In History, we have an assignment to write an essay that answers the question Were Lewis and Clark respectful to the Native Americans they encountered during their journey? We are annotating 5 documents and answering guiding questions on them. Based on the information, we have to develop a position and wrie an arguementative essay. I believe that they were respectful. Next class period, I will start to write the essay using information from the documents and I have to acknowledge and defeat a counter arguement.
Mr. Wilkins had us write sometin he calls a Personal History. We have to write about memories that are significant to us. We have to include what we felt, tasted, heard, smelled, and saw. i wrote about my earliest memory. I was in preschool and I was coloring a picture and then my dad came to pick me up, but I still wanted to finish so I scribbled like crazy. When I showed it to him, he said it was beautiful and my brother said it was awful and asked me why I scribbled. Looking back now, I love how my dad said what he did.
In History, we turned in a DBQ. It was an essay answering the question "How Does the U.S. Constitution Guard Against Tyranny?" We had to annotate a background essay and analyze four documents. We then had to construct and essay using three quotes for evidence from three of the four documents. We had to explain the quotes and then tell why it supports or connects to the prompt.
Mr. Wilkins said that in law school, we would have to take something called a Bar Exam. To get us ready for this, he is giving us a mini Bar Exam this Friday. We took notes in our portfolio by answering questions using the textbook. The topics we took notes on were the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch, checks and balances, the amendment process, and the federal system.
How To Do The Activity Afore Mentioned 1. Pass out the questions to each person in order 2. Read the questions "round-robin" 3. Read the textbook section that corresponds with the topic written on the envelope that the questions that came in 4. Answer the questions in order using evidence from the textbook Just today, I had to recite the preamble to the Constitution. It was required that we memorize it and either present it orally or write it on paper. I recited it and I said it all correctly so I didn't have to write it. It wasn't too hard and it's pretty cool to know it by heart.
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. In history we played a really fun game called Presidents on the Couch. Mr. Wilkins said that it really won't teach us anything, but it is fun to play. We were each given a number and, from the textbook, we had to write down the name of the president that was in the book with that number (in order of when they served). Then Mr. Wilkins told four students to come to the front of the room with their chairs, and to sit down. The everyone else moved their chairs to make a U shape around the room. He then collected our papers and passed them out randomly. He explained the rules and we had so much fun playing!=D
How to Play Presidents on the Couch Competition: Girls vs. Boys Objective: get all girls or all boys on the Couch Choose 2 boys and 2 girls to be on the Couch* Sit in chairs in a circle Give everybody a random president's name on a piece of paper There should be 1 empty chair The person to the right of the chair will call out a president's name The person who has that president's name on their paper will move to that empty seat Repeat process until objective is reached *The Couch is a row of 4 chairs at one end of the circle After we put the excerpts into our own words, we analyzed them and highlighted the big words that are hard to understand and put them into easier words that still mean the same thing. Then we had to put it together so that a 3rd grader would understand it. After we printed it, we were given the task to start handwriting it. The requirements are that it be in black ink and be written in cursive. Then we have to crumple it a few times and then drench it in coffee to make it look authentic. He is making us write in cursive so that we do not lose that art. Since we live in The Digital Age we have to practice so that we can still read the original documents, for they were written in cursive.
In History, we are studying the Revolutionary War, and all the events leading up to it. We watched a video on the events leading up to the Revolution and took notes on the key events. After that we took a test. We then watched the sequel to it on the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It involved the First and Second Continental Congresses, and the recruiting of George Washington for the general of the Continental Army. We also have been learning about the Declaration of Independence. We have to either recite of write down this excerpt from the Declaration. I plan to recite it. We also did this team activity where ewe took excerpts fro the Declaration and put them into words that are easier to understand.
Declaration of Independence-Excerpt 2: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." In History, we drank. Tea, that is. Mr. Wilkins had us drink tea with sugar (loyalist) and without sugar (Patriot). Then we had to write a diary entry from the point of view of either a loyalist or a Patriot. I wrote as a loyalist who is a tax collector at Boston harbor in 1764. I chose to do this because I liked the loyalist tea better. I named my character James Dalton because my dad told me a story about our ancestors in the colonies with the last name Dalton, but his father and brother changed their last name to Daulton because the son was a loyalist. I had to write a reaction to the releasing of the Sugar Act. Moses Dalton was a man in the colonies. He had two sons. When the Revolutionary War started, Moses' oldest son sided with the Tories. To differentiate himself from his son, he added a 'u' to his last name. The name is still in our family as Daulton. It is no longer our last name but my grandfather's, my father's, and now my brother's middle name.
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