Pretty Hectic Week

Hope everyone is ready for a pretty hectic week. We have a number of things coming up that we want to be prepared for. Let's go over them:

1. Open Book/Note Quiz on Wednesday--make sure to read over the material before Wednesday.
2. Feudal Society Test on Friday--we will get a study guide and have a review on Thursday. You have just about everything you need to start studying. Start reviewing now!!!!
3. Catapult Launch is on Friday--we will do this after the test.

Good luck with all of your studies.

Get Ready to Launch...Test Runs

Many of the students finished up their catapults today. After finishing they were able to give some test runs. I could only think of one thing. It's probably good that we were not Medieval engineers. I don't think many people would have trembled at our marshmallow catapults. Check out some of the pictures from today.

Building a Catapult

We've been discussing castle life the past couple of days. One of the ways to attack a castle was by trying to knock a castle wall down using a catapult or a trebuchet. Trebuchets were very powerful and were used quite effectively until the use of canon. Once built, the trebuchet would do it's job.

Here is a link to the PBS Nova website that goes along with the video "Medieval Siege" we watched. The video shows two trebuchets being built, today, with the purpose of knocking down a stone wall. The website is very interactive and shows different methods for attacking a castle.

Student Catapults:

After discussing the video, students are now going to make their own catapults out of Popsicle sticks and tape. We're going to see who can launch an M&M the farthest. Here are some pics. of students beginning the construction.

My Life in a Castle

Well the snow came, and it's still here. We're supposed to get some warmer weather this week. Maybe most of the snow will melt away.

Our homework page has been down for the past few days. Mr. Johnson is working feverishly to fix the problem and get the page back up for us to use.

Today's Class:

Today we had a good discussion on the use of castles in the Middle Ages. Castles were well protected with some using moats, stone walls, drawbridges, portcullises, etc. as protective barriers. If all else failed, people could use the Keep (main living quarters) as a place to barricade themselves in for protection. Check out this link to see how well protected castles were during the Middle Ages.

Homework:

1. Vocabulary--I passed out a new vocabulary sheet today for the Late Middle Ages. You want to have numbers 1-14 done by next week.


2. Chapter 20 Section 1 and 2 Quiz (Worksheet)--use pages 367-373 in your book.

Well How Much Snow Will We Get?

I'm predicting that this is what I will look like tomorrow. I love to see snow when it first falls, but then I like to see it go away!! I don't know about you but I'm ready for Spring, and some nice, warm, mild weather.

Today's Class:

Because of getting out of school early today, not everyone had social studies. Let me run down some of items we discussed:

1. Gaggle.Net--we will not be participating in the Gaggle contest. I don't mind the emails we send back and forth, but the senseless posting to the Message boards had to stop.
2. Early Middle Age Vocabulary Test--This will be on Friday, even if we miss school on Wednesday.
3. The Vikings Test--Not everyone was able to upload their test to Gaggle correctly.
4. Nettrekker--Rest of class was spent on Nettrekker reviewing websites for the Medieval Time Period.

See everyone when the snow is cleared away!!!!!

Above Picture used from Saukvalley.com

Could it Get a Little Colder!!!!

Can you believe how cold it is outside. This is what I saw when I looked outside this morning. Just a few weeks ago we were foolishly asking when winter would get here. I guess we have our answer.

Today's Class

Today we discussed why the Viking from Norway, Sweden and Denmark traveled throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. What drove them to want to leave their homeland and risk their lives on adventures.

Homework is the Chapter 20 Section 3 Assessment on page 308. Do questions 1-5.

Reminders

Open Book Quiz tomorrow--study chapter 20.

Test on the Vikings on Friday.

Journal responses on Gaggle.Net are due next Tuesday.

Picture taken from the BBC

Why?????????????????????????

Did you ever wonder why they have championship games. Someone always has to go home in second place. Although some may tell you that you played a good game, or you gave it a good effort, but it's still second place. That's where the Bears are now--in second place. Hey, the draft is just a couple months away...There's a couple decent quarterbacks out there.

Today's Class

Today the students reviewed their concept maps that they worked on last week. It was great to see all of the connections the students could make. Some were pretty abstract.

After their presentations, they worked on Chapter 20 Section 3 Outline (Vikings: Raiders and Adventurers). Most were able to finish this in class, but if they did not, they were to finish it for homework.

Reminders

A couple of reminders:

1. Homework--Finish Chapter 20 Section 3 Outline
2. Open Book Quiz--Wednesday (Chapter 20)
3. Vikings Test--Friday
4. Journals--There are now three journal posts on Gaggle.Net.