Today, we began with the following word study:

8.  intractible (adj.) - not easily handled, led, taught,or controlled.

The Partisans of Yugoslavia proved to be an intractible foe to the German Wehrmacht during World War II.

We then contined watching the video, True Gladiator 6D2.  Students then wrote stories about the gladiators using the information they gleaned from the video.  They took on the character of one of the key players in the video--Columbus the gladiator, Vetius the politician, Himnes the wife, or a spectator.  They need to write about such things as the food the gladiators ate, the training they endured, gladiatoral combats, and the sights and sounds of the arena in their stories.  They needed to be 200 words or more in length.

Copies of this assignment can be found in the Syllabus page of this website.  

Today, we began with the following word study:

7.  retraction (n) - a taking back or withdrawal of somenting said.

"Doogie realized that his story about the healthiness of the school lunches in the school newspaper had mistakes in it.  So, he knew he would have to write a retraction correcting the article."

In reviewing the projects that were turned in on Thursday, I strongly suspect that some sections have been copied and pasted I spoke to the students about plagiarism, and how simply cutting and pasting from the Internet to put into your project is not acceptable.  Students who may have done this on the recent National Leader or National History Day project may come to me by the end of the day and admit their error.  Students who do will have the ability to redo their project; students who decide to stand by plagiarized projects will receive a zero on the grade book, will not be able to redo their project.

Today, we continued our discussion about how the Romans used violent entertainment to control the people they ruled. We completed our comic strips answering this discussion.  We also began watching a video, True Gladiator 6D2.  An alternate assignment, done in the library, is also available.

Copies of these assignments can be found in the Syllabus page of this website, or clicking on the hyperlinks on this blog entry.

Today, we went to the National History Day competition in Salida.  We returned with two awards:

Evan Coit and Harper Powell received a first place award with their project about Pablo Picasso in the Junion Group Exhibit category.

Grace Richardson received a first place award with her project on penicillin.

Congratulations!

Today, we began with the following word-study:

6.  protracted (adj.) - drawn out, continued, or extended.

Because Daisy Mae fainted in the courtroom, the presiding judge called a protracted recess that lasted an hour.

We finished the notes on Roman Entertainment 6D1.

The students were giving the remainder of the day to put the finishing touches on their National Leader Projects and turn them in.  Students who finished began their comicstrips which explained why the Romans had such violent forms of entertainment.

Copies of these assignments can be found in the Syllabus page of this website or clicking on the hyperlink provided with the assignment title and number.

Today, we began with the following word study:

Words with the letter combination TRACT come from trahere, the Latin verb meaning "drag or draw."

5.  detract (v.) - to decrease the importance, value, or effectiveness of something.  To drag down.

Reginald's outburst in the forayer did nothing to detract from Mrs. Hogbutter's lovely dinner party.

Today, we continued our lesson about the government of ancient Rome, completing the crossword puzzle Roman Government 6C2.

Then we moved on to talk about Roman entertainment with the presentation, Roman Entertainment 6D1.

Copies of these assignments can be found on the Syllabus page of this website. 

Today, we began with the following word study:

4.  finite (adj.) - having definite limits

William had a finite amount of time; he could not juggle two jobs and a girlfriend very well.

We then finished up the remaining notes from Roman Government 6C1.  We then created bubble charts which explained how Rome went from a city with an absolute monarchy/tyranny to a republic with democratic institutions to a vast empire with a single, all-powerful emperor at the helm.  These were turned in and will count as a quiz grade.

Copies of these assignments can be seen on the Syllabus page of this website.

Today we began with the following word study:

3.  infinitesimal (adj.) - extremely small

Ocar realized his loss at the state wrestling meet was an infinitesimal problem compared to his father losing his job at the mill.

We learned about the evolution of Rome's governmental institutions from a tyranny or absolute monarchy to a democratic republic to all-powerful emperors who ruled millions of subjects.  We took notes on  Roman Government 6C1.

Copies of this assignment can be found in the Syllabus page of this website.

Today, we began with the following word study:

2.  definitive (adj.) - authoritative or final

Dr. Stephen Ambrose wrote the definitive history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Undaunted Courage, giving a detaild account of tis 19th century exploration.

We then delved into the chronology of the Roman Empire, working on Ancient Rome 6B1 during the first 30 minutes of class.

We then moved on to learning the geographical extent of the Roman Empire at its height with The Roman Empire 6B2.

Copies of these assignments can be found in the Syllabus page of this website.

Today, we began our day with the following word study:

Words with the letter combination "FIN" in them are from a Latin word meaning "end" or "boundary."

1.  affinity (n.) - sympathy; attraction

Arnold showed a great affinity for art at an early age.  By the time he was 12, he was producing lifelike drawings of people and animals in art class.

We then took our Unit 5 Test, which consisted of twenty short answer questions and an essay.

Today, we began with the following word study:

susceptible (adj.) - Open to some influence, responsive.

John had a weakened immune system.  As a result, he was susceptible to many infectious diseases.

Then, we completed a quiz on th etwent word studies that came on and preceded this day.

To finish, we played "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Jeopardy" to review for our test on Ancient Greece, which is tomorrow.