Week of September 27

9th:  Students will complete their notes on the "Worst Jobs of the Middle Ages"  video Monday.  Tuesday they will complete their Leadership group assignment that they worked on last week.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we will be debriefing about the group simulation and studying for a test on Culture and Government, which will be either Friday or the following Monday or Tuesday.  Students should be getting their government definition notecards back by Tuesday for use in studying for the test.  Many students did not complete the notecards as instructed or do all of them.  This will be have a significant impact on students grades, as the notecards count as 2 assingment grades, and the info on them will be about 50% of the first quiz.  If students have not completed their notecards or get a low score, I will allow them to turn them in late or to fix what's broken, but points will be deducted.  Students should arrange to see me if they are having trouble with their notecards.

11th  As with the 9th graders, they should be getting their notecards back by Tuesday of next week, which means that they will then want to study their notecards for an upcoming test during the first week in October.  Additionally, students will be completing a brief simulation that will take about 3 class periods next week. 

Week of September 20

Thanks for checking the blog!  Starting this week, expect to see a quick summary once a week about what we are working on, and any upcoming due dates.   Please remember that due dates may change, so please check with me if there is any confusion.

9th

We will be working this week on our group project to create a government.  Students will be graded both as a group and as individuals for their contribution to the group.  Attendance each day is key, so please try to be here every day.  If students did not turn in their government vocabulary notecards, they must turn them in ASAP.  Late work in this case will be penalized!  Homework this week will mainly consist of working on the group assignment if a group falls behind and is unable to complete each day's task by the end of the period.  Additionally, notecards for the 15 Elements of Culture will be due on Tuesday, September 28th.  Students have already received that handout.

11th

If students did not turn in their government vocabulary notecards, they must turn them in ASAP.  Late work in this case will be penalized!  Students in 11th grade will finish discussing the Government Pre-Test on Monday, and then will participate in an abbreviated version of the simulation the 9th graders are doing, as described above.  No homework should be expected this week, other than reviewing the government notecards after they have been graded and returned sometime in the middle of the week.

Welcome to the 2010-11 School Year

Thanks for visiting the blog. 

I will be using this blog for several purposes.  First and foremost, this blog will be a way for parents and students to keep track of what we are working on in class.  About once a week I will post a quick summary of what assignments we are working on and upcoming due dates.  Additionally, I will post info on things of interest to the class, such as links to interesting articles or suggested TV shows or movies related to history.  Perhaps the coolest thing that this blog can be used for is to hold an online discussion.  I will occasionally create posts on the blog that students can comment on as a way to hold an informal discussion. 

It is my hope that students will regularly check this blog and use it as a tool to help them succeed.

Best of luck for this school year,


Mr. Larsen
KW Social Studies Dept.