Wed 12/21

Test is tomorrow. Also your notebook is due from Unit 3 and 4. Below is a link to the study guide and the notebook!

Notebook Organizer
Study Guide

Tuesday 12/20

We finished up looking at what caused America to enter into WWI. At the end of class students looked at things going on in America on the home front. That was the last we will cover prior to the break. TEST IS THURSDAY on Unit 4 and some of unit 3.

Things Happening on the Home Front. Answer In your notebook NOT IN THE NOTES

Answer how each of these ideas influenced the war in America. Answer 1 what it was, and 2 how it helped the war effort.

1. Victory Gardens(390)

2. Conservation of Food and Supplies(389)

3. Sign up for Selective Service (382)

4. “Work or Fight”(389)

5. War Bonds(390)

6. Women in the Work Place(394)

Monday 12/19

We began looking and reasons America entered into WWI. there was a handout with causes.
Causes of WWI

Friday 12/16

We started class by a small review of WWI. I talked for about 15 minutes about how the war from the US perspective. America would join the war towards the end and reap all the benefits of the victory. Being such a diverse nation we were unable to easily pick sides. Though we eventually do it is after most of the bloodshed has already crippled many nations. None the less it will still impact America in a major way. After the brief discussion we finished up class with a video clip of America and the war. It can be found below and students did a video guide to go with it.

12/15 Thursday

We started by reviewing yesterday's cartoons in class. After that I briefly talked about the panama canal and students finished class looking at how America aquired the canal, alaska and hawaii as well as had an impact on China and it's open door policy.

Imperialism

Wed 12/14

We looked at several magazines who published cartoons looking at both the positive and negative of American Imperialism. Below is the pictures and work.

Political Cartoons
Questions

Tues 12/13

Today we took notes in class and had a quickwrite on the end of the Spanish American War, and America's acquisitions from it. The question of was it right or wrong became the main idea behind America conquering new territories.

Monday 12/12

We continued from friday the assignment and finished it. Period 4 had one additional question to answer online.

Friday 12/9

Students should log on to their google classroom account(use rusdlearns). I talked a little about what led up to the Spanish American War. Yellow journalism was a style of writing that created bigger stories than needed. Newspapers wanted a war to help sell papers. When the USS Maine exploded in the Cuban harbor it was all that they needed to fuel a war. Who blew up the Maine? that is what you need to figure out. Or at least take your best guess. The instructions for the assignment are on the google slide once you open the assignment.

Thursday 12/8

We continued with what we began yesterday. In the groups today though they also had to use the arguments they learned so far to create a poster that would be put outside of a bar to encourage sobriety.

12/7

Today we started looking at the temperance movement in America to end alcohol. The root of the problem started with largely Americae's need for a drink that would not make people sick. In the 1800's the water supply was causing illnesses in America, and water was a constant problem. Many people drank alcohol to help with this. Many groups had a problem with those though and pushed for the end of it in America. We looked largely at a book written to end alcohol some 45 years before it eventually succeeded.

Tuesday 12/6

We continued looking at the populist party from yesterday, students did an assignment looking at the textbook and how at the end of the day not only did the populist party make their case while joining the democratic party, they eventually lose. Even though they lose the election most of their ideas will eventually be accepted.

12/5 Monday

Today in class we looked at the rise of the populist party in America and how small political parties can still sometimes make change happen. Farmer's were struggling in America and the populist party set out to try to help them make it in a difficult time.

12/2

We continued on looking at Civil Rights with Booker T Washington and WEB Dubois, this was also the first quickwrite. They presented different theories for how blacks would best improve in american society. One was more focused on getting jobs, the others on getting rights.

12/1

We continued looking at Muckrakers from tuesday. We looked at Ida Tarbell and lynchings in America and how she set up to try to lower the number of killings in America. (we had a reading)

11/30

We had a conference for social studies today so students looked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

Tuesday 11/29

We finished looking at muckrakers(except 2) In total we saw those fixing the food industry, child labor, monopolies and lynching in America. Make sure to get the handout of The Jungle

Monday 11/28

We kicked off unit 4 titled Progress and Power today. We are starting with the progress portion of this unit. Muckrakers were individuals who saw problems and tried to expose them to the public. We looked at Upton Sinclair and John Spargo today.

Friday 10/18

We took our short quiz on our gilded age unit to wrap things up before break.

Thursday 11/17

In class students are looking at the Chinese Exclusion Act. Below are the questions and the readings. Answer the questions in your notebook after you have read through the readings.


Questions to answer on own sheet in notebook. Title Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Exclusion Act Law
Comparing an angry Californian and a Chinese worker's view on the law

QUIZ TOMORROW!!!! On Immigration and Industrialism of the Gilded age. Just look back on this website over the last couple weeks. It will be a pretty short quiz before break.

Wed 11/16

Students worked on their work from yesterday. I finished up classing discussing the chinese exclusion act and they watched a clip as an introduction to it.

11/15 Tuesday

Today we looked at how political machines ran many major cities in America. When in power they used their position to gain financial success. In class we called this graft and it was illegal but helped fund the machine. In return people would be provided assistance from the cities. They would then in turn re-elect these political bosses for power.

11/14 Monday

In class I went through some notes on immigrants coming to America. I reviewed a little of thursday's work on the difficulties one faced in coming to America from another country. At the end of class we watched a short video on political machines. We will be discussing them tomorrow.

Thursday 11/10

Tomorrow is a holiday. We transitioned over to immigration to America. We read through the poem on the statue of liberty and how it symbolizes what makes America so unique. As millions flock to america at this point in history it opens up the doors for opportunity and the American Dream. Students finished class looking at the problems this immigration caused though. As people flocked to cities, urbanization caused major issues in large cities.

Wed 11/9

Today we mostly discussed the election results. The quickwrite was how did trump pull off the upset win and what does it show about america?

11/8 tuesday

We looked at a video clip of the homestead strike. After that we read about the pullman strike(and notes) and then students read about the progress made after pullman in the 1902 coal strike. They had a few questions for homework from the reading.

Monday 11/7

Today the students did a electoral map game. The point was to predict tomorrow's election. I also explained the electoral college.

Friday 11/4

Today we looked at how business led to strikes and anger among workers. The first strike we looked at was the Homestead strike. It was a mixed bag. Owners thought they were being taken advantage of and workers thought they were. America typically sided with the owners, but progress was slowly being made.

Thursday 11/3

We continued on looking at the last 20 minutes or so of the Rockefeller video. Students answered 4 questions on how he controlled the Monopoly. Then we looked at Vertical and Horizontal Integration and how the top entrepreneurs were able to use it to succeed in their industry.

11/2 Wed

Sorry for the huge delay if you have been absent.this was parent teacher conference day

Tuesday 11/1

I shortly reviewed yesterday's video. I talked about Monopolies and what they are. Also about capitalism and how it is in America. There are pro's and cons of both of these both now and at the end of the 1800's. While the laws have changed slightly over time the ideas are still there. they finished the last 25 minutes watching the second half of the episode.

Monday 10/31

I was out for a school function. Students watched the first half of the men who built america episode and had a video guide. It is on the big industrialists in america and the rise in monopolies.

Friday 10/28

Today we started Unit 3-The Gilded Age-Like a Monet. We talked about how this era seemed like America is booming, growing, becoming wealthier, but when we look closer or underneath it all we see it has many problems. It was mostly just me talking about this.

Thursday 10/27

We finished up Unit 2 with our exam

Wed 10/26

Today we took the department assessment on the first quarter.

Tuesday 10/25

Students received a study guide for the midterm on Thursday. Also the notebook is due that day as well. Tomorrow we will be taking the department quiz for the 1st quarter.

The notebook order is as follows: Study Guide

•1 Title Page

•2 Quickwrites (4 of them)

•3 Notes

•4 Work(obviously not the ones I have)

•Whiskey Rebellion

•Trail of Tears-paper and questions

•What caused the Civil War

•Dred Scott Decision

•Advantages of North and South

•Gettysburg Address

•13-15th amendment and Reconstruction with book questions

10/24

We continued to talk about the Reconstruction effort and the highs and lows of it. by 1876 the Reconstruction was largely over. Some things had changed and some had stayed the same for Americans.
Reconstruction
At the bottom of the paper students used the book to answer the following 3 questions at the bottom of the share cropping handout. page 188-189

•1. Why did the Reconstruction collapse?

•2. What allowed southern Confederates to take back the power in the South?

•3. How did the election of 1876 end the Reconstruction process in the South? 

10/21

We finished talking about the end of the Civil War. After that we began looking at the Reconstruction amendments and how they were meant to push change following the end of the war in the South.

10/20

In class we talked about the first half of the Civil War up until the Emancipation Proclamation. The war had gone pretty bad for the South. We also talked about the Gettysburg Address and how it gave a purpose to the war.
Gettysburg Address

10/19

In class we looked at the election of 1860 and how Lincoln being elected President was enough for the South to finally succeed from America. They felt their voice was not being heard and so they found it better to leave. Lincoln would have to fight to keep America together.

10/18

Today we looked at John Brown and how his character was very controversial depending on if you were in the North and the South. Some viewed him as a martyr and others as a traitor. We also briefly discussed the Dred Scott decision
John Brown and Dred Scott Reading

10/17

I went over in class the assignment from google from the previous week and explained each one a little more in depth as to how it related to the overall picture.

Thursday/Friday 10/13-10/14

In class students looked at many aspects of america involving and leading to the Civil War. In Google Classroom you need to login in. The assignment is different slightly for each class. If you need your period's login let me know.

Wed 10/12

In class we looked at how the cotton gin got the ball rolling toward America's greater dependency on slavery. We also looked at how some of the smaller earlier compromises like the compromise of 1820 as well as taxation in the south all played a roll on America slowly growing divided.
Go to the Nullification Part

Tuesday 10/12

We did a mock election in class for the upcoming election along with many high schools across California. I briefly talked about the 3 groups that traveled from your journal entries and we watched a clip from America the story of us(from 16:30 through gold rush). It just shows the difficulty of moving and the obstacles many of the people faced.

Monday 10/11

We took some notes in class on Madison and Monroe's presidency, then we briefly talked about manifest destiny and why people moved west. The assignemnt can be found in the power point.
Notes, Quickwrite 1 and Journal Assignment

friday

Reading for Indian Removal Act-Students looked at how the Trail of Tears happened despite the fact the supreme court even ruled in favor of the native Americans keeping their land. (it was a rally day and very short)
reading
Maybe a better version if you present it

Wed/Thursday 10/5 and 10/6

We started the Unit A New Nation to Two Nations. America is beginning but within 70 years we will be divided. The story of how that happens will take place during this unit. I will post the assignment for these two days but we were looking at the Whiskey Rebellion and how it showed America's new Constitution strength. Also the Alien and Sedition Acts and how it tested our new nation's bill of rights.

Whiskey Rebellion

Tuesday 10/4

Today we took our Unit 1 test and turned in our first notebook check for the year. This took up the entire time period today.

Monday 10/3

Today we reviewed any questions anyone had for the test tomorrow. Also we put together the notebook. Here are some key things for the notebook.
-Make sure every paper is stapled in, glued in, or in a 3 ring binder. I should be able to flip through each paper and not just be given a giant stack.
-Everything should be in order. Title Page, Quickwrites, Notes, then the work below.

Order of Notebook

Friday 9/30

Today we finished up Unit 1 our nations founding by looking at last night's homework on the Bill of Rights. I just went through each one and briefly explained it's importance. At the end of class I handed out a study guide for the test which will be on tuesday of next week.

Study Guide for Test

Thursday 9/29

Today we finished the last of the papers that students received monday. This one was on the first two political parties of the new country the federalists and anti federalists. The federalists were for the constitution and the anti federalists were against it. 9 of 13 states needed to agree for it to become our new constitution. We looked at both sides arguments. We finished class looking at the Bill of Rights. This was added to the Constitution after the fact to appease the anti federalists who were mad about the new Constitution.

Federalist vs Anti-Federalist
Bill of Rights on pg 96-97

Wed 9/28

Today we covered the constitution, in particular the first 3 articles of the constitution. Our government is based on 3 branches that have separation of powers. No branch holds too much power, instead it is divided among the 3. We also discussed article 5 that is an amendment. All of these ideas particularly about checks and balances and separation of powers are Enlightenment ideals that are starting to influence our country.

Quickwrite # 7 started class-How do the first 3 articles of the Constitution work together? Why not make it more efficient and have one person or thing do everything? In the preamble it lists 6 reasons this new government is formed. Which do you think is the most important and why?
 How do the first 3 articles of the Constitution work together? Why not make it more efficient and have one person or thing do everything? In the preamble it lists 6 reasons this new government is formed. Which do you think is the most important and why?

 

Tuesday 9/27

Today I reviewed the work from last week. We mainly discussed the 4 issues of the constitutional convention. In short issue 2 and 10 about slavery showed America's differences and that there would be problems eventually we would have to deal with.
Issue 7 reflected a divide between state and federal governments and how states must do what the country tells them even if they dont want to. (though sometimes they dont). The battle between power is called federalism.
Issue 5 was the biggest issue of the convention. Who should get the most Representatives in congress. The big states with a big population or the small states with a little population? They compromised on two houses of congress. The senate would be for small states where everyone has the same. The big one would be for big states where the get more votes.

Constitution Work started monday or today. Needs to be done by wed

Monday 9/26

I was out today but students were to finish last week's state work that was started on thursday. If they finished they were able to move on to the Constitution assignment.(I will post this for tomorrow)

Friday 9/23

Students took their quiz from the beginning of the year through Shay's Rebellion. We weren't able to get much further but briefly students were able to work on yesterday's state work

thurs 9/22

Today we began looking at Shay's Rebellion. A small farmer rebellion in Massachusetts scared many Americans into changing our country. The fear was if we could not protect our property the government could quickly be overthrown. After that students were given an original state and they had to try to determine how their state would favor certain issues at the Constitutional Convention. If you are making this up pick the state of Virginia.
Shay's Rebellion Handout

The issues for the states
The Questions you answered on your state

wed 9/21

Now that America had broken free we took notes on the American Revolution. America's rode to independence was 7 long years.
Notes on our new country government. The Articles of the Confederation
Notes on American Revolution and quickwrite 6

Tues 9/20

The document from yesterday's post is what we looked at today. I talked about how the D of I was a life or death decision. Students did the back of the page either during class or for homework. (just look in yesterday's one)

Monday 9/19

We looked today at the pamphlet common sense and how its publication helped convince many people that Independence was simply that, "common sense". We also countered that with loyalists of the day and why they thought independence was a bad idea. Lastly we began to look at the Declaration of Independence and its significance to America.
Common Sense and Dec of Ind

Friday 9/16

Today we talked about major events going on in Boston. Boston was the center for all patriot activity resisting the British leading up to the Revolution. The Boston Massacre, Boston Tea party and Closing of the Port of Boston all played a role in anger towards the British. In reality the colonists could probably be blamed for all of them, but none the less it helped unite the colonies together.

Friday Quickwrite and Notes

Thurs 9/15

Today we looked at how the French and Indian War impacted the colonies.Great Britain had just won a war against France to keep and protect America. All Great Britain was doing was asking us to pay our share of the war. Thus began the beginning of Britain trying to tax America over and over again. The tax that angered colonists more than any other was the Stamp Act. It essentially taxed many things the colonists bought and paid for. Letters, Newspapers, Licenses, Death Certificates. It was one of the many things that led to the snowball growing larger and larger and larger.There was also the Proclamation Line which forbid the colonists from moving into the very land they just won in the war. All of these led to growing hostilities between the colonists and British, particularly in Boston. Two big phrases from class today. 1. No Taxation Without Representation. 2. It wasn't about the money, It was about their rights. 
Notes and Quickwrite from wed.

Stamp Act

Wed 9/14

In class today we took the quiz on historical thinking terms that we had talked about last week. It was a short day and this covered a lot of the class. We finished class with a quickwrite(some classes got into 1 slide of notes). I will post the quickwrite with the notes on thursday's post.
If you need to make the quiz please schedule a time to take it promptly

Tuesday 9/13

We continued the idea of the snowballs by looking at two of the first things that spurred new ideas among the colonists. While these did not directly push the colonists towards independence the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment had a major influence on the colonies. Students finished class by answering the questions below and reading chapter 1 section 4(the other questions on the paper look at the differences in the colonies that won't be important until next unit). Quiz tomorrow on historical thinking words.

Questions for Chapter 1 section 4

Monday 9/12

Today in class you will be looking at the Puritans and their role in early America. They established their settlement with strong ideas to make America different from every other nation on the planet. 
Reading  Questions

While it is just a cartoon about Donald Duck it does a great job of showing an idea about history. The phrase "snowball effect" comes from something very similar to what Donald showed in this cartoon. Once a snowball starts rolling it begins to get larger and larger and larger. Before you know it, it is an out of control ball. In history we see similar things take place. What starts as a small incident, leads to larger and larger and larger problems. The first big "snowball" we will see this year will lead to the beginning of America starting as a country. Start video at 4:24 mark

Friday Sept 9

After briefly discussing 9/11's impact on history we began the beginning of our unit on Our Nation's Founding. We talked briefly about why the first explorers and colonizers came over to the new world. There was also a quickwrite, our second that should be in your notebooks.

Quickwrite 2 and Notes

Thursday 9/8

We begun discussing what the term "The American Dream" means. It is a term that can be used to describe many different things. Some people view making it to America and it's freedom as the dream. To others it is rising out of poverty to achieve greatness. For some it is simply a two story home, a family of 4 and a white picket fence. The American Dream is all things to all people, which makes it unique. No other countries have this sort of calling. In the class each student had to focus on what the American Dream means to them. Each class has a google classroom. To do the assignment ask me what your class code is. Go on Google Classroom to do the assignment on a slide. 

Wed 9/7

We continued looking at historical thinking terms but in the context of US history. We looked at the 7 questions and how we would apply historical thinking to each of them.

Sourcing Questions

Tuesday 9/6

We began looking at examples of the words we covered on friday. The particular story we looked at was of Ryan Lochte and his robbery incident in Brazil.

In class Historical Thinking

Friday Sept 2nd

Students had the first Quickwrite which went in notebook. It was on the Saving Private Ryan Clip. After that we began looking at 6 key historical thinking terms students need to know and memorize for the upcoming year. Because we just began looking at them I will post them next tuesday when we get into the entire assignment.

Thursday Sept 1

We read a short essay titled "Why History?" handout can be found  HERE. It discusses reasons we look at history. We finished class by watching the final scene of Saving Private Ryan. There will be a quickwrite on it tomorrow.

Wed August 31st

Today we took a modified citizenship test that an immigrant to America would have to face. The idea was we have civic duties as American's. Whether we were born here or have come here. As Americans we are expected to know certain things about our nation so that when we become adults we can better contribute to our nation.

August 29 and 30

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year!!!

This website will contain the material we will be covering in class. While not a substitute for the classroom it should be your first stop on any missed days. If you have any questions feel free to email me at the school address. kleduc@rusd.k12.ca.us
 Below is the class syllabus. It needs to be signed by a parent and yourself by Friday the 2nd.

  Syllabus

On Monday students had to solve a series of puzzles as an introductory game. At the end they reached their goal. The winning website with first quick write was found here. http://teachersstillarefabulous.blogspot.com/