Africa is Not a Country Project

Frequently, I hear students, and others, mistakenly call Africa a country or assume all of countries in Africa are the same. In reality Africa is a large continent with over 50 different countries, with diverse cultures.

In order to help students see the diversity among African countries, students have been working on the Africa is Not a Country project. For this project, students had to pick one ABC of Culture and research that topic in 5 African countries (one from each region). For example, if a student chose A, they would research the art in the 5 African countries they chose.

Students should have the project completed and turned in by Friday, April 20.

H20 for Life

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from water- related diseases. In an effort to raise awareness about water issues worldwide, and support work being done to give more people access to clean, safe water, we will be holding our Third Annual H2O Walk at IGH Middle School after school on Thursday, April 26th.

In preparation for the H2O walk, we will be spending some time in geography discussing water problems around the world.

In addition any student who chooses to participate in the H20 Walk, and turns in a written reflection what they learned participating in the walk will earn extra credit in geography.

You can find more information about the walk here, and see more water facts here and here. If you have more questions about the IGHMS walk, you can contact Mr. Anderson (andersoh@invergrove.k12.mn.us).

Africa's 5 Regions

For your Africa is NOT a Country project, you will need to be familiar with the 5 regions of Africa. Use the map to shade your political map to identify the 5 regions. Don't forget to include a key on your map (like the one on this map)!

Map source

Arab Spring Newspaper Article

As we have been talking about in class over the past week, the Arab Spring is a hot topic in the news. Since the first protests began in Tunisia over a year ago, there have been thousands of articles written about the fight for change in the Middle East.

Now it's your turn. Based on the information you have already gathered in class, and additional research on the topic, write your own newspaper article about what has been happening in the Middle East. You may choose to do an overview article giving details about overall trends, with examples from different Middle Eastern countries, or you may choose to do a more in depth article on what has been happening in one country.

You should write your article like a typical news story. Newspaper writers use an inverted pyramid approach to writting their articles. That is, you put the most important information first, and the information gets less important as you read.

Here are some guidelines for writing your article:

1. Decide what your article will be about


2. Research the topic of your article.


3. First Paragraph:
   · First sentence should grab the reader’s attention.
   · Following sentences should tell who, what, when, where and why.


4. Following paragraphs: give details


5. Last paragraph: wrap up your article


6. Come up with an informative and attention grabbing headline.


7. Proofread and edit your article.

Arab Spring

Today we will continue learning about the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is a series of protests and revolutions that have been taking place during the past year. People are fighting against their governments in hopes of getting more rights and changing their countries for the better.

You will be assigned one country to focus on. You can find a bunch of helpful websites here.

If you were gone on Monday, you may want to watch this short video to catch up.

Tri 3 Updates

I have made a few changes to my class policies for 3rd trimester. Please review the changes below.

Current Events

• 10 due by the end of the trimester (last day will be Friday, June 1)


• Turn them in at any time


• Still no sports or entertainment


• Can do 2 for extra credit

Late Work

• All late work must be in by the end of the unit we are studying


• No work will be accepted after the last day of the unit

Extra Credit Option

• Decorate my door Must be related to our current area of study


• Please check in with me before you get started!

Middle East Country Comparison

It's time for another country comparison chart, this time for the Middle East. You will use the CIA World Factbook to find the information. Make sure you're choosing countries in the Middle East!!