tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36397877052504085752024-03-20T12:45:19.882-07:00Project History TeacherI began this blog when I started teaching social studies over ten years ago. I enjoy writing articles about the subjects I teach. I hope they are helpful to you! Thanks for stopping by!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-73354407298583411502017-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:002017-01-05T05:56:01.086-08:009 Ancient Athens and Sparta Projects and ActivitiesAthens and Sparta. Sparta and Athens. Which city-state do you prefer? If you could go back right now to Ancient Greece and be either a wealthy citizen of Athens or a Spartan general, which would you pick?
Teaching about Athens and Sparta is one of my favorite times of the school year. It is also one of the very clear memories I have from when I was learning about AncientUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-43640301370196609672017-01-03T06:49:00.001-08:002017-01-05T15:24:53.410-08:0013 Project Ideas for Early Greece - The Ancient MycenaeansAfter a few days of the trading, bull-leaping, artistic Minoans, we come to the raiding, Trojan-horse building Mycenaeans. Here are some ideas for projects and activities on the Mycenaeans!
Remember, a project can be short! I call them mini-projects. Projects can be graded or not. Whatever the case, projects should cause the doer to get more engaged and interested in theUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-75564746378248831462017-01-02T09:12:00.001-08:002017-01-05T15:25:27.544-08:0011 Project Ideas - Early Ancient Greece - The MinoansI always start my Greece unit with a look at the Ancient Minoans. They are a fascinating civilization that helped shape the culture we see later on in Ancient Greece. Here are a few project ideas for learning and showing learning about the Ancient Minoans.
By the
way, a project does not have to last days or weeks. I like
mini-projects (some might call them activities) that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-6699134640703564812017-01-01T21:32:00.000-08:002017-01-05T15:26:48.394-08:0037 Project Ideas - Geography of Ancient Greece
Years ago I wrote a post on Ancient Mesopotamia school project ideas broken down by Gardner's Multiple
Intelligences. I don't know what's taken me so long, but I finally decided it's time to come up with a list of projects for Ancient Greece!
Rather than making one big long post with all the project ideas, I'm going to do a series of posts, each one based on a different topic. ThisUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-41262916103718225032016-12-17T21:28:00.001-08:002017-01-01T21:40:15.257-08:00What were the 5 Themes of Geography of Ancient Greece?Water, mountains, and peninsulas. That's all there is to the geography of ancient Greece, right?
Well, those are a big part of Greece's physical geography, but they don't tell the whole story.
How did ancient Greece's geography affect culture? How did the ancient Greeks adapt to their geography? How did they alter it? Where the heck is Greece, anyway?
In order to get aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-36082134028549974202016-12-13T08:57:00.000-08:002017-08-22T17:09:31.551-07:00Star Wars and the 5 Themes of Geography?Would you rather eat unsweetened Bantha fodder and wash it down with blue milk than hear any more about the 5 Themes?
The 5 Themes of Geography can get old because after you apply them once or twice, it’s the same thing every time. Maybe you did examples of the five themes for your city. Ok… Then maybe you did examples from another world city. Mm hmm… These are important exercises, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-445408850583712962016-12-07T06:33:00.002-08:002016-12-07T06:36:36.332-08:00What was a city-state in Ancient Greece? Imagine that the city you live in is its own country. It has its own king, queen, or other leader.
It has its own laws. It has its own traditions and ways of doing things that might be quite a bit different from the city down the road or on the other side of the mountain. Your city might trade with nearby towns and cities and form alliances with them, or your city might go to warUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-26942960457614636662016-08-15T20:44:00.000-07:002016-12-19T05:38:32.867-08:005 Themes of Geography Made Easy! Definitions - Examples - InfographicGeography is the study of Earth. That's a big subject. It's almost too big to even think about. Never fear! The 5 Themes of Geography are here to help us with that problem!
What are the 5 Themes of Geography?
I’m glad you asked! Let’s start off with some definitions.
Don't worry about writing it all down. I've put an infographic below that ties it all togetherUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-89840602609460210042016-02-26T22:04:00.001-08:002016-06-07T11:37:12.939-07:00Ancient Roman Food : Brain pudding, anyone?For us food is more than just fuel for the body. We center many of our social events around food. We time our days around our meals. Some people make food their whole life by becoming chefs, restaurant owners, food critics, and gourmets. Food was an important part of daily life in Ancient Rome too, and similar to our culture, the food consumed was different depending on Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-28258871107300062342016-02-24T21:18:00.002-08:002016-06-07T11:37:01.348-07:00Early Roman Government and the Pater Familias
The early Roman government was a monarchy with a hint of democracy, and it had its roots in a very important idea of Roman family culture - the pater familias. The pater familias -- Latin for family father -- was the basic structure of the Roman family and society, and it became the basic structure of the Roman government in its different forms from the earliest days of Roman kings, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-14549117957840940482016-01-25T21:08:00.001-08:002016-06-07T11:37:41.079-07:00Where did democracy begin?The textbook answer to the question, "Where did democracy begin?" is that it began in Athens in Ancient Greece. I think there is a lot more to it than that, but let's look at Greek democracy (and compare it to ours) first.
Greek democracy was very different from American democracy today. Greek
democracy was a direct democracy. All of the citizens (males only - sorry ladies) Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-10239229856359999082016-01-23T21:31:00.000-08:002016-06-07T11:38:21.395-07:00Roles of Men and Women in Ancient GreeceThe roles of men and women in Ancient Greek society differed depending on city-state, social class, and situation. Male dominance over women was the norm, though.
The Ancient Greek attitude of male dominance and negativity toward women goes all the way back to the writings of Homer and to the Greek myths.
In the Iliad, who caused the Trojan War? Helen, an unfaithful wife who ran off with Prince Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-80991086103237370792016-01-04T05:14:00.001-08:002016-06-07T11:38:59.952-07:00Geography of Ancient Greece and its Effects on CultureWhat was Greece’s geography like? How did geography affect Ancient Greek
civilization?
Here’s a mystery box that will help us answer these
questions. The contents of this box
shaped Greek culture. It holds secret
weapons that helped Greece defeat the almost unstoppable Persian Empire. The items in this box also helped lead to the
fall of Ancient Greece.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-27542667332685624292015-07-25T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T19:28:24.011-08:00Ancient Mesopotamia - BabylonIn a few months when the spring floods arrive, it will be very different. For now though it is a peaceful scene. Boats laden with trade goods float lazily down the Euphrates River. Beside the river, children play in the shade beneath date palms that wave gently in the breeze. Farmers work in their fields, finishing up the barley harvest and praising the gods for the bounty they provided. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-78310417295277405602015-07-24T16:45:00.000-07:002016-02-21T19:28:50.126-08:00Religion of Ancient MesopotamiaReligion was an important part of daily life of ancient cultures going all the way back to the earliest hunter-gatherers. Why are we here? Why do the rivers flow? Where do the animals come from? What is that bright thing in the sky that warms us? Questions such as these led to the beginnings of organized religion. The Ancient Mesopotamians had one of the first organized religions ever, and Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-6810335063869102082015-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:27:36.350-08:00Stone Age InventionsThe old saying, “necessity is the mother of all invention,” certainly applies to inventions in the Stone Ages. After all, Stone Age people were preoccupied with simply trying to find food, water, shelter, and survive the many dangers they faced from day-to-day. So, all of their inventions were tied to survival. How can we become more efficient hunters? How can we gather wild foods more Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-16385182700402618472015-07-20T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:28:05.896-08:00Stone Age FarmingThe earliest crops that were farmed in the Neolithic or New Stone Age were likely barley, wheat, peas, and flax. This probably took place first in Mesopotamia, India, and Egypt. Farming then also began in China (rice) and North and South America (corn, beans, and tomatoes, potatoes), and central and southern Africa.
One of the keys to farming was fertile soil. That is why the earliest Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-67000909349159309302015-07-19T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:28:35.638-08:00Stone Age ClothesA Stone Age (Paleolithic) woman worked on a mammoth hide to prepare it to be used as clothing or a blanket. After scraping the meat off of the hide, she rubbed the animal’s brains on the hide to “tan” it. Tanning is a process, still used today, by which animal hides are preserved and turned into leather. Tanned hides last much longer than untanned ones. Bone or antler was used to make pins Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-82242409562623531962015-07-18T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:29:17.226-08:00What is the Paleolithic Age?The Paleolithic Age is a time period from prehistory when humans and their ancestors primarily used stone tools. The word Paleolithic comes from the Greek words for old and stone, hence the term Old Stone Age. This period started about 2.5 million years ago and lasted until about 10,000 years ago. For most of human history, we were Paleolithic people.
The “Lithic” or Stone Ages are often Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-19259776244914710862015-07-17T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:29:36.014-08:00Economic Geography - a definition<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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0
false
false
false
EN-US
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-6276415378765273322015-07-16T05:00:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:29:56.342-08:00Climate of Mesopotamia<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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One can tell just from looking at a satellite image of
Mesopotamia that it is mostly desert. A
climate map tells us that most of the region is considered arid or semi-arid,
just what we would expect. One way to
look at Mesopotamia’s climate is to examine different factors that affect
climate.
Latitude
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-15916355076473738042015-07-15T17:10:00.000-07:002016-02-21T20:30:24.113-08:00Location of MesopotamiaMesopotamia is located in Southwest Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In fact, the word Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers.” Much of the region of Mesopotamia is in modern-day Iraq, but it also includes parts of Syria, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, and several other countries. Its location helped shape Mesopotamia’s history.
First, Mesopotamia’s location between the Tigris and Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-35633548803901011132013-06-19T15:57:00.001-07:002016-02-21T20:52:01.662-08:00Effects of Domestication of Animals on Neolithic People
First let's review what the Neolithic or New Stone Age was. It was a period of time after humans learned to farm but before they figured out how to make tools out of metal
instead of stone. Life was easier than it was before farming, but it
was still difficult. Neolithic societies were not really true
civilizations yet.
Imagine you are a Neolithic person.
You likely hunt for your meat, Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-35051202741381257622013-06-18T15:57:00.001-07:002016-02-21T20:31:11.114-08:00Archaeologists - Who are they?Some of us like to think of
archaeologists as swashbuckling heroes who rescue history's treasures
from the bad guys. You know, Indiana Jones.
In reality, archaeologists usually do
not fit the image of Indiana Jones that we get by watching “Raiders
of the Lost Ark.” They are important folks though because they
help us find out how people lived in the past. Without
archaeologists, much of Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639787705250408575.post-62940830575086475662012-11-16T14:50:00.001-08:002016-02-21T20:31:32.062-08:00Aztec Laws
The Aztecs had a sophisticated and
strict system of law and order.
The emperor and his closest advisers
and nobles probably made the laws. There were laws against murder,
theft, crimes against the state (treason) etc., as you would expect.
There were also laws against being drunk in public, practicing
witchcraft, and cheating on a husband or wife.
Punishments varied, but the death
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com