June 20-24

Students completed the lesson on Early Central American civilizations,
watching a brief movie on Teotihuacan (in what is today southern Mexico).

They were also reminded of their opportunity to re-do In-Class Works on
which they had performed poorly, and given class time to ask questions and
tackle the task.

It was then time to begin the Persian Empire. The teacher lectured and drew
a timeline on the board, which led to a more general discussion of the
difficulty of communication in ancient times, a task magnified by the size
of a number of empires.

The teacher mapped the plan on the whiteboard for the outside activity,
which would take the students on the Persian "Royal Road" 
and show them one strategy in which the Persians tackled the communication
challenge.

To demonstrate the 3-month horseback trip across the empire, one student
"rode" another student (carrying his feet while the "horse" 
traveled on his/her hands) to deliver the message given by the teacher to a
student at the other end of the field.

Subsequently, the faster, 1-week horseback trip was demonstrated, using four
"horses" stationed en route to deliver the message.

In the effort to read the Persian Empire lesson, students' focus was
improved by writing questions on the board on which the students would be
informally quizzed.

June 13-17

Classes completed their look at Ancient Africa  
(post-Egyptian New Kingdom), subsequently moving back to the Americas  
to study the civilizations of Monte Alban and Teotihuacan, both  
located in what is today southern Mexico.

The 4th graders copied a chart with columns for both of these  
civilizations. The chart was completed for the Monte Alban boxes, but  
the teacher left it to them to complete the corresponding sections for  
Teotihuacan.

Students also had to imagine they were transported to one of the two  
civilizations and conjure up a "day in the life," mixing facts from  
the book with their own ideas of what they might do on any given day.

The concept of Critical Thinking was also introduced, students copying  
in their notebooks a blank chart including the "Three Thinkers" (Naive  
Nancy, Selfish Sam, and Fair-Minded Fran). The teacher went through  
the five minute movie clip, pausing to solicit information to fill in  
the chart on the whiteboard (and in each student notebook). The notion  
that "we all have all three types of thinkers inside of us" was  
stressed.

Students then tackled a Homework based on the Three Thinkers in which  
they had to write about a situation in which they had been like Sam or  
Nancy, and how they could have been more like Fran.

June 6-10

Classes began the week reviewing their knowledge of Early American  
Civilizations in preparation for the Quiz on Tuesday. Immediately  
following the Quiz, students copied a timeline on African  
civiliations, post-Egyptian New Kingdom, which would prepare them for  
the movie and reading they would do.

The BBC video the students watched focused on Ethiopia's past.  
Narrated by an art historian, the movie touched on issues the class  
had and would continue to see in the textbook, and highlighted  
Ethiopia's legends of connections to Hebrew King Solomon and the  
country's possession of the Ark of the Covenant, which allegedly  
contains the Ten Commandments. A brief clip of Raiders of the Lost Ark  
(an Indiana Jones movie) was also shown to spotlight how the search  
for the Ark has long captivated archaeologists.

After discussing the movie and previewing the material, classes read  
the lesson on African civilizations.

May 30-June 3

The 4th grade group viewed a 10-minute movie that both highlighted the  
discovery of Caral (America's oldest known civilization) and  
encapsulated much of the material that students had learned so far  
this year. It did so by identifying unifying themes among early  
civilizations. It also made clear historians' lack of definitive  
answers for the question of what had led to Early Man crossing the  
"Great Divide"(the leap between nomadic life and civilization). During  
the film, students had to track responses to four key questions.

After watching and analyzing the film 4th graders took In-Class #2, a  
fill-in-the-blank exercise which gave each student a role in the  
advent of Early American Civilizations.

Subsequently 4th graders took a breather from the textbook, completing  
a "Devil's Advocate" activity. Introducing the activity, the teacher  
stressed the importance of exploring the other side of a given belief,  
whether it concern a legal case or a historical "fact." After the  
teacher modeled a couple "Devil's Advocate" examples, students were  
split into four groups. Each group had to record on the whiteboard a  
list of five arguments of why either:

- brushing your teeth is bad;

- war is good;

- 4th graders should be allowed to drive; or

- beaches in Guanacaste are ugly.

The 4th grade class closed the week by reviewing for the following  
week's quiz on Early American Civilizations, for which most students  
appeared well-prepared.