Rome's Most Enduring Impact to My World

Ahh, the Romans is there nothing they cannot do?  Roads, arches, aqueducts, indoor plumbing, conquering the world, entertaining the masses with violence and punish law breakers.  What a great empire.
What amazes me the most is the fact that they created an elaborate system of aqueducts.  There aqueduct system in nothing short of an engineering marvel.  Rome had many large cities, but they needed a way to get water to the cities.  Their engineering was so precise because that the water maintained a continuous flow through 260 miles of aqueducts.  The water flowed to large cisterns in towns so the Romans could have baths, indoor plumbing and public fountains.

California has a very similar climate to Italy, the area that ancient Rome inhabited.  We too have an elaborate system of aqueducts that take water from the northern California to more populated areas in southern California.  This morning in fact, I drank water that came from the California aqueduct because the city of San Luis Obispo gets a part of their water supply from the aqueduct.  The fact that we have modern machines to maintain and build our aqueducts further proves that the Romans were ahead of their time.

Sources: 
crystallinks.com
http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-aqueducts.php

Back to School

Welcome back!  If you are checking this page before August 24th, you are showing me that you are ready to learn.  Awesome.

I am looking forward to sharing meeting you this year.  Please get the necessary supplies to ensure your success this year in class.

Class Expectations and Syllabus

One little note on your interactive notebook, please find a notebook that will last the whole year.  Your notebook should be 8 and 1/2" by 11" in size.  A composition book will not work for this class.  I have found that Costco and Target carry the notebooks for the least price.

Washington DC day 1

Wow, what a great first day.  After a long airport delay, we made it in two hours late.  The kids survived the setback and rushed through breakfast.
The first stop was The Washington Monument, then The National Archives. After the Archives, we took in The Natural History Museum. 
The afternoon was a time for reflection as we saw The National Holocaust Memorial. We also watched a living history piece in Ford's Theatre, about the night Lincoln was assinated.

After dinner we saw The Vietnam Wall, The Korean War Memorial, and The Lincoln Memorial.

Washington DC Trip 2015 Post 1

Hello travelers and families.  Tomorrow is our big day.  The good news is the weatherman backed off his rain prediction for Washington DC.  It looks less likely that we will be drenched for 3 days straight.  We will still have a chance of rain so leave those ponchos in your bag.

Did you know?

On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

In one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Reagan challenged the Soviet Union to tear down the wall that had long divided East and West Berlin. At the time, most listeners interpreted it as an appeal to the Soviets to re-enter negotiations on nuclear arms reductions, which they eventually did six months later.

We will see a chunk of this wall at breakfast on Monday.  

I will see you all tomorrow.  

Persuasive Writing

After reading what several of you turned in, I wanted to give a reminder that writing is an important part of what is asked of historians.  Persuasive writing is an essential piece of not only a historian's toolbox, but everyone's' toolbox.

When writing to persuade, it is important to state your case, share evidence that support your position, then examine and refute possible differing viewpoints.  See this link.

Today, you will be asked to come to a consensus about which civilization you are going to show on Minecraft.  It is important to spend the time to get to a manageable and agreeable position.

Click here to learn about consensus building.

Mayan, Aztecs, Incas

Today we will complete the assignment on the key figures of the Scientific Revolution.  Then we will move away from Europe and discuss the cultures that existed before Columbus arrived.  Your assignment should be a lot of fun, but it will require that you research three cultures, then use your digital skills to replicate a city from one of the three Pre Columbian cultures.

Check this link for details.

Monday, May 2, 2015

I spent some time this weekend looking over your PSA projects.  I was amazed by the creativity and thoroughness of many of your projects.

This week, we will be finishing up with The Reformation and how the reformation affected governments.
The map below shows what Europe looked like in the 1600's.  What part of Europe was Protestant, and what part was Catholic? How many different types of Protestantism was practiced?