Lesson One – Support a Local Author
I received a pleasant surprise this week when two sacks full of books showed up at my house. These books were from local author and friend Jenny Jones. Jenny is a Christian author of the young adult series Katie Parker Production and The Charmed Life. These books were very much welcomed and have been a major contribution to our classroom library.
Lesson Two -Welcome to Death Valley
Oy vey…do I have to talk about it? This last weekend I took a LONG road trip and traveled down to Baton Rouge, LA. The reason was to see my Arkansas Razorbacks take on the LSU Tigers…and sad to say the Razorbacks came out on the short end of this fight. While it was a great game and I really enjoyed my time down there it was still a “dagger in the heart” overtime lost. So what is the lesson? There’s a reason they call it Death Valley.
Lesson Three – Always Check Your Tire Pressure
There’s nothing like being stranded in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking with a blow out (tire) while it’s 20 degrees outside….and I have to be at work in 20 minutes. Luckily my wife was just a few miles behind me in her car and was able to pick me up for work….needless to say, I will be checking my tire pressure before I leave the house next time.
Mr. McClung
Today is our monthly club day, which means that I will be meeting with my photo club students. Last time we met each student was given a list of topics to photograph before we met again. Today we are going to use a couple of websites to edit those photos taken. The first of those being BeFunky.com, this is a website that that is very simple to use and allows you to upload photos and add different effects to your pictures. For instructions on how to sign up for BeFunk watch the short video above.
In addition, I have included a couple of websites for you to take a look at as well. Photo Shop and Phoenix are two more websites that allow you to edit you photographs, please feel free to browse these websites.
Mr. McClung
Students, today we will add three new dates to our already existing timelines using TimeToast. The following dates are important to our next time period we will be studying, the Industrial Revolution…..HINT, use page 193 of your text.
Invention of the First Steam Engine
Invention of the Steam Boat
Invention of the Sewing Machine
Mr. McClung
Ahhhh….yes, a blog check! Having not posted a blog check since my Blogger days, it’s an understatement to say I’m quite over due.
Jenny B. Jones is an author and teacher located in our backyard here in Northwest Arkansas….Bentonville to be exact. In addition to being the author of a Christian book series for teens, she is also a avid blogger that shares her entertaining views on life and her random observations. She has also been a longtime friend of our classroom as well. Jenny has supplied my classroom with a complete set of all her books. These books have been a great addition to our classroom library and many of my students have thoroughly enjoyed reading her work.
You can check out her books by clicking here. Or click here to check out her blog…..I highly recommend you do so.
Mr. McClung
Students, for the past couple of days we have been reviewing European exploration, more specifically the Columbian Exchange. You have three new dates that you need to add to your TimeToast timelines regarding the Columbian Exchange.
The Beginning of the Potato Famine
The Beginning of De Soto’s Expedition
Columbus Discovers a New World
Don’t forget to finish your SET TWO DATES as well!
Mr. McClung
Students, today we will be taking a closer look at the Columbian Exchange maps and you will actually create your own map today using Google Maps. Today we will follow three steps:
1. You will need to create a map using Google Maps, watch the video for instructions:
2. Pick 10 crops from the article you were given today.
3. You will need to map each of your ten points on your Google Map, watch video for instructions:
4. Then invite me as a collaborator, follow the directions below:
Mr. McClung
The Airborne Toxic Event is an American rock band from Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California comprising Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Noah Harmon (bass), Daren Taylor (drums) and Anna Bulbrook (viola, keyboards, tambourine, backing vocals). Named after a section of the book White Noise, by Don DeLillo, the group incorporates string instruments and keyboards, along with a standard rock lineup of guitar, drums, and bass guitar.
Mr. McClung
Lezione Uno: Give Thanks
Ahhhhh….yes, it’s that time of year once again. The trees have lost their leafs, the weather is cooling off, and football season is coming to it’s climax…..it’s time for the great American Holiday of Thanksgiving. Friday will be our last day before we break for Thanksgiving, and we will return to school on the 30th of November. So to all of our friends in the US, have a fantastic Thanksgiving and we will be back after the break.
Lezione Due: I Know One Guy Whose NOT Going to See New Moon
Millions of teenagers everywhere will be flooding the theaters everywhere in the next 48 hours to see the latest movie in the Twilight saga titled “New Moon”. In fact, many of my students will be absent on Friday due a mysterious illness which they will contract after the midnight release of the movie on Thursday night. I don’t get it….maybe it’s because I’m a 24 year old male, but I just don’t get it.
Lezione Tre: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2….Oh Yeah
While I will not be wasting my time at the box office this week, I can promise you that I will be wasting my time “pwning noobs” while playing my newly purchased Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I can’t express how excited I am about this game…..but, I do have a little bit of anxiety about playing this game. The reason being that many of my students have been requesting my GamerTag to play XBox Online and I’m pretty sure they would dominate me in this game. I have come to the realization that my hay-day of gaming is far gone, but I’m still gonna brave the waters and I will accept the challenge from my students in the upcoming week while we are on holidays. Wish me luck.
Mr. McClung
Students, you listen to my lessons learned each week but today it’s your turn to tell me your lessons learned so far this school year. Your assignment for today is to create a blog post using our social network reflecting back on your school year to this point. In your post make sure that you use at least THREE LESSONS LEARNED. In addition, I have posted 8 tips that I would like for you to use in your blog post:
1. Make your opinion known
People like blogs, they like blogs because they are written by people and not corporations. People want to know what people think, crazy as it sounds they want to know what you think. Tell them exactly what you think using the least amount of words possible.
2. Link like crazy.
Support your post with links to other web pages that are contextual to your post….watch the video:
3. Write Less
Give the maximum amount of information with the least amount of words. Time is finite and people are infinitely busy. Blast your knowledge into the reader at the speed of sound.
4. 250 is enough
A long post is easier to forget and harder to get into. A short post is the opposite.
5. Make Headlines snappy
Contain your whole argument in your headline. Check out National newspapers to see how they do it.
6. Make your posts easy to scan
Every few paragraphs insert a sub heading. Make sentences and headlines short and to the point.
7. Be consistent with your style
People like to know what to expect, once you have settled on a style for your audience stick to it.
8. Edit your post
Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.
Mr. McClung
Political cartoons play an important part in telling the history of a given period of time. On Friday, our students will learn to analyze cartoons by identifying the symbols, characters and information and its significance in history. Political cartoons have played an important role in politics since the invention of the printing press and are still used quite a bit in current times. In order to analyze the meaning and purpose of political cartoons we will be looking at three websites:
Truman Library & Museum Cartoons
Slate Magazine – Editorial and Political Cartoons
PoliticalCartoons.Com
Today’s Best Cartoons
Students, after you have browsed through the galleries and you have a good understanding of how these cartoons are executed, you will then create your own cartoon. Political cartoons deal with issues in society, 1) I would like for you to think of an issue in either your school, town, state, or nation. 2) Create a cartoon using ToonDoo.com. 3) Remember that your cartoon should be RELEVANT to your issue. For directions on how to create an account for ToonDoo click here.
Mr. McClung
