Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first big break is upon us and we are fast approaching the midway mark of school. Now is an important time to pay attention to your grades and start studying for your midterms.

Midterms are tests that you have in every class that asks you questions from the entire first semester. We will range from basic map skills to government types. If you are not comfortable with any of the skills we have covered in class thus far please come in for tutorials during lunch.

After the break we will look at the indigenous cultures of Latin America: the Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations. These civilizations are ancient but we can see their influences in Latin American culture today. We will be doing a short project based on these civilizations followed by a study of modern day Latin America.

For your leisure time during the break you will receive a packet on each of these civilizations. The packets are not due until Wednesday December 1st, but if you would like to complete them and turn them in the Monday you get back I will give you extra credit (free 100 or replacement grade for a 0).

Safe travels, eat lots of Turkey, and I'll see you in a week.

Mr. Hanson

Tutorials and Extra Credit

Just a Reminder...

Tutorials are daily in my room during lunch. I have created new passes that are available on the front pin board for you to take with you and use to get out of the cafeteria. You don't have to come to my room for help, you could also use it as a quiet place to work, read, or work on a project with a friend.

I also have three MacBooks that are available for student use. Feel free to come up here and use them for anything school related.

Tutorials are Friday morning in the library as well. Ms. Burnham or myself will be in there to help with projects, homework, or concepts you are having trouble with.

There has been little to no effort on extra credit, so until there is a demand I will not be posting extra credit projects. I will, from time to time, be posting daily grade extra credit. Here is an example that will get you a free 100:

Click on the following link and follow the directions. This link will take you to a GoogleDoc, an online version of Microsoft Word that you can use to create, share, and edit. You will be able to edit the document and save your changes. We'll use this in class in the future for projects.

Click Here for Google Doc

Thanks!
Mr. Hanson

Revolution, part dos

Just wanted to check in and give you links to documents that haven't even been passed out in class yet! Hot off the presses!

First, the format for your compare and contrast paper.

Second, here's the format for the declaration.

And last, here is the power point with the graphic organizers and vocabulary.

Happy Revolution-ing!!!

Hanson

REVOLUTION

Revolution is upon us here at MMS!

For our next project we will be creating our own revolution and declaring independence from the US. The assignments for this project are as follows:
-Written Declaration by group.
-Speech given by group.
-Compare and Contrast report on limited and unlimited governments by each person.

For a copy of the entry document and rubric click here.

Stay tuned for more information and links to helpful websites!

Mr. Hanson

Market Days

We are knee deep in the ever so popular project Market Days and I'm seeeing some speed bumps for the Market Days report. A rough draft of your report is due next week. To access the powerpoint that we went over in class click this link. It will take you to a GoogleDoc version of the same powerpoint that we went over in class and that is now hanging on the back wall.

Don't forget, your product has to be finished by Thursday 10/14. That is Market Day. If you have no product you won't get to participate and you will receive a zero for the day. I've seen some great ideas and work in class so I am very optimistic about the outcome.

Leave a comment if you have a question or email me at chris.hanson@manorisd.net.

Mr. Hanson

Greetings!!!

We are a month in and things are going great. We just finished our first major project and will start another next week.

Next Tuesday we will have our intro to the annual Market Days project. The project allows students to create and sell (for fake money) products at a school wide market. Most of my former students still say this was their favorite thing in 6th grade.

Hope you have a great weekend and we'll get to work Tuesday! Don't forget, vocabulary test on Monday.

Mr. Hanson

Landforms and Resources Project

Today we will be working in the computer lab on our Landforms and Resources "New Society" Project. You will have time to research your area, type reports, and even make a template for your map.



Use search engines for information on your area such as:

http://www.google.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.bing.com/



Use keywords such as:

Fiji Islands (just the name of the place)

Fiji Resources

Fiji Landforms



To make a base template for your map and/or home design use the 'Paint' feature on your computer. Click 'Start' at the bottom left, click 'programs', click 'accessories', then click 'paint'. There are shapes you can use, text boxes, and even a pencil tool that allows you to draw freely. Remember, I can't print color so you'll need to add color later.

To type your paper you can use Microsoft Word. Click on 'start', click 'programs', click 'microsoft office', and click 'microsoft word' at the bottom. If you need help let me know.



If you do somehting you want to use make sure I save it on my flash drive so that I can print it out in class. Make sure you put your name and period number somewhere on the document.



Let me know if you have any questions....



Mr. Hanson

Class Computers

Computer links 9/13/10:

Go to these links to learn about landforms.

Kid's Geography

Mr. Donn's Geo Website

Search Engine:

Google

Search for:

Landforms

Use the image feature as well.

Upcoming and Extra Credit

Hey There,

This week marks the end of the first 3 weeks of school and thus the first progress report. Students will receive their progress reports next week so they can bring them home. If you have any questions please email me at:
chris.hanson@manorisd.net

Wednesday, September 15th MMS will be hosting a Back to School Night. Parents, come meet the teachers and find out more about what they are learning. I will arrive late because of a cross country meet, but I will have a sign in sheet by my door. Parents that sign in will earn their students extra credit.

We have been working with map skills and students are working hard at mapping hurricanes, both past and present. We will wrap up our activity on Monday but students might be interested in the following extra credit project (worth a replacement major grade!):

Hurricane Reporting:
You are a meterologist tracking a hurricane for a major news company. Your job is to track that hurricane and map out the coordinates every day. You also need to write a one page report describing one of the following:

Formation
Strengthening
Landfall/Effects and Damage

Your report should be followed by at least two pictures of the hurricane/hurricane damage. They can be printed from the internet or cut out from a newspaper.

To find the latitude and longitude go to this national hurricane site. You can use google or yahoo to research the other items.

Hurricanes can be current or be famous past hurricanes. I have maps available for the tracking part, but the rest is up to you. These projects will be accepted for extra credit until October 13th.

Greetings,

Next week we will move on from Continents and Oceans and in to the world of hurricanes. Our students will be using hurricane information and data in all of their core classes so it should be easier to transition from class to class.

I will be updating an extra credit project next week to go along with the hurricanes. Remember that extra credit projects are worth a major grade addition/replacement.

Students will also be recieving their current gradein my class by next Friday. Check their calendar in their notebook in the social studies section.

Have a great long weekend!

Mr. Hanson

Welcome to Sixth Grade!!!

It is an exciting time here at Manor Middle School as we prepare to begin the 2010-11 school year! Manor ISD is making a commitment to our students and parents by improving and increasing the use of technology in our classrooms and lesson plans. This blog will provide those opportunities at home through educational web sites, extra credit projects, and a form of communication between parents, students, and myself.

This account is linked to my personal gmail account so it is the ONLY way you could reach me outside of school hours. Not only does the information on it provide extra help with subjects, but by commenting on it I can instantly see any questions, problems, or comments. Feel free to browse my posts from last year below.

I'm looking forward to an exciting year and am very excited to be involved in your lives. Please let me know if there are any questions.

Mr. Hanson

chris.hanson@manorisd.net

New Extra Credit!!!

I had a lot of students get low grades on our last test over Latin America, so in an effort to improve their test grade they can complete the following assignment.

There are countless books in our school library over Latin America. From countries to culture students can check out a book and discover new aspects of Latin American culture.

The assignment is to read a book over a current or past Latin American culture, country, landform, etc. and create their own childrens book using the main ideas from the book they read.

The childrens book needs to be at least 6 pages complete with cover sheet, illustrations, and a bibliography on the back "cover" of the book they used. They may not use the internet for information, only books.

Books are due on March 6th by the end of the day. They can be computer made or hand made. For more instruction or for help come by my tutorials at lunch.

Thanks,

Mr. Hanson

Haiti Disaster

As our class focuses on the historical and contemporary culture of Latin America my students have learned and discussed a little about the recent tragedy in Haiti. Students found facts about the country and discussed how the recent events affected the people there and all over the world, including ways in which they could help.

For extra credit I would like my students to develop a brochure covering what happened and how people can contribute to the rebuilding of Haiti. Brochures should be tri-panel and include text as well as pictures. They may use a computer program like Microsoft Publisher or they can make them by hand, drawing or gluing on the pictures.

Brochures should include at least one panel with background info on Haiti, two panels on the devistation of the earthquake, and two panels discussing aid agencies and other organizations that people can donate money or materials to help those in Haiti.

Projects will be due February 5th by the end of the school day. They will count towards a major grade that will be averaged in with the others. If you have any questions feel free to reply on this blog or email me directly.

Thanks,

Mr. Hanson

Half Way There!!

As we come back after the Winter Break it brings an exciting time into our classroom. For starters, your student is half way to 7th grade. Emphasis starts to be placed on the all important TAKS tests coming up after Spring Break. You will see your student using more reading and math strategies in all classes, including Social Studies.

Second, it means that we are going to take all of the vocabulary and theories we have learned and see how they play out in the rest of the world. We will start with Latin America. This culture region starts at our neighbor, Mexico, and encompasses all of the countries in Central and South America. These countries share some unique culture traits that allow us to learn about them simultaneously.

Here are some website links that will help when learning about Latin American geography and ancient cultures:

Geography

Countries and Capitals

Mayans

Aztecs

Incas

Stay tuned for extra credit opportunities and more helpful websites!

Mr. Hanson