Early America

Class in Review:

This week we begin unit one, which will give us information on what the Americas were like before the arrival of Europeans. This chapter will take us back to when people first arrived on the continents, and how they built up civilizations and empires. We will discuss the people of North America including the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures. We will also review the civilizations of Mexico, Central, and South America.  This will give us a foundation for the arrival of European explorers and settlers. I provided students with a study guide on Google Classroom, and a copy is provided below as well. The study guide provides important vocabulary and the things they should know by the time they are done with the unit.

This week, we will review the material we finished up with last week, and then students will get their first assignment for unit one, which will cover chapter one, lesson one of the textbook that discusses migration to the Americas.  Students will open the Talk to the Text document, and read through it. As they read they will interact with the text, providing their thoughts, questions, and responses to what they are reading. They can highlight things they think are important, or make connections to other parts of the reading.  I have explained how to do this to all students when meeting with them this week, however, if they prefer to print off the sheet and do it by hand that's fine too.  As they are reading they should also be filling out the Discussion Prep Sheet. This asks them to identify three words they think are important and explain why they think they are important.  It also asks them to tell me three questions or things they wonder about as they read.  The sheet ends with some questions about the sections they read.  Students will complete this by Friday so that we can discuss it during our class meeting time. Once they've read chapter one, lesson one, they have a few questions to answer on Google Classroom, which we will also go over at our next meeting.

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Assignments and Resources:

• Unit One Study Guide
• Talk to the Text Activity
• Discussion Prep Sheet

Getting To Know History Class

   Class in Review:

This week we are focused on getting to know what history is, and how it is researched and presented. Students this week will discuss what exactly is history, how we know what happened in the past, and what the job of a historian is.  In class, we will discuss these questions, and outside of class students will have writing prompts asking them to answer these questions.

As we close out the week, students will be assigned activities asking them to use what they have learned about evaluating sources of information.  The first is a quick source evaluation on Google Classroom, where students will be asked to decide which of two sources would be most reliable to answer a historic question.  If they can not access Google Classroom to complete it, I have provided a PDF copy of the activity below.  The second assignment comes in two parts, where students will be asked to investigate a lunchroom fight, going through witness statements, to determine who started it. This activity will ask students to evaluate source reliability, think of the context, and try and corroborate stories. The PDFs of these activities are also below.

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Assignments and Resources:

• Evaluating Sources Activity
• Lunchroom Fight Part One
• Lunchroom Fight Part Two
• Historical Thinking Chart

Welcome Week!

Class in Review:

This week we are focused on orientation to make sure students have access to the tools that they will need this year in order to be successful.  This week there will be three assignments, the first is a student survey.  This will let me know that students have access to Google Classroom and know how to navigate. The assignment is a short survey that students will answer about themselves.  The second assignment is a sign off for the class syllabus.  A copy of the syllabus is located on the class page, as well as on Google Classroom. I've also included a copy below.  When students have read this, they will complete the form on Google Classroom confirming that they received the syllabus.  The final assignment is a process to begin gaining access to the textbook.  Students will use the McGraw Hill app on Clever and click on "Join Class" then submit the code I provided to them on Google Classroom.  At that point the app will ask for a redemption code, but they don't need to worry about that and can just close the app at that point. If it asks for a redemption code, that means the app is ready for me to send them the book, which I will do before next week when we begin content. 

I haven't provided many assignments as many are still getting their Chromebooks through this Thursday. We will begin to cover more starting next week once all students have the technology they need.

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Assignments and Resources:

• Class Syllabus

Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year!

 Welcome to Mr. Berry's 8th Grade U.S. History Blog! Tomorrow we start the 2020-2021 school year. On this blog, you will find information and helpful resources that will help you succeed as we progress through the school year. Be sure to check back often, and have a great school year!