Week in Review

Scroll through the weeks below to see what we have learned each week, or, click on a specific week in the list below to jump to that week. 

Week 1: September 11 - September 15 

7th Grade:
This week we reviewed some important geography concepts as well as some of the 6th-grade content that will be important as we move into this year's content. After some quick review, we jumped right into the 7th-grade curriculum.  The topics we discussed this week included:

8th Grade:
This week we jumped right into the 8th-grade curriculum as well as incorporated 11th-grade concepts to prepare the students for the Regent's exam in June, The topics we explored this week included:

Week 2: September 18 - September 22 

7th Grade:
 This week we explored the reasons for European colonization of the Americas. We reviewed mercantilism and how "mother countries" used colonization/mercantilism to increase their country's wealth, often at the expense of their colonies. This week we examined the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the Jamestown colony, New Amsterdam/New York, and Plymouth. 

8th Grade:
 This week we explored the various businessmen who helped make a modern, industrialized country.  We examined the backgrounds and actions of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and JP Morgan. We looked at how the lack of regulations/laws (laissez-faire) led to unchecked growth of big business and ultimately the rise of monopolies that affected every aspect of American life. 


Week 3: September 26 - September 29 

7th Grade:
 This was a shorter week since we had Monday off but we still covered a lot of new stuff. We continued our exploration of the original 13 colonies that were founded here in North America. This week we learned about the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Salem Witch Trials. We discussed the dangers of being guilty until proven innocent. This "guilty until proven innocent" practice will be discussed again in a few weeks when we start learning about the US Constitution  and why we decided to base our judicial system on the notion that people are "innocent until proven guilty".  We also did a quick project about Halloween and the students researched a country or culture and made a mini-poster about that country/culture's traditions related to Halloween. Students who did not want to participate for cultural or religious reasons were given the opportunity to research a different holiday. 

8th Grade:
 Much of this week was dedicated to practicing the skills needed to write a  good Short Essay Question response similar to what they will be asked to do on the Regents exam in June. On the June Regents that all 8th-graders will be taking there are 28 multiple choice questions, 2 short essay questions, and 1 longer civics literacy essay. We started with Short Essay Question 1. Students were presented with two primary source documents of a related topic. In this case we looked at Paul Revere's depiction of thr Boston Massacre as well as a redcoat captains description of the same event. They were tasked with writing a 2 paragraph essay. Paragraph one was a description of the historical context surrounding the two sources. What happened? When did it happen? Who was involved? etc. They were to include as much context and outside information about the Boston Massacre as they could. The second of the two paragraphs was an analysis of the relationship between the two sources.  The students were allowed to pick the relationship that they felt best fit the two sources. (Cause and Effect, Similarity and Difference, and Turning Point). 

Week 4: October 2 - October 6 

7th Grade:
 We began this week reviewing some of the characteristics of the 13 original colonies and how the different geography shaped their ways of life. We compare/contrasted the colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth, looking at the different motivations of the colonists who came to America. We examined the causes and effects of King Philip's War and it's impact on the colonies as well as the indigenous peoples. We jumped 100 years forward and finished the week looking at the colonial lands in 1760 and the lead up to the French and Indian War. 

Key vocabulary: militia, Salutary Neglect

8th Grade:
 We started this week discussing the Gilded Age and why this time period might have been called the Gilded Age. We began our immigration unit by examining Push and Pull factors that lead people to move from their ancestral homes to a new land across the ocean. We explored Ellis Island and looked at some of the experiences that newly arrived immigrants would have had entering America and getting processed at Ellis Island. 

This week class 801 went on their walking tour trip of historic sites in lower Manhattan. Class 802 will be going next week 10/10 and 803 will be going on 10/18.

Clubs: 

7/8 grade clubs started this week. My club is "Adulting 101" In this club we will learn some basic life skills (stuff not normally taught in school). This week was our first session and we went over some of the planned activities and lessons and the students had the opportunity to suggest other life skills they would like to learn during this club.  Our first life skill lesson starts next week. The students will be writing a formal business letter to a company of their choosing. Once completed we will properly address the envelope, affix the proper postage, and walk out to the mailbox to mail the letter. By next week the members of this club should have selected the business they want to contact and found their corporate mailing address. Some of the other planned activities include learning how to sew a button onto a shirt, reading/writing in cursive, and developing a resume. Some of the gentlemen in the club asked to learn how to tie a necktie and that is something we could explore during one of our sessions as well. 

Week 5: October 10 - October 13 (Friday the 13th - ugh) 

7th Grade:
 This was a short week due to the holiday on Monday.  This week we focused, briefly, on the colonies during the 100 years after King Philip's War. We explored the early attempts at self-government (Virginia House of Burgesses, Town Hall Meetings, Mayflower Compact)  that were the result of England's long-standing policy of Salutary Neglect.  We also learned about the French & Indian War AKA The Seven Years War. On Friday we spent some time reviewing the important concepts for our test on Monday (701 & 703) and Tuesday (702).  The review notes were posted on Google Classroom. 

Key vocabulary: self-government, House of Burgesses, Mayflower Compact

8th Grade:
 This was a short week due to the holiday on Monday. We continued exploring the experience of immigrants during the Gilded Age. We focused on Ellis Island and the various tests/screens that immigrants faced while they were processed at Ellis Island. We also did a mock Ellis Island experience where the students imagined that they were immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island. We walked up from the first floor to the third floor. Along the way, the students were scrutinized, as the immigrants were by inspectors at Ellis Island, and any student who was suspected of having a condition that would trigger further examination was marked with a yellow sticky note with an accompanying code. (At Ellis Island the inspectors used chalk to write on their clothing).  Each class tried to break the long-standing record of 10 students making it through the process with no delays from further examination (10 students from an 8th-grade class in 2018).  Some classes came close. 801 had 2 make it, 802 had 9, and 803 had 7. The record still stands unbroken.  The students will be writing a first-person narrative essay, from the perspective of a newly arrived immigrant through Ellis Island. This essay will be due on Monday, October 23rd. Details will be posted on Google Classroom soon. 

This week 802 went on a class trip for their walking tour of the historic sites in lower Manhattan. 

Key concepts: Push/Pull Factors,  Excluded classes of immigrants, 

Clubs Session 2:

This week the members of the Adulting 101 club started writing their business letters to their chosen business. McDonald's, Hershey, Epic Games, and Starbucks were some of the companies they wrote to. We plan to mail these out next week and we're hoping that some of the companies will respond.

Week 6: October 16 - October 20 

7th Grade:
 Another busy week. This week the students took their Colonial America test and worked on writing a short essay describing the colonization of North America and discussing the similarities and differences between the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies. We also finished our discussion of the French and Indian War.

8th Grade:
 This week the students took a DBQ assessment. They looked at a number of primary source documents related to the Gilded Age (cartoons, excerpts, etc) and answered a series of short answer questions related to each document. They also worked on the immigration essays which are first-person narratives from the perspective of a newly arrived immigrant to the US and their experiences at Ellis Island. 

This week class 803 went on their walking tour trip of lower Manhattan. 

Clubs Session 3:

Students in the Adulting 101 club finished writing their business letters and they were mailed out to the companies they wanted to contact. We're hoping some of the companies respond. 

Week 6: October 23 - October 27 

7th Grade:
 This week we examined the effects of the French and Indian War and how it led to the end of the British policy of Salutary Neglect. We discussed the Proclamation of 1763 and how it was the beginning of the end of the good relationship between England and the colonies. We looked at the Stamp Act and efforts by the king to collect taxes from the colonies to pay for the cost of the French and Indian War and why the idea of being taxed, by decree, was so offensive to the colonies who to this point had grown accustomed to governing themselves. 

8th Grade:
 This week we started exploring the Progressive Era,. The rapid urbanization of America, the rise of big industries (monopolies), and the large number of immigrants coming to America changed things so fast that it led to a number of problems (social, economic, political, and environmental). The US was still operating under the idea of laissez-faire and that the government should stay out of business affairs. Left unchecked, with no regulations, many problems arose. Progressives, fueled by some of the awareness raised by muckrakers, began organizing and working toward fixing America's problems. We discussed Nellie Bly and her work uncovering abuses in a woman's asylum and Upton Sinclair and his book The Jungle which exposed the horrors in the meat packing industry. 

Key vocabulary: progressive, muckrakers, patronage, suffrage

Clubs Session 4:

This week, the Adulting Club began learning how to sew. They were tasked with sewing a button onto a patch of material. To say that the students were challenged would be an understatement. All of the students, despite frustration, stuck with their challenge and many were ultimately able to thread their needles. Some were able to tie a knot at the end of their thread and begin sewing but many were unable to tie a knot on their thread. Next week we will take a step back and learn how to tie knots. We received a few letters back that the students mailed last week because of incorrect mailing addresses. It was a great learning opportunity. Addresses were fixed and the letters were re-sent. 

Week 7: October 30 - November 3 

7th Grade:
 This week we finished discussing the events that caused the colonies to begin getting angry with the king. We examined, in depth, the events surrounding the Boston Massacre and how there were a lot more details regarding the "massacre" than what was portrayed in Paul Revere's famous engraving. We discussed the colonial actions of boycotting, tarring and feathering tax collectors, smuggling, and other forms of disobedience as well the British reactions including increasing taxes, dissolving self-governments, quartering more redcoats in the colonies, and eventually shutting down the port of Boston. We ended the week talking about the First Continental Congress and some of the debates that were had pertaining to the colonies declaring independence. 

Key Terms: Boycott, smuggling, "no taxation without representation"

8th Grade:
 This week we focused on Teddy Roosevelt's presidency. We examined his Square Deal and the protections he put in place for the American people. We looked at his anti-trust legislation, breaking up the big monopolies. We also examined his focus on health and the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and how that was a direct result of Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle which exposed the unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry. We also discussed his changes to US foreign policy, specifically the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine which gave the US power to intervene in European colonies in the Western Hemisphere. During our discussions of Teddy Roosevelt, we reviewed Yellow Journalism and the role it played in the Spanish-American War. We examined the rise of American imperialism which also included a discussion about how the US acquired Hawaii. 

Key terms: imperialism, anti-trust, 

Clubs Session 5:

Due to the half day for Parent-Teacher conferences, there was no club session this week. Clubs will continue next week. 

Week 8: November 6 - November 10 

7th Grade:
 This week was a little shorter than usual due to the day off for students on Tuesday for Election Day. We were still able to discuss a lot of important concepts about the lead up to the American Revolution. We examined the actions of the Continental Congress, the increasing animosity between the colonies and England, the "shot heard round the world", and the debate surrounding the idea of declaring independence. 

Key Terms/Concepts: Natural liberty, Common Sense, Olive Branch petition, minutemen, 

8th Grade:
 This week was a little shorter than usual due to the day off for students on Tuesday for Election Day. This week we focused on the outbreak of "The Great War" AKA "The War to End All Wars" AKA (later) World War 1. We examined the chain reaction of events that occurred after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. We talked about the underlying reasons behind this global conflict (the MAIN reasons) Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. We ended the week examining some of the propaganda that was used to garner support for the war effort. We also analyzed the Supreme Court case of Schneck vs The United States that ruled that Freedom of Speech could be limited during wartime if the speech poses a "clear and present danger". In this case Schneck was convicted of publishing a pamphlet that was critical of the US's involvement in the war. His speech was deemed disloyal as outline by the Sedition Act and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

Key Terms/Concepts: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism, powder keg, Sedition Act, Schneck v The United States, freedom of speech during wartime

Clubs Session 5:

This week we finished our sewing projects. Most students were able to successfully sew a button onto a piece of fabric. Some students also spent time learning how to tie knots. We are still patiently waiting for responses from some of the businesses we wrote to.

Week 9: November 13 - November 17 

7th Grade:
 This week we focused on some of the writing skills that the students will need when they tackle the essay questions on the Regents exam. We specifically focused on Short Essay Question - Document Set 1. For this type of essay the students are required to analyze TWO historical documents and answer a writing prompt in a short (2- paragraph) essay. The writing prompt will always be the same but the documents that are included for analysis will be different. After analyzing the set of documents the students will write a paragraph where they describe the "historical context" of the documents. The students were taught to write a paragraph that describes the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of the time period represented in the documents. They were taught to include as many details as they can remember about the period in history and to include as much outside information (info that is not included in the documents) as possible.  For paragraph two students are expected to write about the relationship between the two documents. There are three possible relationships to choose from and the students are expected to pick the relationship that best fits the pair of documents. The relationship could be "Cause and Effect", OR "Similarity and Difference", OR "Turning Point".  We practiced this essay writing by analyzing two documents related to the rise of colonial rebellion during the period before the American Revolution. 

Key terms: historical context, cause and effect, turning point, similarity, difference, outside information, analysis

8th Grade:
 This week we focused on some of the writing skills that the students will need when they tackle the essay questions on the Regents exam. We specifically focused on Short Essay Question - Document Set 1. For this type of essay the students are required to analyze TWO historical documents and answer a writing prompt in a short (2- paragraph) essay. The writing prompt will always be the same but the documents that are included for analysis will be different. After analyzing the set of documents the students will write a paragraph where they describe the "historical context" of the documents. The students were taught to write a paragraph that describes the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of the time period represented in the documents. They were taught to include as many details as they can remember about the period in history and to include as much outside information (info that is not included in the documents) as possible.  For paragraph two students are expected to write about the relationship between the two documents. There are three possible relationships to choose from and the students are expected to pick the relationship that best fits the pair of documents. The relationship could be "Cause and Effect", OR "Similarity and Difference", OR "Turning Point".  We practiced this essay writing by analyzing two documents related to the rise of colonial rebellion during the period before the American Revolution. 

Key terms: historical context, cause and effect, turning point, similarity, difference, outside information, analysis

Clubs Session 6:

This week we had hoped to venture out and learn some auto maintenance skills (checking oil, tire pressure, etc). I did not get all of the permission slips returned and I have been unsuccessful securing a parking lot or driveway to conduct the demonstration so I had to postpone the activity for another week Hopefully we could do it after Thanksgiving break. This week we focused on learning how to read and write in cursive, The students also had a opportunity to practice signing their name in cursive. Update on the business letters activity. One student, so far, has received a reply to his business letter, McDonalds wrote back with a pair of letters and sent the student coupons for free McNuggets and fries. We're still hoping to hear from the other. 

Week 10: November 20- November 22 

7th Grade:
 This was a really short week due to the Thanksgiving break. We focused on many of the important events related to America's war for independence. We closely examined the words of the Declaration of Independence.  Washington's strategy of engaging in small conflicts and dragging the British into a long costly war. We looked at some of the important battles in and around NY including one right here in Woodlawn. 

8th Grade:
 This was a really short week due to the Thanksgiving break. This week we focused on the end of WW1 and President Wilson's Fourteen Point Plan to make the first world war the "war to end all wars". We examined the various reasons my the League of Nations was formed, why the US ultimately did not join the League, and why it was ineffective and preventing future wars. 

Clubs Session :

No clubs this week because of Thanksgiving.

Week 11: November 27- December 1 

7th Grade:
 We finished exploring the American Revolution this week. We looked at some of the pivotal battles, the harsh winter camp at Valley Forge, and ultimately the British surrender at Yorktown. We learned about Evacuation Day when the last British soldiers left America.  We ended with George Washington resigning his role as Commander of the US Army and turning control of the military to Congress and we discussed the significance of this action. We finished the week reviewing for our test next week. Colonies to Revolution Test Next Week (WED) Dec 6

8th Grade:
 When World War I came to an end and soldiers returned home they brought with them the deadly Spanish Flu. This week we explored the effects that the Spanish Flu pandemic. What used to be a scary lesson was a lot less frightening for the students as they lived through some of the same experiences when COVID hit. After years of a brutal war (WW1) and a deadly pandemic Americans were ready for a new decade of fun. We started exploring the Roaring 20s and all of the changes that occurred during that decade. We looked at the birth of Jazz music and the emergence of the "Flapper Girls" who challenged the "old-fashioned" beliefs of their parents. discussed moral values and whether a society can legislate morality. This led to an examination of the Scopes Trial when a science teacher was arrested for teaching evolution and how that trial symbolized the fight against some of the changes that were occurring in the country during the 20s.  WWI Test -Next Week (WED) Dec 6th

Clubs Session 7 :

This week in our club session we tried using the Internet to find shopping deals. The students were given specific items to search and try and find where they could purchase the item for the lowest price. Many of the sites they found were not legitimate sites or the low price that was quoted included additional fees that were stated in the fine print and not announced clearly.  

Week 12: December 4 - December 8 

7th Grade:
 Coming Soon

8th Grade:
 Coming Soon

Clubs Session 8 :

Coming Soon