Egypt: Geogpraphy, Pyramids, Daily Life, Godesses and Gods, and Pharaohs Part 1

Today in Mr. Schick’s West Civ class, Mr. Schick created a Prezi and we all took notes on the lesson. In the Prezi, there were five categories. The categories were Geography, Pyramids, Daily Life, Goddesses and Gods, and Pharaohs. We only got through the categories Geography, Pyramids and the beginning of Daily Life. We learned the Geography of Egypt. Egyptian life is and was centered on the great Nile River. Unlike most waterways, the Nile River flows south to north. Every July, the river floods and leaves behind very fertile soil called silt. The Nile River empties out into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians used water for drinking, for irrigating, for bathing, and for transportation. The delta is a broad, marshy area of fertile silt. Managing the river required technological breakthroughs in irrigation. A great part of the history of Egypt was the pyramids for example, the Great Sphinx of Giza, were enormous pyramids that were built around 2555-2532 B.C. It was a recumbent lion with a human’s head sitting at rest. It is the oldest monumental statue in the world. 

Land of the Pharaohs: Egypt Notes From Reading Blog

Today in Mr. Schick’s Western Civilization class, Mr. Schick was not in class today. I do not know where he was because I saw him earlier in the day. Anyway, we met in Mrs. Smith’s room and we had her as our substitute teacher. Our assignment was on Mr. Schick’s blog and it was to read pages 20-29 and take notes. In the reading, I recorded that in the Neolithic Age people of the Nile River moved toward civilization because of the same influences that benefitted the city of Sumer. Egyptian civilization became more stable that of Mesopotamia. Political and sectional conflicts did not break up the country’s unity. For many centuries foreign invasions were few and far between. Cultural influences from abroad were welcomed or kept in arm’s length (as seemed best to the literate elite). Traditions of the Egyptian Civilization were so strong that they flourished even in the last thousand years. 

Before Civilization: The Prehistoric Era Part 2

Today in Mr. Schick’s Western Civilization class, we started class by being freezing. Because of the cold class room, Mr. Schick allowed Kelley, Grace, Holly and I to go and get our jackets from our lockers. After we got our jackets, we continued to take notes on the video we are watching. Mr. Schick asked us a question that only Drew could answer. The question was… What is the biggest city in the United States that is not located near water? The answer was Indianapolis. We learned about the Agricultural Revolution also known as the Neolithic Revolution. The Agricultural Revolution was a shift form hunting and gathering.  To move permanent settlements centered on agriculture (beginning in Southwestern Asia.) Population rose due to increased ability to care for young children. We have gone from 15,000 years ago being hunters and gathers to being what are now. If you are making minimum wage in the United States, you would only have to work eleven minutes to  buy a 99 cent cheeseburger.

Before Civilization: The Prehistoric Era Part 1

Today in Mr. Schick’s Western Civilization class we began class by getting new seats. I now sit in the far left corner of the room where I have Grace who sits behind and some kid, who I cannot remember his name. Anyway I wish I was a little closer to Holly and Kelly but it is good enough. After we got our new seats, we took notes on a power point presented by Mr. Schick. In this power point we learned that over 200,000 years ago the first humans were in Southwest Asia. Also, 14,000 years ago was the worldwide human race. This time was also known as the Paleolithic Age. The Paleolithic Age is the Old Stone Age. The Neolithic Age is the New Stone Age. The Agricultural Revolution was also known as the Neolithic Revolution. In the Agricultural Revolution, the population increased, which meant more kids; however, the women’s status decreased. The villages were polytheistic. They worshiped nature and, humans, and animal gods. At the end of class we watched a video and did not finish taking notes on it. 

Jared Diamond- Geographical Luck

Last semester in my Human Geography class, we studied a hard-working and determined individual named Jared Diamond. Jared Diamond is a scientist and author of many books. In his studies, he traveled to a small, undeveloped country called Papua New Guinea. Diamond wrote a book called Guns, Germs, and Steel. There was a documentary movie based on this book, which we watched in our last semester class. While Jared Diamond was in Papua New Guinea, he studied the Papua New Guineans lifestyle and culture. Diamond was faced with a question with from one of the native Papua New Guineans. His question was, “Why do you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” Diamond found that it was a simple question but had such a complex answer. This question really caught his attention. He began to intently researching to find an answer. In the end, all he could come up with is that some societies have developed a civilization faster than others and they simply just have Geographical Luck.

 Jared Diamond was right on track with his theory of Geographical Luck. The idea that some people and places were simply just lucky is completely accurate.  Not everyone can have perfect farmland for growing crops. Not everyone can have place filled with wild animals to be eventually domesticated. There are plenty of places out there where no matter what they do; they cannot grow the necessary crops. The earth is constantly changing, with the climate and people living on it. For example, many years ago, the Middle East was filled with forests now it is very dry. All this information shows us how dynamic the world is today. Everyday something somewhere in the world is changing.

First Day of Class

Today was our class’s first day in Mr. Schick’s Western Civilization class. We began the class with taking attendance. Then, we got our books for the class. The books are brand new. After we got our books, Mr. Schick told us how a normal day in class would go. For me, this is all very similar to first semester because I had Mr. Schick for Human Geography. Then, Mr. Schick showed us how to create a blog. Along with teaching us and getting us familiar with blogger.com, he explained what our daily blog must include. Our blogs must be a minimum of one hundred and fifty words. Our blogs should have a lot of good notes. We should take good notes and post them in our blogs because every once in a while Mr. Schick will let us use our blogs to help us out on the tests.