Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble gobble gobble!

Thanksgiving Dog says he is thankful for every one of you - especially the ones with TREATS!
(No dogturken for him!)

Pompeii Exhibit and Nelson Atkins Museum

K.C. - Here we come!

The eighth grade ancient history scholars are taking a little break from Mesopotamia to prepare for our visit to the remarkable traveling exhibit about Pompeii at Union Station in K.C.

There is a unique traveling exhibit at Union Station in Kansas City on the destruction of Pompeii. There will be recovered artifacts in the exhibit that have never left Italy before, and a fantastic 4-D simulation experience of the eruption. A highlight of the exhibit is the presentation of human body casts of unfortunate victims of the tragedy.  “ONE DAY IN POMPEII” transports students back in time to Pompeii in its better days, takes them through the eruptions, and helps them understand how much we can learn about the past from its ruins.  The students will participate in a scavenger hunt, helping them focus on specifics of the experience. Please visit the exhibit web site: http://www.unionstation.org/pompeii/index.php#history for more information.

To take full advantage of this trip, we are also planning to take your child to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum for a special guided tour, “ANCIENT ODYSSEYS,” which will focus on art from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. This tour will enhance our ancient history and literature curricula.

Mesopotamia

THE STANDARD OF UR: What was the role of women?  What did fashionable men wear?  What type of technology was used? Musical instruments? Did they take live captives after war? What was the social structure? After examining the artifact carefully and analyzing all images, the 8th Grade Ancient History scholars are writing a summary paper explaining their inferences about Sumerian society based upon the evidence found on this primary source. 

Mesopotamian Fun!

Check out these links for fun + information!

Final Archaeology Unit Experience

THE DIG!

Using proper excavation techniques, the Eighth Grade Ancient History Scholars made measurements, recorded field notes of their observations, plotted coordinates, and were, at first, puzzled by what type of artifacts might be in their dig site.  Before long they recognized that they had found a terracotta warrior made to protect the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, after his death.

Independent Research Projects

The Eighth Grade Ancient History Scholars branched out and researched any topic they found interesting.  They could research anything, from any time period, anywhere in the world, as long as they could tie it to archaeology. 

The Eighth Graders became the expert on their research topic.  They created visual aids to help their "students" understand the information being presented as they taught a lesson on their topic.

 The targeted skills for this project were:

 1) Evaluating Web Sites - NO WIKIPEDIA AND NO ENCYCLOPEDIAS!
 2) Proper Documentation and Chicago/Turabian Bibliography Format

WSU Anthropology Department Field Trip

During our vist to WSU we - 

• visited the Bio Lab, where we learned how to tell if a skeleton was male or female, looked at other evidence that bones can tell us, and heard about Forensic Archaeologists helping to solve murders. We also compared skulls of Neanderthals and Australopithecus with those of modern humans
• went to the Archaeology Lab where our presenter helped us understand the work they do with arrow heads, pot shards, and the careful inspection, preservation, and storage of artifacts.  We also saw the experimental archaeology she had done by using ancient methods to create moccasins
• explored the Holmes Museum of Anthropology, where we learned so much about the Asmat culture, and gained an appreciation for their unique carvings
• did a hands-on activity with actual artifacts in the WSU collection, trying to analyze and interpret what each artifact was made from, and how it was used.  Some were really hard to get right!
• discovered that there was much hidden information in the hall displays which we uncovered with our scavenger hunt. 

We appreciate all the time and expertise that the WSU Anthropology Department staff and students shared with our Eighth Grade scholars.