Welcome to 7th Grade Modern Western Civilization Social Studies

We have embarked on another journey into a new school year, and for those parents who were not able to attend the WSMS Open House last week, I welcome you and have enjoyed your children over the past few weeks. While the first three or four weeks is a time of getting to know one another, it has also been a very busy few weeks, because our work demands call us to stay the course! We have just concluded our Fall of Rome Unit which is really more of a refresher course for the students from their exposure to it during 6th grade social studies. Because we are now required to teach according to the CLIP Model (per Board and Mr. Page's instructions) we are busier than ever using literacy techniques to inform our Social Studies content. We work in groups, we have self-selection choices in much of our work, we differentiate lessons according to student need, we break down and decode our reading, and we write, write, write and then write some more. I'm exhausted just explaining it, so you can imagine how your student feels having to actually partake in the activities! Here is a sample of our differentiated Learning Menu that accompanies our text book:



This menu affords students choice in what they would like to accomplish, and changes for each unit we have. The last portion of it also always includes enrichment activities.

We have been busy beavers each week as we have added one more project to our walls as the weeks have slipped by:

 

This week's project is our historical fiction 55 word nano story. Students must complete a nano book cover and historical fiction piece that contains all the elements of plot within the constraint of 55 words. I can't wait to see these - these students are so creative!

This week also marks our entry into the Ottoman Empire and its spread into western Europe. Your child will have a new set of vocabulary words, primary source documents and learning menu as we move into this unit. Please take a look at your students' folders. There is a grading sheet in there and list of all that we get, and all that we do.

Please check back here weekly for changes and information, and have a wonderful week.