Egyptian Art: What can we learn?

Do you remember the Stone Age Art? All those paintings about hunts, animals, fighting? Remember all the things we could "see" and "learn" from them? Well, now let us try the same thing with Egypt. Because of Egypt's writing system, we can learn about them by actually reading about them. However, studying their artwork can help us look into the past of Ancient Egypt and enable us to discover their culture, their beliefs, their way of life. I have attached a picture of Ancient Egyptian art. Click on the picture to see a larger version.
Task: Look at the picture. Study the picture. Think about the picture. Analyze and post your comments about the picture.
I want you to tell me what you think about this picture. First start in general terms: What do you see? What does the picture mean? What is happening? What is going on in the picture?
Here are a few things to focus on, perhaps: Why is the smaller person facing the opposite direction from the other two larger people? Why is the small person holding on to the larger person's leg? Why do the larger people look different than the smaller person? What is different about them? What is with all the birds? What is on the far left side? Weeds? flowers? grass? What is the largest figure doing? Where are they? Why do you think that?
Share your thoughts, but be prepared because your opinions and thoughts are up for debate. Read other people's comments and agree/disagree with them. Remember, it is very important that you say why you agree/disagree. Be Respectful.

**Thank you for your effort thus far in the Ancient Egypt Unit. I greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and positive attitudes. You kids rock.

Surfin' the Egyptian Web

Okay, here's the deal: Some of you have not finished your Library book fact search sheet. And that is okay, despite the fact that we are done with the Library books. So, one may wonder, "How am I going to finish my Library Book Fact Search Assignment?" Valid question. Thank you for asking.
For this post, entitled "Surfin' the Egyptian Web," we are going to work together in a massive effort to find websites about Ancient Egypt. This is a post like no other so far in this young school year. Here's how it works: Go to the Internet, use a search engine (google, yahoo, msn, etc.) Search for websites that deal with Ancient Egypt. Keep in mind that Ancient Egypt is a VERY broad topic. So, with that in mind, you may want to try and narrow your search. For example, perhaps you want to search for "Nile River" or "Great Pyramid" or "King Tut." Any aspect of Ancient Egypt is a possible search item. When you have found a valuable website dealing with some aspect of Ancient Egypt, post the link. Along with the website address, tell me what you like about the website or what is cool about it. The possibilities are endless. Before you post your Ancient Egypt website, check the comment list to make sure nobody else has posted that link. Do not post a link somebody else has already posted. Think about the consequences of this post: There are roughly 135 students on the Red team. If everybody finds a different Ancient Egypt websites, we have over a hundred websites on our hands. And out of those hundred plus websites, there has got to be cool websites.

**Those of you who have not finished the Library book fact search: Look at websites that have been found by me or other students and finish your sheet by getting facts off the websites. Simple, huh?

*To get the activity started, I have included the British Museum site for Ancient Egypt on the side of the Blog under "Ancient Egypt Links". Perhpas your site will be worthy of making it to my Ancient Egypt Link List!

Good Luck and as always, thank you for your hard work and positive attitude.

Election '08

6th Graders, You are not too young to be involved with Politics. You are not too young to have an opinion about who should be President of our great country. You have a voice. You have an opportunity. Voice your opinion right here on Water for Sixth Grade. Who should be President? The Democrate Candidate Barack Obama? Or the Republican Candidate John McCain? Let's Blog about it. Remember, it is okay to disagree. It is NOT okay to disagree by being mean to each other. Respect each other. Respect each others' differences.
Do not forget to vote for your choice on the poll!!

Talkin' About READING!!

Hello, my bloggers. Congratulations on finishing the Mesopotamia Exam. Now you have two options: AR read AND/OR blog. For this particular post, the instructions are quite simple. Tell me about your favorite book. Why is it your favorite book? What happens? What's your favorite part? What makes it your favorite book? Going along with the new feature on our blog: my book shelf with some of my favorite books, I want to hear about your favorite books. Blog On!

Daily Geography: Oct. 20-24

Tell Me What you Know: Mesopotamian-Style

Good Day, Bloggers. As we continue down the path of becoming Master Bloggers and Master Thinkers, it is time to once again be rewarded for our hard work on the blog. You will recieve 20 points for this Post. Similar to the Stone Age, I want you to simply tell me what you know about Mesopotamia. Again, I will give you at least a C for telling me at least one thing. However, I know that you know more than one thing, so I look forward to reading about all your knowledge. Posting ten COMPLETE pieces of knowledge will earn you a 100%. It is very important that you state a complete piece of information. Each of your items that you list should tell me something about Mesopotamia.
*Example of a WEAK Posting: "Mesopotamians could farm."
*Example of a STRONG Posting: "Mesopotamians used irrigation to water their crops, thus enabling them to be great farmers and build up a surplus of food."
Also, when we have compiled our list of Mesopotamian knowledge, it will be a great review tool for other students in preparation for the Exam on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008.
FORMAT: Use complete sentences. (important when typing a complete piece of information)
Name Format: FirstName Period#lastName.
Worth: 20 Points
DUE: Tuesday, October 21st, Midnight.

In my opinion, you, the student, has done a very good job during the Mesopotamian Unit. I greatly appreciate the hard work at positive attitude in learning about Mesopotamia. You, the student, has worked very hard and it will show come test time. Thank You!

An Eye for an Eye; A Tooth for a Tooth

We have discussed the Code of Hammurabi. We have looked at examples of some of the laws. We have decided that some of the laws are "weird" for lack of a better term. Some laws (many laws) carry a gruesome penalty for breaking it. Listed below are four of the laws from hammurabi's Code. Read them. Think about them. Blog about them.
1. If a man has put our the eye of another man, they shall put our his eye as well.
2. If a builder has built a house for a man, with the result that the house falls down and kills the owner, the builder shall be put to death.
3. If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.
4. If a man has accused another man and has brought a charger of murder against him but has not proved it, the accuser shall be put to death.
Gruesome? Fair? Unjust? What do you think.
Tell me what you think of these laws of the Code of Hammurabi. Are they fair? Are they Just? Are they too harsh? Explain your point of view. You may then respond to others by agreeing or disagreeing with them. Remember, a good debater provides SPECIFIC examples to back up his/her point.

Part 2: Laws are very important for today's world. Without laws, the world would be in chaos and it would be a very dangerous place. Let's ponder the laws that effect you the most such as curfew, certain bed time, certain amount of computer/video game time, no gum in school, only being able to drink water in school and not gatorade or juice, etc. Are their laws (rules) that you wish would be different? What would be some rules that you would change? Be careful, though, because you must think about the effect that a law/rule change would have..............

Daily Geography. Week of October 13-17.

The Great Debate: Irrigation? Money? Written Language? Wheel?

Whether it was through Powerpoint, discussion, video, or digging for artifacts, we have learned about some "firsts" of Mesopotamia. We have discovered that Mesopotamia, the first Civilization of the world, was the first to invent written language(cuneiform), irrigation, the wheel, and money. Four things that directly affect us in 2008. I think we can all agree that those are four very important things, especially in today's world. However, let us take a few moments to think about which, exactly, of the four is the most important? Your first instincts may tell you it's money. Judging from this weeks poll, most of you think that. But do not be so quick to answer, think about the world without each of the four. What is it like? You may think money is most important. With money, you can buy a car. However, without the wheel, your car is not going anywhere. With money, you can buy food, but without irrigation, crops would not get sufficient water, therefore, we would not have food to eat. No written language? It would make things quite difficult. We would not be able to communicate with each other which means no talking on the phone, no emailing, no texting and the worst of all, no blogging.

Part 1: So, If you could only pick one of the four inventions for today's world, what would it be? Explain your answer with specific details.
Part 2: Look at somebody elses comment and respond to them. You will respond to another students' comment by posting a new comment.

Daily Geography: Picturing the World. Oct.6-10

Welcome to Mesopotamia!

We have reached our second unit of the year: Mesopotamia. I think you will discover two things as we go through the unit of Mesopotamia. #1: I think you will come to realize how very different Mesopotamia is/was from our previous unit, Stone Age. #2: I think you will discover how much impact Mesopotamia has had on our present times. Mesopotamia discovered things that that we still use directly in 2008. Definately forward thinking on their part. We will discover what exactly those discoveries and inventions were as we move throughout the unit.
I thought it would be fitting, at this time, to discuss a little bit together what we have seen on the "Mesopotamia in Lego's" movie so far. Let us ponder (think) what we have seen so far: Irrigation (getting water to areas that normally get water), the Wheel (help with moving heavy objects), Specialization(getting really good at one specific thing), and Food Surplus(having more crops than you need). Keeping those things in mind and keeping in mind what we discussed after watching the "Mesopotamia in Lego's movie", respond to the following:
1. What is irrigation and how did it help the Mesopotamians?
2. Is irrigation still used today? How? Give specific examples.
3. How did the wheel help Mesopotamia?
4. How is the wheel used today? Give 4 specific examples of things that have wheels.
5. Specialization-Getting good at one specific thing. What do you think were some things people Specialized in during Mesopotamia?
6. What do people specialize in today? Give specific answers.
7. What positive effect did Food Surplus have on Mesopotamia?

I appreciate your time and effort on the Blog. You, the Student, makes the Blog what it is. So, Thank you. I firmly believe, as we enter October, we are definately on our way to accomplishing one of our goals this year--to become a Master Blogger.