Reminder

There will be a word bank of capitals, there will be a word bank of countries, and there will be a word bank of landmarks. Each one will be alphabetized.  This is a pass/fail exam (90/150 to pass). The extra credit option needs to align with the tests of the other Early World teachers, so please stop asking me to give you a word bank that tells you which capitals go with which countries. You are studying from the actual testing maps and the study guide was provided to you a month in advance. Much appreciated. 

Linking the Indian, Muslim Caliphates, and the Chinese worlds

On the first day of this spring quarter, you took a virtual field trip to the Asia Society in New York to examine the Tang shipwreck.  Evidence found aboard directly linked 9th century CE Tang China to the Abbasid Empire (Iran, Iraq, and surrounding regions).  Remember the cobalt blue and white pottery or the plate that featured a Persian man illustrated? (Top left hand corner of below picture) The curators concluded that "the objects in the exhibition attest[ed] to the exchange of goods and ideas more than one thousand years ago when Asia was dominated by two great powers: China under the Tang dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate in West Asia."

We have now closed this (trade) loop by finished our final unit on Roman and Islamic Empires. Neither Song China nor the Abbasid Empire survived Mongol invasion.  Next year, all classes will consider how the innovations in Asia and the Middle East contributed to the resurgence of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Europe received printing, gunpowder, and the compass from China, as well as the bubonic plague (Black Death), which arrived in Italy in 1347. (Southernization) The Byzantine Empire will fall in 1453, and many of its scholars fled in its final years to Italy, with Greek and Latin manuscripts in tow.

This story will continue in the fall of the 2017-2018 school year . . . . . . 

Islam: Historical Development and Belief System

                                                              Introduction to Islam

                                                                Spread of Islam from Arabia

                                                      Islam: My Life, My Religion (BBC)
                         

Geography Test Study Guide

Attached is the final study guide for the geography test to be held on Monday, June 5.  You need 90/150 to pass this test.

Beowulf Debate

On Friday, the class will debate themes embedded within Beowolf.  The sides are (1) Beowolf depicts a pagan Germanic society governed by a heroic code of honour, one where the attainment of a name for warrior – prowess among the living overwhelms any concern about the soul’s destiny in the afterlife; VERSUS (2) Beowolf depicts the newly Christian understanding of the Germanic world.  You may sign up for a SIDE here. MAKE SURE you sign up for the CORRECT PERIOD. 

Fall of Western Roman Empire and Continuation of Eastern Byzantine Empire

Christianity Internet Field Trip

Once you have completed your board game, you may move onto this internet field trip regarding Christianity.  The goal is to understand the theological and political differences between Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.   

You will need the worksheet attached here as well as the visual on Protestantism here.