Just grab some land!

                    Today in class, we began watching a movie on Tiberius Gracchus. We saw how different he was compared to the other patricians. Instead of taking land from the plebeians and  pushing them out of his way, he actually seemed to care about them. Octavian on the other hand, didn't. He was more of your friend when you needed a drink or really nice food. He could easily take a plebeian's land free of guilt. Ever since Tiberius was young, he was told that he would be rule just as well as his father did, possibly even better. He had to walk through a poor area of town one time with his mom. Maybe that's why he has more sympathy for plebeians than most of the other patricians.

Handing back the Rome tests

                   Today Mr. Schick handed back our quests. I didn't do that well, I got an 80. I know that its not too bad because its a B, but usually I do better on the tests. I was confused on the part where it talked about who represented each type of government. Mr. Schick talked to us about working paying better attention in class and to study harder. Handing out detentions to people who talk in class was suggested and I think it could be a good idea. Or maybe we could throw their books down the hall...that would be a very entertaining punishment...

I aint no cheater

               Today we took the tizz..quest...whatever it was..It was only 25 questions, and it wasn't too bad. I did get confused on the part where it asked who represented which form of government. I also got confused on the question of who would represent them today. For the rest of the quest, I just went over the song in my mind to help me figure out some of the answers.

Quiz Review

             Today in class we continued talking about the rap and explaining its lyrics. Tomorrow we have a test on the first two stanzas of the rap. We talked about the latifundias, the Punic wars, and the rich people buy land of the poor. When the poor people wanted the portion of their land back, the rich quickly disagreed. The poor were supplied with free food and entertainment, so the Richer people didn't feel like they needed to give any of their land up. We aren't allowed to use our blogs for the quiz, but I don't even think I'll need it because of the song being stuck in my head!

Rome Video Presentation

            In class today we presented some extra credit videos.After each video Mr. Schick would ask the class how many points they deserved. Victoria and I got to present ours and we got a ten out of ten! Nicolette and Katie's video was really good so they also got a ten. Everybody else's videos were really good too. The song is stuck in my head now, though. Between making my own video and listening to everybody else's, I'm pretty sure I know all the lyrics. After we finished watching all of the videos, we talked more about the rap's lyrics. We went over the Punic Wars, and how Rome dominated Carthage every time.

Nevermind by Chi Cago

            Today in class Chi Cago himself announced that our lyric video wouldn't count as a project grade due to all the technical difficulties that some people were experiencing. Instead it would count for extra credit. So far Victoria and I haven't had any problems, luckily and our video is pretty awesome. Mr. Schick also explained all the lyrics in the video to us. We learned about people like Tarquin. I had known a little bit about him, but he explained the whole story to us.We also learned about things like the different types of government and how they had improved the ways of the Greeks. We also learned that their military was the most feared army in the world.

Working on the lyric video

              Today in class we continued working on our lyric videos. It was Victoria's birthday so she got to wear the birthday hat so I wore the clear one. We just got through the first paragraph in the song. The project is actually pretty fun to do, and the rap is really catchy and helpful. Victoria even got a photo of Chi Cago himself that we can put in the video. 

Lyric Video

           Today in class we had a fire drill right in the beginning. We had to walk out into the parking lot and we waited there for about 10 minutes. When we went inside we worked on a lyric/picture video to Rome by Chi Cago with partners. I'm working with Victoria. We had to download the music off of  Mr. Schick's west civ blog and we used it for movie maker. We didn't have too much time because of the fire drill, but I as able to download the song. 

LO-2: The Roman Expansion

     Mr. Schick wasn't in class today so Mrs. Stall, the German teacher, subbed for us. We all worked quietly on outlining LO-2. 

 The Romans Expansion

• the Romans were above all military people
• Their first wars were against the Etruscan, Italian, and Barbarian people
• One of Rome's main assets was its superior army 

Allies and colonies  

• The Roman were shrewdly generous in their treatment of defeated enemies
• The Romans tightened control over the Italian peninsula by creating a network of colonies which were their allies
• The Roman colonies enjoyed their rights of citizenship
• Rome became political entity 

The Punic Wars 

• Rome battled against Carthage 
• the Punic wars were waged on the land and the sea in three rounds which Rome won
• Rome gained all control of the western Mediterranean 

Conquering an Empire

• with former possession of Carthage in Sicily, Spain, and Africa became the first Roman providences
• these administrative units did not enjoy the status of Rome's allies in Italy, instead they were ruled as conquered lands 
• some local rulers survived by becoming client kings bound to Rome by ties of allegiance and support like those between Roman patrons
• in the course of endless maneuvering an fighting, the Romans carved one province after another out of the eastern Mediterranean and made many a local ruler into a client king, until by the early first century B.C., they were supreme in the region. From Gibralter to Jerusalem fell the shadow of mighty Rome.

Comics on Romulus and Remes

         Today's class was pretty entertaining...Mr. Schick wasn't there (maybe he is going on tour with M. Schick Lamar)...so Mrs. Magner subbed for us. We had to pick a partner and work on a Pixon cartoon to explain the myth of Romulus and Remes. Romulus and Remus is a story about twin brothers who were abandoned by their parents as babies. Their parents sent them down the Tiber River and a she wolf found the basket when it washed up on land. The wolf raised them for a little while before they were found by a shepherd and his wife.The shepherd raised them until they were adults. As adults, Romulus and Remus found a city where the wolf had found them. They argued over who should rule the unexplored land. Romulus eventually ended up killing Remus so he could obtain the noble position. Romulus then ruled the new city named it Rome after himself. This however is just a myth. The beginning of Rome was much less exciting and it took much more time to put together.Victoria and I worked together and our comic is pretty amazing so far. It was pretty fun to make the comics too. Hopefully we will be able to use this website more often. 

Rome: Chi Cago feat. M. Schick Lamar

        Today's concert ... class started off very...interestingly...  When we had gotten in the class we were surprised to Mr. Sch- i mean... "Chi Cago" wearing a baseball cap turned backwards and his daughter better known as M. Schick Lamar dressed up in a hoodie and sunglasses. They had a rap made up to teach us about Rome and I must say it was very original. All of us and found the song helpful, hilarious, and creative. Many people had caught the astounding moment on tape..but this song will hopefully appear on iTunes very soon. Maybe they will even be able to go on tour..After the little jam session we had gone over our homework from Monday where we had to outline LO-1. We went over a lot of what was in his rap such how the Latins arrived in Rome before any other cultures did. We went over many other topics on ancient Rome such as the plebeians and patricians and the senate. We had also gotten our tests back. I scored a 99 which was great except I had accidentally misspelled a word. For one of the questions a few people were saying that they had never learned their continents and that it was an unfair advantage to those who did know all of them. Maybe Chi Cago and M. Schick Lamar can write a song about all of the continents...

Chapter 6: The Roman Republic

Chapter 6 

•  The rise of Rome began as continuation of Greece's westward expansion through the Mediterranean Sea, which brought the Greek model of civilization to the peoples of Italy during the eighth century 
• about 500 B.C. Rome became a Greek-style city-state that was no longer ruled by kings, but the Roman government system-- the republic, as they called it -- was for several centuries more stable and more effective than any in Greece
• in five centuries Rome became the center of an empire that stretched from the borders of Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean 
• The Romans not only imitated Greek civilization, they improved it especially in warfare and government.

                                       Italy

• The Greeks arrived in a Mediterranean land with farming resources that were similar to those of the Greeks 
• Etruscans and Greeks came into Italy but the Latin people came first  
• Our letters are formed based on how the Latins and the Greeks did it 
• Italy was situated astride the Mediterranean commanding in every direction 
• the Indo-Europeans settlers formed various tribes among the Latin people of central Italy 
• They adopted features for their tribes from other cultures 

                                     Roman Republic

• at first their city state was ruled on the Etruscan model by powerful kings, including actual Etruscan conquerors 
• the king was advised by a council of elders called the Senate whose members were appointed 
• Senate meant "old men"
• senate men came rom the Patricians 
• the government of the Roman city state became officially the "people's business" in Latin
• Roman Republic underwent a turbulent under the influence of social struggles 
• the result however, was a system of government that a neither 

                                    Patricians and Plebeians

• the plebeians at first deferred to patrician rule, but as Rome grew and the plebeians became more numerous and often wealthier
• the Patricians are the upper class Romans coming form the noble families meaning they have political power and own land and stuff
• Plebeians were the common people
• plebeians owned a lot of farms to grow food and sell it 
• patricians had people work on their farms for them
• senate men were patricians 
• among the chief complaints of the plebeians was that they lack legal protection
• before the fifth century B.C. there had been no written code of law 
• 450 B.C. in response to the plebeians demand Roman laws were set in writing

                                     Mixed Government 

• The republic still rested in the hands of the senate and though plebeians could now join the senate only the wealthy could afford to do 

                                    Republican Values 

• the communities survival and prosperity depended on god or goddesses who was thought to tale a particular interest in its destiny 
• by the time of he republic Rome had a special relationships with three deities

                    Citizens and the community 

• people believed men should fight and women should take care of their families
• Rome had no right or duty to share in politics and government 

Community of the Family 

Test on Alexander the Great

           Today in class we took a test on Alexander the Great. We were able to use our blogs but it wasn't too complicated. I was only really stuck on one question. There were 35 questions in all and it was all filling in the blank. However, there was a word bank which was pretty useful since i didn't know how to spell some of the words. Tonight for homework we have to read some of the next chapter and write a few paragraphs on it. We are moving into our next chapter on the Roman Empire.