Neil A. Armstrong Middle School

Welcome to 8th Grade World History!

Mr. Donlen

wdonlen@btsd.us

Homework and projects:

A.) Greek Culture paper: 500-1000 works on one aspect from the "culture" list students devised: e.g. religion, language, The Arts-be specific-,sports(no ball games), Literature,etc.,  written in ink and cursive or typed, due by Nov 18, 2009.

B.) Making a Myth:  Due to be told during Thanksgiving week:  Pick a subject that we know something about, like weather, climate, earthquakes, any natural phenomenon; forget what we know about the science of it and make up a story about why this happens, e.g Explain-without science knowledge- why snow falls from the sky in winter and not summer.  You may write down notes on cards to help you tell the story

C.) Trip Around The>>>>>  Usa or World.. Due by December 22, 2009  Star at Philadlephia, Pa.,  travel to 5 other places in the USA or the WORLD and return to Philadelphia.  You need to travel with a partner, and on this level of the trip, determine place with latitude and longitude, distance travelled from one place to the next, what direction you travelled to get there and get back to Philadelphia.  Students have first page of that document,  They will need to follow the template for each place they visit and hand in the completed forms-one for each separate leg of the trip by December, 22, 2009

D.) The "Dark" Holiday Festival, December 22, 2009.  We will study why and how people in the Northern Hemishpere celebrate at the darkest time of the year with food, lights, and family.  There will be paper work handed out by Mid-December, which will provide the research basis for this project. 

Each of these projects is worth a minimum of 100 ponts or a regular test grade.  There are possibilities for extra-credit throughout.  Weekly Homework bulletins will be added each Friday for the following week.

Course Description:

September: Geography Review; "Create A Continent" project

October/November: Ancient Greek Hellenic World 1300 BC to 200 BC

December/January: The Roman World- Etruria through Marcus Aurelius

February: The decline and fall of the Rome and the Rise of the Catholic Church

March/April: The Middle Ages 300-1300 AD

April/May: The High Middle Ages, The Renaissance, The Reformation, The Enlightment

All areas of study involve reading and writing (cursive in ink), homework, testing and a major project.  Students need pens (blue or black), pencils, paper, ruler, binder, and a willingness to learn new things about old things to be able to deal with things as yet undreamed of.