MrGreiner.com

Whose excited to sleep on the floor?!?!

Anyway, once again, you have a test on Monday. I will be sure to tell the 8th graders this over the next two days, but there has been a quick rule change.

You are allowed to bring in a short outline for the test essay. However!, it is an outline! Just quick reminders! The only complete sentence you can have is your thesis, and the rest should be quick reminders. In other words, it should be able to fit onto an index card if you needed it to.

There is a 30 word limit for outlines, and anyting EXCESSIVELY longer will be graded down. If you bring in a pre-written essay, you will not be allowed to use it on the test.

The reason for this is because you need to become comfortable with writing essays on tests for high school, and middle school is mostly a warm-up for high school. You’ll thank me someday. Ok, maybe not, but you’ll forgive me some day.

Once again, here is a Study Guide.

and then a three day weekend.

For the next two days, you are expected to work on your poster and your advertisements. I have planned nothing else for you to do. Anything else is homework.

If you need more copies, they are below. However, the Technology worksheet has both groups on it, and you only need to do one of the groups. Each “group” (poor word choice on my part because it is an individual project) will make two advertisements.

Commonly Asked Questions:
Q: What colors should the map be?
A: Whatever you think best represents the information. If you are doing the commerce map, color it regionally, and if you are doing the population map, color it by colony. However, its probably a good idea to color the ocean blue.

Q: Why are we doing this stuff?
A: Because it is a great intro to geography, population distribution, technological limits, etc.

Q: For my advertisements, can I print out a picture from the internet?
A: Sure, or draw one. You are not graded on artisitic merrit, although it is appreciated when you take your time on a project and put some love into it.

Q: Do we need to do a write-up for the map?
A: Not yet you don’t.

DOCUMENTS:
Technology advertisements
population big map worksheet
commerce map worksheet

Today you received the map project. It is due on Tuesday. Also due on Tuesday is the Advertisement project that you will get tomorrow.

PACE YOURSELF!

While you will have all of Thursday and Friday to work on this, this is still a lot to give out at once. Hopefully, you will work early and not become overwhelmed.

Here is a copy of the commerce map worksheet and the population big map worksheet. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, my computer died today. One minute it was here, the next it was gone. This is an important reminder to back up your information often.

Be sure to begin studying for your test. Tomorrow is a study day, but the test is on Tuesday! That’s a long time to forget everything!

One thing that might help is a Study Guide. Good luck!

Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks to the holiday, there will be no homework!

Expect lots next week, though.

Hey dudes,

We watched a movie, and there was no homework.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY:
Come in and trace yourself a map early. You can come in before school on Friday, during lunch, or after school on Friday. Or before school on Monday. Or, if you are in 7G, during lunch on Monday.

Enjoy the day in the park.

The all-day Do Now strikes again. Today, we discussed the 14th and 15th Amendment, which guarantee all Americans citizenship and gives all men the right to vote, respectively.

Tomorrow, we will discuss why Reconstruction failed, and why the promise of full citizenship to African-Americans was not met until 100 years after the Civil War.

Your homework, of course, is to finish your essay. Some FAQ’s:
1. How long does this need to be?
Usually, these work out to be about a page and a half.
2. What about spacing and font?
11 or 12 point font, 1.5 spaced. Normal margins. No crazy fonts, such as Jokerman. Use Times New Roman, Helvetica, or something similar.
3. I am still confused about the parenthetical notation thingy!
At this point, you should be citing your source any time you use a specific fact or quote. I would rather you do it too much than too little. See the ridiculous paragraph below for more.

Example Paragraph:
It is well known that Andrew Johnson loved chicken wings. In 1866, President Johnson ate 3,409 chicken wings in less than two hours (Source K). In Richmond, VA, he stated “Boy, I sure love me some chicken wings!” (Source J) He loved them so much, in fact, that he often served them to foreign heads of state while they were in town. Johnson’s love of chicken wings served as a serious area of disagreement between him and the chicken wing hating Radical Republicans.

‘Sup dudes…

For the most part, good work on the outlines. Once again: Our thesis for this paper is not really a very good thesis. You would be laughed out of college with a thesis like that. The purpose of this essay is to work on organization. Sorry for the confusion. The next thesis will knock Richard Overy’s socks off! (He’s an historian.)

For homework, you can work on the essay. It is due on Friday.
Links:
Reconstruction Essay Sheet
Expository Writing Guide PDF

7th Grade, just one more day of school before the day at the park. We are going to watch the movie on the Columbian Exchange.

Your homework is Essential Question #2 from the Intro Syllabus. You could include hundreds of examples, but since it is just a paragraph, try to include only 4 or 5.

See you tomorrow!

The OUTLINES ARE DUE TOMORROW! THE OUTLINES ARE DUE TOMORROW!

Remember:
–This is not an exciting thesis. You are merely comparing the different viewpoints of the Radical Republicans and President Johnson. You are not offering your opinion about who you liked better.
–The outline does not need to have complete sentences, but it can if you want to.
–An outline is not an essay with Roman Numerals. It allows us to easily remove and add ideas and organize our thoughts. Do not just start writing the essay and go back and write an outline…that makes no sense. Outlines are not meant to be busy work!

If you need a new Reconstruction Essay Sheet, there you go.

7S, you have begun the wonderful world of the Columbian Exchange. 7G, you will be there tomorrow. There is no homework for tomorrow, but hold on to your horses because we got a bunch of it coming soon.

However, we are pretty far off the syllabus, which will often happen. You will get a new one next week that will explain what needs to be done for the next two weeks.

Soon…like, next week soon. I promise.

Sorry for the late post, y’all.

Tomorrow, we will go over some more information for the essay, and if you want some homework, you can work on the outline early. DO NOT START THE ESSAY!! YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION!! ok? ok.

I am going to be lazy and not include a PDF until tomorrow, since I am on my home computer and don’t have access to it right now.

As many of you know, tomorrow is International “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” For your viewing pleasure, go to the link below to discover an article about Jewish Pirates. ARGHH! (I can in no way confirm the validity of this article, but its fun anyway.)

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16490

See you all tomorrow!

Sorry for the late post, 7th graders. 7S, congrats on finishing your projects, they were very good, and you are having an excellent start to the year. 7G, you have two more to go, and we gots to hurry! Quiz tomorrow, no matter what. And it is open note.

Everyone’s homework, though, is the same. It is essential question #1, which can be found on the second page of your Intro Syllabus. (Click there for a PDF)

See you all tomorrow!

You survived your first full week of 7th grade. Congratulations are in order.

As you probably know, we did not finish all the presentations. We didn’t even come close. Therefore, things on the syllabus will be pushed back a day.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THE HOMEWORK ON THE SYLLABUS, ALTHOUGH YOU CAN IF YOU WANT TO. The paragraph is on the reverse side of your syllabus. As with any paragraph, make sure it is at least four or five sentences long.

We will not have a quiz on Monday either. That will be on Tuesday.

I have to apologize. Its been really boring. I know this. I am not proud of it. However, we need to continue to give everyone the same background information in order to move forward? Could I do this in a more exciting way? Probably, but this way is faster. Sorry.

So far we have covered:
–Southern destruction after the war
–How former slaves responded
–The system of sharecropping
–The different players during Reconstruction

If none of this is familiar to you, please see me.

Your reward for this boredom is no homework. I’ll rest you up for next week’s essay.

Hey gang,

Nice work on your projects so far.

7S–You need to be done by the time you walk into the room! We will be starting immediately. I expect to get through at least four groups. ITS GONNA BE GREAT!
7G–You will have twenty more minutes to work on the project, but thats it! If you are called on and its not ready, you will take a late. Sorry to be so cruel here, but we need to move on. I expect to get through 2 groups tomorrow, and the rest on Monday.

See you on Friday.

Oops, forgot to do the post until now…

Not that you need it, since today was pretty much a notes day catching us up. If you are annoyed at the notes, don’t worry. We’ll start an essay soon.

Also, no homework, despite what the syllabus says.

The binders have been set up, the theme discussed, the rules understood…I guess we have to start learning some history now.

On that note, after we took the classroom procedures quiz, we finally started our first project. In case you forgot, its on Native Americans.

There is no homework for tonight, but if you are feeling ambitious you can look up some images for your poster. We do not have color printers in school, so if you want color pictures you better print from home.

Follow the link if you need a copy of the Native American Project Worksheet.

Otherwise, see you tomorrow.

After four days of History class, we have finally launched ourselves into curriculum. Today, we covered the end of the Civil War and the differences between Northern and Southern society.

You also should have received a syllabus today. If you need another one, you can download a pdf by clicking here.

Unfortunately, I do not have pdf’s of the Jourdan Anderson handout THAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR HOMEWORK. If you need another one, you will have to do it the old fashioned way by asking me for one.

And this one is for Tara. Germany now has an official political party known as “The Pirate Party.” 50 people in Berlin voted for a party chairperson, they wrote a platform, and everything. German citizens can now elect Pirate supporters. The official name is the Piratenpartei.

Most importantly, no, there is no homework for tonight, and you will receive a syllabus tomorrow.

Otherwise, today we finished our discussion of the yearly theme, and we watched Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, proving that I am not the only one who is enthusiastic about the Declaration of Independence.

Today, we set up our binders, which took up a good chunk of class. If at any point anyone has any question about the binders (AKA “notebooks”) PLEASE ASK ME!

We then finished our discussion of the yearly theme: “Has America reached the promise of the Declaration of Independence?” So far, I have been very impressed by your insightful answers and passionate responses.

Most importantly, though, is that there is NO HOMEWORK.

If you need any documents so far, such as the Guidelines or the syllabus, please check out the 7th Grade Documents Page.

Good discussion from both groups today. Remember to bring in a binder, 8 dividers, and some paper for Monday, and have a great weekend!

Great discussion from both sections today! We found out some really interesting things about each other’s family history, so thanks to those who shared. Also, the discussion about the Declaration of Independence went really well.

Once again, your homework:
1. Get the expectations sheet signed.
2. Bring in a binder, 8 dividers, and some white lined paper.

Hey gang,

Thanks for a great first day. Its going to be a…uhh…entertaining year.

Two quick reminders:
1. For your paragraph, you can write about EITHER:
A. an interesting family story
B. a family heirloom.

2. For Monday, do not forget the signature, your binder, paper, and dividers. I will not have paper and dividers for everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed your first day of 7th grade.

Just two quick reminders:
1. For tonight, you can write about:
A. What your last name means.
B. a family heirloom.
C. an interesting family story

This should be one paragraph long (meaning roughly 4-6 sentence, although it can be longer).

2. For Monday, bring in your binder, paper, and dividers, and we will set up the notebook.

Greiner

Welcome back, y’all. Hope your summer was enjoyable. I hope you find this website useful. If you are feeling really tech-savvy, you could subscribe to an RSS feed of this website…

Anyway, you have two pretty simple homework assignments:

1. Find out something about yourself! Yup, that’s right. Ask parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, whoever, about something interesting that has happened to your family in the past 150 years, then write it down. If you want, you can tell me about an interesting family heirloom, or even bring it in to share (although be sure to ask your parents first!) This should be at least a paragraph long, but feel free to write more if the story warrants more. I will tell you some of my family’s stories in class so you have an idea of what I want from this.

2. Purchase supplies–
A. A three-ring binder, 1 1/2 inch thick or whatever works for you. (Sasha, you might want to go with 6 inches thick, if they make those.)
B. 8 dividers
C. Loose-leaf paper.

We will be setting up the binder a little differently this year, so be sure to wait for instructions in class.

Thanks!

Hi all you 7th Graders (and parents). Welcome to mrgreiner.com, a website intended to give daily updates and information about History class here at Lawrence.

Just to let you know, you have two minor homework assignments:

1. Discover something about yourself–bring to class on Friday a brief write up about what your last name means, an interesting story from your family history, or a family heirloom with some significance. You may bring in the heirloom if you want, but BE SURE to ASK YOUR PARENTS FIRST! It would be nice if this story was new to you rather that just reciting something you already knew.

2. PURCHASE SUPPLIES–By Monday, all students must bring in the following:
A. A three-ring binder, preferably 1 1/2 inch thick.
B. 8 dividers
C. loose-leaf paper

Thanks!