Without home internet: ask for these same readings/questions before dismissal and arrange school time if needed. No visit, private address or photo is required.
Quizlet · practice
Innovation, Evidence & Geographic Preview
Assigned: 2026-10-19 · Due: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern · 8–10 minutes
Name: ____________________ Period: ____
Complete your period’s assigned 12-question Test practice. Read feedback and revisit 1–2 uncertain answers; one pass is enough. You can also answer the same questions here or on paper and check with a teacher. No separate accuracy grade, screenshots, copied definitions, perfect-score streak or extra Form.
Open your period’s activity. If you need to enter the code, go to quizlet.com/join-activity and enter your period’s code. A40YMA has the number zero after 4, not the letter O.
Homework 02 — Skara Brae: People, Place & Evidence
Assigned: 2026-10-22 · Due in class: 2026-10-23 · 10–12 minutes
Name: ____________________ Period: ____
Read the account and answer Q1–Q4 in your own words. Submit once: Google Form, paper to either teacher or email jzarrella@earlycollegecharter.org. English or Spanish. If absent, use this same reading and questions.
Teacher-written account based on the sources below: a modern interpretation, not an ancient eyewitness account.
Skara Brae is a Neolithic village in Orkney, islands north of mainland Scotland. Its stone houses were clustered together and connected by passages. Historic Environment Scotland reports that the village was originally inland beside a freshwater lake, although the surviving site is now beside the sea.
Builders used stone slabs and packed material around the walls to insulate and support them. Archaeologists found tools, pottery and animal remains. This evidence supports an account of people who farmed, hunted and fished; farming did not replace every older food practice.
A storm in 1850 uncovered part of the buried village. A later storm damaged remains, and people built a seawall for protection. The landscape therefore affects both how people live and what survives for historians to study. Buildings and objects reveal practices, but they cannot tell us every resident’s thoughts or explain every choice.
Q1. Locate the village / Ubica la aldea (2 points)
Name the islands where Skara Brae is located and the body of water that was beside the original village. Use the reading, not an assumption from its present coast.
Nombra las islas donde se encuentra Skara Brae y el cuerpo de agua junto a la aldea original. Usa la lectura, no una suposición sobre la costa actual.
Q2. Explain a relationship / Explica una relación (2 points)
Use ONE detail to explain how people changed their environment or responded to it. Name the action AND explain its effect. Distinguish ancient builders from later people protecting the site.
Usa UN detalle para explicar cómo las personas transformaron su entorno o respondieron a él. Nombra la acción Y explica su efecto. Distingue a los constructores antiguos de quienes protegieron el sitio después.
Q3. Reconsider a claim / Reconsidera una afirmación (2 points)
A student says: 'Once people farmed, they stopped hunting and fishing.' How does Skara Brae challenge that claim? Use a specific reading detail.
Un estudiante dice: «Cuando empezaron a cultivar, dejaron de cazar y pescar». ¿Cómo cuestiona Skara Brae esa afirmación? Usa un detalle de la lectura.
Q4. Bring the question into public life / Lleva la pregunta a la vida pública (4 points)
Choose a familiar PUBLIC place, or use a park near a lake. In 3–5 sentences, explain one way a geographic feature may affect people and one way people may change or respond to it. Connect your reasoning to ONE detail about Skara Brae, then name evidence you would need to check your explanation. No address, visit, interview, photograph or private disclosure is needed.
Elige un lugar PÚBLICO conocido, o usa un parque junto a un lago. En 3–5 oraciones explica una forma en que una característica geográfica puede influir en las personas y una forma en que ellas la transforman o responden a ella. Relaciona tu razonamiento con UN detalle de Skara Brae y nombra evidencia para comprobar tu explicación. No necesitas dirección, visita, entrevista, foto ni información privada.
Criteria /10: Q1 /2 (accurate details); Q2 /2 (evidence-based explanation); Q3 /2 (reasoned claim or choice); Q4 /4 (specific application, reasons and accurate source connection). Partial credit; teacher reviewed. English spelling/grammar is not a separate criterion.
Quizlet · practice
Geographic Evidence & Reading Maps
Assigned: 2026-10-26 · Due in class: 2026-10-27 · 8–10 minutes
Name: ____________________ Period: ____
Choose Test in Quizlet: 12 questions, multiple choice only, prompts first and answers as choices. Read feedback and revisit 1–2 uncertain answers; one pass is enough. You can also practice here or mark answers on paper and check with a teacher. No screenshots, copied definitions, perfect-score streak or extra Form.
Homework 03 — A Babylonian Map: What Does a Mapmaker Show?
Assigned: 2026-10-29 · Due in class: 2026-10-30 · 10–12 minutes
Name: ____________________ Period: ____
Read the account and answer Q1–Q4 in your own words. Submit once: Google Form, paper to either teacher or email jzarrella@earlycollegecharter.org. English or Spanish. If absent, use this same reading and questions.
Teacher-written account based on the sources below: a modern interpretation, not an ancient eyewitness account.
This small clay tablet comes from ancient Mesopotamia, in the region of present-day Iraq. The British Museum catalogues it as a Babylonian world map made approximately in the sixth century BCE—long after the earliest farming villages we have studied.
The map represents land as a circle surrounded by water called the Bitter River. Babylon is marked by a rectangle beside the Euphrates. Smaller circles identify other places, and triangular regions appear beyond the surrounding water. The tablet combines a drawn map with cuneiform writing.
These marks show how a mapmaker selected and organized places. They do not establish that Babylon was the physical center of Earth or that everyone in the region pictured the world identically. A historian can investigate this representation without accepting it as an accurate modern navigation map.
The tablet is ancient; the museum's explanation is modern. Read the source information alongside the map. The place shown, the time represented, the maker's choices and the reader's question all affect what a map can help us understand.
Q1. Read the representation / Lee la representación (2 points)
Name TWO specific places or features represented on the tablet. Use the account above, or the linked museum image; do not guess from a modern map.
Nombra DOS lugares o elementos concretos representados en la tablilla. Usa el texto o la imagen del museo; no adivines con un mapa moderno.
Q2. Explain a limit / Explica una limitación (2 points)
Could this ancient map directly establish today's country borders in the region? Explain using its date or the information it represents.
¿Puede este mapa antiguo establecer directamente las fronteras actuales de la región? Explica usando su fecha o la información que representa.
Q3. Choose a map for a reader / Elige un mapa para un lector (2 points)
A visitor wants to find an accessible route from a ferry terminal to a public library. Which would help more: this Babylonian world map, or a current local route map with a relevant legend? Explain ONE feature the visitor would need and why.
Un visitante quiere una ruta accesible de una terminal de ferry a una biblioteca pública. ¿Qué ayuda más: este mapa babilónico o un mapa local actual con leyenda pertinente? Explica UN elemento necesario y por qué.
Q4. Design a choice, explain its consequences / Diseña una elección y explica sus consecuencias (4 points)
Imagine making a map of a PUBLIC park or library for a first-time visitor. In 3–5 sentences, identify the reader, choose TWO features to include and explain why each helps. Name ONE thing you would leave out, then connect your choices to one detail from the Babylonian map. No drawing, visit, address or photo is required.
Imagina un mapa de un parque o biblioteca PÚBLICOS para alguien que los visita por primera vez. En 3–5 oraciones identifica al lector, elige DOS elementos y explica por qué ayuda cada uno. Nombra UNA cosa que omitirías y relaciona tus decisiones con un detalle del mapa babilónico. No se requiere dibujo, visita, dirección ni foto.
Criteria /10: Q1 /2 (accurate details); Q2 /2 (evidence-based explanation); Q3 /2 (reasoned claim or choice); Q4 /4 (specific application, reasons and accurate source connection). Partial credit; teacher reviewed. English spelling/grammar is not a separate criterion.