STAB 2017

After two days of competition, ancient China leads by a score of 52-36. One highlight from today was the incredible observational work done by Joe and  Ellie . Between them, they identified all six photographs correctly (and earned points for their civilizations in the process). Looking at the world carefully and with precision was an important skill during ancient times, and it remains important today. Really nice work, Joe and Ellie, identifying the visual clues today and arriving at the correct answers. Also today, we discussed the ancient Egyptian concept of " ka ".  Ka is hard to define, but essentially it refers to the " life spark " that distinguishes between a living person and a dead person. Egyptians believed that the ka left the body at death -- but that the body should remain nearby!

After the first day of skirmishes, Ancient China leads 33-23.  John  and  Eloise  showed off their skills on the hunt, and  Andrew  brought the enthusiasm.

Thanks to Bella Grace for this beautiful (and inspiring) drawing

The Ox's Tail By Elsa I took off, the wind moving my hair like seaweed. The truth is I had no plan. My plan was to run. I’m pretty good at running I guess. I sometimes bring mom messages from the farm. I usually send useless messages like "the deer are taking a while to domesticate” or “our irrigation system isn’t working very well.”  Losing track of myself, I almost run into a cow passing in the streets. I look over my shoulder to see the man is gone. I lay myself against a wall, tired and nervous. I was supposed to get another pig, but the man scared me off. I guess I would have to go home empty handed.  My stomach growls. I spot a woman selling bread, and walk over. After eating a small warm loaf of bread, I feel a little better. I’m not as nervous or tired. I decide to head back to the farm. I trudge through the gravel road, arms aimlessly moving back and forth. “I didn’t do it,” I think to myself. “I didn’t cut the ox’s tail off,” I whisper.  “Fibs! I’m reporting you...

For today's Musical Monday , we listened to "Autumn" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons . We were all impressed with Julia Fischer's skill and talent on the violin, and the students had a number of great comments: Kendall : The music had a pattern: peaceful and slow, then strong and fast, then peaceful and slow again. Max : I agree with Kendall about the pattern. For me, the different parts of the song reminded me of the different parts of Autumn. There's the harsh windy days when all the leaves are falling, and then there are the calm days with just a gentle breeze. Wynter : For me, this music is less about the seasons and more about a life span. There are the sad times and the happy times, the dark times and the bright times. That's what it feels like to me.

The Best Day of My Life By Davis I was at home working on something that my parents had always wanted me to do. Scribing. Scribing is one of my least favorite things to do in the whole entire world! I only do it because my parents make me, and because Mama and Papa say that one day if I continue scribing I could have a very important job for the King. I could also get loads of silver and make my family very proud of me. I still hate it, though. I was looking down and focusing on a very important letter to my teacher, to tell her about Papa. I was telling her that Papa was a part of a hunter-gatherer group, and I told her the very exciting news about the mammoth that Papa had caught. Ahh! So boring. I threw the clay on the ground. All of a sudden Papa came in. I quickly hid the broken clay. I would have to tell him later. Hi Dad. Oh hi, Muha. I was just wondering if you would want to come out of the city with me. I froze. Wait, you actually mean out of the city? A smile curled his lip...

The Wet Season By Samantha Sitting on a hill in the countryside, looking up at the cloudy sky, was as boring as waiting for a newly domesticated animal to behave. It was the wet season, and water was about to come down from the sky. Now usually that would be a good thing. However, since Kiki and I broke the irrigation system, we could be having some problems when it starts to get wet. Kiki and I had been digging for silver with my mother’s very special hand ax when we hit something. We dug it out, and apparently it was one of the pipes we use for the irrigation system. And that is why I'm sitting outside my house, looking at the sky, because I was banned from all our semi-fun technologies. Kiki gets to try to help fix the irrigation because he is older than me, and like my mom says “He has a better mind.” Which I think is unfair, because I can write better symbols than he can ... The next day I walked into the city with my mom and my little brother. We were going to see the new an...

Several 6th graders are taking guitar lessons (or took them in the past), and today we enjoyed a lovely rendition of the theme from Braveheart . Ellie : Watching this guitarist, you can tell that the music is where his heart is. Mac : The musician went away from everything , to get in touch with his music. And sometimes, that's what you have to do.

Today the 6th graders took a break from the classroom, but they learned some excellent lessons about  listening, leadership, and teamwork  while participating in a range of challenges and activities at Triple C Camp. Here is one of the highlights from my day: During our final challenge this afternoon (" Sludge "), the group was struggling with figuring out how to transport, hands-free, an aluminum can filled with ping pong balls. They had tried a couple of different techniques without success, and some students were getting frustrated . Zoë shared a suggestion for solving the challenge. Unfortunately, lots of people were talking and I don't think most of the other students heard her. A few minutes later, Carter was working with a rope, and several students became enthusiastic about the technique he seemed to be developing. A couple of people shouted, "Carter's got a great idea!", and all eyes turned towards him. Without hesitation, Carter spoke up: " ...

This is an ancient statue of Hammurabi. Do you think he looks more like a strict, stern leader or more like a kind, forgiving leader? On Thursday we discussed  Hammurabi's Code : the first system of  written laws  in human history. The students determined that there are several reasons it is important to put laws in writing: Written laws make society more  fair .  They prevent leaders from changing the laws willy-nilly, without informing the people. Written laws make society more  organized .  People can read the laws and understand the  specifics  of what they are allowed (and not allowed) to do. Written laws promote  good behavior . If a person can read the laws and think about them, he or she is more likely to actually obey the laws. ------------- The students also discussed the idea of " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ." This saying comes directly from two of the laws in Hammurabi's Code (the students correctly determined ...

Earlier this week we learned that ancient  hunter-gatherers  were nomadic and lived in small groups, whereas people who lived in the first  civilizations  (like  Mesopotamia ) began to live in much larger groups. He lived in ancient Ur. Was he similar to us, or was he different? These permanent settlements -- with houses, shops, streets, and organized systems of government -- were (and are) known as  cities  (notice that the word " ci vilization" has the same root as the word " ci ty"). One of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia was  Ur , which Mr. Richmond likes to pronounce as " Urrrr ". Tomorrow in class, we will talk about ways that Ur was similar to -- and different from -- Charlottesville. Today, the students practiced their close reading skills. Then, they worked in small groups to answer questions about Ur and the famous Mesopotamian leader Sargon . I noticed several excellent interactions and behaviors during our group work. Here a...

Mammoth and the Mountains, by Eloise Today we talked about the world's first civilization , established along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates River in Mesopotamia . We discussed the various ways that civilizations are different than the hunter-gatherer societies and small farming villages that came before, including the use of more complex systems of government and religion. For today's Musical Monday, we mixed it up with some pop rock by Coldplay : Lily L. had a beautiful perspective on the video: " The musicians were thinking with their hearts instead of their brains. Instead of making a video that focused on themselves, they shared their music with the regular people who love it. It was very joyful. " Meanwhile, Biruk   told his Core 2 classmates a powerful story about listening to another Coldplay song during an important moment in his life. Thank you, Biruk, for sharing.

The  domestication  of wild animals was a major turning point in human history. Once humans tamed animals, they had a more reliable source of food, and they could use the animals for transportation and to help with a variety of difficult tasks (including lots of tasks related to  agriculture ). ---------- As demonstrated in the skillful argumentation of  Max, Annabelle, Olivia  and Diego , the students did a great job imagining that they were hunter-gatherers trying to choose a particular species of animal to domesticate. They discussed questions related to (1) how each type of animal could help humans and (2) how challenging the animal would be to domesticate: Artwork by Liv What would humans feed  this animal?  Would humans have to compete with the animal for food? Would the animal provide a significant amount of  meat  for humans to eat? Would the animal provide a significant amount of  milk  for humans to drink? Can this animal ...

Thank you to Ford for demonstrating one of the problems with sticks:  They are too fragile!

Technology  refers to " the tools and knowledge that humans use to solve problems and make their lives easier. " During History Video #1, I asked you to think about which technology has had the most significant impact on people's lives, throughout all of human history. Today during class, we had a lively (and  provocative! ) discussion, during which you shared your opinions about the most influential technologies in human history.  Your answers included: Control of fire Spoken language Written language Electricity and the lightbulb Refrigeration The internet and cloud storage of information Wheels Motorized transportation Engines that use fossil fuels Airplanes Guns and other firearms Telephones Devices that measure time Plumbing Tomorrow we'll talk about words that could be used to describe the period of time in which we are currently living.   I look forward to hearing your ideas! --------------- Also today, we listened to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony as our Mu...