Baltimore Riot

No caption needed.

Today we had a class discussion on the Baltimore Riots. Mr. Schick also told us a few stories about when he was a kid, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. We also shared some of our own thoughts about the situation as well, but I did not get to share so here is my opinion; I understand why people are upset and protesting, but it's not even considered protesting anymore, it has gotten out of control. The sad part about this is that it's not even about Freddie Gray anymore. People are taking advantage of the situation to go and rob stores. I could go on and on, but that is the jist of it.

Class on 4/24/15

Today in class we met with our groups for the upcoming project to discuss what we are doing. After lots of discussion my group consists of Karson, Ellee and I and we are going to make a board game. We are going to try and base it of "The Game of Life" but include some other things as well. It is going to take a lot of time and effort but we are all excited about this idea and can't wait to see how it turns out.

Class on 4/22/15

Today in class Mr. Schick finished grading our essays on Ancient Greece. So, we had time to work on any projects or homework that we had. Once he finished he handed them back and we all got our grades. My group got a 98%, so I am very happy about that. Then, Mr. Schick went over grammar, and how we did overall as a class. That was all we did in class today.

ChiCago

Today in class we starting taking notes on Ancient Rome. We had a guest visitor today and his name was ChiCago, (Mr. Schick) he is related to Flo-Rida. He came in and rapped for us about Ancient Rome. Half the class videotaped his performance, while the other half was to busy laughing. Other than that, these are the notes we took today:

Ancient Rome:
 - Ninth Century- Etrusans, Greeks & Latins made settlements near Tiber River
-The Latins first
City State and Empire:
- Italy and its peoples
   - Indo-European tribes moved into the Italian peninsula and some settled along the Tiber River creating the city-state known as Rome
-Romulus and Remus (How Rome came to be)
-Etruscan settled in north part of Italy
-Rome is set up as a city-state
-Romans influenced by Greeks (Gods, government, battle formation, etc...)
-Originally, Rome was a monarchy on the Etruscan model with a council of elders called the "Senate"
-500 B.C. the Romans overthrew their monarchy and established a "Republic"
-Since the Senate was populated only by patricians and 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 of war or conflict
-12 Tables
-Respublica- latin for "peoples affairs"
- Saw fighting for homeland as a duty
-476 B.C. Roman Empire came to and end

Catch-Up Day

Today in class since we were ahead of the other class we got to work on homework or any other projects we have due. We started off class today with taking a video of the class for Veronica since she wasn't there, so Mr. Schick used my phone and videotaped us. After we finished that I worked on my brainflex that I have due for Mr. Perry next friday. I really behind on it, so I'm glad Mr. Schick gave us some free time in class.

Project Ideas

Today in class we brainstormed project ideas for the Ancient Rome unit. There were a few good ideas and then some ideas that seemed a little crazy but overall I think we came up with some good ones. Adam wanted to have the class go out on the turf field and fight each other to the death, and then film it, and Rory wanted to do a clay-mation. However, Caitlin came up with a really good idea. She said that we could dress up as a god or goddess and then do like a current events show, for example: The View. I think some of the other girls and I are going to do that. That's all we did in class was discuss ideas for Ancient Rome projects, so maybe tomorrow in class we will get started with the lesson.

Allegory of the Cave

Today in class we watched the cartoon version of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The video was about these four men who were chained up and all they could see was what was in front of them. Then, one of the men was unchained and what able to explore outside and see what life was really like. When that man came back and tried to explain, all the other men made fun of him and rejected him. After the video was over we discussed what we thought the video meant. Karson said she thought it represented close-minded people and Steven had agreed. However, Mr. Schick brought up a good point. Plato was the student of Socrates, so therefore the video was most likely about him. Socrates represented the man who was able to explore and learn things about the world that other people did not see, but ultimately he was punished for trying to share his knowledge with others. He was accused to corrupting the youth of Athens and disrespecting the gods, and was therefore sentenced to drinking poison hemlock. However, we also discussed that this could have also represented people today. We sit in front of the T.V. and believe what it says because that it what we know. But, we need to go and explore and find the real truth because Socrates is right, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Test Review

Today in class we reviewed the test on Ancient Greece that we took before spring break. We went question by question and then discussed the answers. One of the questions that surprised me that someone got wrong was where was the Mississippi River was... I hope that that was just a mis-bubble. That was the only thing we were able to get done in class today because we also had an assembly today. A man named John O'leary spoke about his childhood accident in which he burned 98% of his body and was given a 1% chance of living. I'm not sure what we will be doing in class tomorrow, but I think we may be starting the unit on Ancient Greece.

Ancient Greece Test

Today in class we took the test on Ancient Greece, and turned in our essays. I thought overall it was pretty easy, but there were a few difficult questions. I felt pretty well prepared because I studied my notes and watched the video Mr. Schick gave us. Therefore, I feel pretty confident that I got an A.Mr. Schick was able to grade the tests in class and the class average was a 77.2, and I got a 90!