Welcome to Mr. Nelson's classroom!
It's going to be an exciting year of History in 6th Grade. We'll cover Early Man and the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Hebrews, Greece and Rome. My biggest aim is that students will develop their knowledge of Geography, become great citizens of an ever-shrinking world, and develop an interest and appreciation for the human experience and all countries/cultures of the world. Furthermore, we will make strong connections from those civilizations to our very own society and culture today.
about me...
Hi, I'm Mr. Nelson. Welcome to Thurston Middle School! I've been teaching 6th grade Social Studies at Thurston for 19 years now and loving every minute of it!!!!!
I'm VERY thankful for the great support and resources that LBUSD, PTA, and School Power have put into my class :) We're able to do some pretty amazing things with all the technology we have access to!!!!
I hope that you'll find that I'm passionate about history, I love working with kids, and I embrace the most progressive and interactive educational strategies and technology to make our history curriculum come alive. In fact, I'm so proud to have passed the National Board for Teaching again this year! It's an amazing honor, huge accomplishment, and I'm ecstatic that all that hard work paid off!
I grew up in Mission Viejo, attended Capo Valley High School and went to school in Norway for a year and then to George Mason University where I was a part of their Final Four men's volleyball team. Go Patriots! I foreign languages and love any chance to travel and mix it up with the cultures of the world :)
I've been married to my wife, Erin for 16 years and have a step-daughter Madison who is now 28. Their patience has allowed me countless extra hours at school pursuing extra certifications and pouring my heart and soul into advanced lesson plans. In a word, they ROCK!!!!!!
And speaking of rock...I still play in a really fun yacht rock band. You never know when you might find me rockin' out on the keytar!!!!!
I'm VERY thankful for the great support and resources that LBUSD, PTA, and School Power have put into my class :) We're able to do some pretty amazing things with all the technology we have access to!!!!
I hope that you'll find that I'm passionate about history, I love working with kids, and I embrace the most progressive and interactive educational strategies and technology to make our history curriculum come alive. In fact, I'm so proud to have passed the National Board for Teaching again this year! It's an amazing honor, huge accomplishment, and I'm ecstatic that all that hard work paid off!
I grew up in Mission Viejo, attended Capo Valley High School and went to school in Norway for a year and then to George Mason University where I was a part of their Final Four men's volleyball team. Go Patriots! I foreign languages and love any chance to travel and mix it up with the cultures of the world :)
I've been married to my wife, Erin for 16 years and have a step-daughter Madison who is now 28. Their patience has allowed me countless extra hours at school pursuing extra certifications and pouring my heart and soul into advanced lesson plans. In a word, they ROCK!!!!!!
And speaking of rock...I still play in a really fun yacht rock band. You never know when you might find me rockin' out on the keytar!!!!!
expectations
You'll find my class to be engaging and dynamic as possible using a lot of technology and rich on collaboration and creativity!!!!
We'll do a modest amount of daily homework to ensure that students are thinking/working outside the classroom maximizing their understanding of key concepts. Homework will typically be NO MORE than 20 minutes per night. After all, we are trying to prepare our students for high school/college! And late work is ALWAYS accepted, I'm very understanding of schedule demands, just get it turned in.
Like all of Thurston, I use the SMART program for classroom behavior and academic standards:
Solve your Problems
Make Great Decisions
Achieve
Respect
There and Ready
This is a great year to EMPOWER your student!!!!! Help them to be a bit more independent and I will provide great assistance by uploading helpful files, links, and content to this website and Canvas :)
We'll do a modest amount of daily homework to ensure that students are thinking/working outside the classroom maximizing their understanding of key concepts. Homework will typically be NO MORE than 20 minutes per night. After all, we are trying to prepare our students for high school/college! And late work is ALWAYS accepted, I'm very understanding of schedule demands, just get it turned in.
Like all of Thurston, I use the SMART program for classroom behavior and academic standards:
Solve your Problems
Make Great Decisions
Achieve
Respect
There and Ready
This is a great year to EMPOWER your student!!!!! Help them to be a bit more independent and I will provide great assistance by uploading helpful files, links, and content to this website and Canvas :)