th 7 Welcome to Grade World Cultures Ms

th 7 Welcome to Grade World Cultures Ms. Holinsky

World Cultures • This year you will be studying the following: • What is Culture? • Africa • Middle East • Europe • Central Eurasia

Grades • III. Grading Policy: Reminder grades are not given they are earned 90 -100%=A 80 -89%=B 70 -79%=C 60 -69%=D The grading policy is based in the following percentages: 50%-Class work 25%-Homework 25%-test/Quizzes/projects If you have not read and signed the course syllabus please contact me as soon as possible.

Text Books and Other Resources • The main text book for the course is the World Cultures and Geography • Additional text include; Regional Studies series, World Explorer series, Global Mosaic, and computer resources

Bench Marks and Final Exam • Once a month students will take benchmarks or short-cycle assessments • These Benchmarks are accumulative exams. • Students will be given test dates in advance. • Benchmark exams are written by the county not Ms. Holinsky • The World Cultures program is a two year accumulative program. At the end of 7 th grade students will take a county wide final exam. • Students will be tested on information for the entire school year.

Franklin Middle School Wiki pages • Please go to http: //franklinms. bcps. org/ • Click on Get your Teacher's Homework Online! • Go to Social Studies and you will find my wiki page

Best way to Contact Ms. Holinsky • The number one way to contact me is through email at rholinsky@bcps. org • If you have not yet emailed me to be a part of the distribution list, please do so. I will be sending out my first “news letter” next week.

What is Culture? • What is Culture is a review of 6 th grade World Cultures. • The Five Themes of geography • Components of Culture • Criteria for Civilization • Amazon rainforest • Social Scientist

Africa The Objective of the unit is: How have geography and history influenced the development of a diverse Africa? What is the relationship between tradition and change in contemporary Africa? • Geography of Africa. • Colonization and • Ancient African independence kingdoms movements in Africa • Interaction between • history of Apartheid Africa, Middle East, and in South Africa Europe • Economic development of selected African nations

Middle East The objective of the unit is: Why is the Middle East defined as a cultural crossroads? What challenges face the people of the Middle East? • Students will spend • Geography of the several weeks Middle East and examining the determine why it is a Palestinian/Israeli region. conflict • History of this region and the main religions of the region

Europe Objective of the unit is: How did diverse civilizations and systems develop in Europe? • Political and physical features of Europe. • History of specific European countries. • European society during the Middle Ages • Democratic principals in England • WWI and WWII

Central Eurasia The objective of the unit is: How have geography and political traditions affected the people of Central Eurasia? What factors contributed to the instability of Central Eurasia • Regional characteristics of Central Eurasia • Major political events • Political, and economic stability in the former Soviet Union • Students will examine the cause and effects of the dissolution of the Soviet Union