Which Renaissance artist is your favorite, and why?

Respond with a comment to this post describing who your favorite Renaissance artist or sculptor is, and explain why. Make sure you mention at least one of his or her works.

The Islam Rap

Here is a rap a student in 3rd block created for his religion RAFT assignment. It shows a lot of creativity but also gives a lot of information about Islam, including some examples of how Muslims should live their life:

Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm about to go to Mecca to bow my head
Yes I'm Muslim and that;s what I said
I fast through the month of Ramadan while I'm reading the Koran or sleeping in my bed
Waiting until night so I can eat
I don;t see how Hindus don't like meat
I don;t see why the was tripin' when Keith Ellison prays with the Koran
Cause that's what he wants to do and when I become a congress man that's what I'm gonna do
Now I'm the youngest religion in the W.O.R.L.D.
Now I see why all the other religions be hatin' on me
Now see Judaism is my mother and Christianity's my older brother
And when we quit talking I knew we lost one another

Great Student Cartoon of the Eightfold Path

Check out this great cartoon from 1st block, showing the Buddhist Eightfold Path, explaining how Buddhists are supposed to live their lives.

Play Hangman

Each hint to this "hangman" game is one of the seven building blocks of civilization, and the answer is something we have talked about in class.

Welcome Harper Grace Embry!!!

Congratulations to Mr. & Ms. Embry! Harper Grace Embry arrived January 16th, 2008, weighing in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces. Mom, dad and baby are all doing well!

Website Resource for World Religions

On Friday and Tuesday we will be in the lab during 3rd and 4th period, working on our religion RAFT assignment. Here is a very good website to supplement your research - Beliefnet contains information about the basic practices and beliefs of all major world religions.

Introduction to World Religions

We have moved into talking about religion, the second major building block of civilization we are discussing (the first was government or law). After discussing the religion of Ancient Egypt today, we will start talking about major modern world religions tomorrow and Thursday. The religions we are studying include Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam.

Thursday and Friday in Class

Thursday and Friday we will start examining the basic building blocks of civilization by discussing law, government, and Hammurabi's Code. Hammurabi's code is one of the earliest examples of a law that was written down, and further illustrates other building blocks of civilization including religion and people.

Wednesday in Class

Wednesday we will be looking at some photographs from a series called "Material World". The Material World photographer asked families around the world to move their possessions just outside their home, with their most prized possessions right in front. He then took a picture of the family in front of their home, with all of their material property in the picture with them. We will work in pairs, answering some questions about the pictures, and then sharing observations with the class.

If I could visit anywhere in the world ....

Welcome to our class blog!

Tuesday (January 8th) in class we will be working in the lab (Room 313, on the same hall as our classroom), primarily so we can get everyone set up on the blog. Follow the directions to set up a Gmail (Google email) account, join the blog, and post a response to this question:

If I could visit anywhere in the world (outside the United States) it would be:

Make sure you explain your answer in at least a paragraph. The more descriptive and interesting you can be, the better. For example, my answer would be:

I would like to visit Italy sometime this year. I have heard it is very beautiful and the weather is supposed to be awesome. Italy was also the birthplace of the Renaissance and I would love to see all the art and architecture Italy is famous for. It is also one of the last major European countries I haven't visited.

Welcome to World History

Welcome back to school! We are very glad to have you in our World History class. This class is a survey class which will cover more than 5,000 years of world history in 90 days. We will move fast and will use a wide variety of lesson types and assignments in order to make the class as interesting as possible. There will be lessons in which we work as a whole class, in small groups, and individually, and we will also utilize the computer lab quite often.

On Monday, January 7th, we will be talking about what you like, how to make people do what you want them to, and how that relates to history. If we have time we will also go over the syllabus. We are looking forward to working with you this semester.

Ms. Embry
Mr. White