Welcome to Mr. Grether’s home page for 7^th and 8^th grade history at Burnett Junior High School.

9

Homework Message Board:

Updated Monday, 11-16 at 1pm

^{Homework for US History Homework for Texas History}

^US History	^Texas History/Pre-AP Texas History ----
^—^Review due Monday (we worked on this in class on Thursday and Friday) ^—^Test on Chapters 6-7 on Tuesday. Please study your reviews!!!^J	^Guided Reading Handout (10.1 ) - on the back of today’s notes – due Tuesday. ^Quiz Wednesday – Chapter 10.1-10.2 ^Test Friday – Chapters 9 and 10

I hope that this web site is used by parents and students as a helpful tool. Feel free to contact me by email at douglas.grether@wylieisd.net if I can help answer a question or perhaps clarify the policies below.   It is my greatest wish that your child is successful, and the following policies set guidelines to help students on their path of success.

Class Rules: 2009-2010 –

1) Always start the warm up and work on this quietly when you walk in to class.

2) Always bring supplies each and every day. (Pen, Pencil, and Paper)

3) Always bring a positive, helpful attitude to class every day.

4) Always raise your hand to voice a comment or question.

5) Always stay in your seat until you are dismissed.

6) Always do your own work unless you are in groups.

7) Always be respectful to other students and the teacher.

8) Never disrupt class when the teacher is teaching or while students are working.

9) Never interfere with learning.

10) Never write in the textbooks.

Possible Consequences:

1) Writing sentences of the rule that was not followed

2) Detentions/Parent Phone Call

3) Office Referral

Tutorial Times: 

Tutorials will be in the afternoon (2009-2010 School Year)

* This year, we will be having a tutorial room at the school’s library. I will be available Monday morning in the library, but I can also set up other times on an “as needed” basis.

Note: Students that have difficulty taking tests in the past may want to schedule a tutorial session the day before the next test.

US History Topics and Texas History

First Semester Topics 1) New England Colonies 2 ) Middle Colonies 3) Southern Colonies 4) British Policies toward the 13 Colonies 5) French and Indian War 6) Causes of the American Revolutionary War 7) Revolutionary War 8) Early Republic up to New Constitution 9) Constitutional Convention up to Ratification 10) The Washington Administration 11) The Adams Administration 12) The Jefferson Administration 13) Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark

Second Semester Topics 14) War of 1812 and Madison’s Administration 15) Industrial Revolution 16) Era of Good Feelings 17) The Jackson Era (Presidents JQ Adams through John Tyler) 18) Manifest Destiny and James Polk 19) The Mexican War 20) California Gold Rush 21) A Nation Dividing – from Wilmot Proviso to Uncle Tom’s Cabin 22) A Nation Dividing II – from Bleeding Kansas to Lincoln’s Election 23) Civil War to Gettysburg 24) Civil War II- From Gettysburg to Appomattox 25) Lincoln’s Assassination Reconstruction…

First Semester Topics 1) Texas Geography 2) Native Texans 3) Exploration of Spain 4) Explorers in Texas 5) Missions 6) The French Threat at Ft. St. Louis 7) Spanish Resurgence 8) Mexican Independence 9) Anglo-Americans in Texas 10) Tensions with Mexico 11) Texas Independence 12) The Lone Star Republic 13) Texas Annexation (Under Construction…)

Second Semester Topics

Review: Texas History

Here’s what you need to know:

a) The test will have 21 of the 48 vocabulary terms as I’ve mentioned to you. If you recall, we’ve highlighted these words; yet, here is a list below of the terms just in case you may have misplaced or left in a locker:

Trend- a general movement toward change over the course of time

Climate- the expected weather conditions at a place, usually over a period of years

Census- a periodic count of the population

Drought- a long period of time of dryness that causes damage to crops or

prevents their successful growth

Reservoir- an artificial lake where water is collected for use

Landform- a feature of the earth’s surface, such as a hill, valley, river, or plain

Physical Environment- the external surroundings and conditions in which something exists

Migrate- to move from one place to another

Region- a geographical area characterized by shared features

Latitude- the location north or south of the equator

Longitude- the location east or west of the prime meridian

Equator- the imaginary line at the 0 degree latitude that divides the earth

into a northern half, the northern hemisphere, and a southern half,

the southern hemisphere.

Prime Meridian- the imaginary line at 0 degree longitude

Physical Map- a general purpose map that shows the natural features of an area

Topography- the physical features of the earth’s surface and their relationship to

one another in terms of location and elevation (both natural and human made)

Political Map- a general-purpose map that shows recognized boundaries in an area

Physical-Political Map- a general-purpose map that shows both the topography and recognized boundaries of an area

Human Geography- the features of the earth that are created or changed by humans

Metropolitan Area- a city and all the areas around it that depend on the central city

Suburb- a smaller community just outside a city

Culture- the pattern of knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and traits that

characterize a group of people

b) The next part of the test that you need to know is where things are located on a map. The categories are:

1) Rivers of Texas/Location of the Gulf of Mexico (Rivers included are Canadian, Red, Sabine, Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, Nueces, and the Rio Grande)

2) The Four Physical Regions (Mountain/Basin; Great Plains, North Central Plains, and Coastal Plains)

3) The cities of Texas (Amarillo, Dallas/Ft. Worth, El Paso, Beaumont, Galveston, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville)

4) The states/country around Texas (New Mexico to the West, Oklahoma to the North, Arkansas to the Northeast, Louisiana to the East, and the country of Mexico to the South). You already have a map in your folder with labels on it as a “study sheet”, but see what you know from the attached map.

c) The final part of the test will cover three questions about the following topics:

1) Why do farmers typically want to be in another region besides the “Mountain and Basin”? (Answer: Lack of rainfall in the mountain and basin usually leads to farmers losing their crops)

2) Why would cattle ranchers prefer to be in the North Central Plains, Great Plains or the southern/western portion of the Coastal Plains? ( Answer: the far eastern part of the Coastal Plains is very heavily forested, or has dense pine forests: rounding up cattle would be difficult. As far as the Mountain and Basin, the lack of water supply and the rough landscapes {cliffs/mountains} would not be ideal for the safety of the cattle)