LEVEL B:  to be done in class NOT at home for “B”

You must be able to defend your project as to which objective you have learned. 

You will have one week to do this.  Choose the project to place in the middle of your Middle Eastern Prayer Rug that suites your learning style.  When you are ready for me to evaluate your knowledge, on any objective/s, sign up for a five-minute conference to schedule your presentation. 

geography 

1. Imagine you are visiting one of the Middle Eastern countries.  Write a postcard to a friend, telling about the geography (location, land and climate) of the country.

2. In a small group of 3 or 4, create a 20-question geography quiz based on a map of the Middle East.  Include one question for each country: (1) the use of compass directions (Which country in the Middle East is farthest south?)    (2) the use of lines of longitude and latitude, such as:  Which capital city lies approximately 40° north and 32° east? (3) relative/absolute location, (4) a computer-generated map of the Middle East Region.

2a. Create a  thick and thin card game that includes:  two-jump THICK questions (Why?, How?, Who might?, What will?, What if?, I wonder why?) and one-jump thin questions (Who?, What?, Where?, When?).  See teacher pg. 110 BER 

3.  Fill out a Double Open Mind GO: the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea talking to one another about their uniqueness, location, physical characteristics, etc. 

4.  You are the Nile River.  Write a letter to the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers explaining the importance of your existence and what cities have developed near you. 

5.  You are the Aswan Dam.  Write a fortunately, unfortunately poem about the pros and cons of your construction. 

6.  You are a desert plant in the Sahara Desert.  Create a comic strip conversation or write a private talk between a tropical plant of the Rain Forest explaining how you have adapted to the dry conditions, how the water flows in a desert.  Include vocabulary such as, oasis, deltas, aquifers, qanats, desert streams, etc…..  The comic strip can be drawn or electronic. 

7. You are the Suez Canal.  Illustrate snapshots or create a letter in a bottle about the movement of people and goods through your region.  Include why you were built and how a canal works. 
 

people: 

8. Interview Princess Basma Bint Ali or another significant Middle Eastern (SW Asia or North Africa) individual or group of individuals that interest you.  List 10 facts on the front of an envelope (see me) and their contribution to society.  At the bottom of the envelope write Who Am I?   Inside of the envelope, place his or her picture with name above the picture.

9. Write a good-bye letter from the Kaaba (the holiest place in the Islamic world) to the Muslim (who has just come back from the pilgrimage) describing the pilgrimage experience in detail.

10. In a helpful reminder list format for Arabic contributions to society:  The Arabs have made significant contributions to society, such as domesticating the camel.  List for me Arab contributions in math.  How valuable is the Arabic adoption of the nine numbers plus zero in the Western Hemisphere?  Research Roman numerals (major European system until around 1000 AD).  Write out an on-line chat about three problems using both Roman and Arabic numerals.  Which system do you recommend?

economy and environment  

11. Fortunately, Unfortunately Poem (include what people do for a living, natural resources and environmental problems that exist, farming technology, crops grown, irrigation techniques, controlling groups that set production limits).  The parts will include the USA and the Middle East.

12. Create a graphic organizer (or see me) and give words or phrases associated with oil.  Write the word oil in the middle of your paper.  Create a word tree branching out from the root word, oil.  Site your source where you found the information on back.

13. RAFT the importance of diamonds to Israeli industry in the format of an argument.  Diamonds make us think of glistening jewelry.  However, they have an equally important use in cutting and abrasive tools.  When they are used for these purposes, they are called industrial diamonds.  (See teacher manual WR 352)

arts and recreation 

14. Design a mural depicting the 3 activities of a typical Middle Eastern bazaar; for example, bargaining or the performance of music. 

15. Read the story Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp and retell the story in the media of a open mind memory search. See teacher.

government

16. Read about the three Persian Gulf Wars. 

Answer several thick and thin questions, such as, When, where, why? How does the USA fit in?  Pictures?  Military Combat equipment used?

17. Create answers for three thin questions:  How many countries are there in the world? What is the United Nations?  How many countries are represented? 

LEVEL A:  to be done in class or at home for “A”  Choose 1:

You must be able to defend your project as to which objective you have learned and site the sources you have used at the bottom of your report. 

1. Create/Burn a CD to reveal your thinking about:  People from the Middle East are frequently featured in news reports, as well as on film and television.  What impression do you receive of this region from the mass media? (Also see teacher manual WR pg. 354)

2. Create/Burn a CD to reveal your thinking about:  How important do you believe oil and agricultural fertilizer are to the world economy?  What problem can arise when one region holds a large portion of a single resource (monopoly)?

3. Gas prices regularly fluctuate as a result of many factors, one of them being the amount of oil produced by OPEC.  Check with a local service station to determine changes in the price of gasoline at the pump over the past few months.  You may want to contact a local fuel distributor/producer, such as Moore Well Service, to find out reasons for variation in prices of petroleum products.

4. Should OPEC have the power to set production limits on oil?  Argue your answer that provides your rationale (reasoning).  Should state or federal government have the power to set the recent limitations for smoking? Lottery monies? Gun control? in the USA?

e.  The Gulf Wars of 1991 (Desert Storm) or Present Iraq War is/was a major military undertaking in which the USA played an important role.  Research this war, Take a poll of 25 people’s opinions and make a chart and answer the questions:

• Do you think the US was justified in taking military action in 1991?
• Should the US and it allies have gone on to overthrow Saddam Hussein?

   f. Write a memo to President Bush telling him what you have learned so far about the geography, economy, religion, language, and problems the Middle Eastern people face.