Pop quiz and Gumby

Today in class we reviewed the powerpoint on Greece quickly. After that, we took a pop quiz which I got a 905% on. When we finished the quiz, Mr. Schick told us stories about when he was in school like two incidents that happened with Gumby. The one landed in his teacher's coffee, and the other one he hit the nun with. After this, we talked about when our group project is and what we have to do for it. It was an entertaining class.

Group Project

Meredith Engelhaupt
Kacey Newman
Alayna Meekins
Topic: The Life and Writings of Homer

Today in class, we looked at the reviews that students gave Mr. Schick as a teacher. Some of them he thought were funny and he read them to us. After this, we looked at videos of babies crying because Mr. Schick always asks people if they're crying. To end class, we talked about the group project we have to do. I'm in a group with Kacey and Alayna and we have to do the topic "The Life and Writings of Homer". Everyone picked their topics out of a hat. After we picked our topics and groups, class was over.

Greece part 2

In class we continued taking these notes on Greece:

• Mountains covered 3/4 of Greece
• It was a peninsula surrounded on 3 sides by water
• 1,400 islands were located on the seas
• The Greeks were skilled sailers and shipbuilders
• They had poor/limited natural resources 
• Difficult to unite- independent communities
• Grew grapes, grains, and olives
• Only 20% of land is arable (suitable for farming)
• Lack of resources led to colonization
• Temperature ranged from the mid 40's in Winter to the low 80's in the Summer

Some early people- first, Mycenaeans 

• Influence began around 2000 BCE 
• Mycenae is located on a rocky-ridge and protected by a 20 foot wall
• Dominated Greece from 1600-1200 BCE 
• 1400 BCE- Mycenaeans invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture/language
• 1200 BCE- The "sea people" began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palaces. So, the Dorians moved into this region
• The Dorians were less advanced 
• Trade-based economy collapsed 
• Writing disappeared for 400 years

Homer

• Greek Oral Tradition- Stories passed down by word of mouth
• Homer lived in the dark ages and told stories of the Trojan war
• The lliad- One of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans 
• The Odyssey- Odysseus attempted to return home, being thwarted by Poseidon 
• 12,110 lines of Dactylic Hexameter
• The "Homeric Question" - Homer may have been a mythical creation
• Blind wandering minstrel; Heroic figure

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher who was credited as one of the founders of western philosophy. He was born in 470 BC and died when he was 71 years old in 399 BC. He tried to establish an ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine. He thought that human choice was motivated by desire for happiness. Socrates used something called the socratic method where he asked questions in order to stimulate thinking. He was accused of corrupting the youth and worshipping false gods so he was sentenced to death. He was put in prison and when given the chance to escape he refused. He was forced to drink Hemlock (poison) and died.

Cyber class

Today in class, we talked about cyber days and what Mr. Schick thinks will happen in the future. He thinks we will eventually have cyber days on video chat at a certain time. Mr. Schick also thinks that one day, they will just video chat for school all the time. We talked about many things that might happen in the future like having a chip implanted into your neck when you're a newborn. Another thing we talked about is if you think of a song or something you want someone to hear, you can look into their eyes and they can hear it too. We discussed more things like this until class was over.

Greece

Today we went over our test from the other day on Ancient Egypt. After that, we took these notes on Greece:

• The world's greatest civilizations are all located on rivers
• Mesopotamia is located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
• Egypt is located on the Nile river
• India is located on the Indus river
• China is located on the Huang He river
• Greece is located between the Ionian and Aegean seas
• Rivers provided key essentials for a great civilization like bathing, irrigation, fishing, drinking, and transportation)
• Water is a dependable source
• Greece is between Italy and Turkey, South of Yugoslavia
• 1,400 islands surround Greece 
• Greece has many mountains which makes it easier to sail around than travel across
• The Greeks are very skilled sailers, navigators, and ship building
• Terra means "Earth" and Mediterranean means "Middle of the Earth"
• Greece goes into the Mediterranean sea

March 2nd Cyberday

1. Note the significance of Greece's location.

• Greece is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Aegean Sea which gives them access to a place for fishing, bathing, and transportation. 

2. Describe Greece's topography. 

• Greece has a mountain range called the Pindus which runs from North to South down the middle of Greece, dividing the peninsula into 4 geographic regions. 

3. Look at Greece's surroundings. 

• Greece is surrounded by water on three sides, and 80% is covered by mountain ranges. 

4. How would all this effect their culture?

• The location of Greece caused the people who settled there to be independent from other civilizations and people who used and took advantage of the water. They traded lots of goods and grew things like olives for olive oil and grapes for wine. 

5. What bodies of water surround Greece?

• Greece is surrounded by 3 bodies of water. The Mediterranean Sea, The Ionian Sea, and the Aegean Sea. 

6. What large island is to the South/Southeast?

• Crete is located at the Southern edge of the Aegean Sea, Southeast of Greece. 

7. Describe where Athens and Sparta are located relating to the sea, and to each other. 

• Athens and Sparta are both located in the South near the Mediterranean sea. Athens is located in the Southeast region of Greece, and Sparta is located in the Southwest region.