New England Drama at its Finest!

Which video do you feel best captures the drama and the angst of the colonial settlers in New England?  As you watch the videos, please forgive the horrific camera work!  Vote for the video that you feel is best acted...but please make sure you are taking into consideration historical accuracy and factual information given!
When you vote, the top video is video #1, the second one is video #2, etc.  Make sure you vote for the correct one!

Also, please excuse the extreme mess in the classroom....DC, Holiday Bazaar...projects....  Enjoy!

Victory Is Sweet, Literally!

Wow!  What a great breakfast we had, thanks to Mrs. Utz's CREW class.  This was our reward for bringing in the most plastic recyclables. 

Check out all of the great pictures.  After students tasted the delectable goodies, many students uttered, "This tastes good, donut!"
Get it?  Donut = doesn't it...
Yes, a bad joke...I tried this bad joke out on a few students, and there weren't many smiles, just frowns....

Great times...waiting to eat...

Next week we will move full steam ahead in getting ready for our holiday bazaar!  We will also have our Positive Awards Assembly on Tuesday!

Have a great Thanksgiving.....

Speaking With Accents!

Here's a cool website where you can learn to speak English with a foreign accent!  TM from my 7th grade class passed along this website.  This is a great place to go for 7th graders to work on your immigration accents!  It's amazing how many different ways one word can be pronounced in the English language!

CLICK HERE to start exploring English accents!

Check out the youtube video below to listen to an English speaker say the same thing over and over in different English accents.  You will hear different types of British accents, Irish accents, Australian accents, New York accents, and accents from the American South.  TM passed along this website to me also.

Remember 6th graders that we will be dramatizing some New England colony happenings right after Thanksgiving.  See if you can pick up a good accent!

Venturer Explorer Treasure Chests

The Venturer Treasure Chests were fantastic!  I tried to get as many shots as I could while I was walking around the cafeteria.  In the pictures below, you can see student work samples as well as students evaluating treasure chests.  I am impressed with all of your hard work! 

Busy evaluating a treasure chest for authenticity

So deep in thought the eyes are affected

Cool Portrait

Hard at work! 

What is in that bottle?

See the birch bark on the right?  A French explorer must have been responsible!

Who could this be?  Ferdinand Coronado perhaps?

Made in Spain!  Authentic!

More evaluating taking place!

A Successful Treasure Chest....of English origin!

Observing

Ponce de Leon's signature...it really looked like this!

Good Times!

Portugal!

Another great chest!

Cabot?  Hudson?

Authentic Chest!

An actual life-sized flag!  Authentic!

An authentic portrait of an explorer's wife!  Very creative!

Working on our DC Itineraries!

Students were hard at work today putting finishing touches on DC itineraries.  We are all looking forward to the trip!  We will be sending more information home soon about our November 30th evening meeting....

What a Great End of the Day

Today was one of those days...nothing really bad...just a million things going on.  Do you ever have one of those days when you think you've been stretched so thin that you can't do anything well because you don't have time to focus on any one particular thing?  

After school today, I was picking up the remnants of my 7th grade lesson.  In class we discussed our upcoming immigration unit, and we began to assemble our file folders and get our immigrant identities when the clock seemingly starting ticking even faster, and I had to rush to get everyone to get their identities and folders together before the bell rang.  As I was picking up glue sticks and folders, I happened to walk back to the in-bin, and I noticed the four scrapbook pages that were turned in early today.  I was "wowed" with the quality of the pages.  I grabbed my camera and put them on desks, and I took some snapshots.  

If someone had walked by the classroom and observed me taking close-up photos of desks they would have thought it a bit strange I guess, but I was eager to put these examples of work on the blog.  Of course, the photo work is a bit blurry, but you get to see the general idea of what these four students had in mind for their scrapbook invention page.


I am so incredibly lucky to teach students who put care and effort in their work.  After having such a hectic day, it was so wonderful to look at them.   I try hard not to take you all for granted, and today reminded me just how fortunate I am to teach all of you.  I eagerly await the other pages.  We will put them in a scrapbook for all to see.  I showed Mrs. Cook after school, and she was helping me with ideas of how to bind them.  As your ex-English teacher, I must say that she was really impressed.

I just know that our immigration reenactment will be a smashing success.  I will film parts of it and put it on the blog..we will have fun!


More information will be coming in the next week concerning just how this reenactment will work...   

You got your identities today.  Begin looking at home for a cool costume to wear.  Do not go out and buy things.  I am sure you can find some really interesting things to wear at home to make your character seem real!

We Are About to Begin an Important Journey

Tomorrow we will begin our community service project for the year.  It is called Relay for Life.  I am hoping that our work will somehow change your life and you will see first hand how one person can truly make a difference.  You will have the opportunity to join our team, but it is not a requirement. 

Relay for Life is through the American Cancer Society, and it provides us with a unique way to contribute in the fight against this deadly disease.

Information will be shared as we progress through the next months through CREW and ASE.  Our first activity is a quick CREW lesson tomorrow, followed by a guest speaker on Monday during ASE.  

Mrs. Cook and I are very excited about this ongoing project that we are about to undertake.  We are looking forward to sharing our experiences as a team, and we are confident that we all will indeed make that difference.

Stay posted for further details!  This will be an incredible journey!

Watch this youtube video to get an idea of what a Relay for Life event is all about....

Relay for Life!

It's hard to believe, but we are now in the second nine weeks of school.  I have been pleased with the progress that you are all making.  Already, in just nine weeks, I have seen tremendous growth and maturity. 

Our community service project for the year is to raise money in the search for a cure for cancer.  You will have the option of joining a Relay for Life team.  The actual event will be held at James River High School in May.  We will be doing many things in leading up to this event, and our hope is that this worthwhile project will in some way change you, and make you think about our motto, "One person does make a difference".  We will begin our work this month.  We will use CREW and ASE times...more information to follow.

Deadly Diseases Strike the Aztec Empire

Two students in Mr. McEwen's first-odd class have taken on new identities.  Do you recognize them?  We performed skits outlining some interesting happenings in New Spain.  An unfortunate incident was the transmitting of European diseases to the natives.  One student looks slightly ill, even though she's smiling.