8th Grade American History

Welcome to American History!

Welcome to March!
We recently completed an 8-day cooperative learning group project which included a presentation, and a teaching segment for the students to complete. I was very pleased with the outcome and the students did some reflecting at the end which gave me great feedback for future projects as well as insight into their experience. Because things went so well, I plan to launch another group activity tomorrow - this time involving mini-dramas. We are studying what life was like in the American West...more to come!
A New Year - 2013!
I am very excited about the rest of the year with these 8th graders. We started out the year working through a unit about the foreign Aafairs that the first 5 presidents were faced with. The students evaluated the actions of each president and then decided how they would have acted had they been in their shoes. We acted out a skit about each situation and the students had fun trying French accents, being Barbary Coast pirates, and impressing American sailors on the Atlantic ocean. This week we are begining to look at how America developed its own unique culture in the early 19th century. The War of 1812 brought us together as one nation and a new identity formed with shared values. Various forms of art were developed as uniquely American. The students are working on an art project now to demonstrate this occurence. I'm excited to see them be creative and use their gifts in different ways!

We have an upcoming field trip to the Gene Autry Museum and the L.A. Zoo on Wednesday, February 6th. We will be doing an activity that ties in the Lewis and Clark Expedition to our day in the zoo.

End of October Update - 10/29/12

After an exciting trip to Washington D.C. with the majority of our 8^th grade class, we are back and more inspired than ever to study the beginnings of our government. In Washington D.C. we visited all the major sites and not only saw history come alive, but we were able to hear about how our founding fathers feared God and depended on Him for guidance and strength. We were touched by the many sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms. This past week, we spent time studying the federalist / anti-federalist debate and watched parts of the enticing PBS documentary, Liberty!. The students then participated in a debate where they had to argue for or against ratifying the constitution. I was impressed with their ability to think through the issues, share opinions, and see the opposition’s side of the issues. Today we learned what it means to compromise and saw how the 13 states had to compromise when writing the US Constitution. Because it is an election year we are constantly discussing how the things that our founding fathers set in place over 200 years ago affect us today. We make connections and comparisons and have some great discussions in class.

Week 9 - 10/23/12
Here is the link to the Liberty! moview we've been watching: Click Here


Week 2

Check out this video about the lost colony of Roanoke: Lost Colony Video

Post a comment about what you think happened to these colonists...

Colony Brochure Project:

Here are the websites you may use today in class for research:

(Outside of class you are welcome to find other websites, but you may not use wikipedia, or about.com.)

Academic American

Teaching American History

History Channel

Time Page

History Outlines

Library of Congress

Social Studies for Kids

Check out this website for brochure templates online: Office Templates

Week 3

Origins of Slavery video

Daily Life in Colonial America

Extention Activity (if you're done with your brochure):

Take the Google Earch virtual tour of the 9/11 memorial: LINK HERE

Post a comment on the blog about your response to this tour (and the website...explore any page you are interested in). Guiding questions 1) Do you think it is important to remember this event every year? Why / Why not? 2) Do you think the museum and memorial in NYC are positive additions to the city? Why?

Optional - create a childrens book that tells the story of 9-11 from a child's perspective.

Remembering 9/11 - Click HERE for ESPN video "Man in the Red Bandana"

October Update!

We have had a good time as a class so far studying our nation’s founding. The establishment of the 13 colonies, their struggle for independence, and victory in the American revolution has been an interesting and engaging adventure. We are using a notebook system as a core aspect of the class where students maintain and create a portfolio of their work that is organized in chronological order. Their writing, artwork, homework, map skill activities, and tests are all kept in this repository. The students got very excited about a town meeting that we held in the classroom, complete with costumes and historically accurate characters. We debated the need for revolution between the Patriots, Loyalists, and some neutral parties. I was the moderator and the students did a fantastic job addressing the key issues. We are now moving into the preparation for our Washington D.C. trip which will take place over the next two weeks. The students will do mini-thematic studies on various topics from American history. This is an exciting time and my hope is that they are well prepared with a frame of reference for the things they will see on our trip. The students will also be introduced to their Washington D.C. journal project which will be their assignment while on the trip. Students who don’t go to D.C. will also be assigned a modified version of this. I’m really looking forward to this next phase of our class!