Lesson One – Groundhog Day

Well it’s official…Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and according to folklore we are in for 6 more long weeks of winter. Yay! Earlier this week Phil, the groundhog, saw his shadow and by some weird turn of fate this fat groundhog in Pennsylvania has determined that we are not quite done with winter. So, bundle up and get ready.

Lesson Two – Tie Tuesday Goes Worldwide

Mr. Lamshed has done it…he has officially taken our little personal Tie Tuesday holiday worldwide. Mr. Lamshed, our friend in Australia, has made it a goal this school year to incorporate Tie Tuesday into his weekly activities with his year 6/7 boys. I am so excited that the has decided to join us in this weekly holiday, but there is a small problem…as you can see from the pictures above, they are beating us at our own game.

As our school year continues to drag along, we have slowly gotten out of the habit of participating in Tie Tuesday. So I’m going to take this opportunity to challenge MY students to step their game up and become more involved in Tie Tuesday. So with that said, we need to take care of business and not let the Aussies beat us at our own game.

Lesson Three – Speak Up

Recently my students learned the various levels of government representation from the city level all the way up to the Senate. We discussed how these levels are there to basically represent us at the different levels, and a part of representing the people means that you need to listen to the people…and we need to speak up. My students practiced their right to speak up by writing a letter to a representative at either the city, state, or national level. These letters were written so that my students could voice their opinions about things they would like to see changed. The letter below is from one of my students writing to the Mayor of Fayetteville.

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Lionel Jordan
Mayor, Fayetteville, Arkansas
1600 West Arrowhead Street
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701

Dear Lionel Jordan,

Hello, my name is Andrew , and I am a 14 year old citizen of Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was born in Fayetteville, and I have lived here all my life. I could never imagine living anywhere besides Fayetteville. However, Fayetteville may be a great city, that doesn’t make it a perfect city by any means. And there is one thing about our city that drives me crazy more than anything.

There is absolutely nothing to do in Fayetteville. I am a sports fan, and there are Razorback games to go to every now and then, but that’s only IF you have tickets, and only IF its the proper season and what not. The Razorback games don’t supply enough things to do for everyone in the city too. There really isn’t anything else to do in the city though. Fayetteville can get boring extremely easily. There should be more things to do in this city, because if that were to happen, then there is no telling how great Fayetteville would be! If we were to get something along the lines of an Amusement Park, or a Water Park, this city would be the best! And not even like a top of the line Six Flags, but just something fun and something else to do would make the city amazing!

Fayetteville is one of the most amazing places I have ever been to and could ever dream of. But there needs to be more to do. This town can get old and become boring extrememly quick. I would greatly enjoy it if our city were to change in a positive way of things to do in this town.

Andrew

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Mr. McClung