Homer pays a visit

The Odyssey is a timeless story that has been entertaining listeners for thousands of years.  Today Homer's words had quite an impact on Section 4.  And Section 6 finally answered that eternal question:  Are you crying?

life in the early days of Greece

In order to understand the ancient Greeks, you have to understand what influenced their culture.  Their geography - a mountainous peninsula - sent them to the sea, and kept them from being united in their Greek-ness.  They lacked arable land, but the grapes, grain, and olives they were fortunate enough to grow were in demand with trading partners.  The Myceneans ruled, but gave way to "sea peoples" and Dorians.  More to come...!

Yes... another Cyber Day

We did a little shoveling yesterday...

Can you imagine if these were all snow days? We'd be going to school until the Fourth of July. Cyber Days rock.

Today's Cyber Day assignment is for all three sections.

There are three great philosophers from ancient Greece: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Pick one of these men, post a picture of him on your blog, and tell me all about him in a well-written paragraph. Suggested details might include his approach to philosophy, when he lived, what writings he is known for, what he may have done for a living (besides philosophizing), and why he is still important today.

This 20-point assignment must be posted to your blog by midnight tonight.  This will, of course, count as your Friday blog.  This means that once you post this blog, you will have the weekend off.

Thanks for all the hard work, and I will see you Monday!

Cyber Day IV

A Cyber Day today?  Gosh!  Who saw this coming?  (Um... I did.)

As we discussed yesterday, your Cyber Day assignment is to discover the wonder and splendor of ancient Greek architecture.  Find three terrific examples of ancient Greek buildings, post pictures of them, and write a short paragraph about each one.  Feel free to mention details like when and where they were built, what style they were built in, what materials were used to build them, what architectural details were included, and why the Greeks built these particular structures.

I have included some good sites for you to use.  However, you are required to write in your own words.  You all received the guidelines from Mr. Powell about doing your own work on Cyber Day assignments.  This means you don't copy other people's work, and you don't cut and paste from websites.  Read, learn, then tell me what you learned.

Some good sources (although you are free to use others):

• Ancient History 
• Ancient Greece
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• History World
• Famous Historic Buildings

Post this assignment to your blog today, before midnight.  It's worth 20 points.  Late penalties will apply.  Write well, with a lot of detail, and you will receive a good grade.  Do a crummy job, receive a crummy grade.

We shall see how much snow falls, and how it impacts school tomorrow.  All three sections should be prepared to check my blog tomorrow if we have another Cyber Day.

Have a great day, and I'll see you... eventually!

March is coming in like a lion

Weather disruptions seem to be the name of the game this semester.  And with a weather forecast like this, it's easy to see us having another Cyber Day tomorrow.

So, if the Weather Service is on target, Sections 3 and 4 should be ready for their Cyber assignment tomorrow morning.  And, if we really get clobbered with some major accumulation, all three sections should keep their eyes on this blog Friday.

Have fun shoveling!

Greece - at the middle of the earth

A full day of school.  Ya don't see that every day...

Section and 4 and Section 6 were introduced to Greece today. 

The focus was on geography,
and how Greece's culture was shaped by its mountainous terrain,

its position on the water, and its location on the Mediterranean Sea.

A Google Earth's-eye view of Greece

ANOTHER Cyber Day

Since only Sections 3 and 6 meet today, they are the only ones REQUIRED to do this Cyber Day assignment.  Section 4, feel free to check it out and get a jump on things.

Cyber Day Assignment

Today we begin to study ancient Greece.  Go to the Google Slides titled (Ancient) Greece is the Word.  Take notes and answer questions on the first seven slides.  Post these notes to your blog.  Earn a maximum of 20 points by being thorough and detailed.  Earn far fewer points if you are lazy and do slapdash, minimal work.  Earn zero points if you don't do it.  I leave it to you to get this unit off to a good, strong start.  This assignment is due at midnight tonight.

Thanks, and enjoy your Cyber Day!