West Civ blogs

Today in west civ we learned about Egypt and did a paper on it. Our test will be on Monday, which is my birthday. It's a seventy point test and I asked if mr. Schick could move our test and he replied "Can you move your birthday?" We are doing Egypt for such a short time because mr. schick wants to  do Greece. Here is some of the vocab we did: delta- Nile region narmer- King pharaoh- Egyptian God Kings theocracy- Type of government in which rule is based on religious authority pyramid-For the kings of the old kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure. mummification-embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. hieroglyphic- Greek words hieros and gluph meaning "sacred carvings" papyrus- papyrus reeds.  They grew in marshy delta areas. Split the narrow reeds Mr. Schick made us do a paper that he didn't do because he stayed late to hold crying babies. (He had to make them feel better) So we couldn't fin...

delta- Nile region narmer- King pharaoh- Egyptian God Kings theocracy- Type of government in which rule is based on religious authority pyramid-For the kings of the old kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure. mummification-embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. hieroglyphic- Greek words hieros and gluph meaning "sacred carvings" papyrus- papyrus reeds.  They grew in marshy delta areas. Split the narrow reeds                     Main ideas- 3.) By being surrounded by deserts, instead of occasionally flooding, the nile only flooded every July giving them silt for harvesting. Also, the deserts shut out invaders 4.)To Egyptians, The kings were Gods. 5.) They believed in afterlife. They believe they would be judged for their deeds after death.

We reviewed for our test tomorrow.  Cuneiform is the earliest form of writing. The fertile crescent is made up of the Tires and Euphrates river. The cities that are included are Jordan, Israel, Syria Iran, and Turkey. It has amazing soil and silt was left behind. -City state- government set up to rule a city and the surrounding area. Dynasty-rulers are a family and it's passed from father to son or son in-law or brother. Cultural diffusion- the spread of an idea or belief that spread from culture/people to people. Irrigation- brings water to people polytheism- belief of multiple gods Monarcracy- government when a king rules ziggurat- place of worship and act of city-hall Gilgamesh- Powerful King (Epic story of Gilgamesh) (Story of a great flood that wiped out the world and he brought two of each animal, a male and female, to reproduce) Just like Noah and the Arch 282 laws

Today in Western Civilization, we learned about Hammurabi's code and we did a paper on what his codes were like. We talked about the codes a lot and we continued to take notes on pages in the book starting with page thirty-five.here was one about a person robbing a house. The punishment was different for each person.  One person said five or six years in jail, I said three years in jail, and another kid said they would just have the their return the items. Then after a discussion the kid said to add a fine. Another kid said to cut the person's left hand off when a guy built a faulty house that fell and killed an entire family. Another person said to put him in a house and have the house fall and kill the builder. A few people agreed on life in prison.  Another person said to put the builder and his oldest son in prison for life. Then Mr. Schick gave us an extra sheet of homework.

Today in class we went over Hammurabi's code and did a paper.  On the paper we had to pretend we were judges and use our morals and values to determine the punishment of a person. Our answers on some of them are very different. There was one about a person robbing a house. The punishment was different for each person.  One person said five or six years in jail, I said three years in jail, and another kid said they would just have the their return the items. Then after a discussion the kid said to add a fine. Another kid said to cut the person's left hand off when a guy built a faulty house that fell and killed an entire family.  Another person said to put him in a house and have the house fall and kill the builder. A few people agreed on life in prison. Another person said to put the builder and his oldest son in prison for life. Then Mr. Schick gave us an extra sheet of homework.

Today in Western civilization we finished a powerpoint and took notes.  We went over a lot of Hammurabi's code. The rules are crazy and they are very extreme.  They built ziggurats which priests used and at the top of them they used them for sacrifices. They were built own top of mountains. Wandering Nomads were people who lived like hunters and gathers. 2350 BC - Sumerians had to worship in other Gods because Akkadians took over.  Government and religion one exactly the same thing. "Eye for an Eye" is an extreme rule that took place saying if one person got their eye knocked out then the other person would have to lose their own eye. Another rule said that if a person built a house and the house fell on them then the person who built the house would die and if the person's daughter died then his sister would die.  A lot of the rules took place that led to death.

Today in Western Civilization, We went over a powerpoint and the title was "From Prehistory to Civilization"  We learned about two main eras- the paleolithic era and the neolithic era. We learned about the beginning of agriculture.  We talked about how Mr. Shick volunteered at hospitals. We also talked about how one test question will be "Name the countries that make up the fertile crescent." They are Israel, Kind of turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan.  Sumerians made the first writing system called cuneiform. There were hierarchies in the villages and women had domestication duties. They cared for their offspring. Sumer was the heart of the Tigris and Euphrates river. there were forty thousand people and there was better food storage.  This lead to to a diversity of professions. These people were polytheistic and believed in the gods of nature, humans and animals. People used to be hunters and gatherers, shifted to a permanent settlement in the neolithic era.

Yesterday in class we learned more about Mesopotamia and continued to take notes on chapter two. To solve problems through organization, They created irrigation systems, they built walls out of mud and stone, and they traded what they had for what the needed. Sumerians creµated the first city states.  They were the first people to create city states. The definition of city states is is a city that controls the surrounding areas. They grew wheat and barley as some of their crops. Priests and rulers were in charge of the city states and the priests said that they would control the irrigation systems but they also demanded a portion of the crops as their taxes. The definition of a Dynasty is when the leadership is passed to the sons. If they didn’t have sons they would of pass it to the uncles. We also talked about how note taking is very important in college.

Today in West Civ we continued to take notes on chapter two.  Mr. Schick gave us our tests back and we could get up to a one hundred four.  The extra credit was name an extra four animals that were useful domesticated animals.  He gave us two rings of a bell if we got a one hundred or above and he rung the bell once if we got above a ninety. I got one ring of the bell.  The Sumer's was an ancient civilization that live east/south of the fertile crescent and the Tigris and Euphrates river flow east so all of the water cam to them.  They had five major key characters. They were... 1.) advanced cities 2.) Specialized workers 3.) Complex Institutions 4.) Record keeping 5.) improved technology The Sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted tools with the people who lived on the mountains in exchange for raw materials like stone, wood, and metals.

In West Civ today we started a new unit and took notes on Chapter two Early River Valley Civilizations.  I took two pages of notes and we had a debate about Hammurabi's code. In the debate we talked about lawyers, poor people, rich people, lazy people who are rich vs. poor people who are very intelligent and have a drive and the punishment time. Hammurabi's code was the first written down laws that give punishments for their actions.  The Interaction with the environment, power and authority, and Science and technology are the key points of the chapter. The main idea of this chapter is that in Asia, arose Mesopotamia and it was organized into city-states. The curved shape and richness of the Fertile crescent led the scholars to name it this. Tigris and Euphrates flooding Mesopotamia. The early civilizations created bronze tools , the wheel, the sail, the plow, writing, and mathematics.

Today in class we had a test and I think I did pretty well on it.  It wasn't too hard and we also had a shadow today. His name is Frankie and he plays baseball and soccer. Mr. Siler came in to grab the shadow so we all said Hi to him.  I asked Mr. Shick how to spell a something so he walked over to the board and wrote something. I was then stuck and I needed one more animal for the extra credit question and I looked above the note and saw the posters of donkeys that Mr. Shick have below the prayer sign.  It was a bunch of donkeys doing a pose so I then remembered that donkeys were one of the 14 animals domesticated animals. Mr. Schick gave us five minutes in the beginning of class for last minute studying. After the test we then had time to write our blog so we didn't have homework in this class for tonight.

Today in class we went over review questions for our test on Monday.  It was very cold in Mr. Schick's class and he let us go to our lockers to get our jackets and sweatshirts.  Mr. Shick talked about how we wouldn't;t get out early due to the snow but the "white death" let us get out early! The reason the people had to leave mesopotamia was because they already cut down all of the trees , they over farmed, the fields dried out and the soil was used too much.  They were able to move east or west because it kept the same climate and allowed for the same plants to grow and have the same animals live and thrive in that area. If they went up north it would be to cold and they would need better clothing and if they went south it would be too hot and it wouldn't be what their used to. Also americans have 100 million cows and eat 20 million pounds of wheat each year.  Both of which were not native to the US.