You Are There!

Hello Explorers:

Pretend that you are about to become one of the original inhabitants of our region.

Describe your journey.

Give details of your thoughts and feelings and interactions with other people.

Be sure to include details from your research.

USE YOUR OWN WORDS!

Break your story up into four paragraphs:

1) The first paragraph can be introducing the character and why they’re leaving on their journey.

2) The second paragraph can be about the actual journey, things they run into, things that occur.

3) The third paragraph can be once they arrive at their destination, what they find and plan to do while they’re there.

4) The fourth paragraph can be the conclusion, how you feel about being in your new home.

You will write your rough draft in your social studies notebook and publish your final draft in a WORD document. You need to fill at least two pages in your notebook, but feel free to write more.

The First Inhabitants of our Region

The first inhabitants of our region were Native Americans. It is thought that the first people in New York originally came from Asia (Siberia) by way of the Bering Strait about 11,500 years ago. They have been in North America for 40,000 years, but it took them a while to get as far as New York! The hunters and gatherers constantly walked south (away from the glaciers) in search of food.





One of the animals hunted were mammoths, a giant elephant-like animal



They probably followed them over the land bridge shown on the map above and eventually got to what is now New York State. They stopped in New York, perhaps because of the good geographic location. Lake Ontario and New York's rivers provided food, water, and a means of transportation for these early New Yorkers. The Spring and Summer season proved long enough to grow crops, allowing these early hunters and gatherers to become farmers. This permitted them to stay in one place, to form villages.
How do we know how long the Native Americans have been here? Archaeologists have done some digging and have come up with some very old artifacts that date the presence of Native Americans in present day New York State back 11,500 years! The people did not write anything down then, so the only clues we have are what the scientists find buried in the ground. They have found such things as stone axes, projectile points (arrowheads), pottery or stone bowls, and fire rings. With knowledge, an archaeologist can date these materials and tell when people lived where.
From the artifacts we now know for certain that the first inhabitants in New York State were Native Americans, and they have lived here for over 10,000 years.

DEFINITIONS:

Inhabitants- person who lives in an area

Bering Strait - a narrow body of water separating Asia and North America at Alaska

Native American - an American Indian

Archaeologists- a scientist who studies artifacts to learn about the past.

artifact - an object made by people who lived in the past.

Please answer the following questions:

1. Who were the first inhabitants of our region?

2. Where did the first people in New York originally come from?

3. How did they get here?

4. What is the Bering Strait?

5. Why did they walk south?

6. How long have these people been in North America?

7. What is a mammoth?

8. Why did they stop in New York?

9. What permitted them to stay in one place, to form villages?

10. How do we know how long the Native Americans have been here?

11. You have already defined the Bering Strait. How were the first inhabitants able to get across it?



Answer the questions in the comment section of the blog.

When you have finished answering the questions, choose the identity Anonymous and publish your comment.

Grade IV / Unit I / Lesson I

Hello Students:

In your class you have begun a study Native American tribes in New York. Today, we will explore how the tribes got here and the different ways they lived and survived.


1) Click here to watch a short movie about American Indians. You must first log-in (username: ps376 password: ps376).

2) Take the graded quiz and raise your hand when you have a score.

Student Interest Survey

Hello Students:

In order to get to know you a little better (and learn how to save your work online), I would like you to fill out the following Student Interest Survey. It will be fun and interesting to find out about you. I will complete the survey too and when we're finished, we'll see what everyone had to say.

Directions:

1) Open a new WORD document.

2) Write your name and class number at the top of the page.

3) Copy and paste the questions from the class blog into the WORD document.

4) Save the document using YOUR NAME to the desktop.

5) Close WORD and the class blog.

6) Drag your WORD document from the desktop to your class folder

7) Drag the WORD document on the desktop to the TRASH.

8) Open the copy of your WORD document in your class folder.

9) Answer the questions in the survey.

10) Save and close your document.





Please answer the following questions using full sentences and proper punctuation:

1) What is your favorite song?

2) What is your favorite food?

3) What is your favorite movie?

4) What is your favorite T.V. show?

5) Where is your favorite place to be alone?

6) Where is your favorite vacation spot?

7) What was your most embarrassing moment? Why?

8) Who is your most admired person?

9) What is your favorite subject in school?

10) What is your favorite season?

11) Who is your favorite author?

12) What do you want to be when you grow up? Why?


REMEMBER:

Check your Writing!

1) Did I proofread my writing for spelling errors?

2) Does the first letter of each new sentence, as well as each proper noun (the names of people, places and things) begin with a capital letter?

3) Is “I” always capitalized?

4) Does every sentence end in a period (.), question mark (?) or exclamation point (!)?

5) Did I put one space between each word and two spaces after each period and between all sentences?

Orientation 2010

http://ps376grade5socialstudies.blogspot.com/

Topic: Introduction to Social Studies/Technology


My mission is to promote teaching and learning as core human activities dependent on relationship, passion and vision--in service to creativity, personal growth and a sustainable world.

Instructor: Mr. Almaas

Hello Students:

A new year and a new room!

Welcome to our Social Studies/Technology class. You are living during a time when we are experiencing the largest increase in expressive capability in human history. It will be a function of this class to help you become effective communicators in the media of your time.

We will be meeting here online every week where we will cover the social studies curriculum using technology.

Today you will be assigned a seat here in our, we'll go over the rules and then jump right in to our first assignment.

The Rules Of Our Class:

1) Be respectful of yourself and others.
2) Raise your hand to speak during class.
3) Listen quietly while others are speaking.
4) Always do your best!

Behavior Rubric





Grading

Each week you will be given an assignment to complete in class. If completed satisfactorily, you will get a check in the grade book beside your name as per the rubric below.


Social Studies/Technology Rubric

Check Plus = Information is accurate and useful. The theme or main idea of the
assignment is clear and related to the purpose or theme of the project.


Check = Information is clear and correct. The theme or main idea of the assignment is more or less clear and related to the purpose or theme of the project.


Check Minus = Completed week's assignment approaching standard. Information is
incomplete or not correct. The completed assignment does not have a clear purpose
or central theme.

No Check = Assignment was not completed.


Final Grade Rubric

All check pluses for the projects and weekly assignments, along with good behavior, during a grading period will result in a final grade of:

4

A mixture of checks and check pluses for the projects and weekly assignments, along with good behavior, during a grading period will result in a final grade of:

3

Too many check minuses and/or questionable classroom behavior during a grading period will result in a final grade of:

2

Too many check minuses, unexcused absences from class and poor classroom behavior during a grading period will result in a final grade of:

1


TODAY'S ACTIVITY

Today we have gone over the rules and procedures of our class, you watched a PowerPoint presentation showing many interesting sights around the Catskill Mountains and you learned how to sign in and access the online activities for this class.

Now you will notice New York State's geographical location in the United States by completing an online activity where it's up to you to point out where the 50 states go on a map of the United States:

Click the hyperlink above and begin.

Good luck!

Memorial Day

Hello Students:

Today we will take a look at Memorial Day, a patriotic holiday in the United States of America, usually celebrated on the last Monday in May. Click here to read about Memorial Day. When you have finished, answer the following questions in your social studies notebooks.

1) What is Memorial Day?

2) Why was it originally celebrated?

3) Who does it honor now?

4) What city is is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day?

5) Who is Major General John A. Logan?

6) List four things people do to celebrate Memorial Day.

Slavery Ends

Hello Students:

Today you will be using an interactive timeline called the History of the United States. Before you visit this site, read the information below. Then click on the link below to begin.

* When the United States Timeline appears, drag your mouse to the right until you reach the year 1865.

* Click on the picture titled "Slavery Ends."

* There will be a red button at the bottom of the page that says, “read me.” Click it and read the paragraph that appears.

* This same paragraph will appear on each of the following pages, so you may review it whenever you click “read me.” You may hide the writing by clicking on the “hide me” button whenever you wish to view the whole picture.

* Look at all five of the photographs on slavery by clicking on the moving sprocket button in the bottom right-hand corner of each picture.

* When you are finished, return to this page by clicking on the “Back” button at the top, and answer the questions below in your social studies notebooks.

*You may go back and reread any time you wish.

If you are ready to begin, click here.

Can you answer these questions about slavery?

1. In what year was slavery outlawed in the United States?

2. What document ended slavery?

3. From what continent did most enslaved people come?

4. About how many enslaved people were shipped to the United States?

5. After slavery ended, Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee. What is Tuskegee?