"Did You Know" Commercials in 7th & 8th Grade Social Studies

“Geico” Commercials

7th & 8th Grade Social Studies

Did You Know?

"Starting in 2013, a series of commercials was broadcast in which one person reads a GEICO "15 percent" ad and a second person says "Everybody knows that," to which the first person says, "Well, did you know..." followed by an amusing (and fictional) "fact" which is then illustrated in a cutaway scene. This is followed by the announcer saying, "GEICO: 15 minutes could save you--Well, you know." 

Wikipedia contributors. "GEICO advertising campaigns." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Click here to see an example:

http://www.marketmenot.com/geico-auctioneer-grocery-store-clerk-commerc…

You get to create your own "Did You Know" commercial!!

You will need:

1. A partner (your teacher may assign you one)

2. Your assigned fact

3. Your textbook

4. Research tools

5. Word Processor to type your findings

6. A video camera

Your teacher will give you one of the following main ideas as your "everyone knows that" fact:

1. The world's first democratic constitution was written in Athens, Greece.
2. Alexander the Great conquered all of Greece and spread Greek culture everywhere he invaded.
3. Rome grew from a republic on the Italian Peninsula to an empire that included western Europe, northern Africa, and southwest Asia.
4. Christianity, in the form of the Roman Catholic Church, spread throughout the Roman world during the Middle Ages.
5. The Roman Empire was invaded by barbarian Germanic tribes.
6. The Roman Catholic Church became a political power in western Europe during the Middle Ages.
7. The first Christian Bible was completed by A.D. 500.
8. Charlemagne was crowned head of the Roman Empire and proclaimed Protector of the Christian Church in the West.
9. Feudalism, the midieval political and social system, was an exchange of land from the king to nobles who provided military service.
10. Important cultural achievements in the arts and learning spread throughout Europe in the period known as the Renaissance.
11. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.
12. Countries formed into nations based on a common language and culture.
13. The Protestant faith emerged in protest to the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
14. Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 in search of another way from Spain to Asia .
15. In the Americas, the colonies won freedom from the European countries that ruled them. In Europe, people fought for freedom from their kings, queens, and nobles during the Age of Revolution.

1. Find the information about your "everybody knows that" fact in your textbook. Read it, understand it, define any words you don't know. Do more research if necessary to understand your fact fully. (Example "everybody knows that" fact:  The first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to the Greeks.)

2. Research, using books and/or the Internet to find something "deeper" about your fact... something everybody DOESN'T know. (use something besides Wikipedia) (Example "deeper" fact:  The Greeks were not the first to introduce athletic training and competition in the history of the modern world. The Sumerians, Babylonians and Egyptians were known to have training and competition in a number of events including wrestling and boxing and possibly running as early as the third millennium B.C. or approximately 2000 years before the beginning of the ancient Olympic games.)  

3. Use the site http://easybib.com/ to cite the source you used to find your "deeper" fact. (Example of citation:  Romano, David Gilman. "The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games | The FAQs." The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games | The FAQs. Penn Museaum, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicfaqs.shtml&gt;.)

4. Watch the commercial example from the Introduction page and plan your own commercial using your facts. Rehearse your commercial until you feel you are ready to video it. Find your teacher when you are ready for lights, camera, ACTION!

Your paper should follow this format:

Johnny Rocket and Susie Squirrel

Mr. Clint Brannon

7th Grade Social Studies

18 February 2014

"Did You Know" Commercial

            While researching the early history of Europe, I found some interesting information. It seems that

everyone knows that type your everybody knows that fact. Something I found out that I didn’t know was that type

the deeper fact you found here. The goal of this research is to better understand type your everbody knows that

fact.

Works Cited

Boehm, Richard G. "Europe - Early History." Glencoe The World and Its People: Eastern Hemisphere. New            

      York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw Hill, 2005. 126-43. Print.

Romano, David Gilman. "The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games | The FAQs." The Real Story of the Ancient

      Olympic Games | The FAQs. Penn Museaum, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014

      <http://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicfaqs.shtml&gt;.

7th Grade

5. Identify physical, economic, political, and cultural characteristics of selected regions in the Eastern Hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

 Examples:

physical—principal features, natural resources, weather phenomena;

economic—agriculture, industry, imports and exports;

political—distribution and movement of human populations;

cultural—architecture, foods, clothes, languages,  religions

8th Grade

4. Identify cultural contributions of Classical Greece, including politics, intellectual life, arts, literature, architecture, and science.

Objective 8.4.1: Identify cultural contributions of Classical Greece that have influenced modern life.