7th Grade Social Studies

With Mr. Just

bjust@mohawkschools.org

6/11

Hi, everyone, and welcome to our last full week of school! This week we will be focused on reviewing for our final exam on 6/19 and 6/20.

    • The deadline for any make up or late work for this quarter is Tuesday, 6/12.
    • Please return your textbook as soon as possible.
    • A complete study guide for the exam will be handed out in class on Tuesday.

6/4

Hi, everyone! This week we will be doing some very exciting art integration work with Ms. Brooks, focusing on the artistic styles of the Byzantine Empire.

    • We have completed our last homework assignment out of the textbook! Any outstanding assignments are due Monday 6/11!
    • When all homework for quarter 4 is complete, please return your textbook (you don't want your family to get billed for it!).
    • For our last vocabulary quiz of the year, the words will be orthodox, heresy, icon, and mosaic.

5/29

Hi, everyone! We are in crunch time when it comes to ancient Rome. Crunch time is the time that immediately precedes pumpkin time!

    • All Rome projects will be due no later than 5/31.
    • Chapter 11 section 3 questions 1-4 will be due on Monday 6/4. This is the year's final book homework!
    • Textbooks will be collected next week.
    • Due to missing Monday and Friday this week, we will not be having a vocab quiz!

5/21

Hi, everyone! We are now entering the home stretch, with only 2 more weeks left to complete our study of ancient Rome.

    • All Rome projects will be due no later than 5/31.
    • Chapter 11 section 2 questions 1-4, the years penultimate book homework assignment, will be due on Tuesday, 5/29.
    • This week's quiz words will be forum, Punic Wars, imperium, and Pax Romana.

5/15

Hi, everyone! This week we will be taking MCAS on Monday and Tuesday.

    • consequently, there will be no vocab quiz this Friday.
    • Chapter 11 section 1 questions 1-4 will be due on Monday, 5/21.

5/7

Hi, everyone! This week we will continue Rome projects, all of which should be completed by Thursday 5/31.

    • This week's vocab words will be gladiator, senate, Consul, and aqueduct.
    • Chapter 10 section 3 questions 1-4 will be due Wednesday, 5/16. This anomaly is due to MCAS on Monday and Tuesday.

4/30

Hi, everyone! This week we will be starting work on our Rome projects! I am very excited for this, as the projects we did for ancient Greece came out very well.

    • This week's vocab words will be magistrate, republic, plebeian, and patrician.
    • Chapter 10 section 2 questions 1-4 will be due Monday, 5/7
    • All Rome projects will be due Thursday, 5/31

4/23

Hi, everyone, and welcome back from break! This week we'll be starting our study of ancient Rome in earnest. This will be another portfolio unit, and I will be posting a link to the unit materials shortly.

    • This week's vocab words will be antiquity, phenomenon, consensus, periodization.
    • Chapter 10 section 1 questions 1 through 3 will be due Monday, 4/30
    • The last day to hand in blizzard bag assignments is this Friday, 4/27!

4/9

Hi, everyone! Monday and Tuesday are ELA MCAS, so this will be a light week in class leading up to vacation. We will be looking at the Odyssey and beginning our study of the Romans.

    • There is no vocab quiz this week.

4/2

Hi, everyone! This will be the last week for Greece projects. Starting Thursday, we will be writing a brief essay connecting the achievements and culture of ancient Greece to our own. Reminders:

    • All Greece projects are due at the end of the school day this Wednesday, 4/4
    • ELA MCAS is next Monday and Tuesday
      • Because of this, there will be no book homework due until after April Break, when we will begin our study of the Romans
      • We will also not have any new vocabulary words this week, although we will be having a review quiz on Friday drawn from words that we have already learned. We will also be doing some review activities with these words.

3/27

Hi, everyone! We are wrapping up our Greece projects this week. Some important notes:

    • I have extended the deadline for Greece projects until 4/4
    • Chapter 9 Section 4, Questions 1-4 will be due Monday 4/2
    • This week's vocabulary words will be legacy, anachronism, and dichotomy

3/19

Hi, everyone!

    • This week's vocab words are agora, stoa, laconic, and lingua franca. As a reminder, a full list of words and deffinitions can be found at the link above.
    • Chapter 9 Section 3, Questions 1-4 will be due Monday 3/26

3/12

Hi, everyone! Not much new news this week just remember

    • How do the achievements and culture of the ancient Greeks continue to influence our lives today?
    • This week's vocab words will be dialect, hoplite, and phalanx.
    • Chapter 9 Section 2, Questions 1-4 will be due Monday 3/19.

3/5

Hi, everyone! I apologize for the lapse in my posts. We are now deeply embedded in our Greece projects! The project packet for this unit can be easily found above. Make sure to refer back to the question:

    • How do the achievements and culture of the ancient Greeks continue to influence our lives today?
    • This week's vocab words will be Hellenism, alliance, and infantry.
    • Chapter 9 Section 1, Questions 1-4 will be due the Monday 3/12.

2/12

Hi, everyone, and welcome to our study of ancient Greece! I know for some students this is what they've been looking forward to all year. We will be doing this unit as a series of projects, each designed to highlight one aspect of ancient Greek civilization. I will put some of these materials on this website for easy reference. As we progress through this journey, I will be asking students to keep in mind:

    • How do the achievements and culture of the ancient Greeks continue to influence our lives today?
    • This week's vocab words will be colony, democracy, acropolis, and oligarchy.
    • Chapter 8 Section 1, Questions 1-4 will be due the Monday we return from break, which is 2/26.

2/5

Hi, everyone! This week we will finally finish our synthesis essay! After several weeks of hard work, I am delighted to say that I am very proud of what we have accomplished with this assignment.

    • This week's homework will be Chapter 8 Section 1, Questions 1-4, due Monday, 2/12. This begins our work with Greece.
    • This week's vocab words will be exalted, compensate, malicious, and polis.

1/29

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be completing the drafts of our synthesis essay!
    • There will not be any book homework this week, but we will resume with Chapter 8 Section 1 next Monday.
    • We are going to start vocab quizzes again this week. This week's vocabulary words will be anoint, thesis, context, decree, and extinguish.

1/22

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be continuing our synthesis essay by looking at different examples of hymns and texts that surround kingship from the ancient Middle East.
    • There will be no vocab quiz this Friday, due to the exam week schedule. There will also be no exam. We will return to regular vocabulary quizzes next week.
    • There will not be any book homework due this week.

1/18

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be looking at the first set of texts related to our synthesis essay.
    • There will be no vocab quiz this Friday.
    • Chapter 7 Section 3 questions 1-4 will be due on Monday, 1/22.

1/8

  • Hi, everyone! We have been set back a little by weather in the past week, so we won't be starting our big synthesis essay until the end of this week.
    • Chapter 7.1 was still due today, however, and Chapter 7 Section 2 questions 1-5 will be due Tuesday, 1/16.
    • Because of the weather, we will put off quizzing on geography and myth until this Friday, and will also add hymn, annotate, and synthesis.

1/2

  • Welcome back, everyone! This week we will begin our look at ancient Israel. For anyone with questions about this topic I will refer you back to the final page of the syllabus, above. Stay warm, and I hope you all have a happy new year!
    • This week's homework will be Chapter 7 Section 1 questions 1-5, which can be found on page 207.
    • This week's vocabulary words will be geography and myth.

12/18

  • Hi, everyone! We'll be wrapping up our study of Egypt this week with presentations about Egyptian gods on Monday and our unit test on Wednesday.
    • There will not be any homework over break.
    • I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season as we conclude 2017!

12/11

11/29

  • Just a quick note, everyone, the Kadesh Essay will now be due on Tuesday 12/5.

11/27

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be taking an in-depth look at the Battle of Kadesh, one of history's earliest recorded battles, and the peace treaty that resulted from it. We will be composing an essay on the topic in class which will be due on Friday 12/1.
    • This week's homework will be to read Chapter 4 Section 2 and complete questions 1-4. As I noted last week, I will now be expecting students to use the table of contents in their textbooks to determine which pages they will need to read.
    • This week's vocab quiz words will be bias and vassal.

11/20

  • Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
    • Welcome to Egypt, we will be studying this civilization until we break for the holidays.
    • This week we will be studying the mummification process and making our own potato mummies.
    • There is homework due the Monday after Thanksgiving. Students are expected to have read Chapter 4 Section 1 and completed questions 1-4. Just as a quick note, I will no longer be posting page numbers for these assignments, but rather will be expecting students to find the appropriate section using the table of contents at the beginning of the book.

11/5

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be working on presentations focusing on different Mesopotamian empires.
    • As this is a short week, we will not be having a vocab quiz, neither have I assigned any new homework.
    • The date for our Mesopotamia unit test has been moved to 11/15. I hope to get a study guide to students before we break for the long weekend.
    • Remember that Thursday and Friday, students do not have school.

10/30

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be digging (get it?) into Mesopotamian art and material culture.
    • Our vocab words will be commodity, depict, and inference.
    • This week's homework will be to complete chapter review questions 1-14 on pages 79 and 80.
    • Our Mesopotamia test is tentatively scheduled for 11/8, I'll let you know if this changes.

10/23

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be looking at the Mesopotamian contribution to technology, including some inventions that we still use today.
    • Our vocab words will be polytheism, deity, cuneiform, and cereal.
    • This week's homework will be to read Chapter 3 Section 4 (pp. 70-77) and answer BOTH 1 & 2 on p. 71 and questions 1-4 on p. 77.

10/17

10/9

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be transitioning into our discussion of the Bronze Age Middle East. Say "goodbye" to the Stone Age forever, now we have metal! Our lessons this week will focus on the languages spoken in the period, as well as the development of writing.
    • This week's homework will be to read Chapter 3 Section 2 (pp. 58-64) and complete section assignemnt questions 1-3.
    • This week's vocab quiz words will be review, no new words will be added. I have, however, added a new page to this website that contains a comprehensive list of course vocabulary which will be updated as the year progresses.

10/1

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be wrapping up our study of domestication and the Neolithic Revolution which it caused and reviewing in preparation for our first test.
    • There will be no homework from the book this week, as I would like everyone focused on reviewing for the upcoming test!
    • At the moment, the test is scheduled for Friday 10/6, however I am seriously considering pushing it to early next week in order to give us more time to review.

9/25

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be really diving into the history of domestication and where the food we eat comes from.
  • We will be going to the Big E on Thursday, if you haven't already handed in your permission slip, now is the time.
    • This week's homework will be to read Chapter 3.1 (pp. 50-57) and complete section assignment questions 1-3.
    • This week's vocab quiz words will be economy, agriculture, pastoral, and hunter-gatherer.

9/18

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be beginning our study of the Agricultural Revolution, one of the great moments of change in human history.
  • I hope to see everyone at back to school night on Thursday at 6!
    • This week's homework will be to read Chapter 2 Section 3 (pp. 40-43) and complete section assignment questions 1-3.
      • This is due Monday, September 25th.
      • We will also have a vocab quiz on Friday.

9/10

  • Hi, everyone! This week we will be wrapping up our study of human evolution and the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. We will be paying particular attention to the development of early artistic expression (more on this later).
    • This weeks homework will be to read Chapter 2 Section 2 (pp. 35-39) and complete section assessment questions 1-3.
      • This is due Monday, September 18th.
    • We will also have our first Vocab Miniquiz on Friday.

9/5:

  • Hi, everyone! I hope you enjoyed your long weekend after our short first week of school. We are most definitely back for real now and, as such, will begin the long and brutal task of completing homework. EACH STUDENT SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT HOME A COPY OF OUR TEXTBOOK entitled "World History: Ancient Civilizations Through the Renaissance" (click on the title to see a picture of the cover). We will be using this book to complete most of our homework this year. Our first assignment will be:
      • Read Chapter 2 Section 1 (PP. 24 - 34).
      • Complete section assessment questions 1 - 4 found on page 34.
      • This will be due Monday, September 11th.

Welcome!

Hi, everyone and welcome to Social Studies with Mr. Just. I'm extremely excited to be working with your children this year! To learn more about me click here. To learn more about what we will be doing this year click here. To contact me, please use the email address at the top of the page. I look forward to hearing from you!

Benjamin Just