Week 12: November 11-15

Welcome: 

Welcome to November! As we turned the page on the calendar we also turned to a new quarter and a new unit of study. This quarter is all about the physical growth of the United States as we start our unit of study called "Surviving and Thriving in the American West." Finally, the students took part in the Chester County mock election--here are the results for our school. 

Social Studies (Periods 2, 6, 7 and 8): 

This Past Week: 

• Manifest Destiny Defined: We started the week with a Pear Deck to help the students better understand the meaning of the term "Manifest Destiny" and how it relates to the physical growth of the United States in the 19th century. The students were also asked to analyze a painting from the 19th century called "American Progress." 
• Flashcard Factory:  We played a Flashcard Factory to help the students make sense of four key terms for this unit; thriving, surviving, manifest, and destiny. 
• #03-Territories Chart: Since so much of this unit is about the physical growth of the United States in the 19th century I wanted to start the kids with a simple chart to help them understand how the United States acquired each of the territorial additions. The students had the choice as to how they got the information; my content burst videos, MagicSchool AI dashboard or their own research. The students will use this chart to help them create a slide show and, eventually, a video about the physical growth of the United States. 
• #06-Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery: Finally, on Friday the students shifted gears from looking at the bigger picture of Westward Expansion to the human experience of those that went west when they began investigating Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. One of the major themes of this unit will be the lengths to which Americans went to survive and thrive in the 19th century and this story is a great place to start. 

This Upcoming Week:

• America the Story of Us: We'll take some time this week to watch parts of the episode called "Westward" from America the Story of Us. The video does a tremendous job at telling the human story of people who went west and struggled to survive and thrive in the 19th century and is a great way to introduce the students to many topics. 
• Lewis & Clark Thin Slide: The students will create a Thin Slide about the goals of Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery on Monday. This slide is a great way for students to synthesize and summarize their work and is graded (5 points). 
• Native American Interactions: We'll take some time to discuss some of the interactions between various Native American tribes and Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. The students will create a quick visual aid and take some time to share them with others. 
• Texas Annexation: We'll also take some time this week to explore the circumstances surrounding the annexation of Texas. The students will create quick presentations and share them with the class in small groups today. 
• States Quiz: The students will be asked to take a quiz to identify the states west of the Mississippi River that were added during the 19th century. The quiz will be multiple choice/matching and is worth 10 points. The students will take the quiz for the first time on Monday, November 25, 2024. 

Accelerated Social Studies (Period 3): 

This Past Week: 

• Exploration: The students explored two different tools today--Canva Presentations and Giogle Sites. The students will create their own video called "My American Story" using Canva this quarter and will use a Google Site to keep track of nearly al of their work. 
• Manifest Destiny Defined: We started the week with a Pear Deck to help the students better understand the meaning of the term "Manifest Destiny" and how it relates to the physical growth of the United States in the 19th century. The students were also asked to analyze a painting from the 19th century called "American Progress." 
• #03-Territories Chart: Since so much of this unit is about the physical growth of the United States in the 19th century I wanted to start the kids with a simple chart to help them understand how the United States acquired each of the territorial additions. The students had the choice as to how they got the information; my content burst videos, MagicSchool AI dashboard or their own research. The students will use this chart to help them create a slide show and, eventually, a video about the physical growth of the United States. 
• #06-Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery: Finally, on Friday the students shifted gears from looking at the bigger picture of Westward Expansion to the human experience of those that went west when they began investigating Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. One of the major themes of this unit will be the lengths to which Americans went to survive and thrive in the 19th century and this story is a great place to start. 

This Upcoming Week:

• America the Story of Us: We'll take some time this week to watch parts of the episode called "Westward" from America the Story of Us. The video does a tremendous job at telling the human story of people who went west and struggled to survive and thrive in the 19th century and is a great way to introduce the students to many topics. 
• Lewis & Clark Thin Slide: The students will create a Thin Slide about the goals of Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery on Monday. This slide is a great way for students to synthesize and summarize their work and is graded (5 points). 
• My American Story Presentation: The students will start to create their "My Ameircan Story" video this week by using Canva to create slides about each fo the territorial additions from #03. 
• Common Craft Videos: The students will begin working on a collaborative assignment in which they will create a Common Craft type video about the territorial additions to the US in 1ht 19th century. The videos will be due Friday, 11/22 at the end of class.