Stock Market
During our unit on the Great Depression, students spent a long time discussing the Stock Market, and gaining insight into how markets function. During this time students worked together to develop their research and writing skills, helping each other understand and then write about the Great Depression. During this time students engaged in free-market vs. protectionist debates with each other. Some students were assigned their own businesses, and were given different scenarios to work with, developing understandings of supply-and-demand.
Miss Jensen
Roaring Twenties
During our unit on the Roaring twenties, students familiarized themselves with Jazz age performers, and the changing values of society. We watched films that showed how the Flapper girls defied social norms by cutting their hair short, smoking, and wearing dresses that showed their ankles. Students pretended to have conversations with their own children about new-fangled inventions like movies, Jazz music, and radios. Students gained an appreciation for how much technology changes everyday life.
Miss Jensen
Civil War Plays
Studying The beginnings of the Civil War, students had to write their OWN skit scripts, including specific names and events. Students shared these in front of the class, making the rawness and anxiety of the era come to life. Student Matteo Papacostas gave one of his characters a family member away at war, and had him try to convey to an indifferent character how much the war affected him personally. This unit helped students connect with each other as Americans, and with Americans long gone.
Miss Jensen
Civil War news
Extra! Extra! Early Civil War reporters writing up a storm! During this unit we wrote news stories on early Civil War events as if they were unfolding right before our eyes. Students wrote stories about the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas Nebraska Act, and John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry. Many included interviews with eye wittiness recalling sights, smells, and feelings.
Miss Jensen
North vs South
As we studied Sectionalism and how the U.S. was beginning to divide. We compared the North’s and South’s views of the Constitution, and the idea of different kinds of contracts. We took time to talk about the difference between a Union and a Confederacy—asking what makes us one, instead of many? This brought up though-provoking questions about how to have unity when people are very different from each other.
Miss Jensen
Abolitionists
We studied people who were beginning to speak out against slavery—the Abolitionists. We studied men and women like Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth, and practiced parts of their famous speeches out loud. We wrote diary entries, pretending we were escaping from slavery on the Underground Railroad, and had stimulating discussions about the importance of recognizing Abolitionists as American heroes.
Miss Jensen
Morse Code
As the United States was expanding westward, many new things were being invented. One of the inventions that made travel and transportation faster was the telegraph, and the development of Morse Code. Students studied how inventions like the telegraph improved communication, and practiced writing their own telegrams in Morse Code! This gave us a profound appreciation for modern communication technology.
Miss Jensen
Pioneers
We began our second semester by learning about how pioneers traveled west on the Oregon Trail. Students completed posters, research papers, and presented about their findings. Even though everyone presented on the Oregon Trail, the variety of facts was very interesting. 7th Grader Isaiah Bienemann explained how when the wagon trains would camp at night, they would circle their wagons, making it easier for the group to protect itself from animal or human enemies. Student Karen Lopez showed the differences in men’s and women’s tasks on the trail, and the intense difficulty of both.
Miss Jensen
What happened in Wittenberg?
We spent time learning about how the church began in Israel, then spread to Rome, then spread around the world, and why it needed to be reformed during the Renaissance. We learned about Martin Luther and his ninety-five complaints about church abuses. Students performed skits, pounding ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany (well, we had to use the classroom 301 door). We watched parts of the movie Luther with Joseph Feinnes, and students wrote letters to Pope Leo X, arguing for Luther’s side. Students also wrote letters to friends, pretending to be Martin Luther in hiding as he translated the Bible into German.
Miss Jensen
Famous Figures
Transitioning from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, when western culture was reborn, we studied important figures such as Johann Guttenberg, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Christopher Columbus. We looked at how better science led to better technology, which led to better ships, and more exploration. Students had to pretend to be a significant Renaissance figure in front of the class and be interviewed. Students then had to guess whom each person was based on their contribution to society.
Miss Jensen