Mr. Andrew Teaching Day 2

Because Kappel was the teacher on Monday, Mr. Schick wanted to see what he said. So today Kappel taught us again and we also took notes;

• Possible test information;
• Athens and Sparta were each a couple of US counties in size.
• Greece was not controlled by a universal empire, allowing city states to fight.
• Phalanx; the Greek soldiers formation in army.
• Other important information;
• Oligarchy; minority of citizens dominated the government.
• Citizen was a white, male, landowner.
• Women had little to no power in government.
• Had more power overall in Sparta.
• Not in government.
• Mostly ran the business' while the men were at war.
• Sparta;
• Had a very good military.
• At age 7, boys were taken away from their families for extreme military training.
• They were allowed to marry at age 20.
• The bachelors were punished. 
• The area where Sparta is, is called a Peloponnesus.
• Athens;
• Had a good navy.
• Gave more freedom than Sparta but were still very war like.
• When the boys were 18 they would leave for 2 years of military training.
• Golden Age = 460-430 BC.
• After the war between Sparta and Athens, Sparta won, and Athens never grew back the same confidence.
• Forced Persia to make peace in 445 BC.
• Athenian Democracy power world rest in the adult male citizens hands.

Oh... that's why he didn't come home for 10 years...

Western Civ was filled with note taking on ancient Greece, which are below;

    Geography

o   Mountainous peninsula.

§  Mountains covered about ¾ of the area.

o   Approximately 1400 islands in Aegean & Ionian Seas.

o   Location shaped its culture.

o   Skilled sailors.

o   Poor natural resources.

o   Difficult to unite together because of the terrain; developed small, independent communities.

o   Approximately 20-25% was suitable for farming.

o   Fertile valleys cover ¼ of peninsula.

o   Because of the geography, the Greek diet was grains, grapes & olives.

o   Lack of resources lead to Greek colonization’s.

o   The temperature in winter was 48 and 80 in summer.

    Mycenaean’s;

o   Began around 2000 BC.

o   Located on rocky ridge and had a 20ft thick wall.

o   Kings dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BC.

§  Controlled trade in their region.

o   1400 BC they invaded Crete & absorbed Minoan Culture.

o   Mediterranean = middle earth.

    Culture in Decline

o   In 1200 BC, sea people invaded Mycenae & burnt down every palace.

o   The Dorian’s moved into the war-torn region.

§  Far less advanced.

§  Economy collapsed.

§  Writing disappeared for 400 years.

§  Also known as the Dark Ages, 1200-1800 BC.

    Homer & Myths

o   Stories were orally told.

o   Homer lived at the end of the Dark Ages.

o   Recorded stories of the Trojan War in the Iliad & the Odyssey.

§  Written 750-700 BC.

o   The Trojan War was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaean’s.

o   Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter.

LO3 - Athens vs Sparta

Vocab;

• Hoplite
• A heavily armed and armored citizen-soldier of ancient Greece.
• Phalanx
• a unit of several hundred hoplites.
• Monarchy
• a state in which supreme power is held by a single ruler.
• Oligarchy
• a state in which supreme power is held by a small group.
• Triremes
• massive fighting vessels with three banks of oars.
• Tyranny
• rule by a self proclaimed dictator.
• Democracy
• (ancient Greece) a form of government in which all adult male citizens were entitled to take part in decision making.
• Helots
• noncitizens forced to work for landholders in the ancient city of Sparta.  
• Aristocrats
• members of prominent and long-established Athenian families.
• Ostracism
• banishment for ten years by majority vote of the Athenian Assembly. 

City-States and Citizens;

- The Dark Ages began to develop into city-states
- Greek city-states were small places, mostly a few square miles surrounding the countryside
- Fortresses and temples were vitally important to the city
- Fiercely competitive
- Worshiped Gods or Goddesses
- The Greek language was the first language to have a word for a member of a community

Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, Democracy:
- City-states = ruled by kings and their warriors
- City developed into large commercials gave more power to majority
- City states = narrow and exclusive
- They sent citizens to overseas = independent states

Greek City-states:

- Small places, generally consist of no more than a town and a few square miles of countryside.
- Athens and Sparta were giants among city-states 
          - About the size of a couple US counties
          - Each only had about a few thousand people
          - The male citizens went to war for the Greeks
          - They had to pay for the things that they carried into war with them 
          - Such as bronze helmets and armor, round shields, long spears with iron blades, and short iron swords.
          - Alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt there now appeared a third great civilization: that of classical Greece.

Good & Bad News

Western civ today was filled with good and bad news. The good news is that Mr. Schick won’t be in class on Monday because he is going to the holocaust museum with the senior class. The bad news is that Kappel is teaching the class, which should be very interesting. For Monday, in the beginning of class we’ll read a section out of the book and take notes, then for the last 15 minutes of class, Kappel will go over his notes with the whole class as the “teacher”. Today all we did was go over/fix our notes on the learning objective 1. We also had “testing teachers” first was Laura, then me. For my notes I took my original notes, some of Laura’s, and Mr. Schick’s. When I’m older, I want to be a teacher surprisingly, so today was fun for me. Have a good weekend, and Mr. Schick, try not to cry at the museum.

Discusting

Western Civ today we still haven’t started on ancient Greece. But we went over the tests today and I got a 96. The only question that I got wrong was number 17. The question was, how long ago was the Great Sphinx of Giza built? I remember going over it in class because Kappel did the math but he was a year off. But obviously I got it wrong. Other than that I did fine on the objective part. I got a 38/40 for the essays so that puts me at about a 103/106 or somewhere around there. As I said before, our next topic is ancient Greece, in the test today we went a little about it because of one of the options for the test was olives. And Mr. Schick was getting really annoyed how everyone kept asking which question we were on so he said he would decapitate the next person to say that’s head and poop down their next. Which was really disgusting. So until tomorrow…

 

Stupid "Game"

Western Civ was extremely stupid today. We played a stupid game about pyramids. It was pointless. And the worst part of all was that whoever finished first got a 20/20, then so on and so forth. If you didn’t finish it before class was over, then you would have had to send Mr. Schick a screenshot once you’ve completed it. It was the most pointless thing ever. Onto another topic, tomorrow we should start learning about ancient Greece. But you never know because we were supposed to start ancient Greece today. We took out Egypt test Monday also, he hasn’t put the grades in for that yet though. I think I did okay, I knew about Egypt but not as much on Mesopotamia or the other Era’s. Mr. Schick added up all the possible points and there is a possible 108 point. Well that’s all so until tomorrow.

The Beginning of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

• New ideas.
• Incredible art forms.
• Life was based on farming and warfare.
• In 2000BC they began to migrate to Europe's southeastern region.
• Its land was between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
• Citizen participation government (democracy).
• Main business life was farming.
• Population was smaller compared to Egypt and Mesopotamia.
• First barbarian people to make contact with civilization.
• The distinctive civilization they developed is the first that counts as "Western"

Vocab

• Barbarian - used to describe the distinctive way of life based on farming, warfare and tribal organization.
• Megaliths - massive rough-cut stone used to construct tombs and monuments.
• Normally built by a farming and trading people in the west England about 2000 BC.
• Most impressive achievement was the Stonehenge.
• Consisted of 160 massive boulder, each about 50 tons.
• Each stacked and circled and aligned to the movements of the sun and moon.
• Tribe - social and political unit consisting of a group of communities held together by common interests.
• Fought each other for metals, slaves, and other things that can be exported.
• Chieftains - king or queens.

European Barbarians

• 4000 BC
• Farming and village life spreads from Sumerian and Egyptian lands
• 3500 BC
• Constructed megaliths
• 2500 BC on
• Indo-Europe nomads migrated
• Their language would evolve into Greek and Latin
• Their lives centered around strength, courage, comradeship, loyalty, contests, and battle.
• No cities, written records, or fixed structures of government.
• Adopted the way of life of those that encountered.
• How civilization eventually spread through Europe.

Cyber Day 2

Before I answer these questions, I just want to say that cyber day was the worst idea ever. It's not that I'm too lazy to do the work but some teachers go over board. But anyways, your video yesterday made Maddie and I laugh, so thank you.

Short Answer A: Name and describe three technological inventions of the ancient Egyptians.

The ancient Egyptians had many technological inventions, we did not learn about all of them in class but a few are: hieroglyphs, mummification, and the pyramids. Hieroglyphs are how the ancient Egyptians wrote things down. Mummification is what they would do to the pharaohs once they had died. This is a technological advancement because there was a certain process that must have been done to preserve the body. First, the organs were removed, next the body was soaked in a salt solution to drain any liquid, next the body was wrapped. This is modern day anatomy. Finally the pyramids, these were used to guard the pharaohs when they died. Extreme amount of calculations had to be planned, there was only one way inside, a lot of trap doors and other things to save the pharaoh from being found. The pyramids are still standing today after thousands of years, something we still cannot accomplish.

Short Answer B: Describe three important features of the Egyptian pyramids.

Three important features of the Egyptian pyramids are: the entrance, the structure and what was inside. The entrance to the pyramids was important because it was one special block that would slide out and you could go inside. So your options were to find the block or just cut one out right? Wrong, the blocks were so close together that you couldn't slice a knife threw them. The makers of the pyramids were the only people to know which block was correct obviously to keep the unwanted out. Most pyramids were about 20 feet tall, they were covered in marble, and are still standing today. Because of these things, it was hard for people to get inside. Once you were inside, it did not help you at all. There were more rooms than needed, trap doors, booby traps, and anything else to keep the unwanted from getting to the pharaoh. All of these important features made up the great Egyptian pyramids.

Cyber Day 1

Essay #1: Describe the social hierarchy of ancient Egypt. 

The hierarchy of ancient Egypt is our modern day Monarchy. At the top was the Pharaoh and at the bottom were the servants. The hierarchy is broken down into eight different types of people.

1.     Pharaohs

2.     Government Officials

3.     Soldiers

4.     Scribes

5.     Merchants

6.     Artisans

7.     Farmers

8.     Slaves and Servants

Slaves and servants were the most populated people and as you went up in the classes, it got less numerous. Slaves and servants did not have a terrible life, nothing like how they were treated in America. They would help the wealthy households and be the modern day nannies or maids. Going in population order, next are the farmers, who haven’t changed over the thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, they would farm wheat, barley, lentils and onions. Then came artisans, they would carve statues that would show military battles and the afterlife. After them were the merchants, your modern day banker. Ancient Egypt had a money system that was used, they could accept bags of grain as payment, and later a coinage came along. Next were scribes, who kept records, told stories, wrote poetry, and described anatomy and medical treatments.

For soldiers, government officials and pharaohs, they were known as the “white kilt class” because they were very clean and could afford to have “bright white” clothes. Soldiers used wooden weapons with bronze tips. Government officials included priests, physicians, engineers, etc. Finally, pharaohs, these people were the kings and queens of Egypt. They owned all the land, made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt from foreign areas. There were well over two thousand pharaohs over ancient Egypt’s time, and only about ten of them, at most, were women.

 

Essay #2: Discuss the importance of the Nile River to the Egyptians.          

The Nile River is a river in northeastern Africa, it is 4132 miles long and dispenses into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians surrounded their life around the river, because of everything that it brought, people lived a few miles from it at most. The Nile brought drinking and bathing water, irrigation, technological breakthroughs, and transportation. The river flooded every July and left behind a rich soil, which was good for farming. In the end, the Nile river provided Egyptians with the track to survival.

Pre Snow Day

Hi, I'm at Maddie Reeves' house right now just so you know?

Today in western civ, we did not have a test on Egypt because Mr. Schick didn't feel like it. We spent most of the class yelling which resulted in Mr. Schick getting angry and slamming him hands on the desk.  The rest of class was spent talking about the weather and the snow that is currently falling.  After that, we watched the rest of John Green's video.  Our rescheduled Egypt test will be whenever we get back to school. We have off tomorrow but we will have a "cyber day" thanks to Mr. Schick. I hope we have off Friday. Stay safe and build a snowman✳⛄

Broken Desks

Western Civ was very interesting today, Laura thinks that she has cancer and wants to kill Arri. Also, Mr. Schick broke the teacher’s desk today trying to help me with my book. Other than that, we did nothing productive today, which is ironic because we have our test tomorrow. We wasted so much time cleaning up the desk. But we did watch two videos today. The first one was about mummification, and this time we had sound! And the other one was about Egypt in general. It was narrated by John Green and he stared in it. The facts were good but his jokes weren’t funny. And Mr. Schick thinks that I’m only useful for death glares and complaining. Sadly, I can’t argue that. That’s all we really did in class today, and we have our test tomorrow so until then!

Test Wednesday

For today and tomorrow, we are going over the final notes for Egypt. Then we will have our test Wednesday and start our new unit of Ancient Greece Friday! The notes from today's class are;

• Geography
• Egyptian life is centered around the Nile River
• the water is used for drinking, bathing, and transportation
• every July it floods (Grant)
• every October it leaves behind rich soil
• the delta is a broad, marshy, triangular shaped area of silt
• managing the river required a technological breakthrough
• Pyramids
• the Great Sphinx of Giza
• built 2555-2532 BC
• a laying lion with a human head
• oldest monumental statue in the world
• Daily Life
• Slaves and Servants
• helped the wealthy households and child raising duties
• Farmers
• raised wheat, barley, lentils, and onions
• Artisans
• would create statues and reliefs showing military battles and scenes of after life
• Merchants
• money/barter system was used
• might accept bags of grain for payment
• later a coinage came along
• Scribes
• kept record, told stories, wrote poetry, described anatomy and other medical things
• wrote in hieroglyphs and hieratic
• Soldiers
• used wooden weapons with bronze tips and could ride chariots
• Government Officials
• upper class, known as the "white kilt class" - persists, physicians, engineers, etc.
• Pharaohs
• religious and political leaders
• holds the titles of "Lord of the Two Lands" and "High Priest of Every Temple"
• ruler of upper and lower Egypt
• owned all land, made laws, and collected taxes
• defended Egypt against foreigners
• Hatshepsut & Cleopatra were both women pharaohs
• Goddesses & Gods
• over 2000
• Sun God; Rah
• controlled the lives of the humans

BREAK FINALLY

Egypt

After the heckit week we had, we still learned something new in western civ. The notes from 2/7 class are on Egypt and are as follows;

• the Nile & the "Two Lands"
• upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile
• lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile Delta, which emptied into the Mediterranean Sea
• the Nile was the major provider of life for Egypt.
• 95% of the people lived a few miles from the river.
• 3100 BC - the two lands were united under a single king, or "pharaoh"
• Pharaoh was an all powerful, worshipped as a god, and intimately connected the other major Egyptian gods or goddesses.
• Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe called "maat"
• Pharaohs had multiple wife's, often sisters, to keep the social success in the family.
• Women could inherit money, land, and divorce their husbands.
• Gods, Humans, & Forever Life
• believed in an afterlife
• mummified bodies to preserve them for a post-death journey
• all souls would need to justify themselves and would either be sent to paradise or the jaws of a monster.
• The Writing of the Word of God
• hieroglyphs represented religious words
• hieratic script was a shorthand developed by scribes & priests
• usually written on papyrus and ink
• made from mashed Nile reeds
• Calendars & Sail Boats
• created a calendar with 365 days
• had doctors that created cures for common sickness'
• wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transport ability on the Nile
• Pyramids & Temples
• pyramids = massive stone tombs originally covered in marble
• the Temple of Ammon at Karnack is the largest religious building in the world
• stone scripters and interior painting dedicated to humans and gods in a series of poses

LO-3-Egypt

today we went over the notes again for a refresher and for our blog we are taking notes on pages 20-29.

• steppes - vast semiarid grasslands or plains.
• the Indo-European people's lifestyle differed from the southwestern Asian nomads.
• the Hittites were the most powerful and longest ruled kingdoms.
• pharaohs - the rulers of ancient Egypt.
• the Egypt's king was also known as a God.
• all of their God's were known as maat.
• women very rarely wield the full authority of a pharaoh.
• Egyptians were polytheistic
• writing arose in Egypt
• earliest form of writing were the hieroglyphs
• hieroglyphs - the earliest Egyptian writing, in which pictures stood for whole words or separate sounds of words.
• knowledgeable in medicine.
• pyramid - a massive structure with sloping sides that met at an apex, used as a royal tomb in ancient Egypt.

Pointless School Day

hello,

 

Today in west civ, we did nothing. Grant wants to go to Chicago and study at Roosevelt University and they have rooms with a view. And their also on the water. Today Mr. Schick tried to have this “great idea” of spending the night at school and having two classes a day. That idea was the worst idea I’ve ever heard. I can barely function with the amount of sleep I have not and he is trying to keep me up until 2:40 at night. No thank you. We are getting out of school at 10 because of snow! It’s already sticking to the ground outside. Today was completely pointless, I woke up at 6:30 for nothing, I could be sleeping right now, but no. Thanks Harford County!

First Book Work Homework

Notes from the Book

• Prehistoric
• the period before history was recorded
• before civilization
• "if we reduce the time since the first humanlike species appeared (about 2.5 million years ago) to the period of a twenty-four-hour day, the five-thousand-year era of civilization takes up less than the last three minutes."
• the earliest and longest prehistoric era is the Paleolithic Age
• began with the earliest human types 
• By 8000 BC humans advanced in southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa.
• this starts the Neolithic Age
• during the prehistoric era, humans used the way of hunting and gathering to get their food
• Agricultural Revolution, also Neolithic Age, is the shift from hunting and gathering to farming
• Around 6000 BC the first agricultural villages formed in southwest Asia
• Families also started forming
• Polytheism – the belief in many gods or goddesses
• Because men did the farming, that left women at home to take care of the children
• The foundation of a civilized society included tradition, custom, and authority.
• The first village to become civilized was Sumer
• Dynasty – a line of rulers from the same family
• City-state – an independent state that consists of a city and its surroundings.