China Sections 3 and 4

We continued working on our China Study Guide, which today included information on the Mongols and Confucianism, students have no homework for the weekend, but new current event names have been posted in class.
Per 1
Michelle Lopez
Michael Martinez
Mercy Mburu
Angel Monobe

Per 3
Sergio Meda
Sarina Melendez
Julian Melendez
Maggie Morales

Per 6
Calvin Dickenson
John Efseaff
Ulixes Flores
Aubrey Fox

Current Events and China

Excellent current events today. After the presentations, we collected the homework from yesterday and discussed it in class as we created a study guide for the upcoming China test. No homwork for tonight, new current event names will be posted tomorrow.

Quiz Today, Homework Tonight!

Today in class students turned in thier homework from Ch 7 Sec 1. We then took a pop quiz on this section in class. Students then began the Ch 7 Se 2 review on page 175 of their textbook. Questions 1-3 are due tomorrow as homework.

Welcome Back! On to China...

This week we began our unit on the cultures of Asia, starting with Ancient China. Today students outlined ch 7 sec 1 in class, all except for the Buddhism section which should be completed as homework. Students should identify the Main Idea of the section on Buddhism found on page 168, and then include 3-4 details that support the Main Idea. This is due tomorrow.

African Travel Guides

Presentations all day today and tomorrow, remember no current events this week!

Finish African Travel Guides Today!

Today is another short period, so groups will finalize all aspects of the travel guide, also determining which portions of the project will be presented by each group member. Tomorrow and wednesday we will present the projects in class. Students assigned current events for this thursday will be giving them the following thursday due to Thanksgiving.

Thursday Current Events

The first part of class today will be spent doing the current events. The last part of class students will be working in groups on thier Africa Travel Guide. These will be due tuesday of next week, so students may choose to work on them at home this weekend. I'll give a few minutes in class on monday to finalize the project and presentation plans, so all typing on information, all printing of pictures, and all pasting on the travel guide should be comleted by monday.

Next week's currents events will be done by these students:Per 1
Jacob Hosmer
Eugenia Ji
Jacob Koskondy
Alexah Leamons

Per 3
Michelle La Farge
Vanessa Macias
Kevin Marin
Ethan Matias

Per 6
Katelyn Brewer
Jonathan Cardenas
Juliana Cornejo
Gage Costaello

Current Events Tomorrow!

A quick reminder: Students who have been assigned current events will give their current events even though it is a short period. We will continue working on the artistic and creative parts of the African Travel Guide, and students may bring home pieces of information to type or complete at home, although it is not necessary. We will have class time today and tomorrow to finish this group project.

Short Period Today!

Since today is a minimum day, and we only have 30 min in class, we continued working on our travel guides for the West African kingdoms of Mali and Ghana. Groups worked to plan the layout of their travel guide, and began to place certain information in certain locations on the travel guide.

Completing the Charts on Mali and Ghana

Each group today in class completed their individual charts on Ghana and Mali after about a half hour of goupwork. Groups then decided what tasks each member would be responsible for completing the travel guide. No homework over the three day weekend, we'll be putting the travel guides together next week.

Current Events and Groups!

After current events we organized into groups for the Africa Project. Students read information about the social and religious aspects of the kingdoms of Mali and Ghana. In groups, they shared this information with each other and worked on these two sections in class. Most of this information is found on page 116-117 and for Mali on 138-140. No homework tonight, we will finish these two sections tomorrow in class.

Here are the new names for current events next thursday.

Per 1
Erik Flores
Riley Gallagher
Dylan Goldstein
Dakota Heath-Warr

Per 3
Oscar Gomez
Kevin Gutierrez
Kylie Haiber
Stephanie Klein

Per 6
Anthony Acosta
Alexis Anaya
Kevin Arzate
Danielle Bautista

Economics and Politics

Students began completing the "economics" and "politics" portion of thier charts on Ghana and Mali. The information on these two topics is found in sections 1 and 2 of chapter 6. Both these topics need to be completed for both Ghana and Mali by tomorrow, 11/8/07.

Benchmark Test and Africa Travel Guide

Today students took the benchmark test and began the unit of study on Africa. The unit on Africa will be taught as a group project, where students create a travel pamphlet advertising the Kingdoms of Mali and Ghana. Students will research the geographic details of each kingdom tonight for homework and bring the charts this information is collected on to class each day. This project will be engage students within groups where they will eventually present thier finished pamplet to the class after a week of research, groupwork, and creative completion of the assignment.

Start of Quarter #2

As we begin the second quarter of the 2007-2008 school year, we will start by taking the Quarter 1 Benchmark test. All social 7th grade social studies classes will take this same test comprising of 13 multiple choice questions covering the main points from the following topics: Rome, Origin of Islam, The Rise of Islam. This test will be given tomorrow, 11/6/07 and we will revies the topics today in class. Students shouldn't worry about this test. They have already learned and been tested on this information and it is significantly shorter than the chapter tests they are used to.

Test today!!

Today's test on ch 4 was handled well by students, and today marks the end of the 1st quarter. Starting monday, everyone will have an A in the class, will have 0 tardies, and will begin again with current events.

New Current Event Names for 11/8/07

Per 1
Adara Cervantes
Emily Cid
Summer Del Real
R. J. Dioneda

Per 3
Jacob Arce
Maria Covarrubias
Holly Diaz
Juliana Fierro


Per 6
Isabella Solorzano
Evan Tosunian
Brandy Trejo
Alexandria Walsten

Jeopardy Today!

After current events, we reviewed for tomorrows test by playing a jeopardy game with possible test questions. A reminder to parents: Please remind your kids to study from the study guide they received yesterday in class. This will help them score high on the test!