Taking a look back..

Video Premier: Wax Museum 2013

Here is the 2013 Wax Museum video. Watch the video and remember the night, remember the experience, remember how you felt when the doors opened, the people flooded in, and you gave your first speech. Remember how it felt to donate the money to Make-A-Wish. Remember the ability that you have to make a difference. Remember that you are important and valued as a person. Remember that people care about you and want to help you. Remember this night and never forget it. 

The Wax Museum donation has been made

The Wax Museum has made its donation to the Make-A-Wish foundation and I couldn't be more proud. I want to thank you for all the hard work you did to make the Wax Museum of 2013 a success and an experience nobody will soon forget. Through your hard work, we are able to help Pedro, a 14 year old boy with Crones disease, fly to New Jersey this fall to watch a New York Giants football game and meet his hero Eli Manning. I think that is so cool. You should be proud of your accomplishment.  

6th Grade: A Reflection (Extra Credit)

Can you believe the school year is only 4 days away from being done?!?! Wow, time goes fast. It seems just yesterday you all arrived at the middle school as frightened, anxious 6th graders :)  Now, you are leaving 6th grade as confident, focused 6th graders. We have gone from struggling to open our lockers, to donating almost $4,000 to the Make-A-Wish. We have accomplished a lot in social studies this year. You have accomplished a lot as a person as well. You have worked hard on social studies and did a great job blogging. So, with our final week of 6th grade before us, we have one more blog post opportunity. This is a rare extra credit opportunity for you in my class. If you choose to complete this blog post, you will earn 15 points extra credit for your social studies grade in the 4th quarter. I hope you seriously consider doing this post because I would love to hear what you have to say. 
Extra Credit Task: Post a comment to this blog post reflecting on your 6th grade school year. In your reflection, you could talk about what you learned in social studies, english, math, science, reading, or any other class you had. You can talk about how you felt at the beginning of the year compared to know, talk about certain things that happened to you this school year either at school or outside of school. Basically, I want you to reflect on the school year we are just completing and share those thoughts with me. The length of your reflection does not matter, the quality of your reflection is what I'm looking for... So, Good Luck!

Johnny Fights for the Tiger

Here is a picture of the Tiger Johnny fights for in the book Ancient Quest. 

Ancient Quest Comes to an End...

Throughout the school year, we have been reading a book called "Ancient Quest." We read this book in a fairly odd way, as we only read 1 chapter per month. The reason we do this is because each chapter coincides with the units we study. Each chapter is designed to help us focus on one or two big ideas from that ancient world. Johnny, who is on this quest to conquer the ancient world and save a tiger he killed in 6th grade, has visited and succeeded in the Stone Age, Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient India, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the Medieval Times. Now, it all comes to an end as we find out if Johnny will succeed, fail, or die. The question everyone wants to know whenever they read a book is: "What happens at the end?"  Well, let's find out....
(There will be no audio option for the end of the book).

Chapter 10: I Face the End

Epilogue: Johnny fights for the Tiger

Secrets at the Copy Machine: another cheesy comic

Secrets at the Copy Machine by Dan Klumper on GoAnimate

Blueman gets a new neighbor

The Manor System

The Ducking Stool

Doesn't this look fun?!?!?

Horrible Histories: The Black Death

Black Death Music Video

Experience the Black Death

In Ancient Quest chapter 9, Johnny Rawten comes face to face with the Black Death. This horrible, devastating plague just about wiped out the entire continent of Europe. Now, read a story that was uncovered by archaeologists in Europe. This story was written by a man living and working in Europe at the time of the Plague. Read, and as the story unfolds, image the horror of this plague......

Black Death Eye Witness Account

After reading, answer the following questions in a blog post:

1. Why does he often see rats? 

2. Describe the appearance of his boss when he finds him dead.

3. What emotions do you feel while reading this story? Why? 

4. The people living at the time of the Black Death were in a constant state of fear. Tell me about a time when you were scared. 

Ancient Quest: "I Stop the Black Death"

Johnny Rawten needs 8 coins to complete his Ancient Quest. He has 7, which means he is in his last ancient world. In the Medieval Times, Johnny will either earn his 8 and final coin or die. He has past through and conquered the Stone Age, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Greece, and Rome. He is so close to the end, he can taste it. The Medieval Times is a place he has been before, as a 6th grader. That time, Johnny came face to face with death, deep in the dungeon of a castle. Now, Johnny is back in the Medieval Times and will face death again, and lots of it. This brutal world has been made even more brutal with a disease so treacherous entire towns are disappearing. A question for Johnny continues to linger, "What does he do if he does in fact gain all 8 coins?" The unknown makes him shudder...

(Look for Audio on Tuesday)

Read: Chapter 9: "I Stop the Black Death"

Best Football Video Game Ever

Super Tecmo Bowl is the greatest football video game of all-time. Better than Madden. It is played on the original Nintendo. In the game, you can zig-zag and dodge defenders (like in the video) and can throw the ball the entire length of the field. Watch this awesome run by legendary Raider Bo Jackson. It's awesome.

Feudalism of the Medieval Times

Feudalism shaped society of the Medieval Times. It was based on the "pyramid" model of a societal framework. The reason Feudalism is a pyramid is that the group of people at the bottom have the most people, the next level up has few people, and so on until you reach the top. The higher you go, the fewer people in each level, just like a pyramid. The bottom level of Feudalism is the peasants. Peasants would farm. Along with the peasants, there were serfs. Serfs would farm too, but unlike the peasants, the serfs could not leave the farm/castle/manor. Serfs were not bought and sold like slaves, but they were bound to the farm. Next were the knights. They were trained warriors on horseback. They were skilled in fighting with the sword. They swore a oath of Chivalry which is honor, duty, loyalty. This oat was sworn for life. The next level was the lords. These people owned the land. The top of the Feudalism pyramid was the King. The overall ruler of the kingdom. As you can see in the picture, each level did something for the level below them and above them. Making it a truly unique system.