Take a Walk, Take a Photo

6 Apr

A message from Paul:

Dear Friends,

We’re happy to be back in touch to share an update and invite you to celebrate National Walking Day with the Out of Eden Walk.

Tomorrow, April 6, is National Walking Day across the US. Celebrate with Paul in the spirit of the Out of Eden Walk—wherever you are—by taking 30 minutes out of your day to go for a stroll. While on your walk, take a photo of an interesting detail you spot. Then share it on Twitter or Instagram using #EdenWalk, for a chance to be featured in the National Geographic #EdenWalk Walking Day Timeline.

Need some inspiration? Feel free to come up with your own creative message or reference our sample Tweet:

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Students, if you choose to do this, send me your photo by Friday and I will Tweet it out under my name and use your Out of Eden Learn Username. I really enjoyed your photos you took of your neighborhoods. I hope to see some more examples. I will also share them on my class blog too. 

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Are you drinking enough water?

5 Apr

I love Ted-Ed videos! This is a new one I watched today. While this is not about ancient history, I think it’s important and an interesting video to watch, especially as temperatures heat up in Chennai. Make sure you drink enough water. The fact that we spend a lot of time talking about why civilizations started near water resources is a good enough connection. Drink.More.Water. :>)

 

 

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Egypt – Gift of the Nile

1 Apr

We learned about Mesopotamia in the first trimester. This is a nice video that compares the two civilizations. Watch it!

This week we are learning about Egypt’s geography and how the Nile River, the longest river in the world, supported its civilization’s development and growth. Rich farmland (the ‘black land’) provided plenty of food for Egyptians. The river also became a trading highway. We played the Explanation Game, a Visible Thinking routine in class this week and generated questions, wonderings, and possible explanations for the images that showed life in ancient Egypt. Below are some photos and a playlist featuring short videos that support what we are learning in class and what you are reading. 

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April Birthdays

31 Mar

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Happy birthday to the following people celebrating birthdays in April: Keisha (5) Mr. Martin (22), Lya (23), Nahyeon (25), Young In (27). If I forgot someone, or make a mistake let me know. Happy birthday!

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Archaeologists Uncover Another Branch of the Silk Road

29 Mar

Famous for facilitating an incredible exchange of culture and goods between the East and the West, the ancient Silk Road is thought to have meandered across long horizontal distances in mountain foothills and the lowlands of the Gobi Desert. But new archaeological evidence hidden in a lofty tomb reveals that it also ventured into the high altitudes of Tibet—a previously unknown arm of the trade route. Read this Scientific American article to learn more about this discovery. 

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SOURCE: “EARLIEST TEA AS EVIDENCE FOR ONE BRANCH OF THE SILK ROAD ACROSS THE TIBETAN PLATEAU,” BY HOUYUAN LU ET AL., IN SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, VOL. 6, ARTICLE NO. 18955; JANUARY 7, 2016; Map by Mapping Specialists

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Welcome back! New Unit – Egypt!

28 Mar

Students – We hope you had a nice, restful, and fun vacation, whether you stayed in Chennai or traveled. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow and starting our new unit this week, Egypt. We will also start footstep #2 for Out of Eden Learn. There are 10 weeks left in the school year and the time will go quickly. Show your best effort and finish the year on a strong note! Here are a couple of more funny cartoons I recently discovered on a funny website named Wrong Hands.

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Hominids

27 Mar

Hilarious! Stone Age Humor

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Milestone 33: Night Crossing — Aboard the MV Fikret Emirov on the Caspian Sea

24 Mar

Paul has left Baku and is crossing the Caspian Sea in his latest milestone video, released yesterday. To learn more about this milestone, click HERE and read more. 

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Tour the World (Music Video)

24 Mar

Greetings! I hope you are enjoying your spring break. Whether you are here in Chennai or traveling, travel safely. I found this video today when looking for resources and fun stuff for you. Check it out!

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The Field Museum’s China Exhibit

22 Mar
Field Museum President and CEO Richard Lariviere, left, and Exhibitions Conservator Shelley Paine examine Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014 one of two stone lions from 13th century China that will be part of Cyrus Tang Hall of Chine, a upcoming, permanent exhibit announced today at the museum. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune) B583963750Z.1 -ent-0827-field-china ….OUTSIDE TRIBUNE CO.- NO MAGS, NO SALES, NO INTERNET, NO TV, CHICAGO OUT, NO DIGITAL MANIPULATION…

If you happen to be visiting the U.S. this summer and are near Chicago, you should visit the Field Museum. I just learned about their new exhibit on Shi Huang Di, China’s first emperor and the terracotta warriors. You can see this exhibit until January 2017. If you cannot visit it, check out their website which has a lot of cool images and facts. Check it out!

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The Silk Roads

18 Mar

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In class, we finished our ancient China unit by learning about the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce. As the Silk Road was not a single thoroughfare from east to west, the term ‘Silk Routes’ has become increasingly favored by historians, though ‘Silk Road’ is the more common and recognized name. The greatest value of the Silk Road was the exchange of culture. Art, religion, philosophy, technology, language, science, architecture, and every other element of civilization was exchanged through the Silk Road along with the commercial goods the merchants carried from country to country. Here is a playlist I created that features some interesting videos on the these amazing routes. 

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Milestone 32 – Dry Well

16 Mar

Here is the most recent ‘milestone’ video that Paul created for his walk. He is currently in Azerbaijan. Check out the map of this location, Gobustan. Click HERE to learn more about this location. I will add more milestone to the blog as he completes them (every 100 miles or approx. 160 km.)

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Goodbye & Good Luck!

16 Mar

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Goodbye

Goodbye and good luck!

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Gallery

Kahoot!

16 Mar

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Qin Dynasty, Terracotta Warriors and Great Wall of China

12 Mar

Here are some more videos related to our current lessons. I have included the TED-Ed video that we used for our Zaption activity. Enjoy!

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Friday Quotes & Round-Up

11 Mar
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Great quotes

See Think Wonder

See – Think – Wonder

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Mr. M got his cast off on Thursday, March 10. Three more weeks in the “moon” boot.

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Madhulika

Nice work from Madhulka on Do Now #15

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It has been a great week of learning. Students finished presenting their projects on Chinese philosophies, we learned about China’s first major emperor Shi Huang Di and the Qin dynasty, and we used Zaption for the first time. Expect to see more Zaption activities this year, as we think it’s a useful tool to introduce and review topics we are learning, as well as to develop listening comprehension skills. Students continued to develop thinking routines through ‘See, Think, and Wonder’ activities (Shi Huang Di’s ‘silent army,’ the Terracotta Warriors). Finally, students began learning journey #2 for Out of Eden Learn. Have a great weekend! 

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Hello Monday!

7 Mar
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Mr. Martin (From Ted) – Thanks!

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Congratulations to Mintae!

Good morning, are you ready for a great week? Madhulika told me she saw this announcement from Out of Eden Learn on Twitter. Thanks for letting me know. :>) The lucky winner was our very own, Mintae. Thank to all of the students who replied to the survey in a timely manner. I know who reads my messages!

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March Birthdays

5 Mar

 

Happy Birthday Dog Singing

Happy birthday to the following students celebrating a birthday this month. If I made an error, or forgot someone please let me know! Praseedha (1), Sokhi (8), Cyril (11), Jihyeon (15),ChangIk (17), Seohyun Park (18), Sangmin Han (19), Donovan (27), Jeongwon (28), Chanwoo (31)

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Ancient China Playlist

5 Mar

This playlist includes several helpful videos that cover some of the things we are currently learning in our ancient China unit. Enjoy!

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RISE Event – Friday (Be There!)

2 Mar

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RISE, March 4 at 4:00pm in the Auditorium

On behalf of RISE at American International School Chennai (AISC), we would like to invite you to a special event on the AISC campus. RISE (resilience, innovation, service, and entertainment) is a committee that brings innovative thinkers and performers to our school to enrich the discourse and exposure around big ideas and global issues related to our mission and core values. This looks really good, and you should attend. More information is in your student bulletin. 

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China Presentations

2 Mar

Students have been working on a research project for our ancient China unit, focusing on one of the major Chinese philosophies (Legalism, Confucianism, or Daoism/Taoism) or one of two dynasties (Shang/Zhou). Here are some photos….more will be added later.

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News: The country with the worst air pollution

23 Feb
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Image source: Greenpeace – screenshot from Washington Post article, Feb. 23. 2016

It’s a never-ending debate in Asia — whose air quality is worse, China’s or India’s? Read this article to find out the answer. This map is an example of a thematic map, a map that includes particular information about a place or region…in this case pollution in Asia.

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Documenting the Everyday

22 Feb

For Footstep #5, student documented the everyday by doing one of the following two options:

PLACE: Document everyday life in a place that you know.

PROCESS: Document how people in your community do something as part of their everyday lives. For example, you could focus on how a type of food or drink is prepared, how an object is made or repaired, or how someone goes about another kind of daily task or activity.

Some students created videos sharing something about the local culture or their own culture, while others created a presentation. There were many excellent examples that you can see here. There were all kinds of things shared, but most people seemed to like to share recipes and games. We have enough things to make a cooking show!

B/D Block student exemplars:

How to play Yutnori (Korean game) by MathPie314

Korean recipe (Tteokbokki) by Minibanana

Shogi (Japanese game) by Eva

Documenting the Everyday – IamMario

G/H Block student exemplars: Coming soon!

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Daoism and Legalism

22 Feb

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Legalism and Daoism (Taosim) are two other Chinese philosophies we are currently studying in lesson 2. Here is a playlist of some helpful videos that will give you an overview of their basic beliefs. 

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Confucius and Confucianism

22 Feb

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In our ancient China unit (lesson 2), you are learning about Confucius. A simple Google search will lead you to many quotes by him. Here are some good ones to consider or reflect on. The following playlist also includes some good information about his life, his teachings, and why they are important today.

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