Glencoe World History Textbook © 2010
Unit 1: The First Civilizations and Empires
Today Marcos and I read Chapter 1: The First Humans and discussed all of the new information and new vocabulary. We completed the “Check for Understanding” section verbally and looked over Chapter 2. Marcos was on-task more than he was off.

We began our session today with a review of "community". We then read a nonfiction selection entitled "Nurses" by Cecilia Minden. The book covered several topics including what nurses do, wear, tools they use, and places they may work. We then made a poster with a picture of a nurse and some key points highlighting the role of a nurse, such as, they help us feel better, they check our vision and hearing, and they check our weight, height, and temperature. Next he cut, assembled, and colored an emergent reader entitled "Community Helpers Have Tools". This book noted the basic tools used by some community helpers such as a chef has a spoon, and an artist has a paintbrush. Finally, we enjoyed a cute fiction text, "Berenstain Bears - Visit to the Dentist" by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Sister and Brother Bear visit the dentist for a check-up and we got to see the dentist at work!

Today we continued our studies of community helpers. We reviewed the meaning of community and structures we may find from yesterday. Next, we read and colored an emergent reader called "How Do Community Helpers Help?" Emergent readers provide for very simple language to promote reading skills. Danny repeated the sentence on each page with me. This booklet simply explained the roles of the artist, chef, construction worker, hairdresser, farmer, and mail carrier. This book was sent home in his backpack. We read a book entitled "What Do Doctors Do?" by Felicia Lowenstein. This book describes the doctors in terms of their roles, specialties, places they work, and how much work it takes to become a doctor. Danny did a great job of telling me what each of the pictured doctor's tools does. We then assembled a doctor's kit with construction paper. Danny did a nice job coloring pictures of items that are usually found in doctor's bag, including band-aids, gauze, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, tongue depressor, and a rolled bandage. We then glued the items inside "Dr. Danny's" bag, which he brought home. Finally, we watched a BrainPop Jr learning video about "Going to the Doctor". The main characters Annie and Moby went for a check-up at the Pediatrician. They explained healthy and sick visits, as well as the roles of the doctor and nurse.

Danny and I began a unit on communities and community helpers today. We defined a community as a place where people live, work, and play. Danny colored and cut out pictures of items to place them with the type of community building in which those items are associated. The structures were a hospital, a firehouse, a supermarket, and a school. Danny did a great job properly sorting his items. We then reviewed that each location is part of a community. We watched a BrainPop Jr educational video about "School". We worked through some of the discussion follow up questions in the easy quiz. The video gave basic information about who and what we find in schools. We then read "Clifford Goes to Dog School" by Norman Bridwell. We laughed at the silly things Clifford the Big Red Dog did when being trained. Additionally, we read the nonfiction book, "What Does a Teacher Do?" by Felicia Lowenstein. We then used the facts in the book to make a poster highlighting the basic duties of the community helper, the teacher. We finished up the day with Starfall letter and sound practice as well as Starfall Learn to Read. With this app, we explored short vowel a stories. Danny enjoyed watching the animated stories and echoed the audio reading of each screen with short sentences such as: "Zac had a pan. Zac sat on a can".

Today we planned to continue studying the courageous Harriet Tubman by watching an Animated Hero Classics video about her. The video primarily focuses on her time as a slave and her many journeys up and down the Underground Railroad freeing fellow slaves. A video presentation of this nature helps bring these historic heroes to life!

Ottoman Empire: Ben enjoyed the history of the Ottoman Empire. It started about 1299 and ended in the 18th century. It covered Europe, Arabia, part of Africa and most of the known world. Ben has a natural fascination with ancient history. Ben it's been wonderful being your teacher this year, hope to see you next school term, have a good summer. God bless you. Great job, Ben.

Today we planned to read a non-fiction text about “Harriet Tubman”. Additionally, we were to follow-up with the Brain Pop Jr. video of the same subject to further supplement the material presented in the text. We would learn about Harriet Tubman’s life with particular focus on the Underground Railroad and her successful work in helping to free numerous slaves.

How Black leaders Improved America: Martin Luther King & Jackie Robinson helped changed our country using peaceful means. Martin L. King lead our country through peaceful demonstrations changing our country's civil rights laws, he was admired as a great leader. Jackie Robinson the first black major league baseball player, held his peace in spite of harsh criticism and physical threats. Eventually people accepted him a great player, honoring him with the Nobel Prize for Human Rights. Malcolm X was a civil rights activist, who beleived in physical force to provide black respect. Ben chose these lessons and found them very interesting. Good Job, Ben

Today we read a nonfiction selection entitled "Memorial Day" by Helen Frost. This book gave a very simple report on our country's celebration of this upcoming holiday which honors the men and women who have fought for our country. As a reward for working so hard, Gracyn was offered the option to pick another Animated Hero Classics video to learn further about individuals that impacted our history. Other choices were presented; however, she chose to watch "Helen Keller" again as she truly loves her story.

In following up with Gracyn’s studies of George Washington last week, we reviewed highlights of his life through discussion. We then watched an Animated Hero Classics learning video about George Washington. This video illustrated George’s role as a General during The American Revolution.