People are Awesome

Check out this amazing video of the Earth and people who call it home. As the title suggests, people are amazing and this video proves that. Watch the video and be in awe, but not of what you see, but because that could be you. What is stopping you from being awesome? What is stopping you from being amazing? Nothing. Your whole life is in front of you. Learn, improve, and strive to be awesome and maybe one day you will be in a YouTube video called "People are Awesome."

Ancient Egypt Essay Question

Now that you have completed the multiple choice portion of the Egypt test, it is time to work on the Essay. I hope your fingers are ready to type and your brain is ready to spew knowledge. I gave you three essay possibilities to study. Hopefully you studied mummification because that is the topic for your essay.
Points: 30
Egypt Test Essay: Discuss mummification by explaining why they mummified pharaohs and each step of the process in detail. 

WSG Live! Ancient Egypt

Welcome to Water for Sixth Grade Live! This is the first time we have had the opportunity to have a WSG Live! Event. This is a unique study tool that I provide for you. This is something that you have not experienced yet in your school life. I want you to study the night before the test. I want you to review the night before you take your ancient Egypt test. So, to help you, I am going to study with you. That is right, your teacher will be studying with you the night before the test. How this works: Tonight, on WSG, we will be having a live chat session. I will be sitting at my computer, asking you questions. Comment moderation will be turned off, so your comments will post automatically, turning WSG into instant messaging.  

 WSG Live! Ancient Egypt: 8:00-8:30

If you participate in WSG Live!, your name will be entered into the drawing for the new Survival Bracelet giveaway. 

Egypt Study Guide

Our time in ancient Egypt is coming to a close. It is time for the Egypt test. To help you study/prepare, I am providing for you a Study Guide. This document will guide you to what you should be studying. Use this study guide. Use the tools. Prepare yourself. I feel that we have covered what we need to know, but it would still be good for you to review.

 Ancient Egypt Study Guide

Ancient Egypt Sketch: Guess the god

Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!


Check our my ancient Egypt sketches and see if you can guess the ancient Egypt god or goddess. Good Luck!

White Shirt Production: "Look Like an Egyptian"

Look Like an Egyptian 2010 from Dan Klumper on Vimeo
Ever wonder what the ancient Egyptians looked like? Well, it is time to find out. Check out this video and watch a regular, American kid get transformed into an ancient Egypt. I will be putting on a demonstration to show you a common appearance of the ancient Egyptians. I must warn you, though, that I am not good at putting on make-up. My volunteer is taking a great risk in allowing me to applying make-up to her face. A "Whiteshirt Production."

Daily Life Video Help

To help you with your "Daily Life of Ancient Egypt" notes, I thought I would provide you with a video, taking you through the notes with me as your guide. Watch the video and feel free to pause it at any time. Hopefully, between this video and your article, you are able to get your daily life notes completed. Good Luck!

Egypt Online Quiz

This is our final week of ancient Egypt. On Friday, we will be taking a test. On Wednesday, we will be competing in the Egypt Shoot-Out. For both of these items, you need to prepare. Please complete this Egypt Online Quiz by Thursday, November 29th-Midnight. Going through this online quiz will help you get prepared for the Shoot-Out game and for the Egypt test. 

Take Egypt Online Quiz

VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you sign your name correctly. (class period) (first name) (last initial). For Example: 3Dan K
DUE Date: Thursday, November 29th, Midnight
POINT: 20

A thankful Thanksgiving Post

We have so much to be thankful for.

It's Thanksgiving. A day to give thanks. A day to remember what we are thankful for. It's seems odd to me that only one day out of the year is called "Thanksgiving Day." I think everyday should be called that. Why only officially pronounce our "thanks" once per year? We have so much to be thankful for. We have freedom. We live in America. We can go to school. We have clean water. We have shelter. We have opportunity. These are things that I feel we take for granted, myself included at times. How often do you stop and think about the fact that you have clean water? Probably never. Imagine how often you would think about it if you DIDN'T have clean water? Constantly. Some don't have clean water. You may think going to school isn't something to be thankful for. Imagine not having the opportunity to go to school, what would it be like? You would have no opportunity, no hope. Some don't have the opportunity to go to school and want nothing more than that chance. Your education is the key to your life, future. Seriously, take a long, hard look at all your freedoms, all your opportunities and be thankful. Be thankful everyday. Be respectful everyday. Give thanks by saying it, by working hard, by appreciating who you are and where you live. 
I am thankful for my family, for getting to be a teacher, for freedom, and for guys like Adam Brown, a member of Navy SEAL Team 6 who paid the ultimate price in preserving our freedom when he was killed in the Hindu Kush Mts. of Afghanistan and left a wife and two little kids alone as a result. I get choked up thinking about those who lay down their life for me, for you. Thanksgiving is not a military holiday, but perhaps it should be because everything we have to be thankful for is because of the American Warrior. 
Thank you, 
-Mr. Klumper

Showcase Update: Enjoy Thanksgiving!

Click through the pictures with the "left" arrow to see the most recent pictures.

King Tut Murder Mystery

The Mummy of King Tut

Perhaps the most famous pharaoh of ancient Egypt is King Tutankhamen, or commonly known as "King Tut." At just 9 years old, Tutankhamen became the leader of ancient Egypt. His reign as King did not last long, though, as he died at the very young age of 19. In addition to his young age, King Tut also became famous because his mummified body was found in tact in a tomb full of riches. Howard Carter made the discovery in November 1922. King Tut's body was transferred to a medical lab to be examined. One big mystery that surrounds King Tut is how he died. At the age of 19, natural causes can most certainly be ruled out. Something must have happened to him. The questions is, "What?" This article is going to examine how King Tut may have died. There are a few theories as to why he died, but new medical evidence might shed some light on what happened thousands of years ago to the "boy King" as he is often called. 
Task: Read the attached article on the mystery of King Tut's death and answer the questions in a comment box. 
Read: King Tut Murder Mystery
Questions:

1. Up until now, what did most people think happened to King Tut?

2. How old was Tut when he became King?

3. How old was Tut when he died?

4. What is an autopsy?

5. What did the examination reveal about king Tut’s leg?

6. DNA from Tut’s body showed that he was also suffering from a disease. What effect did this disease have on Tut’s bones?

7. What was found in Tut’s tomb that confirms this disease?

8. What disease carried by Mosquito's did Tut also have?

9. Tut was King only for a short while, yet he was very famous. Why?

Graded Blog post.

20 points DUE: Wednesday, November 21st. Midnight.

Creating an Egypt Photovisi

Example of an Egypt Photovisi

Creating is something that helps us learn the information because it makes it more meaningful. Topics of Egypt are not something we just need to memorize for a test, but use to create cool things! We are going to create a "photovisi" about Egypt. Photovisi is a tool that allows us to easily create a photo collage with text. We can insert pictures and information, similar to an infographic. The big difference between this and the infographics we made in class is the computer! We can find and use pictures off the internet to help us make a dynamite photovisi, or online infographic. Our goal today is to create, save and share our photovisi. 
Task: Create an Egypt Photovisi (online infographic). Your photovisi should show the major topics of Egypt that we have been disucssing.
Ideas for your photovisi:
-Things about the Nile River
-Things about Mummification (ex: show the 6 steps)
-Things about Egypt religion
-Vocab words
-Things about Pyramids

Details: You must have at LEAST 4 images on your photovisi. You can certainly have more though. For each photo you insert, you need to include a complete sentence of information about that picture. Short descriptions are better because they don't take up so much room. 
Saving: We will do this in class together. 

Click Here to make your Egypt Photovisi

Ancient Quest: "I Perform Mummification"

Johnny Rawten has two golden coins. He needs eight. After discovering fire for the people of the Stone Age and inventing farming for the people of Mesopotamia, Johnny is ready for his third task, which takes him to a wild, exciting place known as ancient Egypt. In his first time traveling experience, Johnny came face to face with death as he was caught in the middle of a turf war between the ancient Egyptians and Nubians. Johnny survived, but suffered a spear cut to his shoulder. Now, as Johnny enters ancient Egypt to continue his Quest, he must remember what he learned all those years ago, for his life depends on it.

Read: Chapter 4: I Perform Mummification

International Connections begins with a GIVEAWAY

It is time to begin International Connections: South Korea. Now, I know that we could simply read a book or find a website and learn about any country in the world, but it wouldn't be as meaningful, we wouldn't feel a very strong connection to that place. So instead, we are going to be learning about South Korea for students who actually live and go to school there. International Connections is a program I set up to help my students learn about life outside of the walls of Brandon, SD. Too often, we get so focused on our own lives and forget that there is a huge, interesting world around us. I want to take off our tunnel vision goggles and experience other places! What does this have to do with Social studies, you ask? Well, this is a great opportunity for us to learn, to discover new things, to ask insightful questions, to grow as a person and become more worldly. I am very excited for our connection to South Korea because I think we will discover that things are much different than here in Brandon, SD. 
Our new friends from South Korea go to school at the International School in Jeju, South Korea. Their teacher's name is Mr. Ates. They learn about ancient civilizations and use Water for Sixth Grade, just like us. To start our connection, we are going to ask each other questions. So, our first task is to think of some questions that we want to ask our new friends in South Korea. 
TASK: I want you to post some question ideas for our new friends in South Korea. Questions could include things about their school and their life. 
GIVEAWAY: If you post a comment with at least 3 questions to ask the students in South Korea, your name will be entered into the drawing for the Special Edition USA/South Korea Survival Bracelets. 
You have until 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning to get your name in the drawing. 

Check out some Egypt Tackks!

Friday we worked on creating Egypt Tackks. Despite our 40 minutes together, we were able to produce some nice looking websites about Egypt. For this in class activity, our goal was to create a website on Egypt with as many topics as we could in the time allotted. This was a first time experience for both me and you, so it was good to see what we were able to come up with in 40 minutes and how saving went. Unfortunately, some sites were not saved. In 8th period, I had selected the wrong "setting" on the save page, so those tackks are not viewable, and for that I apologize. I feel bad because as I was walking around during 8th period, I saw some really good stuff and I was eager to share that! Technology is great, but sometimes the wrong setting is selected and its not great. 

View Egypt Tackks

For any 8th period student, or any student in general, if you would like to create another Egypt tackk for me to share on WSG, I would be very happy. To do so, click the link below and create your new tackk without logging in. After you have completed your new tackk, simply copy and paste the website address and post it in a comment. Thank you!

Create another Egypt Tackk Here 

Veterans Day Weekend

In honor of Veteran's Day, I would like to share this YouTube video. Please take a few moments to watch the video and think about all the veterans and current soldiers protecting our freedom in America. American soldiers have died protecting our right to vote, to be free, to have choices, and to preserve liberty. The least we can do on this Veterans day weekend is to say "thanks." Whenever I see a man or woman in their uniform, I walk up to them, shake their hand, and thank them for their service. It feels good. Try it sometime...

Creating an Egyptian Tackk

Today we will be creating an Egypt Tackk. A Tackk is a tool that allows us to show what we know and share our Egypt knowledge. Max effort is needed on a day like today because I want you to create a quality tackk in the time we have together. There are two links that you need to use: the Tackk creator link and the link to save your website for sharing next week. Your task, details, and tools are already set up for you. So, let's continue with our Tackk creation. 

Click Here to make your Egyptian Tackk 

Click to Share your tackk

Experience the King Tut Museum and see a REAL MUMMY

Four years ago, we had the opportunity to take a field trip to Watertown, SD to visit the King Tut Museum. This is a traveling museum, so it is no longer at Watertown (otherwise we would go again!). So, I thought I would share this video so you could experience the King Tut museum even though we can't actually go there.  In the video, you will see many, many artifacts from Ancient Egypt. These artifacts are exact replicas, which means that they weren't actually from the ancient times, but created to look exactly like what they would have looked like. However, there are a few items that are REAL, like the mummified body you will see at the end. So, sit back and enjoy the video as you experience the wonders of Ancient Egypt.  

Ancient Egypt Vocabulary

We have been digging into some pretty sweet ancient Egypt Library books. This has allowed us to get a good introduction to ancient Egypt. Through our digging, we have also been exposed to some very important vocabulary words that we need to know for this unit. Some of our vocab words we may already know. However, I still want to give you a Egypt vocabulary tool, and here it is. I created a webpage for you to use to figure out what those Egypt vocab words mean. On the website, you will see a picture of the vocab word, with its definition right BELOW the picture. One word is not on the website (polytheism) but it is a word we have already learned. 

Ancient Egypt Vocabulary Tool

Election Results are in...

The 2012 Presidential election is over, at least in 6th grade. We decided that we didn't want to wait to vote for president, so we held our own election over the course of the last week. As 6th graders, we can and should be involved in what is going on in our country, especially in a year with a presidential election. As we know, the presidential race is between Barack Obama, the current President and Mitt Romney, the challenger and former governor of Massachusetts. Obama is a democrat and Romney is a republican. The campaign has been a very long, tough, grueling process for both candidates and it will only pay off for one man Tuesday night. I encourage each and everyone of you to flip on the television Tuesday night and watch the coverage. Watch as the results start to come in. You will be surprised at how exciting it is. The magic number is 270, as in which ever candidate gets to 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. Going into election day, Obama has a very slight lead in the polls. But anything can happen on election day. 
So, without further delay, here are the results in my 6th grade classes....

VIEW 6th grade ELECTION RESULTS

Egypt Prior Knowledge & Fact Search

Ancient Egypt has begun and we are going to dive right in. Our first activity of ancient Egypt is going to bring us to books. Not the textbook, but Library books. One advantage Egypt has over Mesopotamia is that there are tons of good library books about ancient Egypt. I'm not talking about chapter books, but books with a lot of pictures! So, this week, we are going to be using both the internet and those library books to help us get introduced to ancient Egypt. Monday we will be using the library books for our "Fact Search" activity. After Monday, you can use the Ancient Egypt website list on WSG. 
TASK #1: For this blog post, tell me something you already know about Ancient Egypt. I would bet that we know way more about Egypt before beginning than we knew about Mesopotamia before beginning that unit. So, post a comment telling me something you already know about Egypt! I want to know what we already know before we start tackling some topics. 
Task #2: Use the Egypt Website list to help you complete your Ancient Egypt Fact Search activity. VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you use complete sentences in the Fact Search. 

DUE Dates
Fact Search: Friday (30 points)
Prior Knowledge Comment: Friday (optional)

Hunting for Egypt Websites

We are just hours away from entering the fascinating world of Ancient Egypt. This place is loaded with fascinating things like the sphynx, mummification, Nile River, and religion. It is a place that witnessed the building of the most amazing project in the history of our world, the pyramids. It is a place that once you enter, you don't want to leave until you've learned as much as possible. I want you to "hunt" the internet for great ancient Egypt websites. Before you run to Google and start searching, some things you need to know. First, you can search for broad sites about Egypt by simply searching "ancient Egypt" or, you can get more specific and search for sites about certain things like pyramids or mummification. Our goal is to create a solid list of interesting Egyptian websites. I also want you to search for Ancient Egypt games or online activities. Search for YouTube videos that we could share and watch, search for cool pictures.

Some websites might not offer very good information.

Use this guide to help you:

.com sites: anyone can have these websites. Some info might not be good.

.gov sites: these sites would be produced by a government agency and should be good.

.edu sites: these sites are produced by colleges or educational agencies so they are good sites

.net sites: these sites are also trustworthy sites

Task: Search the internet for great Ancient Egypt websites. Search for informational sites, videos, pictures, online games and activities. When you find one you want to share, post a comment with the Link AND a short description of what the site is and why you think its good.

Optional Post, but please help me out and find some cool sites! 

New Feature: "Showcase"

While we wait for the Ancient Egypt unit to begin, I thought it would be a good time to introduce the newest feature of Water for Sixth Grade: the "Showcase." This new feature is designed to share and display student work. In social studies, we create a lot, so I wanted to have something that would allow me to put all your hard work on showcase. With my iPhone, I can easily snap photos of our work. Keep up the effort, and perhaps your work will be on Showcase one day. Keep in mind, though, with 127 students, I am not able to put everybody's work on the showcase page, every time. So don't feel bad if your work doesn't show up.  
How do you get to the showcase page?  At the top of WSG, right below the title, there is a link to the "Showcase" page. Simply click the link and you will be there.