Dear You,
Yep, that's right! I am talking to you! I am writing from my present, your past, to your present, which is my future! Now I know that history gets a bad rap...and that makes sense when all that you think you have to learn is names, dates and places. But history is so much more than that! Yes, you are going to learn people's names, some dates and where things happened, but most importantly you are going to learn there stories...
I will take you across oceans and lands to years past! You will enter a world of hunting and gathering, where fire was at it's beginning. We will climb pyramids together, discover tombs of the ancient pharoahs of Egypt. We will explore the ancient lands of Greece, perform great feats like Hercules in the first Olympics and receive praise from the Almighty Zeus. We will ride with Alexander the Great as he creeps over the Mediterranean, taking over place by place. You will become a citizen called to serve your city-state in the Peloponessian War. You will become a master builder in the construction of the Colleseum in Ancient Rome.
You will attend plays that the gods themselves watched. You will be in the crowd cheering for Julius Cesaer or find yourself in the crowd plotting his murder. You will sculpt, paint and write works of art that future generations will look upon in awe! You will fly over the land to Ancient China, where you will learn the amazing art of papermaking. You will be one of the first to test the new invention of gunpowder. You will see magnificent cities with bridges tall enough for Jack Sparrow's ship to sail under. In Ancient India you will grow many arms like Lord Vishnu! You will participate in festivals celebrated long, long ago. You will move through the caste system, from the bottom to the top, experiencing life in ways that you may never really know! You won't be confused as we learn from Confuscius because you will learn of the people to whom he spoke. You will pull silk behind you as you run along the silk road connecting people and cultures together. You will walk the roads and paths that both Jesus and Mohammad walked, following them and reading to their words, watching as each religion spread... Wow! It looks like you are going to have a pretty adventurous year in History...and that only covers Ancient History! You have more adventures ahead of you as you find yourself...Oh, I better stop myself before I reveal too much!
Now, you are probably thinking "Why should I learn about things that happened thousands of years ago?" Well that is a great questions! You know every story has to start somewhere! Have you ever sat down to a movie with 5 minutes left to it and it was so exciting...but you were lost. You missed most of the movie, so you had no idea what was going on! I hate that! It's horrible! Have you ever wondered why an event occurred in the world or where something came from? Well, you happened to be in the latter part of the movie, but history class will fill you in so you can understand what is happening around you! For example, have you ever been to a baseball game, football game, soccer game, concert or parade in a stadium in the middle of summer when it was blazing hot? Do you ever wish there was air conditioning? Well, the Ancient Romans had air conditioning in the Colleseum! They even had indoor bathrooms and could evacuate the entire Colleseum in minutes! Oh and they could flood the Colleseum so that they could have actual sized ship battles! Can you believe that? Have you ever looked up in the sky and saw all of the stars that are part of constellations? Those all have a story to tell! It's amazing!Don't take my word for it, but go look for yourself: http://www.ballgame.org/, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/civilisations/civlaunch.shtml, http://scorescience.humboldt.k12.ca.us/fast/teachers/Plague/Pindex.html, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/launch_gms_battle_waterloo.shtml
If you haven't noticed I love history! I hope that you will love going on adventures too!
See on the carpet ride to those Arabian Nights!
Miss Hansen
I love that you are such a creative writer. I think that means will you be more accepting of students who think outside the box like you do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a delightfully engaging posting.