First Week

The first week back is complete - we made it! It looks like I have a great group of students this year; I'm looking foward to next week! If you'd like to comment on last week or have ideas for things you'd like to do in class, post them in the comments section. I look foward to hearing from you!

Website!

The class will finally have a full, functional website for the start of the school year.

I will, however, keep the blog up and running as a forum for discussion about class matters and assignments. I think this has the potential to be a serious educational tool and means of communication.

Summer

As summer plugs along, I thought I'd update in case anyone was REALLY bored and decided to check in. If you miss me, I can be found most days at Cape Henlopen State Park giving tours at Fort Miles, the largest and most expensive fort constructed within the United States during World War II.

Next year, look for a complete website, though I expect to keep the blog alive as well to serve as a forum for discussion among students and myself. Unlike most sequals, year #2 of Mr. McKain's social studies class at SMS promises to be an exciting improvement over the original! I'm looking foward to meeting any newcomers in a month and a few weeks!

Last week of school

Following our introduction to Reconstruction, we did a project developing our own solutions to the many problems that the nation faced following the Civil War. The students did an excellent job with this!

This week, we are wrapping up the year with the movie Gettysburg, an historically accurate major motion picture about the battle that provides insights into the characters involved, strategies used, and the life of soldiers beyond what text alone can provide.

Tuesday, May 29th Agenda

1. Warm-up: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” – Based on this passage from his second inaugural address, how do you think Lincoln planned on dealing with the South after the war? Explain.
2. Brainstorm: Challenges facing the nation at the end of the war
3. Read about the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Hakim or online)
4. How did the assassination of Abraham Lincoln complicate the issue of Reconstruction? Explain.
5. HW: p. 519 #'s 1-5

Agenda - Week of May 21st

This week is the big Social Studies DSTP!! Good luck everyone!!

Monday - Quiz on the end of the Civil War
Tuesday - DSTP Review
Wednesday - Video (TBA)
Thursday - Review Civil War
Friday - Test: Civil War .... last major test grade of the year!!

Thursday, May 17th Agenda

On Monday, we discussed the Emancipation Proclamation and completed a worksheet. On Tuesday, we watched a video on the 54th Massachusetts and answered questions relating to the film. On Wednesday, we had the "Choices" presenters with us the entire period. On to today...

1. Warm-up
2. Finish video
3. Compare clip from "Glory" to documentary
4. Discuss inflation
5. p. 504 #'s 2-5

Friday, May 18th (in case I forget)
1. Warm-up
2. Review Questions
3. Notes: 1863-1865
4. Primary Source Activity: The Gettysburg Address
5. HW: Quiz Monday, Chapter 17 Sections 3-5