Griffin's Geo Blog

Today in class we took notes on Egypt and the Nile river. Mr. Schick brought up multiple good points about pharaohs. He also touched on the topic of mummification and how it was done which involved taking a hook up somas nose to get their brain out of their body. Then Mr. Schick showed us a video that on mesopotamia and was to the tune of Soulja boy. I thought it was very interesting and kind of weird.

Today in class we finished up taking notes on the Nile River and Egypt. The when I finished taking notes Mr. Schick let me go get my math textbook so I could do homework. This really helped me out a lot as I have been pretty swamped with work since I have got back. I was told that someone cheated. I know it was not me as I would not do something like that as I know that it is not the right to do.

Today in class we took a quiz on Mesopotamia. I forgot about the quiz since I was not there on Monday. I still took it and I do not think that I did very well on it. I really struggled on the back portion of the multiple choice questions. However, I think that I did do fairly well on the front with the matching section. Then Mr. Schick had us take on the next unit which has to with Egypt and the Nile River. I am looking forward to learning about this subject.

Today in class we learned about the fertile crescent and Mesopotamia. The Fertile Crescent was area in what is now known as the Middle East which way back in pre history was where crops were able to grow at a more fertile rate. The Fertile Crescent is now in countries like Syria, Israel, iran, Iraq and kore. This was where life was most easily sustainable.

I was absent from school today.

Today in class Mr. Schick lets us pick our own seats for the second semester. He told us that for half of our class we will be doing reading and for the second half of class we will be explaining what we read. Mr. Schick made us read like 5 pages and take notes on them. I am excited about his new semester with new classmates.

Today in class we took a test on Guns, Germs, and Steel. I studied a little bit last night and I came into knowing that Mr.Schick would give us some time to study in class before we took the test because he is just such a great teacher. I thought that the test was pretty easy except for one question which was about when the prehistoric era was. I answered that it was before writing was invented.

Today in class we reviewed the video called guns, germs, and steel. Mr. Schick reminded us of the topics hat are going to be on the quiz tomorrow. He told us o review the notes and that we can watch the video again if we want. We then watched teen jeopardy and Mr. Schick had us stop the video and try and answer the questions. Overall today was a fun class and I feel prepared for tomorrows quiz.

today was the last day that we watched the video on James diamond theory. Today he revealed what he thought the answer was to Yali's question. He said the answer was geographic luck. What this means is how the country is positioned around the world compared to other countries. He used a diagram that revolved around the fertile crescent. He then explained how the fertility of the world and being able to grow things followed that line. The line then reached all the way to North America whic where we are today.

At this point of the video we were a little bit past halfway and I was really enjoying the video and I had learned a lot. The thing that surprised the most was the architecture found in Draa. I find it astonishing that a building built almost 12,000 years ago still has its walls up. I found interesting how they were able to make inventions like the first granary that long ago. It shows just how smart and inventive people had to be back then to be able to survive

While watching the video called guns germs and steel on the first day we had an introductory to the topic by Mr. Schick having us look up on wikipedia what the video/book was about. And what came up for me was about yali and his auestion about white men having cargo and New guineans having less cargo. We then started watching the video on James Diamond and his exploration through the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. I was excited to learn more about the topic we were going to be learning/watching.

Today in class we continued watching the video on James Diamond and how they live now vs the pre-history era which was about 13,000 years ago. It compared the way that they hunt and gather compared to way that the New Guineas hunt and gather today. And in fact, they are pretty similar in they way that they do/did it. I find it very fascinating on how the New Guineans have not change their lifestyle to like most of the world and do not use modern technology and other resources.