4th Quarter History Project!

7th and 8th Grade Social Studies Project 4th quarter 2012!

Multi Model Project!
This Project is designed to help students develop their research skills, writing skills, critical thinking skills, technological skills, and unique creativity. 7th grade students may select any topic or event that occurred one year before, during, or one year after World War I (1913 – 1919). 8th Grade students may select any topic or event that occurred during World War II (1939 -1945). The concept is to pick your subject, develop your thesis and find evidence to support the thesis. Once you find a topic you are interested in the rest will fall into place. The only limitation is your imagination!

Structure

7th Grade: Your project needs to consist of the selection of a narrow and specific topic which you can develop through research. Your Project will contain several elements, a paper, poster board, power point, and presentation of your findings to the class. The paper needs to be a minimum of 2 pages and a maximum of 4 pages. Your paper must have a strong, well developed thesis, the body of the paper must support your thesis, and the conclusion must tie the whole paper together. The final draft must have a cover page, your name and page number in the top right hand corner, an end note page, and a correctly formatted bibliography page. Your final paper will be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins all around. This is a research paper it must be written in the past tense and absolutely avoid terms such as, “I believe,” “In my opinion,” etc.

You must have a minimum of 2 book sources and 3 website sources. Please use both Primary and Secondary Sources. Citations will be in the end note format with a correctly formatted bibliography.

At the completion of this project you will present the findings of your paper in power point format to the entire class. In addition, the students will have the opportunity to see your poster board and receive and explanation for the choices you made in the creation of the poster board. The presentation of your findings will detail your thesis and how your research supports your claims.

The power point should be 5 – 8 Slides

8th Grade: Your project needs to consist of the selection of a narrow and specific topic which you can develop through research. Your Project will contain several elements, a paper, poster board, power point, and presentation of your findings to the class. The paper needs to be a minimum of 4 pages and a maximum of 6 pages. Your paper must have a strong, well developed thesis, the body of the paper must support your thesis, and the conclusion must tie the whole paper together. The final draft must have a cover page, your name and page number in the top right hand corner, an end note page, and a correctly formatted bibliography page. Your final paper will be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins all around. This is a research paper it must be written in the past tense and absolutely avoid terms such as, “I believe,”

“In my opinion,” etc.

You must have a minimum of 3 book sources and 5 website sources or a combination of other sources. Both Primary and Secondary Sources are required for this project. Citations will be in the end note format with a correctly formatted bibliography.

At the completion of this project you will present the findings of your paper in power point format to the entire class. In addition, the students will have the opportunity to see your poster board and receive and explanation for the choices you made in the creation of the poster board. The presentation of your findings will detail your thesis and how your research supports your claims.

The power point should be 8 - 12 Slides


DUE DATES!

March 28th, 2012: 3 topic choices in order of preference and name or names on the project, also signed paper by parents and student on project guidelines.

April 5th, 2012: All research due and brought to class for points and for a research day

April 10th, 2012: Outline and Thesis Due!

April 13th, 2012: Rough Draft Due!

April 27th, 2012: Final Paper Due!

May 3rd, 2012: Poster board Due!

May 4th, 2012: Power point Due!

May 7th – 11th, 2012: Presentations

7th and 8th Grade Update!

7th Grade: As a class we are finishing up our Unit on Imperialism. This Unit has been a little more challenging in terms of material and the grasping of concepts. As always I am pleased with the majority of the students and their determination to master the information. The goal is to finish up any last notes by Monday or Tuesday March 6th at the latest. Following the completion of the Unit, the students will take a test on Thursday March 8th to demonstrate their mastery of the material covered. Our journey will continue with an in depth study of WWI. This Unit will include many different aspects one of which will be a multi-modal project. I will post the necessary information for the project including due dates for each piece in plenty of time for students and parents to prepare.

8th Grade: The 8th grade students are in the midst of our World War II Unit. So far, we have revisited material from last year so students understand what led to WWII. This review included a brief discussion of the ending of WWI, the resulting Treaty of Versailles, and a look at the role of the Great Depression. All of these previous mentioned events were causes of the next major World War. In addition, we have studied the rise of dictators in Europe such as Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler and how these men and their type of leadership played a major role in the outbreak of the War. This Unit has many more exciting turns to take including a multi-modal project which will show the creativity and individuality of each student. I will post details of the project as we get closer to the forth quarter.

7th and 8th Grade Homework Due March 2nd 2012!

7th Grade: The students have the following questions to answer:

• What was the Boxer Rebellion


• Who was involved (people and countries)


• Why were they called Boxers?


• What was the result of the Rebellion?

7A: The students in 7A have an additional assignment, which is to write a page and a half to a page on what they learned the last 20 minutes of class today! This is to be done after they finish the above assignment!

8th Grade: The students need to read over their notes on the causes of WWII. Furthermore, they should be considering topic choices for their upcoming project.