Grandparents' Day

Today was Grandparents' Day at John Carroll.  We had so many grandparents in our classroom, Mr. Schick said it was a record.  In the middle of class, half the class left with their grandparents for a luncheon. 

We talked about Rome for the class.  I took some notes:

Etruscans

• came from the north-central part of the peninsula
• metalworkers, artists, and architects
• two foundation myths: Virgil's Aeneid (where Aeneas escapes from Troy), plus the story of Remus and Romulus

Greeks

• they had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea
• Romans borrowed ideas from them, such as:
• religious beliefs
• alphabet
• much of their art
• military techniques and weaponry

Latins

• descendants of the Indo-Europeans
• settled on the banks on the River Tiber
• situated so trading ships - but not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome, but no further
• a commercial port, but not susceptible to attack... built on seven hills

...they drained a swamp...

• many streams flowed into the Tiber
• there was a marshy area called the forum, between Palatine and Capitoline Hills
•  Tarquin the Proud's grandfather built the Cloaca Maxima (largest ancient drain), which channeled water into the Tiber

Now Tarqin's kinda proud, but he got a little loud...

•  Lucius Tarquinias Superbus
• the seventh and final king of Rome
• known as Tarquin the Proud (sometimes referred to as Tarquin the Arrogant)
• a true tyrant, in the old and modern sense of the word
• Tarquin seized power like an old school tyrant

Projects

Today we got together with our group and decided what we're going to do.  I'm in a group with Rosemary, Megan, and Zaire.  We are doing a Roman meal.  Megan is doing the appetizer.  I'm doing the entree.  Zaire's doing the dessert, and Rosemary is making a Roman drink.  I'm really excited for our project because I think it'd be fun to do.  I love to bake and cook, and this seems like a really interesting project.  I was having a little bit of trouble with my portion sizes though.  I don't want to make 23 chickens, so I might cut the number in half.  (I'm making Chicken With Stuffing.)  I am very excited to work on this project!

Baltimore Riot

Today in class we had a discussion about the Baltimore Riot.  Mr. Schick also told us a few stories.  One story was about Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination when he was a kid.  Another story, which really interested me, was about a man he used to work with when he did movies.  He was a black man, who just happened to have a nice car because of his talent and the money he made.  He got pulled over one day for "DWB" (driving while black).  I had never heard of DWB before, but I don't think it's necessary.  Black people are just as good as white people.

For the Baltimore Riot, I didn't get to say my opinion.  I think there is a reason to be upset, but they might be going a little overboard.  Yes, there have been a few people killed by police officers, but that doesn't mean you need to burn down your entire city.  I also think that they're doing this riot to get free stuff.  My reason for this is because people are running into different stores and grabbing different things, then running or driving away.  I hope the riot calms down because it could get more dangerous than it already is.

Fill in for the entire week

I forgot to blog the entire week, but I thought I should say what happened.

Tuesday:
On Tuesday, we took notes about Rome:

• Ninth century B.C.- Etruscans, Greeks, and Latins move into Italy
• Tiber River in the middle of the peninsula; in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

City-state and Empire

• Italy and it's people
• Indo-European tribes moved into the Italian peninsula and some settled along the Tiber River, creating the city-state known as Rome
• The Etruscan people, originally from the East, had settled in the North of Italy and were an early influence on the Romans
• Remis and Romulus
• The Roman Republic
• Originally, Rome was a monarchy on the Etruscan model with a council of elders called the "Senate"
• C. 500 BC, the Romans overthrew their monarchy and established a "Republic
• Since the senate was populated only by patricians (aristocratic men), the plebeians (ordinary citizens) fought for a vote in Rome's government
•  Each year the Senate elected two rulers, "consuls", who each served a term for one year
• As in the Greek city-states, the Romans would appoint a single dictator in times on war or conflicts
• 12 tables, sometimes known as 12 tablets
• Res Publica - People's Buisness
• Tarquin the Proud
• ruled from 534-510 BC
• LAST OF THE ROMAN KINGS

After we took all these notes, Mrs. Fogarty called saying Mr. Schick had a visitor.  This is where we met Chi Cago.  He sang us a song about Rome.  Here's a preview from it:

 

 

Wednesday:

On Wednesday Mr. Schick graded all of our papers.  While he was doing that, we got to work on any homework or projects we needed to do.  After he graded them, we got them back.  My group got a 90% on it, which I'm fine with.  Then, Mr. Schick taught us about grammar for the rest of the class.  One mistake that was really stupid was owers instead of ours.  Overall, our class didn't have that many grammar problems.

Thursday:

We went over Chi Cago's song more thoroughly on Thursday.  Then, learned about Tarquin the Proud (notes are above).

Friday:

I wasn't in class on Friday because I was at NDP for a choral festival.

Trinity Lutheran Concert

I wasn't in class on Friday.  I went with band, chorus, and orchestra to Trinity Lutheran to play music.  They did videotape the class for me, so I'm okay.

Figuring Out Project for Rome

Today in class, Mr. Schick realized that we probably didn't want to do another PowerPoint and 1000 word essay, so he asked us what we wanted to do as a project for Rome (our next  unit).  Some of the ideas given, while others, not so much.  We almost made a movie, a board game, or cooked a Roman meal and shared them with people.  Those were my favorite ideas.  Then there were the ideas that were not as good.  For example, battling Mr. Teter's class, building the building from popsicle sticks, and blowing up the football field.  There were other ideas, but those are the one's that stood out.

We ended up choosing to be Roman gods and goddesses on The View and interviewing each other.  I found out what The View was in Latin, so that might be our title.  I love our project idea.  I think it's going to be very creative and fun to make.  After w came up with that idea, I was happy for the rest of the day.  I am really excited to do our project.

The Allegory of the Cave

Today we watched the animated version of Allegory of the Cave by the philosopher Plato.  It was a little confusing, but interesting.  Afterwards, we had a discussion.  He let us say our own interpretations, then he hinted to us what he thought.  We mostly talked about the media, and how Plato "predicted" how media affects everyone in the modern age.  We also talked about how we are just looking "at a projector" to get our information and everything that influences our decision.  By the end of the class we started talking about democrats and republicans and Hillary Clinton and all the people running for president.  (I don't know how that came up.)

Going Over Greek Test

Today we went over the Ancient Greece test.  He didn't give is the test we originally took until after we went over it.  He said we had to get the answer from our minds.  I feel like I knew more answers while we were checking instead of while we were actually taking the test. 

After we checked the test we had an assembly.  A man named John O'Leary came, who burned 98% of his body when he was 9, and told us his story.  He was very inspiring and funny.  I enjoyed the assembly a lot.

Ancient Greece Test

I'm pretty sure I failed that test.  I had no idea what most of the answers were, so I guessed on almost everything. I'm not saying it was hard, because I probably would've known them if I were there for the 2 days I needed to be there. There were only 3 questions on the topic from my essay, so that didn't help much.  I didn't have that much time to study last night because I was working on 2 essays plus extra homework.  Who knows, maybe I had a really good guess.  I guess I'll find out when Mr. Schick grades the tests.  

At least I know I got one right, because Mr. Schick told us the answer to number 8, which was Dorians, so thanks Mr. Schick.

I got a 82.  Not as bad as I thought