Don't forget the triremes

As you study and review those famous inventions, you should keep in mind how they influenced the civilization and Us today.

Hint: Bonus question will be from one of the Horrible histories we watched. One of the ancient civilizations we studied this term.

Social Studies 9 Review

1.       Exam Breakdown – 95 marks

·         10 true/false choice

·         20 multiple choice

·         20 matching

·         8 short answer (30 marks total)

·         1 long answer (15 marks)

2.       What to bring to the exam

·         2 pens (blue or black) and white out. Please do not use pencil.

·         Social Studies textbook (not allowed into the exam but must be returned before any report card will be received)

·         Water bottle – no other food or drink is allowed into the exam hall.

3.       What to study

a.       Timelines terminology

b.      Archaeology (terminology, uses of, how it has impacted our study of Social studies?)

c.       Inference and Historical thinking

d.      Creation/Evolution and the early peoples – Know Charles Darwin and his theory. Why is it significant to historical way of thought? How does this theory of Evolution and Natural selection affect us as Christians? Know about Homo Habilis, Homo Sapiens,  and Neanderthals.

e.      Ancient Civilizations – know the Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Indus Valley, Chinese, Roman, Greeks, Incans, Mayans and First Nations.  You should know how each was organized. Go through the SPIRET model of each civilization.

                                                               i.      How did their location, climate and habitation influence the development of each civilization?

                                                             ii.      Examine the roles of women and men in each civilization? Who valued women? Who didn’t and why?

                                                            iii.      Describe the social and political structures of each civilization. You should be able to indicate how they were similar or different.

                                                           iv.      Also know the Intellectual, Economical and Technological developments that each civilization was most famous for.  You should be able to say what influence they had on the development of our modern society.

                                                             v.      Religion – how did each civ. develop their religion? What influence did it have on their social/political structure? How did it define their morals, values and beliefs?

                                                           vi.      First Nations – study the Wanuskewin handout and recall the discussion with Mr. Dogniez and the connections he made to the SPIRET model. How does our knowledge and understanding of the development of the First Nations people of the Prairie influence us today?

How to prepare for the final exam

As there are many ways to test people on knowledge, there are equally as many ways to prepare for an exam. People are different and thrive in different preparatory methods. We've designed several different ways for you to ace your exams.

1. Essay Exams
Essays can be some people's favorite or least favorite type of exam. The good part of the essay exam is that you can truly explain your knowledge of the subject matter in many ways. If you forgot a single word, then it will not cause you severe loss of points (as it would in a multiple choice test). Usually, essay exams are difficult to grade because they can be subjective. Therefore, people with better writing skills tend to favor these types of exams, as they know how to structure an essay. Develop your writing skills. Practice. If you know the formula of a good essay then you will be able to communicate your ideas in a way that the reader will be able to understand.

2. Multiple Choice Multiple-choice exams are easy for some and death for others. Some people can sail through on them without studying at all. Others think too hard on each question and miss the obvious answer sitting before them. The beauty of a multiple-choice test is that all the information you will need is given to you. The drawback of a multiple-choice test is that the additional information given to you is designed to confuse you. It takes a specific mindset to excel in this type of testing. See below for tips on how to prepare for a multiple-choice exam. These exams are like sports; they take a lot of practice, but you can master them. True or False questions may also fall into this category, where you will be given a fact and have to choose one or the other.

3. Matching

Matching exams are rather student friendly exams. They are generally given in high school, infrequently in college, and almost never afterwards. They come in two formats: equal questions and answers, and trick question and answers. When there are equal sets of facts to match up, then you will more than likely excel. However, many tests are designed to truly test your knowledge and will place a few extra categories on one side of the matching plane. When this occurs, you must rely on your factual knowledge and not simply your ability to filter out bad answers.

4. Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blank exams are also more prevalent in high school and earlier. Occasionally you will find this type of exam in college and beyond. If so, you are lucky, for you will increasingly wish you may have this type of exam. In this case, you must know the factual information in order to fit it into the sentence. However, in these tests, you can rely on your context clues of the sentence to see what works. If you have a general enough basis of knowledge on a subject matter, you will more than likely fill in the correct blank. True or False questions may also fall into this category, where you will be given a fact and have to choose one or the other. Taken from http://www.bookrags.com/articles/22.html

What does Wanuskewin mean to you?

Our final unit in Grade 9 Social Studies will focus on the Aboriginal Society. We will start our unit with a trip out to Wanuskewin Heritage park. The tour will be lead by Cort Dogniez, the Treaty Catalyst officer for SPSD. Mr. Dogniez is a teacher who is passionate about Aboriginal history, culture and education. He is also able to provide a unique Christian perspective of Aboriginal issues so we are excited to have him joining our class this week.
He will be in our class on Wed. June 1st for discussions, prep and any questions you may have about the subject. Please come to class prepared to ask questions, engage in discussion and participate in a productive learning experience.

Reminder: Permission forms must be in by Wed., June 1st.

Ancient Civilizations Group Project

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!

We are off and running. The much anticipated group project of our Social Studies 9 course has now been assigned! Were do we go from here?

The following are some dates that you and your group should keep in mind as you plan for your project.

Wed April 20 - Work period (Research)

Thurs April 21 - Work period (Research)

April 25th-29th - Easter break - Individual research and planning

Mon May 2nd - Work period (organize research and start planning for group presentation)
Tue and Wed - individual work done at home

Thurs May 5th - work period (organize, plan and start to put together presentation and report)

Mon May 9 - work period - plans and presentations should be practiced and close to completion

Thurs May 12  - work period - Presentation run through. Use this period to time the presentation (it should be close to 30 minutes), double check to see that all components and requirements of the presentaiton and report are done. Hint: you want to make this presentation interesting - so do the research first THEN find ways to make it fun for you and your peers!

Week of May 16th - Group presentations - one group per day.

Elements of good poster design

Audience - Who are you trying to reach with your poster? What are they interested in knowing about this subject? How would they go about finding the information?
Purpose - What is the purpose of your poster? What type of information are you trying to communicate?
Message - What is the lesson you are trying to convey?

Design - What type of design is going to appeal to the audience, make them focus on your message and still be true to the purpose of your poster?

Some things to think about.....




Customs and Roles of individuals in society. Who had wealth? How did they get it? How did people of the society know who was wealthy and who was poor?

You could use the program Inspiration to organize your poster. You are able to use text and images to enhance your presentation.



What types of tools and materials were used to construct their homes? buidings? monuments? What types of monuments did they create and why?






What types of political and social organization did your ancient society have? Remember that these are sometimes dictated by the land and area that your society occupies. If you live in the desert your society will value very different things than if you live  by the ocean or major rivers. What does your society value?

An island in the middle of one of the hundreds of lakes in Siberia. Recently discovered to have been the fortress of a society. Believed to have been built during the 1500s.



What is the form of social organization used by your ancient society? Was there a hierarchy?