Avon School District

Weeks 24-30: Weeks of March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and April 7

5th Grade: We are learning about the Age of Exploration. Our project for this unit is for students to create a fictional advertisement for a sailor to voyage across the sea in search of new land. They are the Queen, seeking a good sailor for the journey they are funding. Students will list positive traits a good sailor should have and negative traits they would not want a sailor to have. Then, they wrote this advertisement on some fun scroll-style paper I had for this project. It is a lot of fun and gives students a good perspective on life's difficulties for a sailor in the 15th century. 

6th Grade: We finished our unit of study on Ancient India and moved on to the Holocaust. We will focus on the history of anti-Semitism and how it played a role in WWII and the Holocaust.

7th Grade: Students learned about American presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Adams was important for inadvertently creating the major supreme court case of Marbury vs. Madison, which created judicial review, which means the supreme court can determine if any law is constitutional. Jefferson was a significant enigma as a person and politician. He had a set of values and beliefs that he would often change to suit a certain thing he wanted to do. Is he a hypocrite or someone who was able to change course based on new evidence? A tricky question to tackle, but the students did so wonderfully. Madison was involved in the War of 1812. Monroe helped create the immensely influential Monroe Doctrine that tells Europe to stay out of affairs affecting North and South America forever as we advance. 

8th Grade: These students are learning about the civil rights struggles of different minority groups over the years in the United States. LGBTQ, African-Americans, Chicanos, women, and others.  

Week 23: February 24

This week, the middle school students (Grades 6-8) will participate in different activities for Avon History Day, which is scheduled for Sunday, March 23. This date coincides with the 125th Birthday of Avon-by-the-Sea! That makes this year's festivities particularly special. All the students will participate, and it will take most of the week for their work to be completed. 

5th Grade: We finished our unit of study on the Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations. Our final test on these civilizations will be on Wednesday, February 26.

6th Grade: We finished our unit of study on Ancient Egypt and had our final test last week. This week, we are starting our Avon History Day projects. The sixth grade is creating a fictional restaurant in the Avon Inn. Students must ensure the food items on their menu are foods people would have eaten in the early 1900s when the Avon Inn was the Jersey Shore's most impressive inn. 

7th Grade: Students will create models of landmark buildings in Avon's history. Students have chosen to create a replica of the St. Elizabeth Church, Lola's historic house, the old firehouse/first aid building, and the boardwalk and pavilion. Students will research their building to ensure historical accuracy. We make the models out of cardboard; students have created some excellent models over the years. 

8th Grade: These students are creating a historically researched narrative about a family named Hedgeman who came down to vacation in Avon from Brooklyn around 1908-1909. Students will ensure they include details of what the town was like during this period and what going to the beach was like. The outfits people wore over 100 years ago were MUCH different than today, and students have fun imagining what life was like in Avon so long ago. 

Week 18: January 13

5th Grade: We have finished with the Aztec Empire and will move on to the Inca Empire afterward.

6th Grade: Students continue to learn about Ancient Egypt. We have focused on geography, vocabulary, and religion. We will focus this week and next on the role of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and how they played a role in daily life there.

7th Grade: We will start finalizing the unit of study on President George Washington and his achievements and challenges as president. We will then move on to the presidency of John Adams and his legacy of the First Amendment because of a controversial act he oversaw as president, limiting the rights of free speech for Americans and the press.

8th Grade: We will continue to explore the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment with modern-day Supreme Court cases of significance for all Americans. 

Weeks 16 and 17: December 23 and January 2

Classes on December 23 for all grades were tying up loose ends before the break.

On Thursday and Friday of our first week back after winter break, we focused on a year-long review of major news stories from 2024. We also focused on something other than doom and gloom, and I shared a video of GOOD news from 2024. We are also focusing on the life of former President Jimmy Carter. He was the 39th President of the United States, and it was universally agreed by all that he was a class act and a good man. He deserves to be remembered not just for his political life but also for his personal life. 

Weeks 14 and 15: December 9th and 16th

5th Grade: The ladies in the class are working on constructing an Aztec pyramid known as a ziggurat. We hope it is done before the break, but we will work on it when we return until it is completed.

6th Grade: We will continue our unit of study on Ancient Egypt. We will move away from the region's geography and turn to the culture of the ancient Egyptians and, specifically, their written language, hieroglyphics. We will utilize a link to the University of Pennsylvania Archeology webpage to write different English words in hieroglyphics. https://www.penn.museum/cgi/hieroglyphsreal.php

7th Grade: We will focus on the Articles of Confederation and its failures as our nation's first constitution. We will then focus on the creation of the U.S. Constitution and its impact on life then and now. We will only do a cursory exploration of the Constitution as it is a primary focus during the first half of their 8th-grade year in civics.

8th Grade: We will continue to explore the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. 

Week 13: Week of December 2

5th Grade: The ladies of the 5th grade have been learning about the Mayan Empire and its significance in world history. We will now move on to the Aztec Empire and its geography, religion, and the advancements made during this time. 

6th Grade: We are starting to finalize our unit of study on Ancient Mesopotamia and moving on to Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt has fascinated millions of people over the generations and is a fantastic unit of study. We will start with the geography, religion, daily life, and advancements made during their civilization. 

7th Grade: Students will finalize their studies of the American Revolutionary War. This means we will begin to discuss and learn about the aftermath and effects of the war and how the fledging United States of America started as a country. This means we will focus on the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the war, and then the Articles of Confederation, our nation's first Constitution, which was a complete failure. We will explore why this document failed, which eventually led to the creation of the Constitution and the presidency of George Washington. 

8th Grade: We will continue to study the U.S. Constitution, focusing on its remaining Articles. 

5th Grade: The ladies of the 5th grade have been learning about the Mayan Empire and its significance in world history. We have explored the geography of the region, the religion, and the advancements made during this time. 

6th Grade: Over those weeks, we continued to learn about ancient Mesopotamia and its significance in world history. One of the enjoyable things we did was play a game called the Game of Ur, which is over 5,000 years old. Students enjoyed this simple racing game where each player rolls four dice and moves that number of spaces on the game board. The first player to get their seven pieces across the entire board to the end wins. The game takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and there is no way to know who will win until the game is over. Ancient Mesopotamian kings and the students of 6th graders of AES both enjoyed this game!

7th Grade: Students will learn about the American Revolutionary War and its significant battles. Students will be assigned one of nine different battles from this war. Important battles such as Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown will be assigned, in addition to lesser-known battles such as Charleston or Rhode Island. Students must create a slideshow presentation on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of their battle and share it with the class. The class will take notes on each battle presented by a fellow student. This is an excellent way for students to teach others about the crucial battles of the world, which is often more effective than just a teacher's lecture. 

8th Grade: We continued our studies of the U.S. Constitution by learning about Article II and Article III of the Constitution. Article II outlines the executive branch of our U.S. federal government and the duties and responsibilities of the president, the executive branch head. We then move on to Article III, which outlines the structure and duties of the judicial branch and, most specifically, the Supreme Court. Each of these articles is important in its own way, and both of these branches, in addition to the legislative branch (which is outlined in Article I), have checks and balances on each other's power to prevent corruption by one or more branches. 

Week Nine: Week of November 4

Grades 5-8: Each grade will learn about this week's upcoming presidential election. Some of our focuses for this short week will be as follows.

• Explaining the purpose of the Electoral College.
• Explain how the Electoral College works.
• Discuss Donald Trump and Kamala Harris's viewpoints on significant issues facing the United States. 
• Discuss different campaign ads that have run in the past and how they attempted to sway voters to their side (or away from the side of the other candidate). 
• Discuss the election results (if possible before Wednesday) and what happens next. 
• Discuss what the "lame duck period" is for President Joe Biden, which lasts until Inauguration Day on Monday, January 20, 2025.

Weeks Five and Six: Weeks of October 7 and 14

5th Grade: We focused for a week on the different regions in the United States and the Native Americans who lived in each region. We concentrate on similarities and differences between the groups, focusing on religion, food, environment, and other important markers of society. Next, we moved south to Central and South America, where we studied the Olmec and Mayan civilizations. Each of those civilizations has a vital role in the story of our world, and their advancement and eventual downturn will be examined in detail. 

6th Grade: Over these two weeks, students finished their unit of study on early man. We focused on the similarities and differences between the earlier forms of humans, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. We also learned about modern technology being used to better understand ancient humans' lives. We will have our final unit test on Friday, October 17th. Next, we move on to ancient river valley civilizations, specifically Mesopotamia, and the advancements they gave the world. 

7th Grade: We continued our unit of study on the buildup to the American Revolution. Students will be given a mid-unit assessment that will focus on the Boston Massacre, the Stamp Act, Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet Common Sense, and the Sons of Liberty, who advocated for liberty but often used violence and intimidation to achieve their objectives. 

8th Grade: During those two weeks, AES's 8th-grade students focused on creating the Constitution, more specifically, the Preamble and Article I of the Constitution. We also engaged in an exciting debate about two very different places. Both are fictional; one is called Freedomland, and the other is called Leaderland. Freedomland is a place of complete independence and freedom. There are no consequences for bad behavior and no reward for good behavior. You can do as you please and be as free as you want. However, your safety is not ensured because complete freedom means that some dangerous crimes will go unpunished, so people might do terrible things to each other and face no consequences. Does this sound like a place you would want to live? However, Leaderland offers a great deal of safety and protection. Still, the citizens have virtually no rights, and the entire government is run by just one strong leader with a centralized government. Does this sound like a place you would want to live in? Students were asked to pick a side and justify their decision. It made for an informative and reflective debate on a fascinating concept. 

Week Four: October 4, 2024

5th Grade: The young ladies of the 5th grade are continuing our unit of study on the first humans in North/South America next week. We will learn about the different regions in which Native Americans lived in North America and each distinct region's different geography, culture, and lifestyle. 

6th Grade: Next week, students will learn about the technological developments made in the Neolithic age that helped contribute to humankind as we know it today.

7th Grade: Next week, students will analyze different primary source documents from the pre-Revolutionary stage of American history. We will also discuss the Sons of Liberty group and their tactics to sway colonists' opinions about the break from England towards the American side. 

8th Grade: Students will learn about the "nuts and bolts" of the U.S. Constitution, how the document itself is organized, and what each section states about our federal government structure. 

Week Three: September 27, 2024

5th Grade - The young ladies of the 5th grade are continuing our unit of study on the first humans in North/South America. There are two theories at play here. One is that people crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, which was exposed because it was an ice age. The large glaciers that covered much of North America were locked in water that would otherwise have been in the oceans. Essentially, it is the OPPOSITE of modern-day climate change. However, it would stand to reason that the oldest archaeological finds of the first Americans would work from north to south. However, the oldest known human archaeological site is in Peru, thousands of miles further south than the second-oldest site in Clovis, New Mexico. This lends itself to humans crossing the ocean and eventually landing and settling in South America and modern-day Peru. We will explore this more next week. 

6th Grade - This week, we continued our unit of study on the earliest known humans by focusing on the different epochs (periods of time) in human history and the significant advances of humans during each of those epochs. We also explored Stonehenge in England through a WebQuest. Students were asked to use links embedded in the assignment that provided them with videos and writings to give more information on the Stonehenge site and why it was a significant advancement for humans thousands of years ago. Next week, we will focus on the Agricultural Revolution, when humans started to stay in one spot and farm the food they needed, which completely changed the world forever. Now, humans could grow their food in addition to hunting and gathering food, as had been done for most of human history before this revolution started. 

7th Grade - This week, we focused on the beginning stages of the Revolutionary War. We focused this week on the Boston Massacre and how bias played a role in the depiction of the event visually and via oral and written accounts. This lesson is an excellent way for students to understand better the general concept of bias and political propaganda and how it can sway a person's opinion, regardless of whether the information is accurate. Next week, we will discuss the different motivations people in the colonies had for choosing sides in this growing revolution. Why would some people stay loyal to the crown while others were advocating and willing to fight for freedom from British oppression? Some people remained neutral and did not want to be involved in this situation at all. We will examine different examples of people's motivations for choosing sides before the outbreak of war. Next week, we will discuss the Sons of Liberty group and their tactics to sway colonists' opinions about the break from England towards the American side. 

8th Grade—This week, we finalized our unit of study on the political philosophies that influenced the Founders when they created our Constitution. We had a test on the philosophers on Friday, 9/26, and everyone did very well on it. Sometime this week, we will play an outdoor game called Electoral College basketball. This is a game in which students must make baskets for electoral college "points" to get to the magic number of 270 electoral college votes to win the game (presidency). The points are awarded by shooting a shot close to a small circle with the picture of a state on it and the corresponding electoral votes that the state has. If they make the basket, they get all the electoral college votes. If they miss, the other team can shoot to win those votes, or they can choose to shoot from another state for that state's electoral college votes. The difficulty of the shots is based on the importance of the state. Swing states are the hardest baskets to make. 

Week Two: Sept. 20, 2024

5th Grade - The young ladies of the 5th grade started our unit of study on the first humans in North/South America. There are two theories at play here. One is that people crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, which was exposed because it was the ice age. The large glaciers that covered much of North America were locked in water that would otherwise have been in the oceans. Essentially, it is the OPPOSITE of modern-day climate change. However, it would stand to reason that the oldest archaeological finds of the first Americans would work from north to south. However, the oldest known human archaeological site is in Peru, thousands of miles further south than the second-oldest site in Clovis, New Mexico. This lends itself to humans crossing the ocean and eventually landing and settling in South America and modern-day Peru. We will explore this more next week. 

6th Grade - This week, we continued our unit of study on the earliest known humans by focusing on the different epochs (periods of time) in human history and the significant advances of humans during each of those epochs. Next week, we will explore Stonehenge in England through a WebQuest. This is where we will use links embedded in the assignment that will provide students with videos and writings to provide further information on the Stonehenge site and why it was a significant advancement for humans thousands of years ago. 

7th Grade—This week, we focused on the French and Indian War and its consequences. While the war is crucial, it is vital to understand what happened after it and better understand the colonists' frustration with England and what they viewed as oppressive laws and taxes. We explored the war and its consequences this week, and next week, we will move past this conflict and into the build-up to the Revolutionary War. 

8th Grade - This week, we explored the political philosophies that influenced the Founders when they created our Constitution. We learned about the Social Contract theory and its significance to our nation's Founders, who were directly influenced by the four philosophers we are learning about. This week, we learned about Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbs, and John Locke, who had revolutionary ways of viewing power, laws, obedience, and why a government should be overthrown. Locke and Rousseau felt that a corrupted and coercive government should be overthrown. Hobbs says that people create kings and rulers to keep them safe, so if a leader gets too powerful and out of control, we only have ourselves to blame because we made a government to keep us safe, and if the leader is abusing his/her power, then that's too bad. Next week, we will learn about Montesquieu, who provided our founders with guidelines for creating three separate yet equally important branches of government.

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