Hello,

This was conference week, so it was half days all week. We finished reading Chapter 7, which is all about consumption patterns, and then the students did an assignment on Google classroom about looking at more current statistics regarding consumption and wealth distribution than the textbook gives. 

We did not have school Monday November 12 in honor of Veterans Day. 

Tuesday November 13, we started a new assignment on Google classroom about the effects of American consumerism across the world. Students were to create a short slideshow giving evidence from sources about the effects. They were provided sources, or were able to use sources of their own, as long as they were cited. 

Wednesday November 14, I had a sub because I had a district training I was required to attend. The class continued to work on the assignment and it was due at the end of class, regardless of if they had finished. 

Thursday Nov. 15 the classes are transitioning to being taught by Mrs. Walter; their classroom will be in portable 3, and they all had a textbook checked out to them Wednesday that they will be required to bring to class.

I had a great few months teaching your students. Thank you!

Mrs. Watson

This week we took two days to discuss the Great Lakes region of the United States. According to the curriculum map we need to cover Chapter 7 of the Unit covering the United States and Canada, and then move on to Latin America. Rather than entirely skip the region of the Great Lakes, we used Google Earth to explore and identify why they are important and what some current problems are. Students watched a few short videos, including one that demonstrates how the Great Lakes are all connected to each other and how they are reached from the ocean. They turned in a worksheet with brief notes that they took on the area on Tuesday at the end of class. This was all done in class. 

Wednesday and Thursday we began reading Chapter 7 which is all about consumerism, and in particular how American consumption patterns affect the rest of the world. 

This week I was informed that Mrs. Walter is planning to return to teach World Geography again; she should be back in the classroom starting November 15th. I believe that students will be changing classrooms and going out to her new classroom in the portables.

This week students had independent time to work on a mapping lab; this is good practice with mapping skills but also required by the curriculum map. 

Monday we finished discussing cultural similarities and differences between Canada and the United States, and then started Challenge 1.

The mapping lab has 5 challenges. Challenge 1 begins with locating physical features. Challenge 2 identifies political features. Challenge 3 deals with "where?" and asks questions about resources, vegetation, climate zones, etc in Canada and U.S. Challenge 4 asks "Why there?" and has students use several maps to discover why people live where they do. Challenge 5 asks them to locate three places and take notes on physical features, etc and then identify the location of a photo based on what they see (vegetation, resources, etc).

 The mapping lab sheets are available on TCI.com.

This week we focused on learning introductory information for unit 2, which is all about Canada and the United States. We read the section on pages 42-49 and took notes with a powerpoint. Unit 2 powerpoint for notes  my powerpoint continues on to Chapter 3, but based on the curriculum map we won't continue with that. Relevant material stops at the pink slide. 

This week we finished Chapter 2. We took some notes with a powerpoint and  did a worksheet on regions. We reviewed the material with a Kahoot (posted already) and took the test over Chapter 2 on Thursday. Friday we graded and discussed the test and previewed the next unit.

Here is the link to the Kahoot! we did in class for review; I'm confused about student access, so I would love feedback on if me just providing the link gives students access to the quiz. 

Kahoot

Thank you!

Mrs. Watson

This week we worked on material for chapter 2. Students worked on several worksheets I left when I was gone the 27th and 28th, and those should have been turned in by Wednesday Oct. 3. We spent time discussing the content of chapter 2, which is all about thematic maps, with a Powerpoint, taking some of the information in the book and trying to make it more concrete or visible, and giving real-world examples. We discussed economic activities and some of those that are in Washington State, different regions throughout the United States, how the U.S. is divided into agricultural regions, and all the factors that affect vegetation. We also talked in depth about population density maps and why they might be useful, and discussed the new Link light rail line, and how that is supposed to help with the growing density and traffic of the Seattle area. 

Hello Parents and Guardians,

My 6th and 7th period social studies classes have been very talkative now that we've all gotten comfortable in class. To try to resolve this enough that we cover content and I am able to teach uninterrupted, I have changed the seating chart again, which helped, and we will be starting a new system of consequences. 

In my class, if someone is talking when I'm talking, or off task, I will put their name on the board. This visual reminder usually does the trick and I don't need to go further; if the behavior doesn't stop, I'll add checks. If the student leaves class with two checks I will call home. Once I call home, I will start filling out a school progressive discipline sheet; If I call home three days in a row, the sheet goes to admin who then does consequences like lunch detention, etc. 

Because I'm new, I'm checking with our Admin support, Mrs. Cracchiolo, to make sure I'm doing this correctly. 

Thanks!

Mrs. Watson

Hello,

In the "Helpful Resources" Link to the left, you will find a link to the TCI website where students should be able to access their online textbook. 

The book is "Regions and People". Students will need to enter my username, which is WatsonJ.  Every student has a log in; their username is first initial of first name+last name. Password is ike2018. The username is all lowercase, and students with two last names or a hyphenated last name will only enter the second of the two. 

 https://student.teachtci.com/student/sign_in

In the future if students have homework and they need the textbook to finish it, they should be able to access it through the website. 

Please let me know if there are any issues.

Thank you!

Mrs. Watson

We finished working on a review of the chapter on Monday, and if it wasn't finished by the end of class it was homework. 

We took a test over Chapter 1 on Tuesday. 

Wednesday we began reading Chapter 2 about Spatial Ways of Thinking. This chapter focuses on thematic maps rather than just geographic ones, so looking at maps that show elevation, or temperature, or population density, or natural resources.  

Students worked on several worksheets covering the information in this chapter while I was gone Thursday and Friday. 

This week we continued to work through Chapter 1, Tools of Geography, reading, discussing, and practicing skills like using the global grid of latitude and longitude, using map scales, identifying key elements of the global grid like Prime Meridian and Equator and the different zones of the Earth, including the Polar Zone, Temperate Zone, and Tropic Zone. We read about how the tilt and rotation of the Earth creates seasons and different areas of climate on Earth so that in the future we can discuss the vegetation and culture that is a result of the climate in a certain area. We began a review of the chapter Friday; students had work time Friday and Monday, and took the test Tuesday 9/25.

Hello Everyone,

This was the first full week of school. Students are still getting used to getting bellwork done when they come in, and turning it in at the end of the week; this will be a weekly assignment. 

To start off the class, we spent a few days discussing the strands of Social Studies (history, geography, political science, economics) and why we are taking the class of World Geography. We discussed how the different areas of Social studies mesh together, and how one strand can affect another, for example how the geography of a place can affect the culture. 

Our first assignment was to write a paragraph answering the question, "Why do we learn Social Studies?"

This week we focused on Chapter 1 in the textbook; this is all about the Tools of Geography, about maps and elements of maps like a scale and a key, as well as different projections of maps and terms like latitude and longitude, Prime Meridian and Equator. 

We read through about half of the chapter this week and did a few worksheets to practice skills. These are available in my files.