A Walking Tour Of Portland, Oregon

Portlandia statue and statue made from the same marble used to make the Parthenon

Ionic columns and arches on an old building and ionic columns on an insurance building

Stadium seating in a courthouse square

Corinthian columns with a frieze
on a hotel window

Frieze above a hotel window

Six doric columns on city hall

Arches in a church entry way

Dome in a theater

Pediment with a frieze on a government building

Scavenger Hunt of Greek and Roman Influence on the Architecture in Portland: Lesson Plan for Sixth Grade

Goal: Students will be able to locate, identify, and sketch examples of Greek and Roman influence on architecture in an urban setting.

1. Prepare a clipboard for each adult chaperon that includes the following

information:

a. Pre-selected structures in downtown Portland with street addresses

b. map of the downtown area to be explored

c. A set of questions about each structure

2. The chaperon will take a group of 4-5 students to a designated location and ask the students to locate an example of architecture that has Greek and Roman influence.

3. Once a building is identified, students will record the following information in a notebook:

a. The name of the building and it's purpose (i.e. courthouse, hotel, restaurant, etc.)

b. Location (street address)

c. Name the Greek or Roman influence (i.e. type of column, frieze, pediment, arch, etc.)

d. A sketch of the building including the identified feature and/or

e. Take a photograph of the building.

4. After the students return to school, have them do the following:

a. Discuss their findings

b. Compare notes, sketches, and photograph

c. Display drawings and photographs

d. Assign small groups to create a blog describing their findings and include their photographs.

Viewing Other Blogs

Blog Number One: http://raigmore.edublogs.org/



Likes: Green color bars with a black font that serves as headlines for new topics gave this blog an appealing appearance. The blog looks like a newsletter....brief, but informative to parents and students. I loved the photo display of a class that made bridges. Students themselves contributed blogs. Great!

Dislike: It took awhile to load the student artwork, but it wonderful to see! The blog format did not vary. The older posts looked just like the current ones.





Blog Number Two: http://blog.whps.org/mack



Likes: What a great way to communicate to students and parents about upcoming assignments, long term projects, and post student work! I appreciated the eye catching colored text used to emphasize important features. I was really impressed with the side bar that had numerous links to related social studies topics as well as student work.


Dislike: There were no student posts. This blog was strictly used by the classroom teacher to post her assignments and grading expectations.




Blog Number Three: http://misterb.globalstudent.org.au/about-mr-b


Likes: I enjoyed reading a blog from Australia! The teacher wrote a simple bio about himself and a nice invitation to other classrooms around the world to communicate with his class through blogs. I read several of those blogs, too, mostly from students.


Dislikes: This teacher had a lot of links to sites that supported his curriculum, but some were a little more time consuming to get into than others. I had to take time to type my name, e-mail address, and a password. I appreciated that he let his class contribute to the site with their own blogs, but some were very lengthy, it was difficult to read the color font they chose, and some of the graphics were extremely large.



Blog Number Four: http://areallydifferentplace.org/



Like: I enjoyed a few of the links, especially in the area of archeology. I discovered a nice one that I will be able to use in my class this year.

Dislikes: This blog did not keep my attention. The teacher wrote all of the blogs and the wording was long winded. Some of her posts were about topics that did not interest me, like what color of paint to choose to paint a room in her house. As far as the appearance of the blog page, it was plain. The background was white with a black font. There was no attempt to make it visually appealing. I noticed advertisements in the side bar. Is this common? It was distracting to me.



Blog Number Five: http://blogit.globalteacher.org.au

Likes: This blog is a great opportunity for students to expand their understanding of the world beyond the classroom walls and experience, to some degree, different cultures. I loved the student artwork depecting a Japanese emperor and princess!

Dislikes: It was difficult for me to read this blog. The teacher selected a light tan background, the font was a light color, and a very small font was used. The side bars had helpful links, but a mixture of large and extremely small fonts were used in one sentence. This made it very distracting to read. I also found it very difficult to scroll down the page. It advanced very slowly.

Fun Things To Do In Oregon

At the age of five, my father took me skiing. Actually, I was placed between his legs and was guided down the hill. From there, it was all about snowplows, bending the knees, leaning on the outside ski, etc. My father was a ski patrolman, performing most of his duties at Timberline Lodge in Oregon. Taking advantage of the family free pass, I did most of my skiing at this beautiful and historical site. For over 40 years, I still ski with my father, mostly at Timberline Lodge.


Any time of the year you can catch me at the Oregon Coast. I have has yet to find a coastline more spectacular. My favorite destinations are Bandon, Yachats, and Cannon Beach. Rain or shine, the scenary is awesome!

During the summer months, I enjoy hiking Oregon trails with my husband and our dog, Buddy. A popular site known to world travelers is Silver Falls. Unfortunately, it's popularity makes this location very busy, especially on the weekends. Nonetheless, I like the way these falls show off, particularly in the winter when they are frozen.........very stunning!

What A Legacy!

Last spring, my sixth grade social science classes had the opportunity to look for Greek and Roman contributions to modern society in magazines. They were surprised to find so many examples in the area of literature, art, sports, and architecture. While taking a trip to the coast recently, I noticed several examples, especially in some of the buildings and bridges along the way.

On my way to the coast, I stopped in Corvallis, Oregon and noticed a court house with the traditional Ionic columns.

Taking a closer look, I noticed a statue of a woman holding the balance of justice. My students learned about a democratic style of government in ancient Athens.

This is a distant view of the same building and the same statue.


Arriving in Florence, Oregon, there was a bridge that spanned the bay. Notice the arches; a Roman contribution!


Not only are the arches beautiful, they are functional.

Soon, I hope to take my classes on a tour of downtown Portland, Oregon

to view Greek and Roman contributions to our modern architecture, bridges, and buildings.

What a legacy, indeed!

Geography of Greece Activity for Sixth Grade

At the end of the school year, I gave my class a survey to find out what activities they liked or did not like when they studied ancient civilizations. Most of the students seemed to like an activity that introduced them to the geography of Greece.

Prior to the beginning of the period, I rearranged the desks into "mountain ranges" and taped off the carpet to designate the "oceans" around mainland Greece. When the students entered the classroom, they knew something fun was going to take place that day!

The students had 30 seconds to use pieces of paper to "claim" land on the mainland. At the end of the 30 seconds, those who had claimed the most land were called farmers. Those who did not claim enough land were the settlers who needed to start a colony elsewhere.

While the farmers pretended to raise crops and animals and sang "I've Been Working on the Farm", the settlers designated one person to start a new colony across the ocean in Africa, Asia, or Europe. It was then necessary for a child to "sail" across the ocean by scooting on the floor while singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to trade for goods that were needed from the distant colonies to bring back to the mainland.

The students really enjoyed this activity and understood how the geography of ancient Greece influenced where the people settled.

Reflections

Reflections From a Non-Blogger

My name is Brenda Delmarter. I am a sixth grade Social Science teacher at West Orient Middle School in the Gresham/Barlow School District, located just 20 miles east of Portland, Oregon.

Last summer, I took my first on-line distant learning class using Photoshop Elements 7. Itwas a challenge for me, since I am technology challenged. With my husband's help, though, I designed a power point presentation to show to parents at the open house in September. They saw an overview of the course, "History Alive", a hands-0n approach to teaching ancient civilizations. The parents saw several images and some text.

I have several reasons why am interested in learning about blogging and using it in the classroom. The first reason is to keep up with my sixth grade team. I know that the sixth

grade language arts teachers have been blogging for at least two years. They keep encouraging

me to try it and have assured me it is quite easy! We'll see!

The second reason to learn how to blog is because one of my professional goals is to become more comfortable with technology and explore ways that it can be used in the classroom. I am really going out of my comfort zone when I try something new in this area.

The most important reason I would like to learn how to blog is so that I can post text and pictures of the wonderful activites that we do in social science. I gave my students a survey at the end of the year to get some feedback on their likes and dislikes. Overwhelmingly, the students prefered the dramas, skits, songs, and simulations over reading the textbook and working in the workbooks. My students "sailed" down the Nile River, were patricians overseeing the common people in an ancient Roman marble factory, and ran foot races as Greek athletes. I took pictures of my students, but only printed them out for display at the end of the year. I would love to be able to post them on my web site or on my blog frequently for my students and their parents to see what is happening in the classroom.

I am excited about this class and hope it will allow me to be a little more creative with how I keep families posted about the fun things we do in Social Science next year!