Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                    5/28/15


                                                     West Civ

     Today in West Civ we took the essay portion of our exam. I thought I did really well on them. Furthermore, I wrote a page or half a page for each one. Overall, I think I did good and I really hope I did.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                5/27/15

                                                 West Civ
     Today we took our Rome test. I think I did really good and I'm very happy. The test had some difficult questions, but it was a fair test. Tomorrow we have to do the essay portion of our exam. So tonight I am going to construct notes and stuff to remember for writing the essays tomorrow.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                       5/22/15


                                                   West Civ

     Today in West Civ we went over the powerpoint on Rome so we all don't fail our test next week. i never do well on Mr.Schock's test so I am going to study hard. I like how we went over the powerpoint because we haven't seen it in forever. We also don't have lass on Tuesday so today is our last review day.Next week is the last week of classes and we have to take test both days. I don't want to take either but we have to. Overall, today was a good day in class.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                        5/21/15


                                                          West Civ

     Today in West Civ we had the last two groups present. I think both did really well and I liked them. We also talked about exam and the Rome test. Next week we are going to have the Rome test on Wednesday and the essays for the exam on Thursday.I am going to start studying the Rome stuff this weekend so I can do well on the test. I am also going to study and prepare for the essays. Overall, it was a good class today.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                      5/20/15

                                                             West Civ

     Today in West civ we watched everyone present their projects. I thought everyone's today was really good. I liked the little movie we watched, and I liked the catapult Colin and Jack made. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the cake Sydney's group made. I also thought they were very organized and had a really good presentation. Overall, the presentations today were all really good and I enjoyed them.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                5/18/15


                                                            West Civ

     Today in West Civ we presented our projects. I don't like presenting because its a lot of pressure, but I think we did a good job. I also think all of the other groups did a good job. Furthermore, presenting wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I said all the facts I needed to and I think Ii did a good job answering anyones questions. Overall, I think my group did a good job.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                   5/15/15


                                                  West Civ

     Today in West Civ we finished the Rome movie. In the movie Tiberius ended up dying and there was a lot of vetoing. During the movie Tiberius veto ed everything so that he could start a revolution. Overall, this movie was very good. There was a lot of information, and I will probably watch this before I take the test.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                       5/14/15

                                                        West Civ
Today we took more notes in class on Rome. Below I have listed some of the facs from today.

• the government gave the people free grain or bread to keep them quiet
• Tiberius recognized the advantages of courting with the plebs
• Soldiers loyalty was to their military leader and not necessarily to Rome or the republic
• Julius (Caesar 100-44 BCE)
• he was a highly successful general
• he made common folks happy 
• Made friends with two rich guys 
• pompey and Crassus 

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                       5/13/15


                                                         West Civ

     Today in West Civ we had a little time in the beginning to do what we want. Mr. Schick also gave us a pop quiz I probably failed. I hate when we have pop quizzes and they hurt my grade. This is going to hurt my grade and that really can't happen. Overall, I did not like class today at all.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                               5/11/15

                                                     West Civ

     Today in West Civ we watched a video on Rome. This video was all about Tibious and how his father died and he is taking over now. It tells us in the beginning that Tibious doesn't know but he will die in 20 years by being murdered by the aristocrats. He was later murdered because he started a revolution in Rome. The video also showed how aristocrats could just take poor people's land. Furthermore, Tibious did not like that. Overall, I liked the video so far.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                      5/8/15

                                                West Civ

     Today in West Civ we worked on our projects. Today my group put all of our notes together and our program is finally coming together. We also have an exact design of what our program will look like. I am excited for our project because I think it is going to be really good.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                         5/7/15

                                                         West Civ

     Today in West Civ we watches a movie on our computers, at least most of us did. Furthermore, I watched most of the video on my computer. The video is really long and I hope we can finish it in class so I don't have to watch more at home. On the other hand, we also had a talk about the JC news. Mr. Schick does the JC news and someone in our class was going to be featured, but not anymore. I found the part of the video that I watched was very interesting and had some really good facts about Rome. This is a video I am going to watch again before I take the test.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                             5/6/15


                                                      West Civ

     Today in West Civ we took more notes on Rome. Below I have listed some of my notes.

• The punic wars (264-146 BCE)
• there were three wars 
• first war two empires were fighting for control
• (264241 BCE)
• naval battles for control of the island Sicily 
• Rome wins the first Punic war 
• second Punic war
• (218-201 BCE)
• 29 year old Carthaginian eneral Hannibal almost does the impossible
• he almost defeats Rome 
• they attacked Rome from the north 
• Rome wanted to remove the threat of Carthage 
• so they decided that they wont be soldiers until the get what they want 
• finally they got the laws in public and they got some rights  

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                           5/4/15

                                                      West Civ


     Today in West Civ we took notes on Rome. I have listed some below.

• Patricians traced their ancestors to Pater or father 
• they had to deal with justice, make laws, and commanding the army 
• 5th century BCE the plebs challenged 
• the plebs were 98% of the population 
• they said if they didn't get rights they wont serve in the army
• the laws were then written out (the law of twelve tables)
• US originally modeled Romes government 

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                          5/1/15

     I was not here today because I am going to a cheer competition in Rhode Island.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                         4/30/15

                                                           West Civ

     Today in West Civ we took notes on Rome Below I have listed notes from today. Furthermore, we also talked about this really twisted story.

• Etruscan's
• they came from the north central part of the peninsula
• they were mostly metal workers, artists, and architects
• there were two main myths- Virgil's and Aenes 
• and the story of Romulus and Remulus 
• Greeks 
• The Greeks had a lot of colonies around the Mediterranean sea
• Roman's borrowed ideas from them such as;
• religion beliefs
• alphabet
• much of their art
• military techniques and weapons 
• The Latins
• they were the first people out of the three
• descendants of the indo-Europeans
• settled on the banks of the Tiber
• they were situated so trading ships-but no war fleets could navigate as far as Rome, but no further
• built on 7 hills 
• many streams flowed in the Tiber 
• there was a marshy area, called the forum, between Palestine and Capitoline hills 

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                                  4/29/15


                                                                  West Civ

     Today in West Civ we had a project day. This is the first day we have had our full group here. Our idea is to make a program of different things they did in Rome. So far we have everything taking place at the Circus Maximus. Below I have some of the facts we have on the Circus Maximus so far.

The circus maximus:

• IA ancient Rome Chariot racing stadium
• constructed in the 6th century BCE
• It is that largest stadium in ancient Rome
• It could fit 250,000 people which was one quarter of Rome’s population
• history goes back to the 6th century when Tarquinius Priscus made a track in between Palatine and Aventine hills
• 329 BC it was built by more things were being added
• In 31 bc the first fire happened there was a total of three fires
• It was rebuilt by Augustus
• Second fire in 64 AD

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                4/27/15

Circus Maximus 

• Romulus started the chariot races there, however they were said to be distracting because no one would focus on anything else than the chariot races 
• Races took place on both sides of the Aventine and Palatine hills 
• it is thought to be found in the 6th century by Tarquinius Priscus and the fifth king of Rome 
• There were three fires that burnt the circus Maximus it burnt because it was made out of wood and wood is very flamable 
• There were also other things besides chariot races in the Circus Maximus 
• http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=genpub;idno=ACU3468.0001.001 
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/circusmaximus/circusmaximus.html

Today in class we tried researching about four different places in Rome. Sky and I did the research together, however when it came to citing our sources it was very hard. We found a very good knowledgeble cite however the sources were mostly books. Therefore we would have to go to the book and get the information out of the book that we want and its a big process. However, I also learned that .edu and .gov websites are the best to use. Overall, today I learned a lot in class. 

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                        4/24/15

                                                         West Civ

     Today on West Civ we worked on our project. Furthermore, only Skylar, and I wee here today in our group. We have the idea to make a program for different things in Rome. When we present we are going to read the different events for that day and where they are. Furthermore, then we will elaborate all the information about them. Today we spent time looking up facts and writing them down for our program. Overall, we had a successful class today.

Gabriella Spilker                                                                                                                 4/23/15

                                                               West Civ

     Today in West Civ we looked at the lyrics from the song Mr.Schick wrote. I thought it was fun to look at the lyrics and get a better understanding. I will be trying to learn the song before the test. I think it would really help me. Also I find it easier to learn a song than to learn and memorize notes. Overall, I am going to start learning the song so I do well on our test.