STAB 2016

What does a  monocle  have to do with studying religion?! Today we talked about the differences between monotheism and polytheism. ----------- Theism  is the belief in the existence of god or gods. There is more than one type of theism: Monotheism  is the specific belief in one god. Polytheism  is the specific belief in many gods. Some religions are monotheistic, whereas other religions are polytheistic. ----------- We talked about the prefixes "mono" (one) and "poly" (many), and we discussed other words that can help us remember the definitions of monotheism and polytheism: Mono cle (a single eyeglass) Mono poly (a single person or business that controls an entire industry) Mono tonous (a single toned style of speech (often considered boring)) Mono pod (a single-legged support for a camera) Poly gon (a many-sided shape) Poly glot (a person who speaks more than one language) ----------- The civilizations that we have studied so far (in particular,  Egypt ...

Meredith Initial Questions About Religion... Priya : What was the first religion? Kate : Are there any lost religions? Asher : Where do the names of gods come from? Gabriel : What exactly is a soul? Charlotte : Do all religions baptize babies? Bowen Mia : Which do you think is most important: science or religion? Darrah : What do most people pray for? Josh : Why is there so much diversity in prayers? Sylvie : When you pray, do you think it makes a difference whether you are in a huge, beautiful temple, or just at your home? Channing : Do atheists have any sacred objects?                             Helen : Why does the textbook capitalize some words (for example, "Truth" and "Absolute") but not other words? Noelle : In Christianity, the "Absolute" is God. What or who is another "Absolute"? Channing

Asher : How many forms of government are there? Maxwell : If Cleisthenes had never been born, would someone else have invented democracy? Sofia : In ancient Athens, what if there were a respected poor man or woman who had great ideas: would he or she be allowed to vote? Phineas : At what point are there too many people to have a direct democracy? Mary Holland : Do you think having a democracy ever hurt the people of Athens? Why or why not? Jack D. : In ancient Athens, did a lot of people loiter? Is that why Draco made the law against loitering? Teddy : How would the United States be different, if we were a direct democracy instead of a representative democracy?

Today we began to learn about two fascinating leaders from Greek history:  Peisistratus  and  Cleisthenes . Peisistratus  was a tyrant who ruled Athens. The word " tyrant " has negative connotations (associations) nowadays, however Peisistratus was generally considered a fair leader who helped the people of Athens. Cleisthenes  (whose name I remember by calling him Clys  the Knees ) was a rival of Peisistratus and one of the founders of a fantastic new form of government: democracy .  Here's the short video that I mentioned today, in which travel guide Rick Steves discusses the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and some of the other important landmarks in Athens:

The Quest of the Nile By Sylvie and Friends Ahhotep was awakened by the brisk wind, beckoning to her. She buried her toes in a mountain of moist mud. She had been lying on the solid ground for the past two hours. A thick layer of dirt had encrusted itself on Ahhotep's skin. As she pulled herself up onto her dirty feet she banged her head on a low branch. I forgot that was there , Ahhotep thought, as she rubbed the soon to be bruise.  She knew that never in this life, or the afterlife, would her mother let her into their home when she was this disheveled-looking. Maybe I could sneak in through the back door , Ahhotep contemplated.  As all these thoughts were piling through her heart, she heard the splattering and spitting of the nearby Nile River. The intense flooding season had started last week, and the river seemed like an ocean. There were strict rules about children under the age of twelve even going near the river.  Perhaps I can get away with just one short dip, on...

Shang and the Great Escape By Mia and Friends It was another day of working in the hot wheat fields. Although Shang’s body was protesting, he got out of bed, put on his muddy workboots and pulled his hair up in a bun. He didn’t forget to put a towel around his neck. Then he went down to the kitchen and packed his lunch. Today’s lunch was some cooked grain with homemade sauce to go with it. He also packed some water in a leather sack. After that, he made his grandfather breakfast. “ Grandpa, your breakfast is ready, ” yelled Shang  “ Oh, and Grandpa, I’m leaving for work. I won’t be back till sundown. ”  “ Okay, I will be waiting for you, ” said his grandfather.  Shang walked out of his small house made out of mud and sticks. The sun was just peeking over the horizon.  The cool morning air greeted him as if it had been waiting for him. Shang sighed, turned, and started his long journey to the wheat fields. Papyrus for Sale By Gracie Lou and Friends “Papyrus for sale! ...

We started class today by talking about Sugata Mitra's upcoming presentation and discussing two questions: What is the purpose of school? If you could create an ideal class, what would it look like? The discussion about the purpose of school -- and how schools could be different or better -- was fantastic. Here were some of the highlights: Gabriel : If we're supposed to be focused on living in the present , then why do we spend so much time in school talking about the past and the future ? Channing : I feel like almost all of the classes I've ever taken were taught the same way. Are we not creative enough to think of other ideas, or are we scared of changing things? Vaya : We should have a "why wall", where people could write all their questions. For example, I've always wondered why the sun is called the sun, and why trees are called trees. [ Vaya: Leonardo da Vinci would love this idea! ] Next we discussed the definition of government and talked about the ...