Friday Jan 31st

Today Friday Jan 31st -

Class took a Chapter 13 practice quiz (then using the textbook and their notes, corrected their answers

Class time was spent working on outstanding assignments or their maps for the Political and Physical test.

The Chapter 13 test has been pushed from Monday to Wednesday of next week.

HW - Textbook Page 282-283 Q's 11-24

Thursday Jan 30th

From guest Blogger Joyce

Thursday 30, 2014

Today in history, Gandhi was assassinated, FDR was born, "Bloody Sunday" took place, and Charles I of England was beheaded. Today in history class, however, we took notes on a presentation shown using Mr. Park's obnoxiously bright projector; almost as obnoxious as an dying hippo in a neon pink suit. The presentation, along with tonight's homework, is both on the class website. Test retakes are still ongoing, oh joy.

From Mr. G
Today was all about the Encomienda System the Spanish implemented into their newly conquered territory on New Spain (Mexico). The social class categories were described as well as the rights and privileges associated with those groups.

Students should remember to work on the homework that is assigned each day. Ye there is a lot in this Unit, but all those assignments add up, and the Chapter test is directly related to those assignments.

I will once again put up a jeopardy review which should help students prepare for the Test (currently scheduled for Monday), but may be pushed to Wed so all the material can be covered and reviewed.

HW for tonight
- Supporting Main Ideas pdf ( link here )
- Analyzing  Pictograph pdf ( link here )

Wednesday Jan 29th

Today Wednesday Jan 29th -

Today we analyzed the Patio of the Gods battle between the Aztec's and the Spanish. Students read the article which listed both Aztec and Spanish versions for the same event. Student s filled out the chart identifying keep vocab words, author purpose/structure, impactful emotional sentences, as well as identifying the justification/reasons for the attack through the eyes of the Spanish.

Here is the article and the chart - ( link here )

Tuesday the 28th

From Guest Blogger Daniel

Previously on the last episode, the courageous students of Sir Gillis's class fought the horrendous beast of the Chapter 10 test. Our brave commander underestimated the tenacity and deadliness of the terrible monster.

Today, we scramble through the rubble, healing the wounded and counting up the casualties. We corrected our tests, and as always, the Asians completely wreck the curve. Nah. I love you guys. But yeah, the curve has been set somewhere over the rainbow.

A new beast reared its ugly head today. A new presentation was started today, detailing the fall of the Aztecs. We've gone over Cortes's arrival in Tenochtitlan, the fight with the rival army and Montezuma's death in battle. Perhaps we will slay this beast with swift decisiveness this time around...

Come back next time for a new installment!

And now the real Blog......

We corrected and went over the results for the Chapter 10 Test. The curve was set at 35 (one shy of a perfect score) Congrats to Amanda Chen in Zero period for getting the top score!


HW for tonight is
-Textbook p[age 276 Q's 1-5
- Andean Countries pdf (pdf link here)
-Southern Grasslands pdf (pdf link here)

Monday Jan 27th -
Today we took the Chapter 10 test.

HW assigned today and due tomorrow is
-Textbook page 271 Q's 1-5
-Andean Countries pdf -  (here is the pdf)
-Southern Grasslands pdf - (here is the pdf)

Friday - from guest blogger Joyce -

Friday was a fun day composed of singing Disney and where those who had finished the work due on Friday, watched little children who didn't, run around trying to do so. The remaining assignments are to be turned in Monday the day of the Chapter 10 test. The class website has review materials to prepare students fro Monday's Test.

Here is a link to the jeopardy review game Mr Gillis put together - Chapter 10 Review pdf

from guest blogger Joyce ( as well as selective editing by Mr Gillis) -

Today in class we had a great opportunity to work collaboratively, but our lack of enthusiasm, left our fearless leader Mr Gillis no choice but to assign the work to be done individually.
We apologize deeply from the bottom of our hearts with remorse that is only surpassed by the guilt of a cat that has scratched the furniture. Other than that we worked on the Inca Aztec Mayan sentence frames as well as additional Chapter 10 assignments in anticipation for the test on Monday.

On that note - assignments due today Friday
-Textbook page 225 Q's 1-5, Drawing Inferences(pdf),  Determining Causes (pdf),
-Textbook page 231 Q's 1-5, Page 235 Q's 1-5

Due Monday will be
-Geography of Mexico(pdf), A Place of 3 Cultures(pdf) Mexico Article
-Textbook page 232-233 Q's 11-28 (skip #20)

From guest blogger Joyce -

Walter Raleigh was born on this day in 1552, but in 2014, today, it was a mere Recruitment Day at Leland. In class, we filled out the sentence frames written by various groups and compiled by Mr Gillis (Hint: The majority of the sentence frames are from zero period, so find that poster). We also filled out the chart with basic information about the Inca, Maya, and Aztec. For those of you who have complaints on the work load for any of the sentence frames, they should learn to read. The answers are in the summary paragraphs.

Joyce

Wednesday Jan 22nd

Today - Wednesday the 22nd students went around the room answer the sentence frames for each culture.

Tuesday Jan 21st

Today Tuesday 21st.
Today was spent making final adjustments and improvements to our posters as well as turning in our sentence frames for Wednesday's class activity. After negotiating, plodding, forcing, cajoling, begging and encouraging, every one played a role in producing a very nice project. In the end, the poster will serve as a nice summary of three different but advanced societies that existed in the western hemisphere prior to any European colonization. Here is an example of the project -

*from student blogger Joyce-
Friday was a spirit day (Girls vs. Boys) and also Michelle Obama's 50th birthday Yay! In class, we worked on our Maya, Inca, or Aztec projects and based on the progress of the majority of the projects, set the date to the end of the period on Tuesday, after we return from a three day weekend. Students should remember that sentence frames are also a part of the projects. Due to the wonderful guidance of Leland's favorite teacher Mr. Gillis, a lot of progress was made on the group projects.

Here are some pics of the projects in progress -

Thursday Jan 16th - today students worked in their Civilization groups designing and constructing their butcher paper project. In addition, students should be crafting their sentence frames for their summaries.
There will be some time provided in class Friday to finish the butcher paper, but each group should make significant progress today.

Today - Jan 15th, 2013 is a production day for the Mayan, Aztec, Inca project. Students have downloaded their assigned pdf's and are in the process of summarizing its content. The summaries should cover all the important information contained in the pdf's. In addition, each student needs to write-up a sentence frame for their summary.
The pdf's have colorful pictures which can be used on the final butcher paper products which will bring to life the content of their summaries.

Thursday - time will be provided for student groups to begin to assemble the butcher paper

First post to the new classroom blog