Central American Ambassadors Project

President Obama meets with Nigeria's ambassador
to the U.S., Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye.

You have been named an ambassador for a Central American country.

A successful presentation will include each of the following:

• A 6-slide (minimum) PowerPoint
• The slides should include the following information:
1. Title Slide
2. Your country’s physical geography, including any important landforms. Include a map and description on this slide.
3. Your country’s history. What important events have happened there? When?
4. Your country’s environment and conservation issues
5. Your country’s culture and human geography
6. Free Space! Use this slide to include any information you found interesting that does not fall into the categories above, or to expand on something which does.
7. Sources. Include a bullet-point list of websites you used during this project.
• Each slide must include a picture taken from an approved source. This will most likely be the same source you used to find the information you include on the slide.
• Your slide show must feature an attractive design. Be creative!

Complete a slideshow presentation using Google Slides

• Share your slide show with my e-mail address: nramin@nlcphs.org
• Name your project (in the upper left hand corner) YOUR LAST NAME - YOUR COUNTRY (Example: Ramin - Venezuela)

Here are your possible sources:

1. The CIA World Factbook
2. Wikipedia
3. If you really are stuck, let me know and we'll find another source!

Modern Central America - The Cartels

Mapping the Cartel's Influence
Look at the map at the following link:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/22/us/BORDER.html

Mars Online!

Use the slide show at this link to find more information on what resources are available on Mars.

• Section 1: Physical Characteristics
• Section 2: Designing a Community and Using Resources
• Section 3: Climate and Weather

If those links don't work, go here: http://mars.nasa.gov/imagine/students/

We'll be able to use the information you gather today when we set up our colony on Mars!

Martian Physical Characteristics

A rover inspects the Martian soil.

Today you will conduct some research focused on the resources human beings might be able to use on Mars. Use the following links to complete your research packet.

When you write your answers, include the name of the article you used at the bottom of the answer box.

• Mars Facts: Life, Water and Robots on the Red Planet
• NASA: Martian Landforms
• National Geographic Mars page
• Is Mars Contaminated?
• Europe's Mission to find Life on Mars

Freshman Project: What role should the arts play in schools?

Sources 1-2
You read and annotated the first two articles. You should have two note cards from each. If you need them, you can find online links here:

• Article 1: Teen poetry program with a purpose
• Article 2: Reading, writing can be a prescription for healing, doctors are finding

Source 3
Now that you've read and annotated two articles for your freshman project, take a look at this online Re-investing in Arts Education, an article from Education Digest published in 2011.

Choose three quotes from the article that will help you answer our World Studies question: What role should the arts play in schools?

If you need help, you can see the Slide Show with Note Card instructions at this link.

Typing Your MELCon
To finish up our part of the Freshman Project, you will type a MELCon paragraph answering our question: What role should the arts play in school?

First, start a new document on Google Drive.

• Name the document "Your Last Name - WS MELCon"
• Share your document with Mr. Ramin - mrnramin@gmail.com
• Share your document with your English teacher
• Mr. Cotton - jcotton@nlcphs.org
• Ms. Santana - csantana@nlcphs.org
• Ms. Smith - asmith@nlcphs.org
• Ms. Petty - qpetty@nlcphs.org

Formatting:

• 12 point, Times New Roman font
• Type your heading (name, date, period number, teacher name, class name) in the upper left hand corner
• Double space your text
• Title your paragraph and center it. The title should tell the overall main idea of your paragraph.

Then, follow these directions to write your MELCon.

1. Sentence 1: Introduction. Start by linking our question to the overall Freshman Project question. "A good school encourages students to learn by using art.
2. Sentence 2: Main Idea. Answer the driving question based on what you read in the articles. "Schools should use arts to..."
3. Sentence 3: Introduction to first evidence. Introduce your first piece of evidence and paraphrase it. "First of all, according to the article Encouraging teens to be expressive through poetry..."
4. Sentence 4: Evidence 1. Type your first quote. Make sure you put it in quotation marks! "In the text it states..."
5. Sentence 5: Link 1. Explain how this quote helps you support your main idea. "This shows me that..."
6. Sentence 6: Introduction to second evidence.
7. Sentence 7: Evidence 2.
8. Sentence 8: Link 2.
9. Sentence 9: Introduction to third evidence.
10. Sentence 10: Evidence 3.
11. Sentence 11: Link 3.
12. Sentence 12: Conclusion. Re-state your main idea. "In conclusion..."

Teaching Ancient Egypt

We've just finished writing an essay about the Ancient Mesopotamians and the Ancient Egyptians.

We learned a LOT about the Ancient Mesopotamians in class. We have not spent as much time on the Ancient Egyptians.

Now that you've finished your paper talking about the two people, it's time to give the Egyptians a little love.

You will work with a partner to create a presentation and teach your classmates about one part of Ancient Egyptian civilization. We'll be focused on the elements of a civilization, which we call G-SPRITE!

• Geography
• Social
• Political
• Religious
• Intellectual
• Technological
• Economical

You'll be assigned one of the following topics:

• Egyptian Life
• Geography
• Gods & Goddesses
• Mummification
• Pharaoh
• Pyramids
• Temples
• Time
• Trades
• Writing

Click on your topic. This will take you to the British Museum website. Read through the information on your topic. Use it to complete each of the following objectives:

1. Create a new Slides presentation in Google Drive. Share it with your partner and Mr. Ramin (mrnramin@gmail.com).
2. Name your project "Your Last Name & Your Partner's Last Name - Egypt"
3. Create a title slide including your topic and the names of your group members
4. Create a slide introducing your topic
5. Create three slides summarizing the three most important things you learned about your topic (one item per slide)
6. Create a proposal slide answering the following question: "What part of Ancient Egyptian culture should we bring back?"
7. Create a conclusion slide

This is a lot like the essay you just wrote - you should have an introduction, 3 information slides, and a conclusion slide.

Check out the rubric here.

Your slide show should:

• Look beautiful
• Include text and images on each slide
• Be easy to read - no weird colors or fancy fonts
• Use bullet points
• Summarize, not copy, information from the website

Hint:

• You can use the "alt" + "print screen" buttons to take pictures of what's on the screen!

DUE: Thursday, 12/17/2015

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Read the story of Gilgamesh at the British Museum website:

A statue of Gilgamesh.

• http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/story/sto_set.html

Use it to answer the questions on the worksheet in class.