Blogging in Other Schools

Lets see how a few teachers from around the world are using blogs.

Blogging at Loyalsock Township School District

People are blogging everyday at Loyalsock. What are they blogging about?

The End is Near

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." (Thomas Paine)

Your journey in 7th Grade is almost over. Think about this--this time next year, you will be a week away from graduating to the High School. Just two years ago, you were walking across the stage at the elementary school.

Next year, you will face many new challenges in the 8th Grade. How do you think Paine's quote above will relate to your journey next year and beyond? Mrs. Wright has been kind enough to offer us a Question and Answer Session with some of the current 8th Graders. If you have any questions about 8th Grade, please publish them in a comment.

Remember to work hard and be proud of what you accomplish. Also, check out some of the pictures from our field trip to the PA Grand Canyon. Mr. Ellis

Gates Foundation HQ Project

The students have been working hard on the Gates Foundation Project. Here are some pictures from 4th period of some diligent students. Click here to see their blog.

Miss Mullen's Last Day and Project Blog

Tomorrow will be Miss Mullen's last day. I think that she has done a good job. If there are any comments that you would like to share with her, post them here--I get an email before they get posted below.

Project Blog

Starting Thursday, we will begin a project that will take us to the end of the year. Part of the project will incorporate the use of a Project Blog. You can check it out here. I'm pretty excited about starting this. We will also be using a Wiki for the project. Has anyone heard of a wiki before. I'm sure you have all heard of Wikipedia. We will be building our own Wikpedia for this project. Click here to get a definition of a Wiki. Click here for our wiki website.

What Do You Need From School

Watch the below video and think about how it relates to you. When it talks about students, it is talking about you!! What do you think school needs to be like for you to be successful in the future? Please comment. You can do so anonymous or you can include your name.

Where Have I Been??

Well, it's certainly been a long time. So many things have happened since I last blogged. The Gators won ANOTHER national champions--which means Ohio State, sorry Jansen, lost another. My daughter Julianna is 1 month old today. Miss Mullen is now teaching the afternoon 7th Grade Social Studies classes. We can't forget Spring vacation and now we're in the middle of 1/2 days. Crazy!!!!

Have You Seen Mr. Fausnaught?

Have you seen Mr. Fausnaught lately. Now that he's been doing the "Walkthrough" obersvations, he certainly has a lot of free time. I was looking for him the other day and found him, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Conoway in his office. Look and see what I saw.

March Madness

Are you ready for March Madness? Special thanks to Dylan, JP, Janson, Shariq and Spencer for posting the tournament bracket. Everyone has different predictions for who will win. The person who gets furthest in the bracket will get a free lunch from Joe's Pizza.

• Jackson--University of Texas
• Evan--University of Kansas
• Janson--Ohio State University
• Garren--University of Louisville
• Doug--University of Memphis
• Austin--Duke University
• JP--University of North Carolina
• Shariq--University of Oregon
• Spencer--Boston College
• Dan--University of Texas
• Dylan--University of Kansas
• Mr. Ellis--University of Florida
• Mike Kinney--Georgtown University?????

Julianna Kathleen is Here!!!

Yesterday, my daughter was born at 1:31 A.M. Everything is going very well for her and my wife. My other to kids, Jaime and Jack, were so excited to see her. At least they were for the first 15 minutes.

The PSSA's are Here!!!!

Well, the PSSA's are finally here. All of our students are ready for the tests, and I know that they 're going to do a great job. During class today, I noticed that the anxiety level really varied among the students. Some student were not worried at all, while others said that they probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. And, others felt like they were ready to take them right then and there!!!

What to Do to Be Ready:
We spent most of day to day talking about what we needed to do to be ready to do the best jobe we could on the tests. We came up with two different lists: 1) what to do before the test 2) what to bring with you to the test.

Here is what you need to do before the test:

• Get a good night sleep. Remember what I told you about how my kids get when they don't get enough sleep. We don't want that to happen to you.
• Eat a good breakfast. Nobody wants to hear their stomach growling during the middle of the test.
• For breakfast, don't focus on high sugar cereals. I can't believe I'm saying this but don't just eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. Make sure to eat some fruit or toast.
• Make sure to get a drink and us the bathroom BEFORE the test begins.

Here is what to bring with you to the test:

• Bring a #2 pencil. Remember all of the mechanical pencils are #2. Make sure to bring extra lead.
• Bring an extra eraser. I know that you all know where to get extra eraser caps. The big cube erasers will work well.

Good luck tomorrow. I know that you will all do very well!!!

Ready, Aim, Fire Your Marshmallows!!

The day has arrived to launch the Popsicle catapults. We had launches of all different kinds. Some went backwards, some went straight up in the air, and some went a pretty good distance forward. The kids realized after their first launch that the ones with the lowest arc went the farthest. They quickly tried to make adjustments. Here are some pictures of the catapult launches.

Here are the winners from today's catapult contest. The overall winners were JP, Dylan and Doug. They launched their marshmallow over 37 feet. Here are the winners for each class.

Pretty Hectic Week

Hope everyone is ready for a pretty hectic week. We have a number of things coming up that we want to be prepared for. Let's go over them:

1. Open Book/Note Quiz on Wednesday--make sure to read over the material before Wednesday.
2. Feudal Society Test on Friday--we will get a study guide and have a review on Thursday. You have just about everything you need to start studying. Start reviewing now!!!!
3. Catapult Launch is on Friday--we will do this after the test.

Good luck with all of your studies.

Get Ready to Launch...Test Runs

Many of the students finished up their catapults today. After finishing they were able to give some test runs. I could only think of one thing. It's probably good that we were not Medieval engineers. I don't think many people would have trembled at our marshmallow catapults. Check out some of the pictures from today.

Building a Catapult

We've been discussing castle life the past couple of days. One of the ways to attack a castle was by trying to knock a castle wall down using a catapult or a trebuchet. Trebuchets were very powerful and were used quite effectively until the use of canon. Once built, the trebuchet would do it's job.

Here is a link to the PBS Nova website that goes along with the video "Medieval Siege" we watched. The video shows two trebuchets being built, today, with the purpose of knocking down a stone wall. The website is very interactive and shows different methods for attacking a castle.

Student Catapults:

After discussing the video, students are now going to make their own catapults out of Popsicle sticks and tape. We're going to see who can launch an M&M the farthest. Here are some pics. of students beginning the construction.

My Life in a Castle

Well the snow came, and it's still here. We're supposed to get some warmer weather this week. Maybe most of the snow will melt away.

Our homework page has been down for the past few days. Mr. Johnson is working feverishly to fix the problem and get the page back up for us to use.

Today's Class:

Today we had a good discussion on the use of castles in the Middle Ages. Castles were well protected with some using moats, stone walls, drawbridges, portcullises, etc. as protective barriers. If all else failed, people could use the Keep (main living quarters) as a place to barricade themselves in for protection. Check out this link to see how well protected castles were during the Middle Ages.

Homework:

1. Vocabulary--I passed out a new vocabulary sheet today for the Late Middle Ages. You want to have numbers 1-14 done by next week.


2. Chapter 20 Section 1 and 2 Quiz (Worksheet)--use pages 367-373 in your book.

Well How Much Snow Will We Get?

I'm predicting that this is what I will look like tomorrow. I love to see snow when it first falls, but then I like to see it go away!! I don't know about you but I'm ready for Spring, and some nice, warm, mild weather.

Today's Class:

Because of getting out of school early today, not everyone had social studies. Let me run down some of items we discussed:

1. Gaggle.Net--we will not be participating in the Gaggle contest. I don't mind the emails we send back and forth, but the senseless posting to the Message boards had to stop.
2. Early Middle Age Vocabulary Test--This will be on Friday, even if we miss school on Wednesday.
3. The Vikings Test--Not everyone was able to upload their test to Gaggle correctly.
4. Nettrekker--Rest of class was spent on Nettrekker reviewing websites for the Medieval Time Period.

See everyone when the snow is cleared away!!!!!

Above Picture used from Saukvalley.com

Could it Get a Little Colder!!!!

Can you believe how cold it is outside. This is what I saw when I looked outside this morning. Just a few weeks ago we were foolishly asking when winter would get here. I guess we have our answer.

Today's Class

Today we discussed why the Viking from Norway, Sweden and Denmark traveled throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. What drove them to want to leave their homeland and risk their lives on adventures.

Homework is the Chapter 20 Section 3 Assessment on page 308. Do questions 1-5.

Reminders

Open Book Quiz tomorrow--study chapter 20.

Test on the Vikings on Friday.

Journal responses on Gaggle.Net are due next Tuesday.

Picture taken from the BBC

Why?????????????????????????

Did you ever wonder why they have championship games. Someone always has to go home in second place. Although some may tell you that you played a good game, or you gave it a good effort, but it's still second place. That's where the Bears are now--in second place. Hey, the draft is just a couple months away...There's a couple decent quarterbacks out there.

Today's Class

Today the students reviewed their concept maps that they worked on last week. It was great to see all of the connections the students could make. Some were pretty abstract.

After their presentations, they worked on Chapter 20 Section 3 Outline (Vikings: Raiders and Adventurers). Most were able to finish this in class, but if they did not, they were to finish it for homework.

Reminders

A couple of reminders:

1. Homework--Finish Chapter 20 Section 3 Outline
2. Open Book Quiz--Wednesday (Chapter 20)
3. Vikings Test--Friday
4. Journals--There are now three journal posts on Gaggle.Net.

I'm Going a Viking.....

Welcome back. Today's class introduced the Vikings. We discussed several different topics:

• Areas the Vikings explored--from Russia to North America.
• Scandinavian Geography--advantages and disadvantages to living there.
• Viking Ships--how they were built.
• Growth of Trade Towns
• Viking houses and communities
• Viking government--Jarls!!!!

Homework is the Chapter 20 Section 1 Assessment on page 301. Do all the questions, even number 5!!

Reminders:

We are no longer using the journal. Use Gaggle.Net to access the Message Boards. Your journals will be posted on the Message Boards.

A New Marking Period!!!!

What a hectic week to come back from. Being out one day and the students being off on Thursday for our clerical day really put me back.

I can't believe that we're in the thrid marking period. Only 88 more student days. If your grades are not where you want them to be, buckle down for the next two marking periods. No one ever said that school was supposed to be easy. Don't be afraid to ask your teachers for help. That's why we are here.

Journals:

We will no longer be doing journals in the classroom. Instead, the journal topics will be posted on the classroom Message Boards on Gaggle.Net. For those of you who do not have your parent permission slips to use Gaggle.Net, GET THEM IN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

I will post a journal topic every Monday and Wednesday. It will be your responsibility to get them done before the due dates. I passed out in class today a list of the upcoming due dates--February 13th is the first one.

The Vikings:

We started our unit on the Vikings today. It goes with Chapter 20 in your textbook. The students worked on the Chapter 20 Section 1 (Viking Lands) outline today in class. If they did not finish, they were to do so for homework.

Homework/Announcements:

There is no homework today, unless you did not finish the outline in class. A friendly reminder that your PowerPoint Timeline is due on Friday. You can come in during BASE to work on it.

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it? The Bears are going to the Super Bowl. It's been over 20 years since the Bears won Super Bowl XX. I'm so excited that I even found a copy of the "Super Bowl Shuffle" recorded by the 1985 Bears team. This picture of Thomas Jones and Jason McKie from the US Presswire says it all!!!

Journal:

In the journal today, I asked the students to write about their favorite sports team. What is it about the team that makes you like them so much--the location, team history, parents like/dislike the team, the uniforms, etc? If you don't like sports, please write about what activities you do like to do after school. You can comment below if you like.

Test Review:

Tomorrow is the Irish and Anglo Saxon test. Today we reviewed the Study Guide, and played a game of Review Basketball. Remember that everything on the test will come right from the Study Guide. TAKE THE TIME TO STUDY!!!!!

Happy Friday!!!!

Ahhh....the weekend is upon us. I hope everyone has a good weekend and takes some time to relax. I can't believe that the end of the 1st semster is next Wednesday.

Journal:

Today we looked at an article from Time For Kids dealing with President Bush's new plan to end the the war in Iraq. Take a look at the article and think of these questions as you read: Why did we invade Iraq?; What have been the costs of the war?; What is President Bush's plan to end the war?; What issues prevent the ousting of Saddam Hussein from power from being a major turning point Iraqi history? You can comment below if you like.

Class Agenda:

Today, in class, students worked on a couple of different things.

1. Students needed to finish their PowerPoint Projects, log onto Gaggle.Net, and upload their project to their digital locker. After uploading the file, they were to send me an email.
2. Students were also allowed to respond to different questions posted on the Message Boards at Gaggle. Each class is responsible for two questions from the study guide.

Reminders:

Friendly reminder that The Irish and Anglo Saxon England Study Guide is due on Monday, and the test will be Tuesday.

Work Day

Wow! What happened on our quizzes yesterday? Students will be able to correct their quizzes and turn them in tomorrow. The answers must be on a separate piece of paper and include the page number from where you find the answer.

The Study Guide, handed out yesterday, is due on Monday. The test scheduled for Friday has been moved to Tuesday, January 23rd.

To review a little more for the test, students worked on the Chapter 19 Assessment on page 297 of their textbook. Define the vocaublary words at the top of the page and do the Understanding the Main Ideas, #s 1-8.

A friendly reminder to you that your PowerPoint project is due tomorrow. You will have some time to finish it up and upload it to your Digital Locker on Gaggle.Net. Also on Gaggle, I've placed two questions in each classes message board. Take a look at them and post your thoughts.

Open Book Quiz Today

Open Book/Note Quiz:

Today the students took their Chapter 19 Open Book/Note quiz. If you were absent today, make sure to see me ASAP to make up the quiz.

After taking the quiz, everyone was able to work on either their Celtic Ireland and Anglo Saxon England Study Guide or their PowerPoint projects. The Study Guide is due tomorrow. You can get the study guide here. Use the Early Middle Ages Notes: Celtic Ireland and Anglo Saxon England to complete it.

The PowerPoint projects are due on Friday. You must submit your PowerPoint by going to Gaggle.Net and storing it in your Digital Locker. Send me an email saying that you finished it, and it's in your locker.

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!!!!!!!!

There is no homework for tomorrow. The study guide is due on Monday, January 22nd. Your test on Celtic Ireland and the Anglo Saxons of England will be next Tuesday, January 23rd.

What is Gaggle.Net

Today's Journal:

Read the Time for Kids article about Wesley Autrey. Some are calling him a "real-life Superman." When you finish reading the article, post some comments below answering some of these questions: What did he do?; Do you think he acted heroically?; How would you have acted in the same situation?; How was he rewarded?

Gaggle.Net:

Today the students, who had their "Online Safety Pledge" signed, were able to get onto Gaggle.Net and explore. Gaggle.Net will allow us to extend our classroom activities out of the classroom. Students will be able to email each other, post messages on a message board, and chat. All of which is closely monitored by Gaggle.Net. Students will be able to access a "Digital Locker" which will allow them to save projects, papers, etc. and open them at home.

It should really open up our classroom. Take a few minutes and take a tour at Gaggle.Net to see what it is all about.

Students finished the class by continuing to work on the PowerPoint Projects (Vocabulary and King Alfred Interview).


Things to Remember/Homework:

On Tuesday, we will take an Open Book/Note Quiz on Chapter 19. Although it is open book, I think it is extremely important for them to review and prepare for it.

Friday will be a test on Chapter 19 (Irish and the Anglo Saxons).

Interview with King Alfred

Today the students worked on finishing their Vocabulary PowerPoints and started their King Alfred Interview.

• Over the weekend use your notes to develop 5 questions and responses for your King Alfred interview.
• On Tuesday, you can from your interview in PowerPoint.

Reminder:

Students need to make sure to turn in their online safety pledge. We will start using Gaggle next week.

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome everyone to the What's Happening in 7th Grade Social Studies blog. This page will allow you to see the day's activities. This will allow you to stay current with the class, even when you are absent.

January 11, 2007

Today we reviewed the conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in England. Click here to get the notesheet.

• Legend of Pope Gregory I decision to convert all Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.
• Pope Gregory's decision to send 40+ monks, led by Augustine, to begin the process.
• Why Augustine decided to start in the Kingdom of Kent.

Students had some time to finish the Vocabulary PowerPoint and/or begin the Interview with King Alfred project.

Note: Third period did not meet today due to 4 Site Testing.