Learning+logs

Learning Log: Comparing Colonies September 23rd 2009

1. What did you know about the colonies before we began our unit of study? What I knew about the colonies was that there were 13 of them. I knew that when people came to the 13 colonies, American Indians were used as slaves but then they got African slaves because American Indian slaves weren't as strong as Africans and American Indians couldn't survive with all the diseases around them.Other than that, I really didn't know anything about the 13 colonies until we started the study on it. 2. How has your learning or what you have learned changed during our unit of study? I didn't know that all of Maine was taken up by New Hampshire. And I didn't know that Vermont was being fought for by the British and the French. I never knew that Massachusetts was more democratic than most countries in Europe. I thought that there would be more slaves in the 13 colonies but there weren't a lot. I didn't know that New York was filled with iron. I never knew that the Quakers claimed Pennsylvania.

3. What questions do you still have about this unit of study? Questions that I still have on this study is: How did each state get there name and why was that name chosen for that state? Why were the British and the French fighting over Vermont? Couldn't they just do first come first serve? And if that didn't work why didn't they decide that neither army would get to own Vermont or any other places? Why was Massachusetts more democratic then countries in Europe? I was thinking that countries in Europe would be more democratic than Massachusetts because Europe was around longer that Massachusetts that way it would have more time to develop in Democracy and other important things.

4. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest, 3 in the middle, and 1 the lowest), how hard have you worked during this unit of study? Support your answer! I think that I deserve a 4 because our group was on the track once and then it went off the track and it just went back and forth but for the most part, we were on the track. I also think that I deserve a 4 because when Sam D. was out for those days he wasn't at school, I did a lot of the drawing while he was gone to keep him on board with us instead of just leaving him behind because it would take up too much time that we used for rehearsal.

5. What could you have done differently during this unit of study? What I think that our group could have done differently is we could made our poster board a little bit better so that instead of getting a "C+" we could have a least gotten a "B" or above other than that I think that our presentation would have went a little bit better. And I think we would have been happier too.


 * Learning Log: Colonial America and Slavery**

1. How has your learning about Colonial America and slavery changed throughout this unit? My learning has changed in slavery as far as the people (whites) and how they majority of them treated slaves so horrible. I also learned that some white people were againist slavery. I also learned that 1 black women was so light skinned that she was mistakenly called as a white person. She used her darker skinned husband and they escaped to freedom. 2. What questions do you still have about this unit of study? About how many slaves did Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson have? Were they nice or mean to their slaves? About how many slave auctions were there a month?

3. How did you like working in a group on your research questions using the wiki? Explain. I liked working on the wikis because it saved a lot of time and if we didn't use our wiki's, we probably would have used pen and paper which might be too complicated because if you have a really good thought and you write it down. Then, you might lose it and you'll probably be sad.

4. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest, 3 in the middle, and 1 the lowest), how hard have you worked during this unit of study? Support your answer! I think that I deserve a 5 because when I saw something that was interesting or that I wanted to add onto, I typed it on their page. I also think I deserve a 5 because when a couple of kids were talking at my table, I got my labtop and moved to a different spot. I think that when I moved, I got alot more accomplished then I expected. And lastly, I answered frequently on my group questions. Thats why I deserve a 5.

5. How could we use wikis in the future when studying about social studies? I think other ways that we could use our wikis in social studies are 1. the way we used it this time 2. If we had an individual project, that we could type what we think for that section and either send you an e-mail or post it on our wikis for our classmates to see.