Ribbon Cutting Ceremony August 27, 2017
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September 1917 - June 22, 2017
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What is Continuity and Change?
This historical theme is important for showing how the past can affect the present. Although individuals only live a relatively short time, institutions, ideas, beliefs, culture, conflicts, monuments and even buildings such as our Gates Intermediate school can endure for long periods of time, even a hundred years. This is known as continuity. Although continuity is important in the study of history, historians also recognize that our society and yes, even our town of Scituate is constantly undergoing change. Change is the constant altering of society by the forces of history. Our new Gates Middle School is an example of this theme. Are there more historical themes we will study this year?
Continuity and Change?
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Continuity and Change?
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1916 2017 2021 2024
Scituate Public Schools 1886 & 2022
You just have to go look (search) for it. Remember the first two letters of the word RESEARCH means that it will take more than one try to figure it out.
Scituate Research Question: Use Your Research Skills
Mission Statement of Gates Middle School
The mission of the Gates Middle School is to uphold the ideals of the Scituate Public Schools’ mission, while also recognizing the uniqueness of the early adolescent population.
Vision Statement of Gates Middle School
The vision of the Gates Middle School is to create a positive and safe environment which provides a comprehensive and challenging education for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. By strengthening the home/school connection, healthy patterns of growth and learning will promote the development of responsible and independent community members.
Hello everyone this is Matt Poirier and welcome to my Gates Middle School sixth grade social studies website. I have taught in a number of schools and academic environments during my teaching career, but have found that teaching here in Scituate one of the most rewarding and challenging vocations anyone could ever have the honor to pursue. I have had so many great kids come through my classes over the years I could not count them all if you asked me to. I hope both they, my current students and my future students along with their parents visit this site. Please take a look. For those of you who do not know me, please take a look below. You might figure out that I am very proud of Gates and my Scituate community. I am a Gates graduate as are my children Jack and Emma Poirier. I am looking forward to getting started this year. Let's discover why they study of research, human prehistory, the ancient world and geography are not a mystery and why it is never, ever dull or boring. Being bored is a matter of choice. I will never be bored this year teaching you this fascinating subject. The choice to be involved and to participate daily is yours. Get involved and do your job. I know you can! Being curious, hardworking and motivated is contagious. Let's work to our fullest on a daily basis, do homework and study a little bit each night and the grades will take place of themselves.
Click on or hover over the pictures to read caption.
How do we know what we know about the past?
Do you know who or what each picture represents?
Do you know who or what each picture represents?
Introduction Unit: Time Lines, Class Key Vocabulary & Geography Review
Unit 1: Research: How do we know what we know?
Unit 2: Human Prehistory: 2 Million-3500 BC (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic Eras)
Ancient History Units: 3500 BC to 1000 AD
1. Mesopotamia Civilizations: Sumer, Akkad, Neo-Sumer, Amorites (Babylonians), Hittites/Kassites, Assyria, Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians), Persia
2. Ancient Egypt (Kemet) including Nubia (Kush) - (Old, Middle and New KIngdoms) Unit also includes: Phoenicia and Israel
3. Ancient Hellas (Greece) including Archaic Period 2000-1200 BC / BCE, Dark Age 1200-800 BC, Classical & Hellenistic Eras 800 - 146 BC / BCE
4. Ancient Rome, Roman Kingdom, Republic, Empire, Division, Fall of Rome 753 BC / BCE - 476 AD / CE
Final Unit: Research Class Project: Ancient Civilizations
Unit 1: Research: How do we know what we know?
Unit 2: Human Prehistory: 2 Million-3500 BC (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic Eras)
Ancient History Units: 3500 BC to 1000 AD
1. Mesopotamia Civilizations: Sumer, Akkad, Neo-Sumer, Amorites (Babylonians), Hittites/Kassites, Assyria, Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians), Persia
2. Ancient Egypt (Kemet) including Nubia (Kush) - (Old, Middle and New KIngdoms) Unit also includes: Phoenicia and Israel
3. Ancient Hellas (Greece) including Archaic Period 2000-1200 BC / BCE, Dark Age 1200-800 BC, Classical & Hellenistic Eras 800 - 146 BC / BCE
4. Ancient Rome, Roman Kingdom, Republic, Empire, Division, Fall of Rome 753 BC / BCE - 476 AD / CE
Final Unit: Research Class Project: Ancient Civilizations
1. Create Study Habits that will benefit Jenkins students throughout their academic career and beyond. Yes, the subject matter of the class is as fascinating as it is important and yes the subject allows us to learn from the achievements and the mistakes of our ancestors, but overall the content of the class is not as important as learning to study to understand the content. Do you understand? Please learn to study this year and learn to study a little bit at a time, each night. Studying the night before a test or quiz is a mistake and not the point of this PROCESS. Your study habits, either one way or the other, will either be a reason for your future academic success or will be a "stumbling block" or obstacle. Take steps, create habits this year that will benefit you throughout your academic career. You can do this!
2. Create Effective & Successful Writing Habits that will benefit Jenkins students throughout their academic careers and beyond. Learning to be effective and successful writers is not going to be an easy accomplishment. Any skill, any worthwhile achievement will require a PROCESS. A process means that you have to be willing to improve taking small steps, one at a time over a long period of time. Whether we are answering short answers, open response or long compositional informational / explanatory essays, our goal will the same: Write effectively and successfully.
Common Core Standards: Reading – Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
Writing Standards
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
3. Understand the Role of Geography in Human Prehistory / Ancient History. Geography is the study of earth, the influence of earth on humans and human influence on it. Geography shaped human culture and provided resources necessary to allow our ancestors to reach a state of development known as civilization. Culture is the way of life a people live including their customs, beliefs, language, religion, traditions etc. The website will help you understand what exactly civilization means. The 5 Themes of Geography (Movement, Location, Place, Region, Human & Environmental Interaction) will be introduced, we will review geography skills/fundamentals, but be ready to study geography differently. Geography is not just about locating where a place is on a map. I hope you will enjoy studying where human life and the first civilizations on our planet blossomed in Africa, Asia and Europe.
2. Create Effective & Successful Writing Habits that will benefit Jenkins students throughout their academic careers and beyond. Learning to be effective and successful writers is not going to be an easy accomplishment. Any skill, any worthwhile achievement will require a PROCESS. A process means that you have to be willing to improve taking small steps, one at a time over a long period of time. Whether we are answering short answers, open response or long compositional informational / explanatory essays, our goal will the same: Write effectively and successfully.
Common Core Standards: Reading – Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
Writing Standards
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
3. Understand the Role of Geography in Human Prehistory / Ancient History. Geography is the study of earth, the influence of earth on humans and human influence on it. Geography shaped human culture and provided resources necessary to allow our ancestors to reach a state of development known as civilization. Culture is the way of life a people live including their customs, beliefs, language, religion, traditions etc. The website will help you understand what exactly civilization means. The 5 Themes of Geography (Movement, Location, Place, Region, Human & Environmental Interaction) will be introduced, we will review geography skills/fundamentals, but be ready to study geography differently. Geography is not just about locating where a place is on a map. I hope you will enjoy studying where human life and the first civilizations on our planet blossomed in Africa, Asia and Europe.
A SCITUATE SUCCESS STORY FROM START TO FINISH
March 16, 2016 - Ground Breaking Ceremony - Click on Photo below to read all about this important day.
Our class definition for the word history is as follows: History is the written chronological record of significant past events. Is the official opening of our new Lester J. Gates Middle School history? Think about it before answering. Discuss your thoughts with a partner or group-mates. What is your claim? Defend your claim. Do you all agree?
The photo above was taken by my daughter Emma Poirier at 11:30 AM, an hour and a half before the official opening of the school on August 27, 2017. Click on Emma's photo to read about the ribbon cutting ceremony that officially opened the Lester J. Gates Middle School from the Scituate Mariner. Is this photo an ARTIFACT? Where you there? I was and I can now give a PRIMARY SOURCE account. If you only heard or read about the event you can give a SECONDARY SOURCE account. Which source is more valuable to an HISTORIAN who RESEARCHES this day one hundred years from now? Look at the photo carefully, don't just look at it, ANALYZE it. In our class we will never just look at something. Anyone is capable of just looking at something, but the historian's job is to always analyze. We will conduct HISTORICAL ANALYSIS on whatever person, civilization. location or event we are studying. Can you name the person coming out of the building or did you even notice the person shown in the photo? He is our town's assistant director of facilities. This will be a day that people will remember in our town for a long time. As important as this day is to our wonderful town of Scituate, is this an historical event?
Introduction to Important Vocabulary
History - the written chronological record of significant past events (3500 BC or BCE to the present)
Historian - a student or writer of history; especially : one who produces a scholarly synthesis
Historical Analysis - to examine artifacts & fossils carefully in detail as to identify key factors, causes, possible results
Legacy - something passed down from generation to generation and improved upon (changed or corrupted)
Culture - a way of life a people live including their beliefs, traditions, language, food, clothing, religion, customs, beliefs and institutions. To help study a people's culture and history we will use the PRIMES.
P - Political - How people governed themselves
R - Religion - The worship of God, gods - goddesses, ancestors, etc.
I - Invention / Innovations - The creation of TECHNOLOGY to make life easier
M - Military - How people defended themselves or their interests with the use of arms
E - Economic - How people were able to trade to create wealth
S - Social - How people organized themselves in society
Artifact - something made by humans left behind such as tools, weapons, buildings or edifices, pottery, work of art, written documents & language. Note: Artifact (τέχνημα) means from the Ancient Greek "made with skill"
Primary Source - a source of information from a witness of an event
Secondary Source - a source of information from a person who heard or read about an event
Oral Tradition - the passing down of information from generation to generation through the spoken word and stories
Research - systematic investigation and study of materials (artifacts and fossils) and sources (primary and secondary) in order to establish facts and advance knowledge
Technology - the creation of more and more sophisticated tools to improve the quality of human life
YOU - You are what this year is all about. You are very important.
Historian - a student or writer of history; especially : one who produces a scholarly synthesis
Historical Analysis - to examine artifacts & fossils carefully in detail as to identify key factors, causes, possible results
Legacy - something passed down from generation to generation and improved upon (changed or corrupted)
Culture - a way of life a people live including their beliefs, traditions, language, food, clothing, religion, customs, beliefs and institutions. To help study a people's culture and history we will use the PRIMES.
P - Political - How people governed themselves
R - Religion - The worship of God, gods - goddesses, ancestors, etc.
I - Invention / Innovations - The creation of TECHNOLOGY to make life easier
M - Military - How people defended themselves or their interests with the use of arms
E - Economic - How people were able to trade to create wealth
S - Social - How people organized themselves in society
Artifact - something made by humans left behind such as tools, weapons, buildings or edifices, pottery, work of art, written documents & language. Note: Artifact (τέχνημα) means from the Ancient Greek "made with skill"
Primary Source - a source of information from a witness of an event
Secondary Source - a source of information from a person who heard or read about an event
Oral Tradition - the passing down of information from generation to generation through the spoken word and stories
Research - systematic investigation and study of materials (artifacts and fossils) and sources (primary and secondary) in order to establish facts and advance knowledge
Technology - the creation of more and more sophisticated tools to improve the quality of human life
YOU - You are what this year is all about. You are very important.
Gates Principal Mr. Ryan Lynch addresses the crowd at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony August 27, 2017
Ribbon Cutting Invitation
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