The Civil War: A Nation Divided - March 20, 2008

Agenda:
1. Abraham Lincoln VIDEO notes (pg 57)
2. Quiz
3. Go over last night's homework
4. Eighth grade promotion
HW: The Civil War: A Nation Divided (pg 58)

We're wrapping up third quarter grades and getting geared up for our next unit: The Civil War and Reconstruction. Today we watched a biography on Abraham Lincoln and discussed the coming of the Civil War.

For homework, use your textbook to identify the free states of the North, the new states of the Confederacy, and the border states--slave states that remained loyal to the Union.

RVI

Wrapping up the quarter - March 18, 2008

Agenda:
1. INB grading
2. Go over the Benchmark Exam
3. Q4 Standards Guide (pg 54)
4. Cover Page - "Civil War and Reconstruction" (pg 53)
HW: Chapter 10, Section 4 TEXTBOOK NOTES (pg 56)

Today we wrapped up the third quarter. We graded the Interactive Notebook in class and reviewed the 3rd Quarter Benchmark Exam.

We're now jumping into our next unit: The Civil War and Reconstruction. The Civil War is a "watershed" in American history, and everything we have been learning thus far has led us to this point. In the "story" of US history, the Civil War is the climax of the story. Stay tuned for the amazing stories and fascinating people that will be a part of this critical time in our nation's history.

RVI

INB Grade Sheet anyone?

Starting tomorrow, we're grading the INB. Do you need a grade sheet? If so, download it HERE.

Quarter Three Benchmark - March 14, 2008

Agenda:
1. Any more questions before we take the test?
2. Q3 Benchmark Exam
HW: Fill out the INB grade sheet

Today is a celebration of learning: the Benchmark Exam! Hope you all did well. We'll go over the exam in our next class, and you will know your final 3rd Quarter grade by the end of our next class together.

RVI

Treasury unveils new $5 bills--starring Abraham Lincoln!

Cool! Check out the article HERE!

Play the Antebellum America Jeopardy Review Game!

Play with family or friends to help you prepare for the benchmark! Download the Jeopardy PowerPoint HERE. Good luck!

RVI

3rd Quarter Benchmark Review Podcast

The 3rd Quarter Benchmark Review podcast is now online! You can:

- Click the play button on the Quicktime player to the right.
- Click HERE to access the file directly (or right click and "Save as" to save it to your computer). --Enjoy!

Preparing for the 3rd Quarter Benchmark - March 12, 2008

Agenda:
1. Journal - "Find That!" - questions are in the image above (pg 51)
2. Review HW - "On the Edge of Civil War"
3. Benchmark Review Guide
4. Jeopardy! - You can download the whole Jeopardy review game to play at home on Thursday afternoon
HW: Review for Benchmark Exam

Your benchmark exam is quickly approaching! Study the Standards Guide, listen to the podcast, and post a comment or e-mail Mr. Ippolito at rvi@hartdistrict.org if you have any questions. Happy studying!

RVI

Need the Table of Contents?

On the Edge of Civil War - March 10, 2008

Agenda:
1. Go over HW: "The Crisis Turns Violent"
2. Ken Burns' "The Civil War" (pg 48-49)
HW: On the Edge of Civil War (pg 50)

First, if you're just here to download the Benchmark Standards Review, you can get it here:
http://staff.hartdistrict.org/rvi/q3review.pdf.

The podcast will be up later this evening.

We are teetering on the edge of the American Civil War, which means our quarter is quickly coming to an end. Today we reviewed critical events that pushed our nation closer to disunion: the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the Brooks-Sumner incident in the Senate.

Following our review of "The Crisis Turns Violent," we focused our attention on a small video clip from Ken Burns' PBS series, "The Civil War." In it, we reviewed slavery in the South, the abolitionist movement, and ended with John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA, in 1859.

Your homework for tonight is to read pages 370-377 in the textbook, and learn about our nation "On the Edge of Civil War."

RVI

Ron Ippolito
Team Yukon History/Yearbook Adviser
Rio Norte Junior High School

Slavery Compromises - March 6, 2008

Agenda:
1. Journal - "Find This!" (pg 44)
2. Check HW - Sensory Figure
3. 6-8 Quiz: The North and the South
4. Slavery Compromises (pg 46)
5. Slavery Compromises Map (pg 47) - use the map below or the map on pg 365 in your book
HW: The Crisis Turns Violent (pg 45)

We are getting closer and closer to the start of the Civil War, and sectional tensions are increasing between North and South. While both sides struggle to maintain equality (or an advantage) in the Senate, the issue of slavery looms large over both sides.

Tonight's homework focuses on some key events leading up to the Civil War, when heated words become heated actions, and the sectional crisis turns violent.

You can check out the map of the Missouri Compromise here:
http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1483/1518969/DIVI181.jpg

and the Compromise of 1850 here (this may help with the map activity):
http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1483/1518969/DIVI267.jpg

RVI

The Horrors of Enslavement - March 4, 2008

Agenda:
1. Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey (pg 41)
2. Imagining the Horrors of Enslavement (pg 42)
HW: African-American Sensory Figure (pg 43) - DOWNLOAD HERE

Today we began by briefly learning about two slave rebellion leaders, Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey. Both these slaves, and many of their followers, were executed for their attempt to conduct a slave revolt that would sweep across the South. Both (particularly Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831) struck fear into the hearts of Southerners, as many Southern whites envisioned their own slaves murdering them in their beds as they slept.

We next went back in time to examine the horrors of enslavement. We read from, and saw brief video clips from, Alex Haley's "Roots." We learned the story of Kunta Kinte, how he was captured in Africa, put aboard a slave ship, and sold into slavery here in America.

Your homework tonight is to fill in the thoughts and words of the sensory figure. Imagine you are an African slave being brought over to America. What do you see? What do you smell? What are you thinking, feeling, and hearing? The theme of this homework is QUALITY more than quantity, so make sure you carefully consider each response.

RVI

Resisting and Adapting to Slavery - February 29, 2008

Agenda:
1. Drawing the Color Line (pg 37)
2. The Southern Class System (pg 38)
3. Africans Resist and Adapt to Slavery (pg 39)
HW: ENSLAVEMENT Acrostic (pg 40) - DOWNLOAD HERE

Today in class we began by taking a look at the roots of slavery in Virginia with a one-page reading from Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States." We learned that slavery began largely because Englishmen settling Virginia were either not equipped to, or not willing to, do the work needed to establish the colony of Virginia. Because they couldn't enslave the Native Americans, they had to resort to enslaving Africans, thus beginning black slavery in America.

We then focused on the Southern Class Pyramid, and learned that actually very few Southern whites owned slaves. Often times, the slave system was upheld by non-slaveowning whites simply because it was a social system that kept even the poorest whites above blacks in the South.

We finished by learning the different ways African-Americans resisted, and adapted to, slavery. Slavery was a horrible system that ripped families apart and denied an entire race of people their freedom. In spite of this, African-Americans tried hard to keep their families together and to preserve their culture for themselves and their children.

Next time, we examine the violent slave rebellions of Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey, the horrible middle passage, and--on a lighter note--the Brer Rabbit stories of Joel Chandler Harris.

RVI