Class+Log+2011-12


 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 9/19 || Students started the Ranking Developing Nations assignment in class today. The assignment requires students to find five pieces of data, each connected to the categories that define a deveolped nation, for twenty different countries. After the data is collected, the students will attempt to rank the data for each country in an effort to determine which countries are developed and which are still developing. This assignment is an in-class assignment. A homework question was assigned as a review for our quiz this week on Wednesday/Thursday. ||
 * Tuesday || Today in class we reviewed the correct answers for last night's homework question and the students were directed to review materials available on moodle to help them prepare for the quiz. The quiz will be given either Thursday or Friday, depending upon the speed with which we get through our in-class project. After reviewing the homework, the students were instructed in how to the rank the countries we are currently studying and how to use technology to make the process easier. Some students were ready for this step, some were still collecting data. Homework for tonight was given. See assignments page. ||
 * Wednesday || Today the homework question from last night was discussed as our warm-up. I then showed the students how they could use the sort feature on googledocs to help them score the countries they have been gathering data on for our Ranking Developing Nations project. The software will allow them to quickly sort the data for each category they selected and then award points for each country in each category. Ultimately, this will help us decide which countries are developed and which are still developing. ||
 * Thursday || In class today we reviewed last night's homework question and I instructed the students on how to complete the final step of the Ranking Developing Nations project. In step three, students must use their scores to decide and defend which countries are developed and which are developing. Students were reminded that there is a quiz tomorrow on political and economic systems. ||
 * Friday ||  ||

8/27 || WELCOME BACK!! In class today the students received a homework journal and were directed to compose a type 2 writing assignment in that journal. The assignment was to select a country from the Eastern Hemisphere that they would like to know more about and to provide 3 reasons why. Check the homework page for tonights assignment. || 8/28 || Today some of the students shared their type 2 writings from the previous class as well as their results from the homework assignment. We used this as a springboard to review the Cornell Note taking method and to start taking notes on ten types of governments. Students will be given time to complete the notes tomorrow in class. No assignment was given. || 8/29 || Today the students were given time to complete the notes on the 10 different political systems or type of government that we will use this year in geography class. The students also created a graphic organizer to help them start to think about which systems provide a lot, a little, or no freedom to the citizens living under them. The pages for reading, the power point, and the graphic organizer are located on the assignments page for anyone who didn't complete the work in class today. || 8/30 || Today we had a class discussion about the amount of freedom that citizens have under the various types of political systems. As a class we discussed how sytems could move from one category to another based upon your point of view. To prove this point, the students completed a type 1 list of the "things they do that the government has no control over." I played "devil's advocate" and tried to convince them that the government had more control then they thought. The first learning goal was then introduced (see below) and I explained that what really mattered was how they defended their position on the political systems, not that their graphic organizer looked exactly like mine. No new assignment was given. || 8/31 ||
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 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 9/26 || Students were given time to work toward completing the Ranking Developing Nations project. I was not in the classroom. I was participating in a leadership group for the middle school. According to the notes left by the sub, many students are still in need of time to complete the assignment so I will extend the deadline to Wednesday and provide one more class period. Students who finished will be moving on to the assignment listed on the assignments page. ||
 * Tuesday || Students were given one extra day to finish the Ranking Developing Nations assignment. Any students not finished will need to complete and submit the assignment by Thursday, 9/29/2011. ||
 * Wednesday || Students were introduced to topic of website evaluation. As a class, we examined a check list of questions that students should ask whenever they use a website to gather information. The checklist is designed to weedout bad sites and identify good sites that are reliable for research. We also discussed the idea of using keyword searches and applied the idea to the homework questions the students prepared for today. ||
 * Thursday || Students were given time to work towards completing the research strategy and website evaluation worksheets. ||
 * Friday || Students worked on completing the Religion graphic organizer and I went over quizzes with them one-on-one. ||

"Explain 3 things that Buddhist and Hindus have in common and 2 differences between them." On this assignment I will be assessing for the following items: -Can the student properly set-up and execute a Type 2 Collins Writing Assignment -Can the student successfully demonstrate the writing requirements (3 things in common, 2 differences) -Can the student use their notes to successfully complete a Venn Diagram ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 10/3 || Students were given time to finish their World Religions graphic organizer and to read two articles from UpFront magazine. Reading questions were assigned. Check assignments page. ||
 * Tuesday || The homework from last night was reviewed and discussed in the full class setting. Students then got into groups/pairs and began working on a three circle Venn Diagram using Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. ||
 * Wednesday || Students worked together to finish their Venn Diagrams and then the results were discussed in the full class setting. ||
 * Thursday || Today I assessed some skills that we have been working on thoughout the first month of school. The students were asked to properly set-up a type writing assignment. I then asked them to draw a Venn Diagram on the back of the type 2. They were instructed to use their notes to fill in the diagram comparing Hinuism and Buddhism. After using the Venn Diagram to organize their thoughts, they were asked to complete the type 2 using the following prompt:
 * Friday || No School ||


 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 10/10 || No School ||
 * Tuesday || The homework from last week was reviewed. (see assignment is red) I also reviewed the writing portion of our Ranking Developing Nations project and instructed students on the need to incude supporting details in their writing and this skill was practiced. If students wish to improve their performance on this assessment, they may re-write the final section and turn it in by Friday. Finally, we began to explore Buddhism, looking for differences between this religion and the others we are studying. ||
 * Wednesday || In class we discussed the basic beliefs of Buddhism and students were shown a video about Buddhism. During the video they were asked to check their graphic organizers to see if the information matched what they saw in the video. ||
 * Thursday || Students began the class with check for understanding on yesterday's lesson and then we moved on to Hinduism. Students were reminded that the leraning goal was to be able to compare and contrast the five major world religions so we looked for similarities and differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. Video's for all five religions have been posted to my moodle site if students want to check their organizers. ||
 * Friday || Today we wrapped up looking at Hinduism and I returned the Type 2 writing assignments that the students completed last Thursday. The writing assignment asked them to compare and contrast Hinduism and Buddhism. I instructed the students that a great study activity would be to take the Type 2 (which was not graded for accuracy) and reviewed what they wrote. Now that we have spent more time looking at these two religions, they should be able to edit the information in the Type 2 with much more detail or change what was incorrect to the correct information. "Re-writes" for the Ranking Developing Nations project were also collected. ||


 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 10/17 || Students were given time today to prepare a thematic map on the concentrated locations of the five major religions found around the world. The map may be used on the assessment scheduled for Friday. ||
 * Tuesday || Students reviewed the concept of culture (covered in 6th grade) and applied that to what we have learned about world religions. They also recieved time to finish their world religion maps and to prepare for the quiz on Friday. ||
 * Wednesday || Today I began introducing what we will be doing with current events in my class this year. We started by reading an article titled//Fashion Police// ( available on my moodle site if you were absent) and then the students were asked to identify the five W's and the H. After reviewing this as a class we had a discussion about the article to model what I will expect from them, which is a strong developed opinion or reaction. Tomorrow we will look at what a finished product will look like. ||
 * Thursday || Showed kids what a completed summary (based upon their 5 W's and H) would look like and discussed how the conversation we had in class the previous day was reall expressing our opinions and reactions to the story. Students were then given time to look for articles that they wanted to read and report on. ||
 * Friday || World Religions Quiz ||


 * Monday 10/24 || Today students had the chance to view the commercials that were created by our candidates running for President. After watching the commercials, students received instruction on how to use easybib.com to create a citation for their current events and then were given time to finish their practice current event. Students who did not finish should complete the assignment for tomorrow. ||
 * Tuesday || Today the students were given the requirements for the current events assignments. It was was explained to them how to earn an "A,B, or C" and examples of all the assignments were shown and posted to moodle. Students then received time to start looking for their articles. The due date for the asignment is November 29th. ||
 * Wednesday || The final learning goal of the first unit is to review the concept of climate and to show students how to use climate graphs to get a quick idea of what life would be like for people living in each of the climate zones. Students read pages 40-47 from our Prentice Hall textbook, and created their own climate graph. The pages are available on moodle if you were absent today. ||
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11/8 || As a class we began to review the questions that were assigned (see above) and to discuss how the events of the articles connected to the learning goals from unit one (see below). My goal for this lesson is to check the students for reading comprehension and to encourage students to think about and reflect on their reading. || 11/9 || Today we finished reviewing the questions we started yesterday. We then began examining the learning goals and each student was asked to "grade" their confidence level with each goal. Students then got together in groups and discussed their results. The groups were asked to average their scores for each learning goal and these were then averaged to get a class average. The data will help me decide which areas require the most review going into next week's unit test. || 11/10 || Students began reviewing learnin goal number one by reading a description of the government of Ecuador. Their task was to decide which of the 10 political systems we discussed was being used in Ecuador and to defend if the people their had a lot, a little, or no freedoms. || 11/11 ||  ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 11/14 || Students were given time to finish their questions related to the September 19th edition of New York Times Upfront magazine (see assignments page for the questions). ||
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11/30 || In class, the students were given their unit test back and asked to highlight the different parts of their answers that connected to the question(s). This was an excellent opportunity for the students to see if they truly answered each part of every question or did they skip or miss things. After highlighting, they were given an article on population to to read to prep for our next unit. || 12/1 || Today we started our next unit by summarizing the contents of the reading assigned last night. I then gave the kids a "pop quiz" to see what they had learned from the article and what other background knowledge they had on the topic of population. Students were then instructed to use what we have learned about research to find the answers to any questions they did not know about. Students will receive additional time tomorrow to complete this assignment. || 12/2 || Students received time to finish researching the answers to the quiz on world population. Those students that finished early were given the opportunity to begin reading a section from the text related to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution changed the lives of those affected, and is directly related to the increase in world population. Those pages are available on the assignments page. || 12/3 || Go over holiday wish list and make the connection for students that most items today are in some way connected to oil. With our world population growing the demand for oil will increase. To illustrate what might happen if oil ran out, the students were shown "Aftermath: The World Without Oil." ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 11/29 || No school ||
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12/6 || Today I went over some suggestions with the students for how to read a textbook and what to look for when taking notes. Students were reminded that textbooks are read to gain information, which is different than reading for pleasure. I then gave them these five tips for taking notes. 1) Find the essential questions or objectives 2) Identify vocabulary and any reading strategies that the book offers (usually found in the prepare to read section) 3) See what suggestions there are for taking notes (fall-back is always Cornell method) 4) "A picture is worth a thousand words." Do not skip pictures, charts, maps, graphs, or other visuals that the book uses to help you understand concepts. 5) Pay attention to headings and review questions as they often contain the main ideas and could be used to orgainze your notes. Once I went over these tips, I gave the students time to read and take notes on pages 183-197 from our Prentice Hall textbook. || 12/7 || We played a short tribute to discuss and remember Pearl Harbor day. The students then had additional time to work on their notes on pages 183-197. || 12/8 || No classes, students particpated in the team breakfast. || 12/9 || Students were a reading quiz on the assigned pages from this week. Students were permitted to use their notes on the quiz. This quiz will be used to evaluate how strong were the notes and did they learn anything from the reading. ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 12/5 || Students finished watching "World Without Oil" and a class discussion was held. I asked the students to remember the connection between oil and the population boom. This week we will read from our text about the Industrial Revolution (during which oil will become so valuable) and use that to understand why the population has increased so rapidly during the past 100 years. The reading is available on the assignments page. ||
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12/13 || In class today I introduced to the students, population pyramids and explained how to read and use them. The students were then instructed to read chapter 15 and to make a list of all words from the chapter that they did not know. The pages are available on the gepgraphy assignments page of this wiki. || 12/14 || The students were instructed today that chapter 15 will consist of three population dilemas facing Europe. Their task is to review those dliemas and the possible solutions for them and decide which solution they feel is the best for each dilema. Given the recent reults of our reading quiz (where the students were able to use their own notes) I am making the students use the guided notes provided by the textbook. They will not like this but at this time it is for the best. || 12/15 || The students were given time to complete their guided notes for chapter 15 on the three population dilemas facing Europe. Any notes or vocabulary not completed should be completed for homework. || 12/16 || In class we reviewed the notes/answers for the guided reading notes for chapter 15. ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 12/12 || On Friday the students were given a reading quiz where they were allowed to use their notes to answer the questions. Today the students will get back their quiz and receive 5 additional minutes to use the book to change or amend any questions they think they missed. After the five minutes we grade the quizzes. Changes the students make will marked with colored pencil. This will alllow me to see which students need additional help. ||
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12/20 || During this period we had a few students share their letters from our previous class and then gave them feedback on what was positive and what may have been missing. Students then "graded" each other's letters to prepare for the quiz tomorrow. || 12/21 || Quiz on chapter 15 || 12/22 || Chapter 30, read and begin notes in the ISN. || 12/23 || Math quiz in the morning followed by a geography holiday activity and the movie "A Christmas Carol" in the afternoon. Happy holidays! ||
 * Class Log ||  ||
 * Monday 12/19 || On wednesday, the students will be take a quiz on chapter 15. In class today we practiced writing a letter to a leader of a government about the potential pitfalls of a shrinking popualtion and ways to help fix this problem. ||
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1/2 || Students were given time to complete the reading and notes for chapter 30. Chapter 30 introduces the students to China's population problem. Unlike Europe (where populations were aging and shrinking) China's population has grown rapidly since the 1950's making it the populated country in the world today. This chapter discusses how China has handled what has become a population problem. Student's who finish their notes early were instructed to read an article in preparation for the second round of current event articles. || 1/3 || The reading notes for chapter 30 were reviewed in class today in the large group setting. The three plans that China has set forth to control and aid their large population were covered in detail. A quiz on chapter 30 will be given on Friday. || 1/4 || In class we read an article from UpFront magazine about paddling in schools. We read the article together and then had a class discussion about the information the article presented as the positives and negatives of paddling. || 1/5 || We continued our discussion from yesterday about paddling and them moved on to another topic, life in prison for child offenders. The students read this article together in groups and used a T-chart to record the different arguments. || 1/6 || A class discussion was held on the topic of life in prison for teen offenders. This activity represented what the students will need to do for our next round of current events. ||
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1/16 || No School || 1/17 || Students reviewed the difference between China's population (over population) problem and Japan's population (density) problem by completing a type 1 and having a class discussion. They then received time to complete the guided reading notes from chapter 31. || 1/18 || As a class we went over the processing activity in the students' ISN. We discussed how popualtion density impacts Pennsylvania and Hershey. || 1/19 || Students were given time to make corrections on the current events for the second marking period or to work on the current event assignment for the third marking period. || 1/20 || To prepare for some cooperative learning that we will begin next week, I spent today's class going over notes on four interpersonal skills that students need to be successful in a group. The skills covered were participation, attending, listening, and staying on task. We examined as a class what these skilled would like and sound like to an evaluator. ||
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1/23 || In class we continued our work on cooperative learning as the students received the directions for a seven element assignment dealing with population density. After reading the directions, the students made a list of questions they had about the assignment which we will go over tomorrow in class. The directions for the assignments can be seen on the assignments page of this wiki. || 1/24 || Our class today was spent on the beginning steps of the seven element assignment. Groups picked a problem associated with high population density and together composed an introduction paragraph to their essay. Then they were assigned a group of cities and each member had to select one city to research. || 1/25 || Students continued to work on the seven element assignment. Today groups received a copy of the rubric used to score the final essay. A copy of the rubric is posted to the assignments page. A due date of Friday, at the end of class was established. Students can work on their research at home. || 1/26 || Students continued to work on the seven element assignment and on their PALS cooperative learning skills. BY now, each student has been researching a selected city and is composing a paragraph that explains a problem in that city related to population density. The goal is to have the group essay completed by the end of class tomorrow. Students will use googledocs to assemble the essay and to submit the essay to me for grading. || 1/27 || Students were given today's class to organize, complete, and assemble their seven element assignment into a googledoc that could be shared with me for evaluation. We also continued to work on cooperative learning skills that were taught last week. After checking in with each group, some additional time on Monday will be given to complete the project. Students who are absent should check their googledocs account and add their paragraphs to the group's essay. ||
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1/30 || In class we continued our work on cooperative learning as the students received the directions for a seven element assignment dealing with population density. After reading the directions, the students made a list of questions they had about the assignment which we will go over tomorrow in class. The directions for the assignments can be seen on the assignments page of this wiki. || 1/31 || Students were given the opportunity to reflect upon their week of cooperative learning and discuss in their groups what strength and weaknesses the group had and also what their strengths and weaknesses were moving forward. It also allowed me the time to meet with each group and discuss their cooperative learning grades. || 2/1 || Students were given the quiz for Chapter 31, covering the main topic of population density in the country of Japan. If students finished early they began to look ahead to chapter 34. || 2/2 || Students worked on the reading notes activity for chapter 34. || 2/3 || Students reviewed the the notes on chapter 34 and completed a Type 2 writing assignment as practice for the quiz. ||
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2/6 || Today the students were given a checklist for their second current events project so that I may see how far along they are with the early turn-in date one week away. The advantage of the early turn-in date is that students who have major errors will be given an opportunity to improve their work. Students who wait until the deadline (Feb 29th) will not receive that opportunity. The students also received time today to work on their project. || 2/7 || Chapter 34 quiz (Type 2 writing assignment) and the guidelines for the Unit Test were discussed. || 2/8 || Students received instruction on the technology used to complete their cooperative unit test. || 2/9 || Groups began working on the unit test in class. They will be given the population projections for Derry Township School District and then asked to consider the possible population problems that may be in our future. Students have an individual Learning Goal that they are responsible for. || 2/10 || Unit test: the students are working through the data on the future population trends for the middle school, predicting the problems this create, and coming up with possible solutions for those problems using new thinking or new technology. ||
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2/27 || The reading notes and geo-terms for chapter 17 were collected. I then went over the correct answers for the placards activity. Students then began to read Chapter 11. || 2/28 || Time was given to work on the geo-terms, reading notes, and processing activity for chapter 11. The processing activity is to make a travel brochure for the country of Jamaica. The brochure must demonstrate the student's understanding of the material in chapter 11 on hurricanes. This will serve as the assessment for chapter 11. || 2/29 || Time given to work on completing the travel brochure. || 3/1 || Time given to work on completing the travel brochure. || 3/2 || Time given to work on completing the travel brochure ||
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3/5 || The travel warnings brocure for chapter 11 was collected at the beginning of class. I then showed the kids a video from Safari Montage on Hurricane Katrina to provide them with some visuals for chapter 11. || 3/6 || Today we started work on chapter 27. This chapter deals with moonsoon rains and how people in these climate zones have adapted to them. We read the chapter as a class and then the students were instructed to complete the geo term and reading notes. The reading notes required students to place 4 puzzle pieces associated with a city from India into their ISN books. I had the students work on this together. If the students would like puzzle pieces for their ISN (if their's was not used in class) I put a copy on the assignments page that could be printed out at home. || 3/7 || Student completed the puzzle piece activity from their ISN's and I went over the answers with the class. The students had about 15-20 minutes to work on the geo-terms and completing the notes for chapter 27. The chapter pages and ISN pages are available on the assignments page. || 3/8 || The students worked on a writing assignment today as a wrap-up activity for chapter 27. They were asked to pick a holiday/festival from four choices in India and to explain how the climate/weather would impact their trip. Student who finished early moved on to chapter 35, which will cover global warming. || 3/9 ||  ||
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4/2 || Today I went over what should be included in notes that student have been working on from our Ancient World text. The items include, vocabulary, information to answer the essential questions, and information to explain a clear connection to the learning goal (see number one below). If students had not finished their notes or wanted to make changes to them, they had this class period to do so. Students who were finished moved onto the assignment posted in today's homework. You can find that assignment on the assignments page. || 4/3 || To help students understand the homework questions that were assigned, we looked at another ancient culture (Byzantium) in class today and in their table groups they answered the same questions that they have been assigned for homework. We also explored two very different historical descriptions of the Empress Theodora to show students that when learning about history it is very important to seek out several sources before drawing conclusions about an event or person. Home work assignment is due tomorrow. || 4/4 || Students applied what they had learned this week to something new. They were given a type 2 writing assignment where they needed to compare to maps (one containing population and one containing water) to determine if the majority of the world's people still live near or on the water. || 4/5 || No school || 4/6 || No school ||
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4/9 || No School || 4/10 || In class today I reviewed the answers I was looking for on the type 2 from last Wednesday. Students who were absent last week were given the opportunity to complete the type 2. I then introduced learning goal #2 for this unit (see below). To tie this learning goal into LG1, we are going to see what impact having little to no water has on a society. To do that we will explore countries and cultures fron the Saharan Region of Africa. Students started reading chapter 20 today and will be given time to finish tomorrow. Students were also reminded of the quiz on Friday, see the assignments page for details. || 4/11 || Students received time to complete the reading notes and geo-terms from chapter 20. || 4/12 || Today we conducted a think tank activity where I gave the students a scenario that placed them in the Sahara Desert as a survivior of a plane crash. I gave them a list of 13 items and had them decide which on the items were the most important to survival in the desert. The students worked in groups to decide their list. We then presented the different lists and debated the value of each item. || 4/13 || Ancient World Quiz ||
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4/23 || The students received time to today to complete the work on chapter 26. The chapter covers material on the Aral Sea and the environmental changes that have taken place there. Students were responsible for reading the chapter, completing the ISN pages, and the processing activity. A type 2 was given for students to complete either in class or for homework. || 4/24 || The type 2 from yesterday was used to introduce the final learning goal for the unit. Students discussed the situation with the Aral Sea and were asked if they felt the intentions of the USSR were justified or not? We will use this example to debate other areas from around the globe where humans have impacted the enviornment in a different ways. My challenge for the students will be to express if they feel each example is human need or human greed? || 4/25 || Quiz on chapter 26. || 4/26 || Students were given various examples of human environment interaction and as a group were asked to prepare for a debate on the merits of the activity. Tomorrow, each group will be given the opportunity to present their case. || 4/27 || Class debates. In groups, students worked on develpoing a counter argument to the position the group held from our previous class. The unit test will be Tuesday. ||
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3/5 || The travel warnings brocure for chapter 11 was collected at the beginning of class. I then showed the kids a video from Safari Montage on Hurricane Katrina to provide them with some visuals for chapter 11. || 3/6 || Today we started work on chapter 27. This chapter deals with moonsoon rains and how people in these climate zones have adapted to them. We read the chapter as a class and then the students were instructed to complete the geo term and reading notes. The reading notes required students to place 4 puzzle pieces associated with a city from India into their ISN books. I had the students work on this together. If the students would like puzzle pieces for their ISN (if their's was not used in class) I put a copy on the assignments page that could be printed out at home. || 3/7 || Student completed the puzzle piece activity from their ISN's and I went over the answers with the class. The students had about 15-20 minutes to work on the geo-terms and completing the notes for chapter 27. The chapter pages and ISN pages are available on the assignments page. || 3/8 || The students worked on a writing assignment today as a wrap-up activity for chapter 27. They were asked to pick a holiday/festival from four choices in India and to explain how the climate/weather would impact their trip. Student who finished early moved on to chapter 35, which will cover global warming. || 3/9 ||  ||
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**Geography assignments are available here.**


 * The Geography Moodle site is available [|here].**

[|Click here] to email Mr. Repsch ||
 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 3/4 || The students must complete and turn in their balance sheets at the end of class today. Tomorrow, there will be a quiz on the skills and concepts learned during the simulation. ||
 * 3/5 || World Shipping quiz: Balance sheet portion, part two: reflection will be given tomorrow. ||
 * 3/6 || No school, snow day ||
 * 3/7 || Completed reflection questions for the World Shipping project ||
 * 3/8 || Went over the requirements for the Current Events III project.


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 3/11 || Today was the beginning of unit number four. This unit will focus on the challenges that nations face with population. To introduce the unit, a pre-quiz was given to assess the students' prior knowledge. The article posted below was assigned in class.

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 * 3/12 || The students were given time to complete their reading and note taking on the "Seven Billion and Counting" packet that we started yesterday. We continued to build background for the unit by looking at the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution. The following pages were used. Students should have notes on these pages.

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 * 3/13 || Students received more time to read and take notes on the assignment given yesterday. The students were able to work with another student to create their notes and discuss what should be in them. ||
 * 3/14 || During the class period today, I went over the two sections from above with students and allowed them to answer questions. A quiz on the material will be given on Monday. ||
 * 3/15 || This is the first day of our 80/20 classroom. Students will get the opportunity to research topics that they are interested in. Students who need to make-up work will be doing that in class today. ||

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 * 3/18 || Quiz on the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution ||
 * 3/19 || Students were assigned chapter 15 from the TCI text along with the reading notes and Geo-Terms.
 * 3/20 || In class, I reviewed Population Pyramids and explained how these graphs could help us understand what issue may be facing a country. The remainder of the class was spent on finishing the reading notes and processing activities from chapter 15. ||
 * 3/21 || This will be the last class period that students have to complete the chapter 15 work. A quiz will be given on chapter 15 next Tuesday . Any work that has not been finished should be completed outside of class. Tomorrow is the second opportunity that the students will have for their independent study project (their 20%). Students who still owe missing assignments or have quiz/current event make-ups will be working on those assignments. ||
 * 3/22 || 20% Day. Students were given time to research an independent study topic of their choosing. ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 3/25 || Today I reviewed the reading notes for chapter 15 with the class and answered their questions to prepare for tomorrow's quiz. The chapter is posted above if students would like to review for the quiz. ||
 * 3/26 || Chapter 15 quiz ||
 * 3/27 || In our short class the students began reading and taking notes on chapter 30.

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 * 3/28 || No school, in-service day ||
 * 3/29 || No school, Good Friday ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 4/1 || In class, I went over the required pages from ISN for chapter 30 (pages posted above) and allowed students time to work on these pages. A quiz for Chapter 30 will be given on Thursday or Friday, depending upon how quickly we move through the material . A reminder that the final current events project has been assigned and the due dates are: 4/26 for Early Turn-in and 5/3 for the deadline. Students who take advantage of the early turn-in will have the opportunity to fix major errors should they have any. ||
 * 4/2 || In class today, I reviewed the requirements for the current events assignment and allowed the students to work on finishing the reading notes and processing activities. I also provided a practice Type 2 writing assignment that would be good practice for the quiz this week. ||
 * 4/3 || Today I went over the reading notes for chapter 30 with the class and we discussed the three plans identified to help China with the population problems that exist there. ||
 * 4/4 || In class we reviewed the practice Type 2 writing assignment that used data to compare the US and Egypt. The goal was to determine if the rate of population growth had any impact on the level of development in a country. The students voted to have their 20% remain tomorrow and to take the quiz Monday. ||
 * 4/5 || 20% Day: Students worked on their independent research projects. Chapter 30 Quiz Monday. ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 4/8 || Chapter 30 Quiz ||
 * 4/9 || PSSA Testing days so the classes will be shorter over the next three days. In class we began looking at population density by studying the country of Japan. ||
 * 4/10 || PSSA Testing. Students will use the time to continue to work on chapter 31.

||
 * 4/11 || In class today, I provided the students with some videos from youtube that related to the population density problems that exist in Japan. Those videos can be found at the following link. []

Next week, we will finish the activities related to chapter 31 and take a quiz on this chapter on Thursday. ||
 * 4/12 || Today the students continued to work on their 20% projects. I introduced each class to their class wiki where the projects will be presented. On the home page for each wiki is a list of the criteria that each student needs to demonstrate about the topic they researched. The rest of the time was spent researching these topics. ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 4/15 || In class today, the students were given time to complete the geo-terms, reading notes, and processing activity for chapter 31. The quiz on this chapter will be Thursday. Tomorrow I will go over the work from the ISN with the students to help prepare them for the quiz. ||
 * 4/16 || In class I went over the geo-terms and reading notes from chapter 31 to prepare for the quiz on Thursday. ||
 * 4/17 || Today's class was a current event work day. With the early turn-in date coming up (April 26th) I wanted to give the students a work day and an opportunity to ask questions if they needed to. ||
 * 4/18 || Chapter 31 Quiz ||
 * 4/19 || 20% independent study work ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 4/22 || In class we began a reading assignment using the latest issue of UpFront Magazine. The students had to read from a selection of articles and take notes to help them form an opinion about what they read. Most students did not finish the articles and will receive more time tomorrow. ||
 * 4/23 || I gave the students additional time to work on the assignment we started yesterday. ||
 * 4/24 || In class we reviewed and had a class discussion on the questions I provided related to the articles from the UpFront Magazine. ||
 * 4/25 || Finish the questions from the previous class and reviewed the FCA's one final time for Current Events. ||
 * 4/26 || 20% independent study day. The due date to complete the wiki page for the 20% project is May 17th. ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 4/29 || In class we started the background work for our final project of the year. The students were shown the following video and then discussed the problems that countries are facing all over the world. []

Also, a reminder that the final turn-in date for Current Events is Friday, May 3rd. ||
 * 4/30 || Today we had the very unique opportunity to have a guest speaker in our classroom. Her name was Olga and she was visiting us from Moscow, Russia. She completed a presentation on her country for the students and also answered any questions that they had. ||
 * 5/1 || I used the shorter class period today to preview our final project for the year and to create a class list of problems that countries are dealing with around the world. These problems will be the focus of our final project. ||
 * 5/2 || Use this link to get to some resources for our global issues project.

[|http://storify.com/Psnyder/current-issues#publicize] ||
 * 5/3 || 20% Work Day ||


 * Date || ClassLog ||
 * 5/6 || Field Day, No classes ||
 * 5/7 || Research For Debating Current Issues ||
 * 5/8 || Same ||
 * 5/9 || Same ||
 * 5/10 || 20% Work Day ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 5/13 || In class I provided students with additional details for the Debating Current Issues project. This included a scoring rubric and individual work sheets that will be collected and counted for each student's grade. At this point, each student is responsible for their own part of the project. ||
 * 5/14 || Research in the Library ||
 * 5/15 || Research in the Library ||
 * 5/16 || Research in the Library ||
 * 5/17 || Research in the Library ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 5/20 || Class Debates ||
 * 5/21 || Class Debates ||
 * 5/22 || 20%: This was the last day to work on this independent research project. It is due next Thursday. ||
 * 5/23 || Debates vs Mackley and Snyder

Period 3 match-ups Lebanon vs Kenya, Burma vs Congo, Burundi vs Indonesia

Period 4 match-ups Lebanon vs Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe vs Ethiopia, Yemen vs Kenya

Period 6 match-ups Nepal vs Kenya, Namibia vs Congo, Yemen vs Djibouti

Period 7 match-ups Congo vs Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe vs Nepal, Namibia vs Indonesia ||
 * 5/24 || Debates vs Mackley and Snyder ||


 * Date || Class Log ||
 * 5/27 || No school ||
 * 5/28 || Zoo Trip Prep: Use the link below to get to the resources for the zoo activity.

[|http://storify.com/Psnyder/the-zoo-challenge#publicize] ||
 * 5/29 || Philly Zoo trip. No classes ||
 * 5/30 || Type 2 writing assignment reflecting on our trip to the zoo.

Type 2 should have the following: Opening paragraph (3-4 sentences) which could include a descritption of the zoo, the purpose of zoos, and a descritption of the topic "Are zoos a good or bad thing?" Body Paragraph that has two pros (highlighted yellow) and two cons (highlighted orange) about zoos. Conclusion paragraph (3-4 sentences) explaining your decision about zoos (highlighted green).

This assignment is worth 15 points. ||

__**Unit Four Learning Goals:**__ I can explain how new ideas and technology change the way people live I can explain the challenges created by a large and growing population I can compare and contrast how population density and physical features impact how people live I can analyze how population trends can impact a country's future

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