May 5 - 9

Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.ca 

This blog provides lesson plans for each week.  Look ahead to see where we are going.  Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here.  If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment.  
So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. 

Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/.  Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.

I take a few photos around the school, if you are interested, click here to see my Public Picassa photo albums.  

Grad Boat Cruise photos are now posted.

Recent albums include the Centennnial Theater and Sutherland concerts of the Asahikawa High School Wind Orchestra, the Senior Girls' soccer games vs Howe Sound, Carson, Windsor and Seycove. The Junior Girls vs Windsor and Handsworth, and the Junior Boys' rugby game vs Seycove.

Social Studies 8 

We are working on the longest unit of the year -- The Middle Ages in Europe.  This will involve studying all of chapters 3, 4 and 5 before we write out next test.  This is a number of weeks away  I will notify you of the next test with at least a week to go, but I cannot exactly predict when this will be just yet.

We will watch two episodes of Terry Jones' Medieval Lives in class. If you want to see about the lives of other medieval people, here are links to other episodes: The Monk, The Damsel, The Minstrel, The Philosopher, The Outlaw, The King. A terrific documentary about medieval life is Michael Woods' Christina; A Medieval Life. Be sure to watch this if you get the chance. It gives real insight into 14th Century peasant life. Mr. Benoy is particularly fond of this film as it describes medieval live in the English County in which he was born. We may or may not get a chance to work this into a class.

Interested in Medieval weapons? Watch Weapons that Made Britain; The Long Sword, Weapons that Made Britain; the Lance and The Weapons that Made Britain; The Longbow, Weapons that Made Britain; the Shield. Watch Battlefield Britain; Hastings about the Norman conquest of Britain.

Interested in medieval lifestyles? Try Clarissa and the King's Cookbook to see how medieval royals ate. Try also Inside the Medieval World; Knowledge - what medieval people knew. Investigate life in England's greatest medieval city -- London -- in Filthy Cities; Medieval London- not a pretty place, but like the expanding great cities of the developing world today, a place of horror and opportunity.

We have an ongoing major assignment -- the Medieval project.  ( Part 1. Part 2).  We have three library blocks booked -- April 22, April 29 and May 8.  The assignment is due on Monday, May 12.

In addition to sources noted above, here are some additional links to sites useful for the various Medieval Research Assignments:

General:  Netserf has an excellent links page to all things medieval; If you are interested in medieval primary documents, you cannot do better than the Internet Medieval Sourcebook;  Another links page to all things medieval can be found at The Labyrinth, from Georgetown University;  Find Medieval literature at The Online Medieval and Classical Library;  If you are really interested in learning all about art and architecture from this time there is a terrific set of flashcards online at Gardner's Art Through the Ages online resource for chapter 18 - "The Age of Great Cathedrals; Gothic Art." 

Castles: An interesting treatment of Welsh castles can be found at Castle - a 47 minute video;  Lise Hull's Castles of Britain website is a good starting point for resources.  You might also link out from herCastelology links page;  Jeffrey L. Thomas' Castles of Wales site is awesome;  Battle Castle  is a docudrama series about Medieval Castle warfare.  Go to the series' website for heaps of background information; Ordinarily I do not recommend commercial sites geared to making money from their efforts, however Medieval-Castle.comhttp://www.medieval-castle.com/ has a wealth of good information geared to about the right reading and content level for this course and another site, Castles and Manor Houses has some pretty wonderful pictures, along with attempts to sell you castle stays.  Their links page is pretty good if you are thinking about staying in a special medieval location (talk it up with your parents!);  and now that you're really interested in castles, why not think about visiting some of the best?  See Travel guru Rick Steve's page - "Medieval Castle Experiences."
The Manor:  Medieval Manor - British Social History - Changing Lives - 1066-1984 (7 minute video);  Wharram Percy; Deserted Medieval Village (website); Rural Life - sources from the British Library that includes a slideshow; The Monk's Manor is a 45 minute video about archeologists digging up a Monastic manor;  History Learning Site's Medieval Manor Houseswebpage is an excellent resource;
The Church: Church, from the British Library,;Church & Crown(video) - a short treatment of the division of power between Kings and the Church;  Medieval Minds - another short video which discusses what Medieval peasants believed; from the same series, watchMonastic Life to see what it was like to live in such institutions;
Cathedrals: Building the Great Cathedrals is a one hour documentary; Try The Medieval Mind; How to Build a Cathedral for a one hour video on cathedral construction; The Gothic Cathedral; a Landmark in Engineering is a 26 minute video -- pretty advanced stuff though; Modern Marvels; Gothic Cathedrals is a 45 minute American made video;  Watch NOVA's Building the Great Cathedrals (5 minutes);  A wonderful summary of Romanesque and Gothic architecture can be found at A White Garment of Churches, from the "Art of the Western World" series;Find great images of Cathedrals at A Digital Archive of Architecture --Romanesque and Gothic pages.  Alison Stone's Medieval Architecture site will get you to drawings and photos of an incredible selection of churches in England and France and there is also a very helpful glossary.
The Crusades: Terry Jones' The Crusades; Pilgrims in Arms.  is the first film in his series of three documentaries, the others are Jerusalem, Jihad, and Destruction.   A great documentary on the Crusades is The Crescent and the Cross, Part 1, Part 2  (1 hour 30 minuteseach). Christianity; A History; The Crusades (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). 

• Monday, May 5 - Watch the Mark Steele lecture on Geoffrey Chaucer (part 1, part 2, part 3).  Read pp. 69-74.  Do #1-6, p. 74.  Crusades Map Assignment, due Wednesday; 10 marks. 
• Tuesday, May 6 -  Take up #1-6, p. 74.  Introduction to the Crusades. Watch Terry Jones' The Crusades; Pilgrims in Arms and Questions: We will not get a chance to watch his following two documentaries, but if you can, be sure to watch them yourself: Jerusalem, Jihad, and Destruction. I'd love to screen all of these in class, but they take too long. A great documentary on the Crusades is The Crescent and the Cross  ( part 1, part 2; 1 hour 30 minutes). Work on your research assignments for homework.
• Wednesday, May 7 - - Hand in the Crusades Map Assignment. Complete Terry Jones' The Crusades; Pilgrims in Arms and go over the questions.   Primary Documents: Descriptions of Urban II's preaching of the first crusade. Watch Episode 2: Jerusalem, and do the questions.  Work on your research assignments for homework.
• Thursday, May 8 - Library Block.  Work on Medieval Research project.
• Friday, May 9 - Complete Jerusalem video, if not completed in class and take up the questions (See Wednesday). Note: This is some of the most important material we will look at in History this year. It ties in the distant past with the world today. Video: Christianity; A History; The Crusades (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).Why does the word "crusade" upset Muslims in the Middle East? Do western leaders today seem to understand this view? Go online and read the Hosford Atlas Crusades material, pp. 27-28. 

Social Studies 11 

Expect your next unit test to be  Monday, May 12.  This allows me time to complete the unit, even if we run longer than indicated below, while ensuring that the test can be written on a day where extra time is available to all test writers.   The mark breakdown for the unit test is most likely to be as follows: 45 multiple choice questions (1 mark each), 5 definitions (2 marks each) and 3 from a choice of 5 long answer questions (6 marks each). The total is, therefore, out of 73 marks. 5 bonus marks are available if you submit more than 25 flash cards done as required.

• Monday, May 5 - Complete The Valour & the Horror; Savage Christmas; Hong Kong 1941 and questions.  If we have time, we will look at the issue of Nthe internment of Japanese Canadians during World War 2. Do "Looking Back" #2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and; 14, p.129.
• Tuesday, May 6 - Collect POW assignments.  Take up Looking Back" #2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and; 14, p.129.  Begin: Shoah/Holocaust -PowerPoint. Video: on the Holocaust (Frontline; Memory of the Camps – Chapter 4. Available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/view/.) This material is particularly horrifying. It is important to watch it if you can, but if you are unable to do so, please go to the "fishbowl" lounge area beside Mr. Nichols' room and study there until the video is over. 
• Wednesday, May 7 - Complete the Holocaust video material. If time -- Introduction to post-war Canada. PowerPointPost 1945 Canada.   Study for the upcoming unit test.  Read pp. 130-135. Do sidebar questions p. 133 & 134 & #1-4, p. 135.  This concludes the Interwar/WWII unit.
• Thursday, May 8 - Take up homework.  PowerPoint Post 1945 Canada. Material from Canada; A Peoples’ History; Comfort & Fear. (Comfort & Fear, From Sea to Sea and Boom- questions). Read pp. 135-139. Do #1-5, p. 139.
• Friday, May 9 - Take up Watch Canada; A People's History; The Shadow of Nuclear War and go over the questions. PowerPoint Post 1945 Canada. Material from Canada; A Peoples’ History; Comfort & Fear. ("First Tremors" "A Prairie Storm" & "The Fight for Medicare" - questions), Read pp. 140-146.  Do sidebar questions pp. 140, 141 #1-2, 143 #3, 145 and #1-6, p. 146.  On your own and outside of class, watch the stunning British Documentary Nuclear War: A Guide to Armageddon (Part 1, Part 2& Part 3) to understand the stakes of nuclar confrontation. Another rivetting show on nuclear war is Threads, a BBC production about what would happen to a community if nuclear war occurred.