If the subjunctive is your favorite topic to teach in Spanish class, raise your hand? Hmm, no hands up . . . That's because NO TEACHER EVER would raise their hand to say how much they love teaching the subjunctive. But listen, it doesn't have to be like that. When I taught this topic, I
A chronology of the first months of World War I #infographic
How to Choose Effective Practice Activities for World Language: This is the sixth in a series of seven posts about How to Write Effective World Language Lesson Plans. In this post, we will be discussing how to choose effective practice activities, the, “guided practice” portion of the lesson plan. Get FREE lesson plan!
(listening A2)
How is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand connected to the current unrest in Iraq? According to this infographic from James Carson, founder and editor of the new website MadeFromHistory.com, the June 28, 1914 shooting...
Check out these fun teaching materials for teaching comma rules to upper elementary including an anchor chart, videos, and graphic organizer.
Are you looking for a concrete way you can map out your reading/writing/language mini-lessons so that your students can be successful during their independent time? WATCH MY LIVE VIDEO AND DISCOVER HOW I SCAFFOLD LEARNING DURING A 10-15 MINUTE MINI-LESSON. How to Scaffold Learning in a Mini Lesson Check out all my reading and writing
A big thank you to all the readers who gave positive feedback on the Easy Korean lessons posted on tumblr. For those who have not checked out my tumblr site, it’s istheworldyouroyster.tumblr.…
I can't remember what blogger or expat friend of mine said it, but I once heard someone claim that nearly every English speaker who passes through Spain will eventually, at some point or another end up teaching English for a
In a Ted-Ed lesson, educator and linguist Claire Bowern explains the origins of the English language and how it has evolved throughout the centuries in a
The Nazis' rise to power began in 1919 with Adolf Hitler's infiltration of the German Workers' Party.
A truly revolutionary equation can change human existence more than all the great leaders of history. Meet the mathematical masters of the universe
We have started to mummify a chicken, this is a fun project and your kids or students will learn a lot as they mummify a chicken.
Learn to speak German with these basic and advanced grammar and vocabulary lessons, quizzes, study tips, and articles about German culture.
Learn about the universal moral principle, from world religions throughout history: The Golden Rule. Find resources and ideas to use with your children.
The team from The Literature Network, an online community of literature lovers, created a nice infographic that visualizes a timeline of literary periods and movements. Click on the image to see it…
Explaining the Feudal System can be difficult and, well, futile, if you don’t add some life to it, when teaching kids. I’ll be teaching the second half of Story of the World, Volume 2 …
I am starting a series where I share our Story of the World adventures. We started when my son was 7, and went very slowly at first, adjusting lessons to his short attention span. The next year we joined up with a co-op doing this Volume, and went at a much faster pace, so later chapters (7 and on) show that somewhat. I took notes and am gradually adding these as I have time. Sorry for the slow place on adding new units. NOTE: I don't want anyone to think you HAVE to do all the supplementary stuff we did for SOTW. Many people just read the chapters and talk about them, maybe do an extra activity now and then. We did so much at first because I have a kiddo that needed that to get him engaged, and also because I love history and just wanted to do some of these things with him. But as we progressed we gradually did less projects and supplementing. STORY OF THE WORLD POSTS All of my Story of the World posts will be linked below, once they're published. GENERAL SOTW RELATED POSTS My Review of the Story of the World Adjustments for Learners With Short Attentions Spans SOTW Bible Integration Historical Errors in Story of the World (Volume I) SOTW Guides on Other Sites Index of Changes in Revised Version Magic Treehouse Reading Alligned to SOTW Vol 1 and Vol 2 OTHER HISTORY RELATED POSTS Resources Combining History and Science Dover Sampler Free History Printables You-Tube Through Ancient History for Middle and High Schoolers OUR LESSON PLANS/IDEAS BY CHAPTER Each post will be linked as it is added INTRO How Do We Know What Happened - What Is History - What is Archaeology Chap 1 The Earliest People - The First Nomads - The First Nomads Become Farmers Chap 2 Egyptians Lived on the Nile River - Two Kingdoms Become One - Gods of Ancient Egypt Chap 3 The First Writing Chap 4 The Old Kingdom of Egypt - Making Mummies - Egyptian Pyramids Chap 5 The First Sumerian Dictator Chap 6 - The Jewish People Chap 7 - Hammurabi and the Babylonians Chap 8 - The Assyrians Chap 9 The First Cities of India - The River Road - The Mystery of Mohenjo-Daro Chap 10 The Far East: Ancient China - Lei Zu and the Silkworm - The Pictograms of Ancient China - Farming in Ancient China Chap 11 Ancient Africa - Ancient Peoples of West Africa - Anansi and Turtle - Anansi and the Make Believe Food (Sorry, we skipped this) Chap 12 The Middle Kingdom of Egypt - Egypt Invades Nubia - The Hyksos Invade Egypt Chap 13 The New Kingdom of Egypt - The General and the Woman Pharaoh - Amenhotep and King Tut Chap 14 The Israelites Leave Egypt (Moses/Exodus) Chap 15 The Phoenicians Chap 16 The Return of the Assyrians --- Chapter 18 - 25 (Ancient Greece) For now, I'm just sharing a outline of the resources I used for these chapters. Please stop by often to see what's been added! This post is linking up at Hip Homeschool Moms, The Homeschool Nook, A Little Bird Told Me, Love to Learn Hop, School House Review, Dear Homeschooler Bookshelf, Throwback Thursday, and Back to Homeschool Blog Hop 2017 (no longer up): Curriculum, and various other homeschool link-ups. If you would like to share this post but need a more square graphic....here you go....
I’ve been getting really good responses on the Easy Korean series of Korean Language lessons. Glad that it’s been useful in your learning of the language. Simple, concise bite-sized les…
¿Quién tiene la razón? ¿Cómo es posible que los dos tengan razón? One of the most important tasks outside of language learning that world language teachers face is to make our students aware of the…
An excellent resource for middle and high school history courses studying the M.A.I.N. causes of WWI. I have also enlarged this reference sheet to poster size and posted them around the classroom. Related WWI Products: M.A.I.N. Causes of WWI - Printable Booklet WWI ChoiceBoard Assignment + Rubric WWI Weapons of Mass Destruction - Ranking Activity WWI vs. Gangs Activity
When people migrate, they are influenced by push and pull: They feel pushed out of one place and pulled to another. Try a push-pull exercise in this worksheet.
Making a connection to the past through hands-on learning helps a child to remember what he has learned and develop critical thinking skills.
Some innovative castle designs by my middle school students, Samuel E. Shull Middle School, Perth Amboy NJ 2017 After watching the video of David Macaulay's Castle, my students designed their own fortresses. They tested the defensive walls by building catapults with popsicle sticks, rubber bands and spoons and firing mini marshmallows at their creations to see how many could land inside. Caerphilly Castle was built in the thirteenth century. It is the largest castle in Wales. To learn more about Caerphilly Castle, click here. More views of Caerphilly Castle David Macaulay re-creates the building of a medieval Castle in his book Castle. For more information about this very detailed and informative book, visit the author's website by clicking here. To watch a four part movie based on the book, click on the YouTube videos below. The castle in Macaulay's book is imaginary but it is based on several real Medieval castles. One of them is Caerphilly castle in Wales. Here is a floor plan of Caerphilly Castle: The film starts off with the author, David Macaulay, with his sketchbook, in Conway Castle in Wales. Here are some photographs of Conway Castle: Here is a floor plan of Conway Castle: Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Deal Castle, in Kent, England Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Windsor Castle in England WHY DO ALL THESE MEDIEVAL CASTLES LOOK SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER? HOW ARE THEY ALL ALIKE? Keep reading to find out. There was no standard shape and structure for a castle. The builders adapted their designs to suit the site, the budget and the military dangers of the day. THE ANATOMY OF A MEDIEVAL CASTLE Print out the picture above and look at all the basic parts that make up the anatomy of a Medieval castle. The castles all look very different from each other, yet they are all made up of the same basic components. See if you can identify the components all of these castles have in common. How would geographic location and the topography of the site influence a castle's design? Some cool Medieval castle activities: Click here to learn how to build your own paper and cardboard Medieval castle Click here to learn how to design a castle floor plan Click here for a step by step Power Point presentation by The Helpful Art Teacher on how to design and build your own paper castle. Printable Worksheets How to build a paper castle You will need heavy paper, like oak tag or card stock, white glue,masking tape,cardboard for the base scissors,markers, paint and whatever else you wish to use to decorate your creation. A small inexpensive low temperature hot glue gun is useful but not necessary. The starting point: A tower You will need to build at least four of these towers and connect them by walls just to start building your castle. These worksheets are just to get you started. Be inventive! Figure out how to include all the parts of the castle from the moat and draw bridge to the gate house and portcullis to the inner ward and keep. Work in progress: These 7th grade students are creating a curtain wall, the wall surrounding their castle complex. A soldier can walk along this wall and shoot arrows at his enemies from behind the embrasures. These students have created a portcullis and draw bridge using yarn, Popsicle sticks and a low temperature hot glue gun. Interior and exterior shots of one 7th grade student's work in progress. She used a sharp scissors to cut the points on the Popsicle sticks that form the portcullis. When each group was done constructing their castles I gave them 12 Popsicle sticks, a rubber band, a plastic spoon and permission to go over to the hot glue gun table. Their mission? To design a working catapult capable of lobbing mini marshmallows into another group's castle. Catapult designed by a 7th grade student Click here to learn how to build a miniature working catapult out of Popsicle sticks (so you can storm your paper castle). This website gives step by step directions but I prefer to have my students come up with their own designs. As you can see, from the video below, my 7th graders' original contraptions worked quite well. catapult design by a 7th grade student from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo. STEAM connection: How does building a catapult connect art to science, technology, engineering and math? When you create a catapult you are using a simple macine, the lever. If you pull the spoon back, the taut rubber band has potential energy. When you let go of the spoon the marshmallow is propelled by force and has kinetic energy. When you pull the rubber band back to a 45 degree angle, the marshmallow will travel the farthest distance. When you pull it back farther, the marshmallow will travel higher, but not go as far. We set up our catapults behind a taped barrier and asked the students to see how many mini marshmallows they could get into each castle. In order to make it over the wall, student found that they ideally needed to pull the spoon back farther than 45 degrees to attain more height and less distance. We discussed how the goal of the job affects the method used to launch the catapult; had the goal been to make the marshmallow go the farthest distance, then a 45 degree angle would have been preferable. STEAM Vocabulary/Definitions accuracy : The degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. For example, in the associated activity, accuracy is the ability to hit the target with the Ping-Pong ball. catapult: A toy/machine that launches a projectile. geometry: An area of mathematics that studies shape, size, position and properties of space. precision: The degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results. For example, in the associated activity, precision is the ability to hit the same location multiple times with the Ping-Pong ball. projectile: An object that is launched or thrown, usually in the air, by a force. Source:https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_catapult_lesson01 Other STEAM connections in this lesson: The portcullis and draw bridge on the castles above operate using a pulley, another simple machine. Show students simple machines and have them divide into small groups to brainstorm how they might incorporate simple machines into their castle designs. For instance, a pulley might be used to draw water from a well as well as to control the draw bridge and portcullis. What is a simple machine? A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. The six simple machines are: Lever Wheel and axle Pulley Inclined plane Wedge Screw This student took the assignment a step farther. After researching medieval weapons he decided to design a crossbow to defend his fortress and siege neighboring castles. He was, of course, very careful to aim his weapon at rival social studies projects and never at people. Learn all the parts of a real medieval castle and what they were used for before you begin. Look at several real castles and their floor plans before you create your own. Remember, fortresses were designed and built for defense so make sure your castle will protect the inhabitants within. The Parts of a Medieval Castle Vocabulary terms you will need to know: You will remember the vocabulary better if, after reading the definition, you click on the word. This will bring you to a picture that illustrates the word. If you are building a castle for a 7th grade social studies class your teacher will probably expect you to use these vocabulary words to label the parts of your castle. You will also be expected to demonstrate the ways in which your fortress uses these elements to protect it's inhabitants. Arrow Loops - These were slots in the walls and structures that were used to shoot arrows through. They came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Ashlar - Blocks of smooth square stone. They can be of any kind of stone. Bailey: This is a courtyard or open space surrounded by walls.The walls that make up the Bailey are also considered to be part of the Bailey. A castle could have several. Sometimes they were called the upper bailey and lower bailey or the west bailey and east bailey. Barbican: A stone structure that protected the gate of a castle. Think of it as a gatehouse. It usually had a small tower on each side of the gate where guards could stand watch. Barmkin: A yard surrounded by a defensive wall Bartizan: A small turret at the corner of a tower or wall. It is usually at the top but not always. Bastion: A tower or turret projecting from a wall or at the junction of two walls Battlements: These are the structures at the tops of the walls surrounding a castle. Picture what you have seen in the movies where archers are at the top of the wall and firing arrows between open slots down on the attackers. These shapes at the top (Where the archers position themselves for battle) are called battlements. They are also referred to as crenellations. Buttress: A masonry projection used as additional support for walls. Notre Dame Cathedral is a good examlple of the use of Buttresses. Corbel - A stone projection from a wall. It supports the weight of a battlement. Courtyard - The open area with the curtain walls of a castle. Curtain Wall - The stone walls around a castle. Drawbridge - This was a wooden bridge in front of the main gate of the castle. In the early centuries of castles it was moved horizontal to the ground and in the later centuries it was built so it could raise up in a hinged fashion. Dungeon - A deep dark cell typically underground and underneath a castle. This is a derivative of the word Dunjon. Donjon - this is an old word for a great tower or a keep. Embrasure - An opening in a parapet wall. GateHouse - A strongly built and fortified main entrance to a castle. It often has a guard house and or living quarters. Hall or GreatHall - This is the major building inside th walls of a castle. Hoarding: a covered wooden gallery above a tower the floor had slats or slots to allow defenders to drop object on besiegers. They could also drop liquids and projectiles. Keep - This definition changed slightly over the centuries of castle building. In the early years of stone castle building the Keep was a standalone structure that could be defended and often square in shape. Over the centuries these structures were improved upon and built around. Thus a castle was made that was a larger and more complex structure. The main tower that this was built around was still called the Keep and it was usually the tallest and strongest structure in the castle. It was also used as the last line of defense during siege or attack. Machicolations - The openings between the corbels of a parapet. They form areas that stick out along the top of the wall and defenders inside the castle can drop items like boiling water and rocks onto attackers. Merlons - The parts of parapet walls between embrasures Moat: A Body of water surrounding the outer wall of a castle. It was often around 5 to 15 feet deep and it was sometimes within the outer wall -between the outer wall and the inner wall. The primary purpose of the moat wasn't to stop attackers it was to stop tunnelers. Tunneling under a castle was an effective means of collapsing the walls or infiltrating it. A moat would cause any tunnel to collapse. Motte And Bailey: This isn't part of a castle it is the predecessor to the castle. A Motte and Bailey was an early form of castle where a large mound of dirt was built up then a wooden fortification was placed on top. This wooden fortification was in the shape of a timber fence that formed a circle like a crown at the top of the mound. The Mound is the motte, and the timber fence and the space it enclosed is the Bailey. Murder Hole: An opening in the roof of a gateway over an entrance. Used to drop projectiles or other things onto the besiegers. Oubliette: A deep pit reached by a trap door at the top. Prisoners were kept in it. Palisade: A defenisive fence Portcullis - This is a metal or wood grate that was dropped vertically just inside the main gate to the castle. Postern - A small gate at the back of a castle. Often considered to be a "Back Door". Rampart: Picture the battlements in the previous definition. The battlements are the top sections of the outer wall of the castle. Now to access these battlements the archers would stand on a walk way that was a wall in it's own right. This walkway is built right up against the outer wall and is called the Rampart. Ward - The area inside the walls of a castle. Often also called the Courtyard. Yett: Iron gates at the entrance of a castle To learn more about Medieval weapons, click here Click here to learn more about what life was life like in Medieval times If you were a peasant and wanted the protection a castle afforded, you had to pay your taxes If you were a monk you might work in a scriptorium painstakingly copying The Bible in Latin by hand and creating Illuminated manuscripts What is an illuminated manuscript? Before the invention of the printing press books had to be written by hand and very few people knew how to read.Click here to learn more about Medieval illuminated manuscripts If you were a knight, you would have to decorate your outfit with distinctive heraldry to avoid accidentally being killed by your own men Special thanks Richard Burzynski, Alexandre Lopez, Derrick C. Kyriacou and the Social Studies department at William C. McGinnis School. Please note: The pictures of actual medieval castles come from Wikimedia commons and are in the public domain. A few of the black and white images are handouts I have had for many years. If anyone knows who I should attribute them to, please email me. The pictures of step by step directions and photographs of student art work are my own. They may be downloaded and reproduced for educational purposes only (with appropriate credit given) in accordance with fair use law. Please do not republish them without contacting me for permission. Castles and creative writing: Middle school students love learning about castles. They figure heavily in many beloved children's stories, movies and video games. Why not use a castle construction project as a jumping off point for a unit on imaginative story telling? Castles are often a main feature in fantasy and mythological stories. Here is a fantasy art and storytelling assignment that I gave to my students during the 2016-2017 school year: Samuel E. Shull School, 2017 STUDENT ART GALLERY:
