Old School JEOPARDY!

The end of the year is in sight and I am still faced with that conundrum of what to do.  We had a outdoor plans today and yesterday but as a result of three inches of rain we had to postpone until next week.  YIKES! I had to scramble yesterday to find something to keep my students occupied but relative to class.  

I thought about Jeopardy! but I didn't want to come up with all of the clues.  Nor did I want to put it into the power point that may or may not work.  Nor did I want to control the class as they did not pay attention to clues they had no investment in.  So- why don't the kids create the clues?  

Yesterday's task was to pick a topic from a list of broad topics: Renaissance, Japan, Middle Ages, Africa, Trade, Golden Ages, Rome, Greece, Mesoamerica, Stone Age, etc.  Students had to come up with six Jeopardy! type clues.  In addition to the clues they had to provide an answer key.  This took most of the period.  

Today I had to do some prep work.  First, I picked the clues I was going to use. Then, I made the dollar indicators, taped the clue to the board and then used magnets to cover the clues.  Each class had a tally helper.  

These were my rules:

Teams called their name, once when they new the answer.

Teams could only call their name when I had finished the clue.

There were two daily doubles.

There was a Final Jeopardy! clue.  

Overall, it went well today.  I think the students enjoyed seeing their classmate's clues.  

Happy Teaching!

C

Romulus and Remus Mythology Comic

We are quickly approaching the end of our Rome unit!  We have been discussing Roman mythology and the beginnings of Christianity this week.  On Monday, I read the students two myths.  Both of them are about Romulus and Remus.  We talked about how mythology offers explanations of life events or natural phenomena.  Romulus and Remus are brothers and Romulus was the first king of Rome.

The cover of the book I read
to my students.  

This is the myth that explains how Romulus and Remus were born.  

The story about the founding of Rome.  

Students were encouraged to take notes as I read.  After I finished reading the students created a comic strip that contains a minimum of six story cells.  I also required that students include dialogue and color in each of the cells.  

Student's work 

One comic

I think most of the students enjoyed "story time".  They did a good job with their comic creations.  

Happy Teaching!

C 

Aqueduct Construction

We have been busy this week of Thanksgiving learning about Roman contributions.  We discussed how arches, not native to Rome, were used to produce structures that could hold more weight and produce buildings with huge indoor spaces.

On Monday, we watched the Khan Academy video about the Pantheon.   The students were encouraged to take notes as I stopped it and discussed.  We discussed that a structure like the Pantheon would have been impossible to make with Greek post and lintel construction.  The video can be found here.

On Wednesday, I had the students divide into groups of two or three.  I gave them six cups, a sheet of construction paper, and scissors.  They had the class period to make their "working" aqueduct.  The requirements were the aqueducts had to have arches, no adhesive and a small glue cap had  to run down the aqueduct.  The only grading guidelines I gave had to do with behavior.  If I had to speak to a student about their behavior or redirect a student I would deduct 5 points per discussion.  I only had to take points away from three students.  Overall it was a great lesson!

Here are some pictures:

Here is a video of one of my favorites!

I got this idea from this online lesson.

Happy Teaching!

C

Greek Mythology Advertisements

It has been a while.  I missed a week of school as a result of two grandparent deaths.  My grandmother passed at the end of October and dear husband's grandfather passed a few days later in early November.  

Today's post is the product of our Greek mythology discussion.  The SOL lists 6 Greek mythological gods and goddesses.  We discussed the and took notes.  Then I had the students pick one of the six and come up with a fictional product that somehow correlates to the deity they chose.  In addition to the company the student had to come up with a catch phrase or motto.  

 

Artemis was chosen for this bow and arrow store since she is the goddess of the hunt.  

Zeus was chosen for this towing company because he was known for throwing lightning bolts.  Lightning bolts
are thought to be quick; therefore, the towing company is quick like lightning!    

Hera is the goddess of women and marriage.  This student chose Hera to be the  name for her wedding dress company.  Also, the "dress(es are) fit for a Queen".  Nice!   

Apollo is the god of the sun and was chosen to represent these microwaves.  

Apollo was chosen for this sunscreen.  

Aphrodite is the goddess of love.  This student chose Aphrodite and made up an online dating site.

There were many other examples.  They were so good about a third of the advertisements earned spots in the hallway beside my door!  

Happy Teaching!

C 

Ancient China Review

Today was a jumble of emotions.  First, I have to give props to my homebase for being very observant.  My grandmother is on her final journey to her heavenly home.  I went to be with her last night and got home at mid-night (well past my bedtime) and my emotions are a mess.  Before instruction began one of my homebase students noticed that I was off and asked.  I shared my story (without crying).  They were so sweet and understanding.  

According to my lesson, I was going to review using the CPS clickers and award candy for those questions that had 100% correct answers.  However, I was still crying when I got to school this morning.  I knew that my plans had to change.

Here is most of fourth period.  Notice the Fu Manchu moustache.  They were reviewing Taoism.

 I went to my teacher across the hall for a suggestion.  She suggested that I break the chapter into topics and then have them break into that many groups.  Within the group they could create one of many review activities: a skit, riddles, jokes, advertisement, or an interview.  I gave them about 20 minutes and butcher paper, markers, scissors, and tape.  I was so impressed with their output!  I had songs about China's geography, a wrap about Taoism, an interview about Taoism and Confucianism, riddles about the Silk Road and China's geography, maps, advertisements for the Great Wall and a few others.  I was so proud of them!

Here is another group.  Notice the Great Wall behind them?  The Mongols breached the wall and destroyed it.  

This is the Silk Road group decorating their "silk".

I hung the output in the hallway.  

Here are some output from first and second.  By the end of the day I had fourteen or fifteen posters hanging in the hall.

Happy Teaching!

C

Egyptian Society

We have been wrapping up our ancient river valley civilization unit and we discussed Egyptian society.  On Wednesday I had the students use an iPad (my pilot group used their chromebook) to research 9 different groups in society: pharaoh, vizier, scribes, doctors, priests, craftpeople, farmers, nobles and soldiers.  I told them to try to think about questions like: Who do they work for? Do they have people that work for them?  What is their diet?  What is their day like?  I told them think about what their groups social status would be: low, middle or high.
The students then shared their ideas and each student was to write down what we discussed.  At the end we discussed the Egyptian slave who is the lowest in Egyptian society.

At the end of their notes I asked them to draw a triangle and have them divide the triangle in three parts.  I gave them 30 seconds to write down where they thought the members of society.  I then cold called students to come to the board and put the society member in the appropriate spot.

This is what the end result was in one of our classes:

I really enjoyed how the students worked in small groups, shared their information with the other students and then put together their social pyramid.

Happy teaching!
C