Dec. 14, 15, 16 and 17

Tuesday: Students watched a portion of the Henry Gates documentary "Wonders of the African World." They then worked on their animated maps of African empires.

Wednesday: Students watched a portion of the Henry Gates documentary "Wonders of the African World." They then worked on their animated maps of African empires.

Thursday: I collected their AAB rhyme/african folk tale assignments. Students finished and handed in their animated maps. We began the final assignment for this packet (#8 The Niger River).

Friday: I collected the packets. Students had time to work on assignment #8. Here is a list of what I collected:

1. Gold, Salt W. Africa Map
2. Desert Odyssey I
3. Desert Odyssy 2
4. Growth of Ghana's Empire, pp. 159-161
5. The Empire of Ghana
6. Wonders of the African World I
7. Wonders of the African World 2
8. The Niger River

I'll be grading the packets, the animated maps and the AAB rhyme assignment during the holiday break. Happy Holidays.

Monday Dec. 13

Today students worked on their animated maps of African empires. Two other things will be due this week. First, their AAB rhyme/African folk tale assignment is due on Thursday. Their packets will be due on Friday. Here is a list of assignments in the packet as of today:

1. Gold,Salt West Africa Map
2. Desert Odyssey I (if absent for this, get alternative assignment)
3. Desrt Odyssey II (if absent for this, get alternative assignment)
4. Growth of Ghana's Empire pp. 159-161
5. The Empire of Ghana Map w/ Questions

Dec. 7, 8, and 9

Tuesday: Students watched "Desert Odyssey" and had time to finish their African Kingdoms map.

Wednesday: I was home with my sick children. Students finished "Desert Odyssey" and did a reading guide about the rise of Ghana.

Thursday: Students began creating an animated map of African empires using Photoshop. Their completed AAB Rhyme/African folk tale final version with illustration will be due next Thursday. I don't anticipate collecting packets until then as well.

Here is the packet so far:
1. Gold, Salt W. Africa Map
2. Desert Odyssey I
3. Desert Odyssey II
4. Growth of Ghana's Empire pp. 159-161

Dec. 6

Today we began to talk about the ancient African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Students began a map illustrating the regions of those three empires. We then watched about 10 minutes of a dvd about an African family of traders embarking upon a caravan trading mission. Packets are graded and will be returned tomorrow.

Dec. 2 and 3

Dec. 2 - Students worked on re-telling the African folk tale they selected on Wednesday in the AAB rhyme pattern. I told them that West Africa Packet 1 would be due on Friday.

Dec. 3 - Students finished re-telling/writing the African folk tale and I collected their packets. Here is a list of what was in the packets - grades will be in by Monday.

1. Reading Guide , Chapter 5-Section 1, pp. 151-154
2. Africa Physical Map
3. Savannah paragraph
4. The Blues
5. Folk Tale Re-telling handout

Dec. 1

Today I tried to establish a link between African griots (musical storytellers) of West Africa and musical forms created in the USA. Students filled out a notes page as I lectured from a PowerPoint about griots and the blues.

Students then found an African folk-tale on-line. As the week progresses they will summarize the folk tale in the familiar AAB rhyme pattern of the blues. We will continue this assignmen tomorrow. No Homework.