26 thoughts on “RAFT Through History”

1. How did the Anasazi tribe make a living?
   n the Anasazi tribe,the mother did most of the work in the family. She made pots for the family to eat out of. Also, she grew and picked crops to provide food for her family. The father in the family hunted for more food.

   Describe the geographic region where Anasazi lived. The Anasazi tribe lived in harsh desert environments. Also, they lived on high mesas and in the canyons. They lived in Northern Arizona, Northwest New Mexico, Southern Utah, and Southwest Colorado.

   Describe the anasazi housing.
   The Ansazi tribe shared houses. Several famillies lived together in one house.

   Describe other factors in Anasazi society(religion, communication).
   The Anasazi tribe constructed Kivas, deep circular pits, and large plazas where they performed religious rituals. They did not have a writing system.

2. Hi Danielle, Yes to both.

3. Hi Ms. D!
   I am working on my Cake Boss RAFT project and my mom suggested we look at some examples. I found your pictures of the other Inuit Cake Boss project on here and was wondering if the Inuit Cake Boss shown above won for the best cake in the class. You said the class would vote upon the “best cake” and I was just curious about if this particular cake won. Just wondering! Thanks!

4. I was watching being Ericka and one of the characters said “It is not the survival of the fittest.

5. Since Tyler has forgotten to post this for the past two days and I promised I would beat him to it even though he was told to post it, here is the definition of huzzah:

   Huzzah (originally huzza, and in some North American dialects hurrah) is an English interjection of joy or approbation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it is “apparently a mere exclamation”. The dictionary does not mention any specific derivation.

6. Hi Billy,
   Step 3 explains what is required. Research 2 sources in addition to class materials. Either print & highlight the main ideas or read and record the main ideas on note cards just like in Language Arts.

7. Hello Ms.D. Due to my absences this week I am not completely sure how to complete the second step of my RAFT. Do I print out the article and highlight important information or do I type up paragraphs with paraphrased information? I am not sure and i would appreciate any feedback. Thank You

8. Hi Mrs. D,
   I got more research in the Blackfoot Tribe. But now Im going to do mt outline, and I forgot to ask you this question during social studies, and AWC. I was wondering that if we were doing the diorama, should we have the same topics in the top of the boxes as you did on the back, but just change what goes on the bottom? Thanks.
   Tricia

9. Hi Nicky, That sounds exciting! I look forward to seeing your CSI. 🙂

10. Mrs. Digangi,
    I was thinking of doing my CSI Investigation on the Black Death as a breaking news segment using Windows Movie Maker. Would this be exceptable to do?

11. Hi Allie,
    Thank you for your appreciation! You are welcome! Using the Habit of Mind, Striving for accuracy,” by asking for clarification is the best way to walk away from a lesson feeling successful. 😀

12. Hi Danielle,
    It’s on the slideshare widget. I will also embed it into a post it after dinner. Don’t worry though because we will have time in class tomorrow to wrap up the CLose the GaPS. 🙂

13. Ms. D,
    Hi this is Danielle! In class today, we completed a “Cloze the Gaps” about slavery. After striving for accuracy to check my answers, I noticed a few on the last page were incorrect. Unfortunately, I got to these incorrect answers too late, and class had already ended. You had suggested that I look on the blog to find the answer key. Can you please tell me where to find that on the blog so I can correct those answers? Thank you!

14. Hey Mrs. DiGangi,
    Thank you very much for taking the time to help me when i have questions after class. I really appreaciate it. I now have a better understanding of what I’m doing. It just takes me a little bit to think of it all and understand it clearly. Thanks again!

15. Hi Himani,
    I am sorry you are having difficulty. Factcheck.org is for current events. This web site is very reliable but the reading is challenging: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/06_2007/historian2.php
    I have several recommendations for topics and a great kid friendly resource if you are interested. What other topics would you like to explore? The web site is mrdonn.com – click on world history for the aztecs and incas, explorers for columbus, or Native Americans for the regions we studied.
    If you still want the Columbian Exchange as your topic I will count the article from gilderlehrman as 2 resources. Good luck.

16. Hi Himani, Ok. I will give it to you in homeroom tomorrow.

17. Hey Ms. D

    I forgot to mention; I tried to learn more about the topic in history channel and factcheck under social studies resources and could not find one fact/information.please help me do it right so i can find some.look under here i posted one before the one you are reading now.

18. Ms. D,

    I thought my mom told me to do the diorama. When I told her I have to do the storyboard, she noticed I was doing the wrong format and said she already told me I’m doing powerpoint. Can i please get the powerpoint storyboard,i got the diorama one? For my topic i chose the columbian exchange. Can i do that topic;I wanted to because i want to learn more about that.

19. Hi Tricia, You have done a nice job of conducting research. Either choice would be good. Which one do you prefer? I should be in after C pd. See me at the end of L pd.

20. Mrs D,
    I know you are not going to be in call tomorrow but I have decided to pick the Archeologist and I’m going to make a diorama. When I was looking at the topic choices i knew I wanted to do a Native American Tribe, and I decided to do the Great Plains. When i researched them today I found two good tribes. The Blackfoot tribe has the teepee’s that I have a great idea of how to make but for the Hidatsa I think it would be fun to make the small people in a dance ritual. I was wondering if tomorrow you could give me a guide line of what you think would be a better choice.
    -Thanks

21. Hi Himani, Your family can sign the RAFT project directions and that will count as your full homework grade. Did you read this post? It states that Steps 2 & 3 are due tomorrow. If you were absent on Monday you have one additional day to make it up. Did you check the “Catch Up” notebook for your slip?

22. Hi Davin,
    View steps 2 & 3 on slideshare and I will give you a a new RAFT handout tomorrow. Did you lose the 3rd parent signature letter?

23. I tried to print the handout of where my parents can sign but I could not. I would like full credit for the homework. What step(s) was I suppose to complete? Can you please explain to me again what we do? I wasn’t in class Monday. next day i asked when you ran out of slips.

24. I am trying to print out the 3 pages of the RAFT, email it to myself and none of these options are working. Please help…

    Thank you

25. Hi Brennan, As long as each step synthesizes the content with your creativity. Check out the student sample on becoming a conquistador under the RAFT post. The student was creative and used humor in his tutorial while incorporating his research and class resources.

26. Ms. D, I chose author as the selection for my project. My idea I am doing is how to create a Black Death. I know it takes ten steps for the multimedia presentation and I have all ten steps, but one thing I was wondering is do the steps have to be realistic. For instance, I have a step that says you have to use a time machine and go back to when there were no cures and educated people so you can use the Black Death effectively. My mom and I were wondering if that step was okay.