7th+Grade

__**First Semester **__


 * [|North America]
 * [|South America]
 * [|Europe]
 * [|Africa]
 * [|Asia] and [|Australia]

__**Second Semester **__
 * American government: history and origins
 * [|Federal Government]
 * [|State Government]
 * [|Local Government]

**Resources **
 * [|United States map game] [|.]
 * [|Continents map game.]
 * [|European Countries map game.]
 * [|Alabama Virtual Library] has an excellent search engine called "Kid Search" that is geared for middle school students. Students can find great sources here.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> [|On This Day in History] (History Channel)



For information on Class Procedures click here. For information on daily Homework click here. Globe from [|IconArchive.com]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">**In Class Activities**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Denmark and Norway: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Using your COUNTRY PROFILES from these two countries create one or two of the following to display the information you know about BOTH countries: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">1. Facebook/Twitter "statuses" in Microsoft Word document that highlight important features of your "travels" through both countries <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">2. Letter in Microsoft Word to a friend describing your "travels" in both countries. 3. A brochure that highlights both countries.


 * Remember to include all information on your country profile sheet*

Save in lab/MissDavis

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">December 7, 2011

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**Directions:** The searing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has made almost impossible any statement about which both groups can agree. Read the following descriptions about the claim each has to the land Israelis call Israel and Palestinians Palestine. Then, based on what you have read, answer questions A-D below.

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**1.** The history of the Jewish people and of its roots in the land of Israel spans some 35 centuries. In this land, its cultural, national, and religious identity was formed; here, its physical presence has been maintained unbroken throughout the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. With the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, lost 2000 years earlier, was renewed. //--American Jewish Committee//

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**2.** The Palestinians' claim is predicated on the right of ownership evidenced by uninterrupted possession and occupation since the dawn of recorded history. They lived in the country when the Hebrews (of whom the Jews claim descent) came and lived there for a comparatively short period. The continued to live there during the Hebrew (and Jewish) occupation. They remained there after the last Hebrew or Jew left the country nearly two thousand years ago....The people today called Palestinians...are largely the descendants of the Canaanites, the Edomites, and the Philistines who lived in Palestine when it was invaded by the Hebrews in ancient times. But the Hebrews finally left or were driven out two thousand years ago. //--Frank S. Sakran, Palestine Still a Dilemma//

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**3.** There was no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state?... It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country from them. They did not exist. //--Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister, New York Times//

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**4.** According to Genesis, this was the land that God gave to Abraham and his seed....Those Jews who rely on the biblical deed to the land take their history from the ancient period of 4,000 years or so ago, skipping easily over the centuries of Muslim rule that followed; those Arabs who regard history as their ally tend to begin with the Muslim conquests in the seventh century A.D., blithely ignoring the Jewish kingdoms that existed here 2,000 years before Muhammad made his appearance. //--David K. Shipler, Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land//

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">**Questions:**

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;"> Please respond to the questions below by marking either J (Jews), P (Palestinians) or I (Impossible to determine).

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;">A. Which people have lived in the land longer?

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;"> B. Which people have ruled over the land longer?

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;"> C. Whose historical claim to the land is stronger?

<span style="font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;"> D. Which people have been present in the land as far back as records go?

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">(used from http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/israelpalestine.html)//

**When you are finished read this [|article]**

Still have time? Check out one of [|these].
Submission can be made in discussion or Edmodo (code: **6dccet).** http://edmodo.com/join/38f169e09c25c1f0b3acfdf2a8a81d86