Last Day with a Substitute

Today we put finishing touches on our paper. I added the works cited and we are finally finished our paper. Tomorrow is the test on Ancient Greece and we have to turn in our papers. Tomorrow is also our last day of school before Easter break.

Group Paper Writing

Today in class, we obviously had a substitute since Mr. Schick is not here. We got into our groups and worked on our papers. My group is basically almost done, we just have a few more things to add and check over. I was absent on Friday but thankfully my group had gotten some of the paper done already. Today I put a lot of work into the paper as well as everyone else in my group.

Vaarwel Mr.Schick!

Today we finally finished the Ancient Greece PowerPoint. We took more notes and discussed Ancient Greece. Mr. Schick is leaving today for the Netherlands... so jealous, and we will have a sub until next Wednesday. We will be working on our group papers, watching the video on his blog, and studying for the test we will be having next week. Have a great trip Mr. Schick! 

Greek Gods and Goddesses

Today we took more notes, almost finishing the entire PowerPoint. We started off talking about Isagoras and Cleisthenes engaging in a power struggle. Isagoras won but Cleisthenes and his supporters revolted and banished Isagoras. This marked 508 BCE as the birth of democracy. Cleisthenes was a rich, crafty politician of the elites. He saw the value of middle class citizens, besides women. We then began talk on gods and goddesses. Something important was the unique relationship Greek's had with gods; gods interacted with humans. For example, Poseidon (God of the Sea) interfered with Odysseus. That is the most common example. We talked a lot about Zeus, the ruler of heaven and earth; father of Athena, god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice. He had a temper and was known for hurling bolts of thunder. Athena was the goddess of skill, warfare, peace, intelligence, battle strategy, and handicrafts. She was born of Zeus' head in full form with armor. She is known as the patron of heroes and patron of Athens. Athens was clearly named after Athena.

Cleisthenes

More Group Presentations

Today three more groups presented, now everyone has finished. Before we started our projects, Mr. Schick's computer wasn't working so we had some interesting small talk for a little bit. Then Mr. Schick talked to us a little bit about our papers and what is planned for the rest of the week.

Group Presentations on a Snowy First Day of Spring

Today in class some groups presented their projects and they were all pretty good. We took some notes on each presentation and discussed some of them. Unfortunately, not everyone got to present today so the remaining groups will present first mod on Monday...including my group!

Academic Team Smart People

Today we started off by talking about the academic team and their unfortunate loss to Calvert Hall...only by two points though. Then we all wanted to see what it's like to be on the team so Mr. Schick asked us some of the questions. The majority of them were super hard but there were a couple that I could actually answer. Then we took more notes on Ancient Greece and finished up class by answering more academic team questions.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sammiches

Today is Pierce and I's birthday so we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and had cookies and mini donuts. It was a really interesting class. I really wish Mr. Schick could've been here to celebrate with us! Throughout the class we worked on our group projects and some people took notes on the Ancient Greece PowerPoint.

Group Project

Today for first mod, we spent the entire class time in our groups working on our projects. My group has worked really hard and we're basically already finished! It's nice to have it done so early so we don't have to worry about it. We have a pretty good PowerPoint to show with some good pictures. Everyone has been working together and done an equal amount of work. Next, we will start working on the essay together.

Group Project Work and Handing Back of Pop Quizzes

Today we got our pop quizzes back, our class had an average of 90.5% which is awesome. After he handed them back, we began working on our group presentations which are due a week from today. My group is already making some good progress for having just started the project.

Pop Quiz

Today we started class off with a review and then we had a pop quiz and I did really well. Then after everyone finished, he talked about our projects a little bit and how he would write the rubric and everything later. Mr. Schick told us numerous stories about Gumby from his childhood. Today was a really funny class!

Group Project

Today we were assigned into our groups for the project.

My group is:

Ariana Conits

Dimitra Conits

Kelsey 

Our topic is: Warfare on the land 

Olives, and Grapes, and Grains, Oh My!

Today in the beginning of class we took more notes on ancient Greece. Then, Mr. Schick read some of the Odyssey to us.

• Greece is a mountainous peninsula, mountains cover over 3/4 of Greece.
• 1400 islands in the Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean Seas. 
• This combination shaped Greece's culture, they had many skilled shipbuilders and sailors. 
• They had poor/limited natural resources 
• It was difficult to unite the ancient Greeks because of the terrain. 
• They mostly had olives, grapes, and grains. 
• Only 20% of the land was arable meaning good farming land. 
• Lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization 
• Back then, the temperatures usually ranged from mid 40s in the winter to low 80s in the summer (sometimes hotter). Fairly nice weather year round. 

Some early peoples- first, Mycenaeans 

-their influence around 2000 BCE

-Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20-foot thick wall. 

-Mycenaean kings dominated Greece for 400 years

-They controlled trade in the region 

-1400 BCE: Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language. 

Then, "sea people" and Dorians

-around 1200 BCE the mysterious sea people began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palace after palace so, the Dorians moved into this war-torn region. 

-Dorians were far less advanced 

-the trade-based economy collapsed 

-writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer- the story teller 

Greek oral tradition- stories passed on by word of mouth, not written. 

Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages" 

He composed stories of the Trojan War

The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of his stories. 

The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter. 

Did Homer actually exist? 

- The "Homeric question": Homer may have been a mythical creation himself. 

-a blind wandering minstrel; a heroic figure. 

-Iliad and the Odyssey may be the culmination of many generations of storytelling. 

-or...Homer actually existed and was awesome. 

Aristotle 384 BC- 322 BC

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in 384 BC. He was born in the northern periphery of Classic Greece in a city known as Stagira. When he was eighteen, he joined Plato's academy in Athens where he stayed for nineteen years. After Plato died, Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great which gave him many opportunities. Aristotle's writings mainly discuss the subjects of physics, biology, zoology, logic, ethics, and much more. Aristotle was known as the "father field of logic" and was the first to develop a formalized system of reasoning. In his lifetime, he wrote as many as 200 treatises but only 31 survive. Some of his works include: The Athenian Constitution, On Dreams, On the Heavens, Physics, and many more. He died at the age of 62, in 322 BC, in Euboea, Greece. Aristotle is important today because he is the father of Western science giving us the first books in biology, physics, astronomy, and psychology. He is also considered to be the godfather of the internet, entrepreneurial start ups, and e-commerce. 

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."
- Aristotle 

    

Mr. Schick or Phil of the Future?

Well...today in class we began by talking about the incoming bad weather we're supposed to have which somehow led to talking about the future and chips in our heads. It was actually really fun talking about possible future inventions that'll be made up by the time we're grown ups. Mr. Schick seemed to have some pretty cool ideas and assumptions on future inventions including chips in our heads, being able to look someone in the eyes and they'll know what you're saying, and so much more. Somehow the head chip led us to the argument of people always knowing where we are...some agreed to that being a good idea where others thought the opposite. It was a quick, but fun day in class. Now it's time for some snow!

Kick Start to Ancient Greece

The world's greatest civilizations have something in common, they were all located on rivers. Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), Egypt (Nile River), India (Indus River), and China (Huang He River). Greece is very mountainous. Since city-states were separated by a lot of mountains, they often hated each other...even though they spoke the same language, dressed the same, and lived in the same climate basically...seems a little strange. Greece is a peninsula on the Mediterranean Sea surrounded by islands all over the place.

Interesting Fact about the Mediterranean Sea: "terra"- means earth and the entire word "mediterranean" means "middle of the earth". 

Cyber Day Assignment - Greece is the Word!

The world's greatest civilizations were all located on rivers...

• Mesopotamia- Tigris and Euphrates Rivers 
• Egypt- Nile River 
• India- Indus River 
• China- Huang He River 

Question 1: Greece is very mountainous in almost every part but there are plains in eastern parts of Greece and in central Macedonia. Western Greece contains lakes and wetlands.
Greece is surrounded by large amounts of water but they also have mountains and plains. So basically they have the best of both worlds and have the advantage of all three of those things. Accompanying this is considerable climatic variation which is also helpful for crops and stuff like that. In Ancient Greece, I'm sure the amount of water was very helpful and still is, for transportation.  

Question 2 : The Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea surround Greece. 

Question 3: Crete is the large island to the south/southeast of Greece. 

Question 4: Sparta is located on the right bank of the Eurotas River somewhat close to Sparta but Athens is located higher up than Sparta. They are both very close to bodies of water.