Not a member? Join for FREE!
MY CART
Follow Me
(4 Followers)
Profile & Product Catalog
Jennifer Pakradouni
United States - California - Los Angeles
23 votes
Yet to add a quote
FEATURED ITEMS
This is the travel brochure that goes along with the Mesopotamia Travel Brochure Mini-Project Guidelines. Students fill in the information and pi...
Students are to choose one of the Mesopotamian civilizations/empires and create a travel brochure for it. The travel brochure includes pictures/d...
This Dragonwings Test covers the entire book, Ch. 1-12, and is mostly concerned with reading comprehension. There are 50 questions, consisting of...
Students participate in a cooperative simulation/role-playing game in which each group of students is a hunter-gatherer band. The simulation prog...
This assessment is 22 questions long, with 15 multiple-choice questions and 7 open-ended questions. It mostly tests for reading comprehension an...
Subject:
Duration:
N/A
Type:
Assessment
On this chart, students use the principles of each of the three main Chinese philosophers (Han Fei/Legalism, Kong Fuzi/Confucianism, and Lao Tze/...
These reading questions were designed to be answered as you read the book together as a class, but students may also work on these as they read o...
Subject:
Duration:
N/A
This is a project that was given as a large extra credit assignment to an 8th grade U.S. History class. The purpose of the assignment is for stu...
Duration:
N/A
Chapter 2 Lesson 1: This worksheet was created for ELL students using the McDougal-Littell World History: Ancient Civilizations textbook for midd...
Type:
Worksheets
This plot map was created as a graphic organizer for students to fill in after reading Chapter 4 in Dragonwings. The basic plot labels (expositio...
Subject:
Duration:
N/A
The Stone Age Chart is a notetaking tool for students. It divides the Stone Age into the Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, and Neolithic Age, prov...
The Early Man Chart is a notetaking tool for students. The handout is divided among the main groups of early man studied (homo habilis, homo sapi...
The vocabulary list includes words from the book Dragonwings (59 words), broken down by chapter. Definitions for the words are NOT included, but ...
Type:
Handouts
While these reading questions were created to be worked on by students as as you read as a class, they can be done as students work on their own....
The Civil War Journal is a project-based unit designed to cover the Civil War. While it was used in an 8th grade classroom, it can also be used ...
This 30 question multiple-choice scantron test is on two short stories: "The Living Kuan-yin" and "Chinatown." Both stories can be found in the...
Type:
Assessment
Showing 1-16 of 16
FEEDBACK
joyschool2000
good
March 4, 2013
volsgirl85
Students really enjoyed this
March 3, 2013
Mary Beth Kratky (TpT Seller)
This was a great start off of an activity to give me some ideas on what to do with the unit. However, it lacked clear directions (probably because it did not go with my text). I ended up adopting a lot of it so not necessarily a time saver like I was hoping for.
February 24, 2013
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
Yes, the weakness in this activity is definitely the directions. I still have plans to go back and add more specificity to it. I am glad that it was partially useful.
February 24, 2013 
mhamill
Great- Kids enjoyed doing this
January 23, 2013
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
I'm glad! My students really enjoyed working on it also.
January 23, 2013
jenniesing2
Great resource!
January 16, 2013
tpyt15
I love to have my students explore their imagination...this resource allows that!
January 10, 2013
coldplay04
NEAT IDEA, THANKS
January 5, 2013
lflack
Very helpful...thanks for including it!
December 5, 2012
lflack
Great activity to learn about Mesopotamia!!
December 5, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
Thank you! My students had a lot of fun with it. If you want to make a bigger project of it, you can even have students create a travel rating website (on paper) after completing the brochures, and the class has to rate each civilization using the parameters they set up to determine which of the Mesopotamian civilizations ranks best for a travel destination.
December 5, 2012
TiffanyintheMiddle (TpT Seller)
I was very disappointed in this! I understand that the travel brochure itself was a seperate download, but when I purchased what were called "guidelines" I expected to see a more complete project sheet, with all the different components that would be expected, not a sheet that basically stated that the project should be neat, complete, and accurate (things that are a given when completing a project), but nothing about what sort of information should be in the brochure. $3.00 plus another $2.00 to purchase the brochure template is way too much for what you are delivering. I would like my money back.
November 19, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
I am sorry that you were so disappointed with the guidelines. The reason for the separate download is that a teacher may decide not to use the template, but to have his/her students create a brochure from scratch.
While I understand that the guidelines were not what you expected, the product description states that "Students are to choose one of the Mesopotamian civilizations/empires and create a travel brochure for it. The travel brochure includes pictures/drawings as well as sections for students to include information such as tools, religion, government, geography, social classes, etc." This is the "what sort of information should be in the brochure." Specifically, these are the different components to which the guidelines are applied, particularly in terms of accuracy. I would not presume to direct a teacher exactly how those guidelines must be used in grading the projects of their students. While it is very difficult to make out the words in the thumbnail of the product, you can see that it is not extensive. In addition, the thumbnails of the brochure template show how the brochure is divided into the sections just mentioned, even if the print is too small to read. If you already purchased the brochure template, then the components of the project are clearly delineated. If not, you can reproduce the general organization using the components mentioned in the product description for the guidelines.
I have not received any complaints about this project, either with regard to the guidelines or the brochure template. I truly am sorry that your expectations were not met. However, rather than denigrating my work, you could have easily asked me to clarify the project, or even to send you more specific directions. I welcome constructive criticism as it enables me to improve my products, but your intention is clearly not constructive, but an effort to belittle me and my efforts. We are all here to share best practices and successes from our own classrooms, that may or may not apply to your classroom. That is an obvious risk of using another teacher's lessons/projects rather than creating your own.
While I understand that the guidelines were not what you expected, the product description states that "Students are to choose one of the Mesopotamian civilizations/empires and create a travel brochure for it. The travel brochure includes pictures/drawings as well as sections for students to include information such as tools, religion, government, geography, social classes, etc." This is the "what sort of information should be in the brochure." Specifically, these are the different components to which the guidelines are applied, particularly in terms of accuracy. I would not presume to direct a teacher exactly how those guidelines must be used in grading the projects of their students. While it is very difficult to make out the words in the thumbnail of the product, you can see that it is not extensive. In addition, the thumbnails of the brochure template show how the brochure is divided into the sections just mentioned, even if the print is too small to read. If you already purchased the brochure template, then the components of the project are clearly delineated. If not, you can reproduce the general organization using the components mentioned in the product description for the guidelines.
I have not received any complaints about this project, either with regard to the guidelines or the brochure template. I truly am sorry that your expectations were not met. However, rather than denigrating my work, you could have easily asked me to clarify the project, or even to send you more specific directions. I welcome constructive criticism as it enables me to improve my products, but your intention is clearly not constructive, but an effort to belittle me and my efforts. We are all here to share best practices and successes from our own classrooms, that may or may not apply to your classroom. That is an obvious risk of using another teacher's lessons/projects rather than creating your own.
November 19, 2012
MiaH (TpT Seller)
Excellent! Students can have a template or it can be used simply to demonstrate the 3-fold layout of a brochure.
October 16, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
Sorry...I usually like to respond as soon as possible. I'm glad to be of assistance!
December 5, 2012
Lindsey Thompson (TpT Seller)
I purchased this knowing that this did not correspond with my textbook; I was okay with that, as I was looking for a simulation and could adapt information as needed. However, this really was more of a collection of worksheets for the textbook (those were good); however, this was not advertised as a collection of worksheets for the book, but rather a simulation. The directions and materials for a simulation were lacking. As a companion for the textbook, this is a great resource. As a simulation itself, this does not work.
September 30, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
I am sorry that this did not meet your expectations (and that it took me so long to reply). While I implemented these materials as a simulation, it was something that I had an idea of already, so I did not have difficulty building the simulation around the materials, which were included to make the students accountable for the information. Four of the eight handouts in the set were directly related to the simulation aspect, with information from the textbook to be used as support as the students completed the information for their band. Your comment was very helpful, and I intend to establish more structure to the existing materials to make the simulation aspect of these lessons more obvious. After reading the guidelines again, I realize that I made the teacher's role very vague, and I understand the difficulty in trying to use the guidelines to implement the materials as a simulation. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to make the materials a little more sophisticated, as of yet. I truly appreciate your comments. Thank you!
November 14, 2012
MiaH (TpT Seller)
The structure I was looking for for a project I already do.
Thanks!
Thanks!
September 22, 2012
mjburns4
Thank You!
September 19, 2012
weinm001
Great project idea!
September 15, 2012
braywho
Thanks for the good activity!
September 11, 2012
braywho
Great end of the unit project. Thanks!
September 11, 2012
lighthouselord
Fun activity
September 9, 2012
lighthouselord
A real nice activity
September 9, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
Thank you! My students had a fun time with it too.
September 9, 2012
Ask Jennifer Pakradouni a question. They will receive an automated email and will return to answer you as soon as possible.
Please Login to ask your question.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
bangsthomas re: Mesopotamia Travel Brochure Mini-Project
I just bought your Mesopotamia Tri-fold Brochure. Is it possible to get a copy with out the shading and sunflower? I can't get it to look right when I run it on a black and white copier.
Thanks,
Pamela Thomas
Thanks,
Pamela Thomas
November 14, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
I am not sure, but I will see what I can do. The one I have has the shading and sunflower, but I will try to remove both. If I can get it to be just black/white, I will post another reply to your question here. I will also post if I am unsuccessful, so you know.
I will do my best!
I will do my best!
November 14, 2012
condond re: Early Man Unit Simulation
would this follow a unit from a differnt textbook - I mean the info must be the same, right?
September 6, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
As far as the information goes, definitely. You can still use the simulation with another textbook. The only difference would be that I have page numbers that go with particular lessons in the textbook I went by. You can always find the corresponding lesson/unit in a different textbook and tell your students to ignore the page number that is one the sheet (or white it out). Let me know if you have any more questions!
September 6, 2012
Mary Beth Kratky (TpT Seller)
Hi Jennifer!
I just downloaded your early man interactive simulation. I'm super excited to try it, but I have a couple of questions: It says that the students get a new situation chosen by the teacher every day or 2. Where are the situations that I can give to my class? For example, the situation cards the kids can fill out are all the same but say what happened? so my question is...what happened?
I also don't quite understand what to do with some of the other charts. I would love to get some clearer directions on how I the teacher can set this up to be successful. Is each a page a new day? or does it correspond to a lesson in the text (I have the same text) therefore kids would use a couple of worksheets to go with each text.
Please email me or I am open to talking on the phone too. If you want to do that, just let me know in the email and I can give you my number. I really appreciate your help. THANKS!
I just downloaded your early man interactive simulation. I'm super excited to try it, but I have a couple of questions: It says that the students get a new situation chosen by the teacher every day or 2. Where are the situations that I can give to my class? For example, the situation cards the kids can fill out are all the same but say what happened? so my question is...what happened?
I also don't quite understand what to do with some of the other charts. I would love to get some clearer directions on how I the teacher can set this up to be successful. Is each a page a new day? or does it correspond to a lesson in the text (I have the same text) therefore kids would use a couple of worksheets to go with each text.
Please email me or I am open to talking on the phone too. If you want to do that, just let me know in the email and I can give you my number. I really appreciate your help. THANKS!
July 24, 2012
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
Hi!
Actually, I left the situations open-ended for the teacher to create. For example, I would announce a storm (sandstorm for the desert), write the situation on the board, and the students would fill out their sheet based on that(since their worksheet is generic). I used a lot of nature sound CDs to add to the experience (or shook their tables for an earthquake). Feel free to get as creative as you like with the situations (I even sprayed my students with water for a rainstorm).
As far as the other worksheets, the grid sheet with "Shelter," "Food," etc. is the information sheet that each band will have to complete based on their climate zone, using the information in the textbook.
While you can give the students as many situations as you want, there are worksheets that are aligned with the textbook also. The students will still have to work together in their band, but they are working on the academic information.
The worksheets to be used with the textbook have the page numbers from the textbook on them.
Every day, I had my students answer warm-up questions for the first 10 minutes in class based on the lesson we were on, and then we moved onto the simulation. I would have the students do a worksheet a day, but some of the activities took a little longer. My students loved trading, so we did the trading activity on a few occasions.
I stopped the simulation at complex villages, but the simulation was meant to potentially go on until all groups combined to form the first civilization. I am still working on expanding it.
The simulation took me 3-4 weeks to go through, but it can be shortened or extended. Depending on your pacing, you can probably get it down to 2 weeks, or up to 6 weeks.
I hope this helps. Please do not hesitate to message me again if you have more questions. I hope your students enjoy it. Mine had a blast with it.
Jennifer
Actually, I left the situations open-ended for the teacher to create. For example, I would announce a storm (sandstorm for the desert), write the situation on the board, and the students would fill out their sheet based on that(since their worksheet is generic). I used a lot of nature sound CDs to add to the experience (or shook their tables for an earthquake). Feel free to get as creative as you like with the situations (I even sprayed my students with water for a rainstorm).
As far as the other worksheets, the grid sheet with "Shelter," "Food," etc. is the information sheet that each band will have to complete based on their climate zone, using the information in the textbook.
While you can give the students as many situations as you want, there are worksheets that are aligned with the textbook also. The students will still have to work together in their band, but they are working on the academic information.
The worksheets to be used with the textbook have the page numbers from the textbook on them.
Every day, I had my students answer warm-up questions for the first 10 minutes in class based on the lesson we were on, and then we moved onto the simulation. I would have the students do a worksheet a day, but some of the activities took a little longer. My students loved trading, so we did the trading activity on a few occasions.
I stopped the simulation at complex villages, but the simulation was meant to potentially go on until all groups combined to form the first civilization. I am still working on expanding it.
The simulation took me 3-4 weeks to go through, but it can be shortened or extended. Depending on your pacing, you can probably get it down to 2 weeks, or up to 6 weeks.
I hope this helps. Please do not hesitate to message me again if you have more questions. I hope your students enjoy it. Mine had a blast with it.
Jennifer
July 24, 2012
klaube re: Early Man Unit Simulation
How long does this simulation unit take??
October 19, 2011
Jennifer Pakradouni (TpT Seller)
The unit is about 3-4 weeks long, though you may be able to cut it down to 2. It took me about 4 weeks. It depends on how many days you want to devote to each activity.
October 19, 2011
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Yet to be added
MY TEACHING STYLE
While I try to match my teaching style to the needs of my students, it invariably falls back to project-based work, with my students organized into cooperative groups.
HONORS/AWARDS/SHINING TEACHER MOMENT
Yet to be added
MY OWN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
I have a B.A. in History from UC Irvine, a SS Credential from Cal State LA in Social Science and English, and I also earned my M.A. in Education (emphasis in Educational Foundations) from Cal State LA.
ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Yet to be added
|
||