It's All Greek to Me!

The past three weeks the students of Room 707 have been Hanging in the Land of Greece.
My students have found that living in the year 2011 might have some perks.  In Ancient Sparta, boys were sent to military training from ages 7 to 30! YIKES, so asking them to take out the trash or clean their room should be much easier for you now!  Tell them they could be living in Ancient Sparta!
In Ancient Athens girls were essentially slaves to educate children and take care of households, some of them marrying as young as 15.  These little facts provided some interesting debates in our classroom.

Students also found many of the greatest influences the Greeks had on our Nation:  Democracy, Literature, Philosophy, Architecture.

Below you will find some AMAZING projects they created to showcase the three types of architecture the Greeks designed:  Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.  There are also replicas of the Parthenon, and some Greek Vases!  ENJOY!

Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian Pillars designed by Ryan Murphy and Josh Strauss!

Maddie Genskow-model of the Parthenon!

Tucker Bixby- Parthenon!

Jon Larson-Parthenon(Great use of materials!)

Greek Vase by Madeline Evans

Greek Vase designed by Madelyn Russ

How Long Can a Revolution Last?

I don't get the opportunity to watch a ton of television and I consider myself fortunate and probably better because of it.  I have a four year old who loves Disney Channel and Nick Jr, and a husband who loves football, so it is rare that I get to settle down with the remote!

I prefer Grey's Anatomy and 60 minutes.  I encourage my students to watch 60 minutes frequently.  If you had a chance to watch on Sunday, October 9th, 2011, then you probably saw the clip I have linked below.  If you didn't, please take a peek and talk about it with your kids.  We have covered Ancient Egypt and the Revolution of 2011 in class.

Although in class we learned that the Revolution was successful in 18 days, by getting Hosni Mubarak to resign,  8 months later there is still GREAT need for change in Egypt.  This short clip gives them a peek at the struggle for democracy in other places.  I'm sure 8 months after the American Revolution began in 1775, things didn't look so great for our blossoming nation either.  Yet those farmers, and citizens hunkered down in their own battle against the Government.  (8 YEARS LATER) Our nation was born.  Thanks to those revolutionaries, we are blessed with rights, and freedoms today.

For myself and my students it is hard to imagine living under such a regime like the one in Egypt.  If only 60 minutes had been around to interview our Revolutionaries in 1776?  I am inspired by the young individuals in this clip and I hope the Revolutionaries of Egypt do not have to fight for 8 years for their democracy. 

The clip below is about 12 minutes and we had great conversations after watching:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384064n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox


One of my students wondered, "Maybe if the citizens stop protesting, the Government will be nicer?"  Yet others disagreed and said, "They have to fight harder to get the government to change."  How great that my students know how to debate, discuss, problem solve, share, and  politely "agree to disagree."  I think those 39 men whom signed our Constitution would be proud and I'm sure you are, too!