Winter Vacation has Arrived

Enjoy the break. You have earned some time off with your hard work so far this school year. Water for Sixth Grade wishes you a very Merry Christmas. I strongly encourage you to do some sort of learning over the break. Read some books, watch a TV show about something interesting, read the newspaper, or better yet: BLOG! The new year will bring new and exciting things to Water for Sixth Grade. Our blog will feature new activities, videos, pictures, and links. Also, after the Break, Water for Sixth Grade will unveil a never before used feature: Podcasting. This is an entirely brand new feature on the blog, one I hope you will enjoy and use to improve your learning and thinking skills. What is a podcast? Well, it's basically like a radio show. It is something that you will listen to. With the podcast, I will talk about all sorts of topics. Perhaps even some interviews of you, the student! Yes, it will be exciting times indeed.
Over the Winter Break, if you are bored or just feel like checking out Water for Sixth Grade, this post is for you to use to post any comment you want. Perhaps you want to share your Christmas plans? Perhaps you want share an exciting gift you either received or gave? Perhaps you want to share what you did for the break? This post is for you to post anything you want over the break that you would like to share.
Enjoy the Break!

Chinese State of Mind

Welcome to Ancient China. To get into a 'Chinese State of Mind," we are going to browse (search) through some ancient China websites and post a comment about what we found. This will help us get introduced to the civilization of China. As you will see with this activity and throughout the unit, ancient China has a major presence in our culture.

Task: Use the "China Websites" to learn something about Ancient China. Post a comment about 3 things you learned.

DUE: Friday, December 4th, 2009. 5:00 p.m.

Points: 20

Ancient Egypt Student Created Study Guide

As we near the end of the Egypt unit, we are going to start reviewing all the ancinet Egytp material we have learned, used, and applied. With the test only three school days away, you, the student, will be making a "blog study guide." You will recieve a study guide in class, but this blog activity will provide a huge advantage in studying and reviewing our Egypt unit. You will be using all your notes that we have accumulated throughout the unit to post questions about Egypt. You will then read through your classmates questions and answer them. At the end of the day, after roughly 109 sixth graders have passed through Water for Sixth Grade, we will have a long list of Egypt questions and answers for you to use as a review tool for our test next week.

Task:

1. Post 5 Questions about Ancient Egypt. (You MUST post at least one question about Pyramids, Nile, Mummification, and Daily Life. Your fifth question can be from anything else we have studied or learned about. You may post more than 5 questions if you want)

2. Read through your classmates questions.

3. Respond to your classmates' questions by answering them in a new comment. You MUST answer 3 classmates' questions, which means you be answer 15 questions about Egypt.

Example: After you post five questions, you look through the comment list of all the questions and decide to respond to the questions John posted. You will start your comment by saying "Hi john. Here are the answers to your questions" then you list the answers only, you do not need to retype the question. After you answer all of John's questions, then look for someone else and repeat the process. Again, minimum of three people to respond to. You may do more if you have time.

Points: 30

DUE: November 23rd, 2009. 10:30 pm

Educate the Public: Mummification

The egyptians believed that when someone died, their body needed to be preserved for the afterlife. Without preserving the dead body, the passage into the afterlife would not be possible. In order to preserve the body, mummification needed to be done. Therefore, mummification was a major aspect of Ancient Egypt. A major aspect of sixth grade social studies is this blog: Water for Sixth Grade. So today, we are going to combine the two and blog about mummfication. You may or may not have noticed, but people from all over the world visit this blog. It is quite likely that all the people that visit this blog know nothing about Mummfication. Your task is to educate the WSG visitors about Mummification. Assume they know nothing about this topic.

Explain the following items in your comment:
1. definition of Mummfication
2. why did the egyptians mummify?
3. The 7 steps of mummification AND a brief description of that step. (USE YOUR NOTES)
Bonus: If you have time, you may also explain the two rituals at the end of your notes.

In-Class Blogging.
DUE: November 20th, 2009. midnight.

Celebrity Spotlight: Jessica Kumari

Water for Sixth Grade would like to welcome its first ever celebrity blogger: Jessica Kumari from Channel One News. This is a monumental moment in the history of WSG and I would like to thank Jessica Kumari very much for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions on our blog.



1. What is your favorite book?

2. What is your favorite movie?

3. What is the best thing about working for Channel One?

4. Were you nervous when you were reporting from North Korea?

5. What is a typical day like for you working for Channel One?

6. What college did you go to?

7. Who are your favorite sports teams?

8. Do you know anything about Ancient Egypt?

Again, Thank you very much for doing this. We really appreciate it.

A Conversation about the Nile River

Our first focus during the Ancient Egypt unit was the Nile River. We took notes from a PowerPoint on the Nile River before any other topic. We made a study tool about the Nile for a quick, easy reference guide on this important topic. We did all this stuff for a reason: the Nile River was the most important element Ancient Egypt had. Without it, Egypt would not exist in the way it did. Without the Nile, Egypt would simple be a blip on the Ancient Civilization radar. We will now take the Nile River into a new arena, that of the Blog. For this post, you are going to have a conversation with an imaginary person. You are going to educate that person on the Nile River by telling them all about it and explaining all that you know of the Nile. The imaginery person you are talking to can be someone you actually know, your mom or dad, Johnny Rotten, a sports star, an actor or actress, me, anyone! A conversation is not just one person talking the whole time. There is back and forth dialogue. So the imaginery person must talk as well. The very first comment for this post will be an example. You must model your conversation after my example. Use your guided notes or your Nile poster to make sure you don't forget something important about the Nile. Have fun with this, be creative, be funny!

***The imaginery person you are talking to should ask you AT LEAST 5 (five) questions about the Nile River
In Class Blogging.
DUE: November 13th, 2009. 10:00 pm
Points: 20

Constructing the Great Pyramid

Egypt Video Short

The World Wide Web of Ancient Egypt

For this post, entitled "The World Wide Web of Ancient Egypt," 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 115 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.


*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.

Going to See King Tut!

Mesopotamia Study Guide

Mesopotamia Study Guide

Use your notes and study tools to fill out the answers on this study guide. We will go over it on Thursday.

The Law: Hammurabi's Code

Another first for Mesopotamia: Laws. Before Mesopotamian civilization, the world was without Laws. Hammurabi, a Mesopotamian King, came along and wrote down a set of laws. It was this set of the laws that began to instill some order and justice in the world. A group of people without a written set of laws is no civilization at all, therefore, Hammurabi's Code was a major step towards establishing Mesopotamia as a legitimate civilization. We have been discussing some of the laws in class. We have discussed the basic principle: "eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth." We have also seen the level of harshness some of these laws carry for being broken. Some would say the consequences are of an extreme nature. I have listed four laws below from the Code of Hammurabi. I have also listed the Code of Hammurabi website link to see more of the laws. I want you to think about the Code of Hammurabi by reading the four laws I have posted for your and/or reading additional laws from the link.
Four Laws from the Code of Hammurabi:
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.

Answer the following Questions by telling me what YOU think:
1. Why did Hammurabi make a set of laws?
2. How did the Code of Hammurabi change Mesopotamia?
3. Were these laws unfair? Explain your answer
4. Do you think the people needed these laws? Explain your answer.
5. Why did Hammurabi make the consequences so severe?
6. What would the world be like today if everybody still followed Hammurabi's Code?
7. What Laws effect you the most in your life? What would you change about today's laws and rules? (This could be not necessarily laws, but school rules, rules your parents have for you, etc...)

In-Class Blogging.
Good Luck!

The Great Debate: Which is Better: money, wheel, irrigation, or writing

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 2009. 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 in 2009. Your first instincts may tell you it's money. 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. Your task is to discuss your thoughts on what you think is the most important invention and why. You MUST support your answer with why you think that.

Task #2: Explain to the rest of the class which of the four inventions you think is the most important. Support your answer with details and your opinions.

Task #3: Respond to someone elses comments. At some point, you need to read other peoples' comments and reply to them. You need to respond to someone that you agree with and disagree with. You must disagree respectfully, however.
When you are responding to someones comments, here is the proper format: Whoever you are replying to, write: "Hi, (name). I agree with you because...." OR "Hi (name). I disagree with you because....." That way the person knows when someone is replying to them. You may reply to as many people as you want.

Let the Discussion begin....

In-Class Blogging.

The Tigris and Euphrates Celebration

Mesopotamia Artifacts

How does each of these "Mesopotamia Artifacts" represent Mesopotamia? What do they tell us about Mesopotamia?

Welcome to Mesopotamia

Welcome to Mesopotamia. We have arrived at our first ancient civilization of the school year. You may be thinking: "What? We just finished the Stone Age." Well, you are right, we did just finish the Stone Age. However, you would be wrong in thinking that the Stone Age is a civilization. The people of the Stone Age were not civilized. The one and only goal in life was to wake up each morning and survive the day. The people of Mesopotamia are different, however. The people of Mesopotamia formed cities, they invented things, they made advancements that would have a ripple effect all the way to 2009. Mesopotamia is the first civilization of the world. To start our Unit, I would like each of you to visit one or two or all of the websites I have listed on the right of this blog under "Mesopotamia Links." After visiting the site, please tell me what site you visited and what you found. You could comment about something you learned from the site, or something you found interesting from the site, or something you have a question about from the site. You may visit all the sites or you can just pick one. The goal is to start introducing ourselves to the Mesopotamia material.

Task: Visit the websites under "Mesopotamia Links." Post a comment about something you have learned or something you found interesting.
DUE Date: October 9th, 2009. 10:30 p.m.

Stone Age Study Guide

Stone Age Study Guide - Answers
Important:
1. The test is on WEDNESDAY, September 30th.
2. The study guided handed out is shorter than the one on the blog. In order to receive full credit for the study guide, the student only needs to fill out what was handed out to them in class. However, the study guide on the blog covers everything that will be on the test, so it would be helpful to look over the entire study guide on the blog.

Good Luck!

Stone Age Recall: Key Concepts

We have been covering the Stone Age for the last couple weeks. We have talked about hunting, cave art, what their life is like, artifacts, how we learn about the past, how things have improved for these people, etc. For this blog post, I am going to ask you to think about some of the key concepts we learned about so far this unit. You may definately use your notes for this blog post. Take your time and do a good job. Do NOT rush through this. Do a thorough job in answering/disucssing these key concepts. I want you to discuss 4 main concepts of the Stone Age. Read below for an explanation on what to do for each of the 4 concepts.


Concept #1: Learning about the Past: How do we learn about the Stone Age? There were no books written during the Stone Age. So, how do we know anything about that time period?

Concept #2: Cave Art: What has Cave Art taught us about the Stone Age? Discuss what cave art tells us about their lifestyle, what it tells us about what is important to them, etc. Also, share what types of things they painted for their cave art drawings.

Concept #3: Fire. Think back to "Before We Ruled the Earth" part 1. Share how they hunted the Irish Elk, what problem/challenge they faced, and how they solved that problem.

Concept #4: Domestication. We discussed via PowerPoint how things started to improve for the Stone Age people. We talked about the effect the glaciers melting had on their lifestyle. We also talked about domestication and what that meant for the people. For this last concept, describe how they lives improved because of glaciers melting and domestication. Things to think about: Why did more farm land improve their lives? Why did domesticating animals and plants impove their lives?

Points: 20 (five points for each concept completed)

DUE: in-class blogging. If you do not get finished, you have until Sept. 30th, 2009 to complete it.

Good Luck! Thank you so much for your hard work and positive attitudes so far this school year. Keep up the good work!

Stone Age Vocab-fabulous

Welcome to the computer Lab. The computer lab is glad you are here. The computer lab is exciting about getting to know you. You should be excited as well. We have experienced Water for Sixth Grade a little bit so far this school year. Today, we are going to get the full experience with In-class blogging. The aspect of a blog that makes it more than just a website is the fact that you can post comments onto it. Also, you can respond to other students because you can read what they wrote. It is a big online discussion, if you think about it. Blogging is what I call a Three-Headed Monster: 1. THINKING about what you are going to write. 2. WRITING your thoughts, opinions, answers, etc. 3. READING what your classmates have written to gain a better understanding of the topic. Good Luck. Read the task below to understand what to do.

Task: "Vocab-fabulous" Get out your vocabulary packet. In your vocab packet, you have worked with numerous stone age words. For this task, you will pick AT LEAST ten of the vocab words we have done in the packet and write a paragraph/story using those vocab words. You need to use the words so things make sense, so think about a way in which you are going to accomplish this.
VERY IMPORTANT: when you use a vocab word, put an asterick (shift-8) before AND after the word. Ex.: I want to be an *archeologist* when I grow up because I like studying the past. Do not just write ten unrelated sentences using the vocab words. It needs to all go together, like a story should!
You will have a chance to read other stories written by your fellow classmates when all of them get published on the blog. Read what others have written and tell them what you think, in a respectful way, of course.

Points: 20 (2 points per vocab word used CORRECTLY)

DUE: In-class blogging means you will do it in class. If you do not finish, you will have until Sept. 30, 2009 to finish.

Stone Age Vocabulary PowerPoint

Stone Age Vocabulary

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Artifact Dig

Artifacts help us learn about the Past! My sixth grade students digging for artifacts.

Stone Age Cave Art

Look at the cave painting I posted. It is a zoomed out version of the cave art we looked at during class. What do you see? What does it mean? Share your thoughts by posting a comment.

Cave Art can provide many clues into the lives of people living in the Stone Age. We had a great discussion about cave art and what the various paintings mean. We looked at paintings and discussed what we saw, what the paintings were trying to tell us, and what we can learn about life in the Stone Age based on the paintings. Artifacts that have been dug up and cave paintings that have been discovered are the two most significant methods of learning about the Stone Age.
I have provided a link for you to click on to further your learning and understanding of cave art. By clicking "The Cave of Lascaux" you will enter a website dealing with various aspects of cave art. After you have arrived at the website, click on "Discover" then click on "Virtual Visit." This site will give you options of various gallerys you can look at to see more cave paintings. Another option: after arriving at the main site, click on "Learn" then click on "Test your knowledge." This is a fun site that provides puzzles of the cave art for you to put together.

Task: Look at the Cave Art painting I have posted. Study It. Analyze it. Share what you think is happening, what you see, and what it means.

Task #2: Click on the Cave Art Link, explore the site.

Awesome Back Hand Spring

Welcome to the Stone Age

We have finally arrived at our first Ancient Civilization. This unit will be approximately four weeks long. We will be doing a variety of things to help us learn about the Stone Age and archaeology. It should be a fun ride. In class, we looked through our textbooks to help get acquainted with what the Stone Age is all about. Using some of the items we talked about, using your prior knowledge, using things you found in your book, please tell me something about the Stone Age. Tell me one thing or tell me 10 things, it is up to you. I want you to post something, however, because we need to start practicing this process so we can start down the path of becoming Master Bloggers. This blog post is designed to activate prior knowledge and to show me what you already know going into this unit. Share with me, your classmates, and the world what you already know about the Stone Age. Good Luck!

Task: post a comment sharing what you already know about the Stone Age.

Due Date: September 14th, 2009. Midnight.

Points: Practice Points. No points awarded.

I appreciate your effort and attitude so far this school year. Keep up the Good Work!

Compare/Contrast Writing Activity-Different types of Maps

Compare and Contrast Writing Activity

Daily Geography: Elements on a Map 8/31-9/4

Geographical Terms

Geographical Terms

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Welcome to Water For Sixth Grade

Sixth Graders, I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to Water for Sixth Grade. This year you will have a blog experience like never before. You will soon come to realize that blogging and this blog in particular, can greatly enhance your learning. Water for Sixth Grade can provide ample opportunities and choices for you to be the best student you can be. This blog will allow ALL of us to share our ideas. We will be able to help each other, learn from each other, and experience Ancient Civilization together. On this blog, I will post pictures, videos, discussion topics, homework assignments, study guides, and anything else I want. With Water for Sixth Grade, there is no limit. You may or may not be familiar with blogging. It is actually quite simple. It will take very little time at all to become a Master Blogger. Basic blogging is this: I post something on the blog, and you respond to it by posting your comments. Yes, you will be posting your thoughts and ideas on the internet and Yes, the internet is used in over 200 countries world wide. By the way, to give you an idea of what type of audience you are dealing with on Water for Sixth Grade, last year this blog was visited by people in over 120 countries. Last year, Water for Sixth Grade had people blog from Turkey, Great Britain, Scotland, Egypt, and Russia. Water for Sixth Grade had over 30,000 hits last year alone. This website you are dealing with is not just some low level thing. It is a big deal. It is a big deal because of you, the student, and your ability to post ideas and thoughts that are provacative. Our goal this year is to beat the number of countries that visited last year. Our goal this year is to become the best students we can be. Water for Sixth Grade will help that goal. Once again, Welcome to Water for Sixth Grade.

Ancient Civilization Highlights PowerPoint

Ancient Civilizations Highlights

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Respect

Let's practice Blogging. I thought it would be appropriate to pick Respect as the topic of our first blog post. This, in my opinion, is the biggest thing one can give. To practice blogging, let's talk about respect. I will give you a few questions to get you started on this "respect" discussion.

1. What does the word Respect mean?

2. How do you show Respect?

3. How do you earn Respect?

4. How does someone LOSE respect?

5. Tell me who you should respect and why.

6. How will you earn the respect of your teachers?

7. How will you earn the respect of your classmates?

Respect, Respect, Respect. Very important Stuff. Good Luck.

Ancient Civilization Preview

The MesoAmerica Spot

Welcome to the Unit of Mesoamerica. Unlike past units, Mesoamerica is not very far away from Brandon, SD. Mesoamerica is located in Present Day Mexico. You and your group members will be working on a Mesoamerica project. You will be researching and putting together a PowerPoint to teach us about your topic. There may be times in the computer lab in which you are not able to work on the powerpoint. For instance, your partner is working on it, and you are waiting your turn. So, you may be asking yourself, "What should I do then?" Well, the answer is simple: Blog. On the Right side of WSG, there are many Mesoamerica Links. Go to them. Read them. Think about them. Write about them. This will greatly enhance your understanding and knowledge of this Ancient Civlization. You do not have to only do your topic. You can research other topics as well. If I were you, I would start with "Present Day Mexico." Those links are very interesting because that is what is happening right now in the world.

Task: Go to websites on the Link Lists, read them. Share what you have found. Give us Mesoamerica Information. Educate us.

Presenting the 2009 Joust Champions

The 1st Annual 2009 Joust Championship ended today with excitement the likes of which Brandon Valley Middle School has never seen. Five Joust Championships-Five Joust Champions. These Five individuals "climbed the mountain" of Jousting and defeated every opponent that crossed their paths. The tournament was not for the faint of heart. It took guts, courage, humor, charisma, bravery, mental toughness, and physical toughness. This tournament pushed the limit of what the Human Body can endure. This tournament was made up of elements of skill, luck, and everything in between. This tournament witnessed heart-break at its deepest level, and jubilation at its highest level. These, ladies and gentlemen, are the 2009 Joust Tournament Champions.

Pictured From Left to Right: Dylan, Alex, Jessie, Dani, and Macy.

Essay Preparation

Hello, Students. Your Medieval Times Exam will consist of TWO essay questions. I have listed four possible essay questions below. I will select two of them for the test on Friday. In order to be prepared, please think about all four questions, because you have no idea what two I will select. Also, you may post some comments about each of the four essay possibilites. Help each other out! That is the beauty of the Blog, after all--students learning together. Good Luck!

Here are the Four Possibilities:
1. Discuss the Black Death by answering the following: how did the Black Death affect society? How did it spread? Why was Europe a good place for it?

2. Tell me about the Religion of Islam.

3. Discuss the 5 W's of the Crusades.

4. Explain Feudalism by focusing on the following: Who founded Feudalism? What are the four levels? What does each level do? Why is it a pyramid?

Random Act of Blogging

Welcome to the Blogosphere. It is good to see you have returned to Water for Sixth Grade. Blogging has been limited due to the fact that the weather has been nice. It is good to get outside and be active, especially as Pre-teens such as yourself. WSG wants you to be active. Don't sit around on your couch all day waiting for a new Post on WSG. You need to be outside. Break a sweat. Run a couple miles. Put away the Barbie PowerWheel and ride a bike instead. Take your dog for a walk. Take your little sister or brother for a walk. Take your mom or dad for a walk. Take your computer for a walk. Do something. That is the main point. Contrary to some peoples' hopes, the blog is not going anywhere. It will always be here for you to use when it is not nice out. This post is for you to do if you want. If you come in from the outdoors and are tired and hungry for blogging, this will be something for you to work on. Perhaps your energy is zapped and need something relaxing to do while you cool down. Come blog. Share with us. Feed your desire to Blog. "Random Act of Blogging" is exactly that: random blogging. You may tell me/the world anything you want. Something you've been thinking about lately? Share it. Something you heard that interested you lately? Share it. You can blog about anything you want. It does not have to be school-related. It does not even have to be published. Perhaps there is something you only want me to read. Just type "Don't Publish" at the top of your comment. This is an opportunity for you to blog about anything you want.
Task: Blog about anything you want.
Format: If you want your comment published, type "Publish" at the top of your comment. If you do NOT want your comment published, type "DO NOT PUBLISH" at the top of your comment.
Points: Zero school points. 10,000 life points. One million blog points.
DUE: End of May.

As the end of the year nears, WSG is becoming more and more emotional. The blog will miss all of you very much, as will the blog author.

The 1,000 Word Challenge

Hello Bloggers. Water for Sixth Grade is making its glorious return to the spotlight with a Post the likes of which the World has never seen. Before we begin the Medieval Times Unit, we are going to take this opportunity to share what we have learned thus far in Social Studies. But wait, we are not going simply use Social Studies, you can share what you have learned in ANY class this year. This may seem like a lot of material to cover, but you will need a lot in order to 'win' this challenge. This is the 1,000 word challenge. The challenge is quite simple: post a 1,000 word comment. How much is a 1,000 word comment? It's basically one page, single spaced, 12 point font on Microsoft Word. If you reach 1,000 words, you will not only earn an "A" for this assignment, you will also earn the title of Master Blogger. Water for Sixth Grade has been resting for the last four weeks. WSG is now ready to take your comments and continue to share your ideas and knowledge with the rest of the world. I look forward to seeing you attempt this challenge. I am also looking forward to seeing you pass this challenge.
If you are not up to the 1,000 word challenge, perhaps you would like to do the 500 word challenge, in which case you would recieve a "B." Still too many words? Your third option would be the 250 word challenge which would earn you a "C." You may not go any lower than 250 words to gain points.
Task: Post a comment about everything/anything you have learned in 6th Grade.
Format: 1,000 words=A 500 words=B 250 words=C Below 250 words: Zero
Points: A=50 points B=43 points C=38 points
DUE Date: April 17th, 2009. Midnight.

Good Luck. Thank you for your effort and positive attitude.

Hello, Egypt!

Water for Sixth Grade would like to welcome our new friends from Cairo, Egypt-Home of the Great Pyramid. This is our most exciting connection thus far, due to the fact we study Ancient Egypt and learn about Pyramids, the Nile, Mummies, etc. Thank you very much for being a part of International Connections. We are very excited to learn about Egypt. Thank you to Mrs. Kerwood for her willingness to participate. Despite the fact the world is a huge place, the Internet can shrink the world and bring it into our classroom. We may never actually go to Egypt, but with this Connection, we will feel like we have been there because we will be talking to you-students actually living in Egypt. I can not express enough how thankful and appreciative I am to you for participating.
Directions: To answer the following questions, click on "comments" A small pop-up window will appear with an area to type your answers. After you have typed all that you want, click the circle next to "Name" and type your name. Do NOT enter a URL address, just leave that blank.

1. What is a typical school day like in Egypt? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Egypt?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share anything else about your country that you want. Can you tell us about the Pyramids? What are the pyramids like? What is the Nile river like? Please tell us more about Egypt. Things that may be simple and uninteresting to you, will be fascinating to us.

Hello, Russia!

We would like to welcome our new friends from Russia to Water for Sixth Grade. We are very excited to learn about Russia and experience communication with students living in Russia first hand. The goal of International Connection is to bring the world into our classroom. There is no better tool to make that happen than the Internet. With the Internet, our huge, wonderful world shrinks to allow us to travel around the world without actually buying a plane ticket. Learning about other countries by reading books--boring; learning about other countries by talking to students living there--exciting. We are very thankful that you agreed to share with us. We hope that we will have a chance to share with you what our lives are like here in South Dakota, USA.
To post your comments, simply click on "comments" below. A pop-up window will appear with a box to type in. Simply type your answers or whatever you would like to say and then click the box next to "name" Type your first name only and leave the URL BLANK. Just your first name will do. Then click the "publish" button and your comment will be sent to us. Thank you again.

1. What is a typical school day like in Russia? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Russia?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share anything else about your country that you want. Please tell us more about Russia. Things that may simple and uninteresting to you, will be fascinating to us.

Hello, Australia!

Water for Sixth Grade would like to welcome our new friends from Australia. We are very excited about this new connection. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that is can bring the world into the classroom, which is what the goal of this project is. We want to learn about this amazing world by talking to students in other countries, not just by reading a book. It is far more fascinating learning from you.
Please answer the questions below. Click "comment" to leave your answers in the pop-up box. Simply check the "name" box and write your first name. Do not enter a URL address. Thank you very much.

1. What is a typical school day like in Australia? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Australia?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share anything else about your country that you want.

To Scotland, From USA

American Students, please answer the following questions for our friends in Scotland. Answer some of the questions or all of the questions. Do a good job teaching them about what it is like in the United States. They are learning from you. You are the teacher now. Answer the questions thoroughly. You do not have to write the question, just the number of the question you are answering.



1. What kinds of food do you eat? Do you like Chinese food? Have you ever tried haggis?
2. What hobbies do you do in your spare time? What games do you play in the playground at school?
3. What time do you finish school for the day?
4. Do you play American football and do you have a school team? What is ‘lynx’? (We have Lynx deodorant in Scotland!)
5. What is a middle school?
6. What kind of books do you read?
7. What’s your favourite film?
8. Do you like PE? Your PE hall looks massive! What activities do you get in PE?
9. What school trips do you get to go on?
10. Have you ever been in a hurricane?

What?

A few of my students "trying" to make fun of me....

So Long, Ancient Rome!

Can you believe it. It has been 21 days since we last blogged on Water for Sixth Grade. Part of the delay is due to International Connections and the Creating Rome project. Now we are back. It is so good to be back. Stretch out your fingers, settle into your seat, and blog like you've never blogged before. You have just finished taking the Ancient Rome Examination. Like we have done in the past, let us think about what we have learned, what we have accomplished, and what we are going to miss about this unique civilization, this civilization of Rome. What have we learned? Well, we have learned that being a gladiator is a risky way of life, taking a bath with strangers in the middle of town is NOT weird, volcano's erupt, Christianity spread, and a 'circus' is not just about clowns and funnel cakes. What have we accomplished? Well, we have conquered the web quest, built Ancient Rome and increased our ancient civilization knowledge. What will we miss? Well, we will miss everything.
This is your last chance to deal with Ancient Rome, so do a good job. Using only your brain, tell me and tell our international audience everything you know about Rome. Simple guidelines, true, but meaningful as well. Practice your typing skills, practice your thinking skills, and practice your summarizing skills.
That is it. Tell me everything you know about Rome. Extensive information should be written about your Creating Rome topic for sure.
Format: Tell me everything you know about Rome.
Length: your comment should be no less than 300 words.
DUE: March 10th, 2009. 10:00 p.m.
Points: 10 Completion points.

I am so lucky to have such cool students like yourselves. Thank you. And thank you for all your efforts and great attitudes as we move throughout this school year. Keep up the good work and never be satisfied.

Our Friends From Turkey

Warm Greetings From Turkey

View more presentations from Dan Klumper.

This is a slideshow put together by Burcu Akyol, a 5th grade english teacher in Istanbul, Turkey. My class and her class communicate with each other via the blog, a part of International Connections.

Welcome to Ancient Rome

I am currently in the process of making the presentations into a movie. Be looking for it soon, right here on Water for Sixth Grade.

Brandon Valley Middle School, USA

Slideshow

Hopefully this will give you an idea what things look like here in Brandon, SD, USA. Click "slideshow" if you want to see the slideshow bigger than what is on the blog. I hope you enjoying seeing what we look like and what our school looks like. Enjoy!

Hello, Turkey!

Hello, to our friends in Turkey! Welcome to Water for Sixth Grade and Welcome to Brandon, SD, USA. Thank you for being a part of International Connections. Thank your teacher, Ms. Akyol, for participating in this new program. She is a great teacher. The Internet can make the world a small place, so it only makes sense to use it to learn about the world. Anyone can learn about the world from books, the vision of International Connections is to learn about the world from the perspective of kids living in other countries. So THANK YOU for being part of the first interaction. We are very excited to read what you have to say about school and life in Turkey. Please answer the questions below. You may also add other things that are not covered in the questions. Even things you may feel are boring to you, would be very fascinating to us.

To post comments: Click below the questions where it says 'comments.' A small window will appear that allows you to read other comments and to type your own comments. Answer the questions in the box and then click "Name." Only type your first name. Do not enter a website in the box below where you type your name.

1. What is a typical school day like in Turkey? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Turkey?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share with anything else about your country that you want.

Hello, Scotland!

Water for Sixth Grade would like to welcome our new friends from Scotland to Brandon, SD, USA. Thank you very much for being a part of this. Scotland, along with Turkey and Brazil are the first countries to be a part of International Connections, a new program I started that I feel can greatly benefit us all. Anyone can learn about countries from books, but if there was an opportunity to learn about other countries by talking to students living there, wouldn't that be far more interesting? I couldn't agree more. A big Thank You to Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Ross for their willingness to participate in this program. We are very excited to learn about Scotland--your school, what life is like, what is unique about your country, etc. We will also like to share what our country and what our school is like with you.

To answer these questions, click on "comments" below and type in the box. After you are done writing, check the box by "name" and type your first name. Do not enter a URL address. Just your first name is all you need to do. Thank you.

1. What is a typical school day like in Scotland? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Scotland?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share with anything else about your country that you want.

Hello, Brazil!

Hello, Brazil. Welcome to Water for Sixth Grade. My name is Mr. Klumper. I am very excited and honored to welcome you into our world here in Brandon, South Dakota, USA. My students and I are looking forward to learning about Brazil and learning about you. Thank you for taking the time to share with us. I would ask that you would simply answer the questions we have posted for you. Answer as many as you would like. If there is a question you do not want to answer, that is okay. We want to learn as much about you, your school, and your country as possible. Please include your first name only. When you publish your comment, simply click the circle before "Name" and type your first name. Do not type in an URL address. Just your name is all you need to do.
Questions:
1. What is a typical school day like in Brazil? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Brazil?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?


Again, Thank you very much for participating!

Students, What is the Roman Republic?

Welcome back to Water for Sixth Grade. Time to do some serious blogging about Ancient Rome. Yesterday we discussed in class the Roman Republic. The republic of Rome is the first half of the Ancient Rome Unit. With this blog post, please share with me, your fellow classmates and the world what you know about the Roman Republic by discussing the follow topics on your Guided Notes: "Republic Begins", "Early Days of the Republic", and "Republic Ends." Use your guided notes we covered yesterday to summarize each section.
Format: For each section, type the Section heading, followed by AT LEAST five sentences.

In-Class blogging.
The above picture is a scene from the Shakespeare play: Julius Caesar

Tell Me Some Rome Stuff

Colosseum, Gladiators, Pompeii, Julius Caesar, Forum, Circus Maximus, Nero, Senate, Marcus Aurilius, Roman Numerals, Christianity. These are a few highlights coming your way in the Ancient Rome Unit. To start Rome off on Water for Sixth Grade, you will browse a website and tell me 2 things you learned. Quite Simple, yet very beneficial.
Use the Website on the "Ancient Rome Link List" located on the side.
DUE: Friday, February 13, Midnight.

Finish Greece, Please...

Congratulations for finishing the Ancient Greece Unit. However, you have one last thing to do before we officially "shut the book" on Greece. We have covered a multitude of topics throughout this unit: mythology, geography, government, city-states, war, religion, way of life, etc. On our final day of Greece, to finish not only your test, but also to finish the unit, let us now blog about a few topics we studied throughout the Unit. This is the second part of your test, so work hard and do a good job on it.
Task 1: Tell me about the Story of Zeus. (His birth, about his father eating his kids, etc.)
Task 2: What do you think about Greek Mythology? (Just give me your opinion. Be sure to support your opinion with examples.)
Task 3: Tell me about Democracy by answering the following questions: What is it? Who Rules? What are the advantages of this form of Government? Are there disadvantages? What happens when the population gets too large?

Blog Advantage: You may use your Notes for this Post.

Points: 30 (10 points per Task)

Each Task should be about 4 or 5 sentences.
DUE: February 6th, 2009. 8:00 p.m. Yes, this date is two days after the test, however, the advantage you have with the Blog is that I give you a couple extra days to get things done, taking into account not everybody has Internet at home.

This is an important Post on Water for Sixth Grade. Share your knowledge of Mythology and Democracy with the world. Over a hundred countries will be tuning in to read our thoughts. Good Luck, and as always, Thank you very much.

Greenday: "Working Class Hero"

We have it so good in America. We are totally unaware of how some people actually live around the world. Be thankful for our life. Don't take it for granted. As this music video says at one point, the people of Darfur and Sudan are hunted like rabbits. Be thankful, help others.

Test Questions, Please...

This will be a new experience for you on Water for Sixth Grade. An experience, I believe, you will find very beneficial. Using your guided notes, notes for videos, ABC book, etc., you will be coming up with "test questions" for ancient Greece. Each student must post 10 test questions dealing with Ancient Greece. The test questions can be multiple choice, short answer, or true false. Try to have a variety, though. Variety is good. For True/False questions, if you make a question that is false, you MUST explain why the question is false. Multiple Choice questions must have at least 3 choices. Do NOT have ten questions about what the gods and goddesses are. You must post both the question and the answer, of course. Number them, so I can quickly check how many question you have. This is graded. At the end of the day, this post will be the ultimate tool to help you study for the test AND help you with your Ancient Greece Board game we will be starting next week. I will pull questions from this post and insert them into the real ancient Greece Exam that you will take at the end of the Unit.
Example:
1. Who is the ruler of the gods?
Answer: Zeus

2. What is Democracy?
A. rule by one man
B. rule by the wealthy
C. rule by no one
D. rule by the people (Correct answer)

3. True or False. Greece had a major river
(answer:False)

Point Total: 20
DUE Date: January 30th, 2009. 9:00 p.m.

I greatly appreciate your effort and enthusiasm so far during this unit. Keep up the hard work.

What is in a Name?

We will begin talking about Greek Mythology this week. The main part of Greek Mythology are the gods and goddesses. Some, perhaps, are quite common: Zeus, Apollo. Others may be new to us: Ares, Haphestus, Hera. We will be taking a look at the notable Olympians and the Titans. We will discover that the names of these gods, goddesses and Titans means something. Posideon: god of the sea, Ares: god of war, etc. With this as the theme to our new post for the week, let's think about what our own Name means. Using the link along the side under "Name Meaning," find out what your first name means. Simply click on the link, type in your first name, and share the origin and meaning in your comment. It should be interesting to see what all of our names mean. Enjoy!
Example:
Name: Abby (my wife's name)
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: A Father's Joy

Joe Roos: "Troop"

I went to high school with the singer of the song. He is in the Army and made this music video while he was in Iraq. Respect the Troops.

Here's Democracy!

Before the snow and wind came on Monday, we were having a riveting discussion about Democracy. We will now blog about Democracy and what our thoughts are pertaining to this form of government, which happens to be our form of government in the USA (At least something very similar). It is hard for us to imagine what it would be like living under a government of anything but Democracy. Sometimes I think we take our freedom for granted and don't appreciate what we have/where we live. Most, if not all, of us have always lived in a democratic nation. Let's begin to think about this fact and appreciate what we have by discussing Democracy and comparing it to other forms of governments that are in exsistence throughout the world. Let's gain an understanding of how good we have it. This is a multi-task post. You must do all tasks. In-Class blogging. You may do all 3 tasks in one comment or seperate comments.

Task 1: Answer the following Questions: (Use your Greek City-States Guided Notes)
*What is Democracy?
*Who Rules?
*What does the word 'democracy' actually mean?
*What happens if the Assembly gets too large? What did the Greeks do?

Task 2: Click on the Democracy Link "All Forms of Government." Choose one of the other forms of Government listed (Do not Choose anything involving Democracy). Tell me what the form of government you chose is and COMPARE it with Democracy. For example: tell me why democracy is better or why the other one is better. Tell me what it would be like living under each of the governments, etc. The point of this task is to introduce ourselves to other forms of government around the world and compare them with Democracy.

Task 3: (FUN) Click on the Democracy Link "Weird forms of Government." Look through the list on all the weird forms of government. Not all of these governemnts are actually in exsistence. Choose one from the list and argue your case as to why the government you chose is the best one. You may respond to other people's comments, of course.

Starting Ancient Greece

Welcome to Ancient Greece. To start this unit, we are going to do something a little bit different on this blog. It is basically an online version of the Library Book Fact Search assignment that we do from time to time to begin Units. To help us start thinking about Ancient Greece and to help us get in the "Greek" frame of mind, we are going to be taking a look at some Greece websites. The websites will be listed on the side under "Greece Links." The instructions are vague, but simple: Look at the websites I have listed for you and post a comment telling me 2 things you have learned about Ancient Greece. That is all that is required of you. My thought is that with vague instructions, it will allow you to have a bit more freedom with this assignment. Good Luck on our first Blog assignment of 2009!
DUE: Friday, January 9th, 2009. 9:00 p.m.
Points: 10 School points

I am glad to be back in school to have a chance to see all of you again. I am looking forward to a great second half of the school year.