This month we celebrate Black History Month. Black History is so much more than black athletes and entertainers. While they played a huge role in African American History, it does a dishonor to only feature the likes of Oprah or Michael Jordan.
Take some time this month (and every other month for that matter) to reflect on the impact that other historical figures had as well. We will continue to discuss African American history in our class throughout the year.
We should also remember that many “unknown” people had an impact on the Civil Rights movement. Those people are still alive and living in our communities.
I can recall several adults from my community that had an impact on making me who I am today. They were from diverse backgrounds. They were heroes to me and should also be celebrated.
This article may be interesting to you, especially if your family eats out frequently. This Thursday, if you eat at certain Port Washington restaurants a portion of the bill will go to the PWEF. The PWEF does so much to help our schools.
I have to admit, I didn’t think the Giants would win the game.
I also have to admit, I didn’t watch much of the game. I’m just glad we only a little more than a week away from Spring Training. In fact, opening day is less than 2 months away!
1. Favorite Moment of the Game
2. Favorite Commercial
3. Least Favorite Commercial
4. Thoughts on the Halftime Show
5. Did you watch The Voice afterward?
I didn’t see too many commercials. Of the ones that I did see, I’d say this one was my favorite.
The Halftime show was pretty good in my view. I just wish they would actually let the performers sing and not have to lip sync.
It’s Superbowl Weekend. I’m sure some of you will be coming in to school bleary eyed after watching the game and all of the commercials. Don’t forget to check out the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. It is always a fun show (at least for a few minutes).
We even watched a few minutes of the Puppy Bowl and Kitty Halftime Show during Laughs and Lunch.
Speaking of the Superbowl, I’m going with the Patriots on Sunday. It might not be a popular decision but I think they are the better team at this point.
We finished watching Batman. We’re now going to spend a few weeks watching Looney Tunes cartoons. Our next session is Friday during Lunch.
Politicians need to watch what they say at all times. Even when they have the best of intentions, a sound bite can come back to haunt them. Mitt Romney experienced this earlier in the week when he said that he didn’t care about poor people because they have a safety net in place to help them. Of course, the media outlets just focused on the first portion of that statement.
Check out this political cartoon about Mitt Romney and his need for a safety net.
It was nice to see an article recently on the Port Washington Patch about Schreiber students participating in a technology competition. Four of those six students are former Green House students. Congratulations (and good luck) to Greg, Matt, Paul and Peter.
Click here to read the article.
My worst nightmare!
It is Ground Hog Day today. But really, even if the groundhog sees his shadow does it matter? I don’t necessarily have a problem with 6 more weeks of winter if it is going to be the winter we’ve had thus far.
Sadly, Punxsutawney Phil is no longer the most famous resident of that otherwise quiet area. Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco is also from Punxsutawney. He’s set to have a bigger year than Phil.
Good luck on your Earth Science test today and tomorrow. While it would be wonderful if you make the class, remember that it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t. Students should be in classes that they are capable of handling. If it becomes clear that the class will be too challenging that is okay. I didn’t take Earth Science until high school and I’m perfectly fine. Taking Earth Science in Middle School is not your ticket to an ivy league school.
For those of you still following the Republican primaries, Mitt Romney had a pretty big win in Florida earlier this week. It seems like he’s going to be the candidate for the Republicans. While all the Republicans don’t necessarily like Romney because of his more moderate stance, I believe having someone closer to the center politically makes a candidate more electable. That is especially true if the opponent (Obama) is considered to be very far left. If Romney can gobble up some undecided voters or Democrats that aren’t extremely fond of the President, that could be the difference in November. I guess time will tell what will happen. It is still early in my book.
Speaking of books, make sure you have your outside reading books for the rest of the week. You may not need all of the time for your Earth Science exam.
The other day in Hofstra the topic of soldiers returning home came up and we discussed the youtube clips of soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan to surprise family members. Check out one of those clips below. As Chris would say (and I said in class), if you don’t get emotional from watching these clips, you have no soul!
These men and women risk their lives for us. We need to be very thankful for the sacrifices they (and their families) make.
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”–Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis
We will be talking about the Crisis in class today. That line in the Crisis is very powerful and very true. The more we work at something the more special the accomplishment feels. It was very important for Washington to convince his soldiers of that. He used Paine’s words to inspire them.
Alphabet Game
The Alphabet Game that we played in Core Extension during the 2nd quarter has become pretty popular. In fact, even Mrs. Convey used it a couple times in her Core Extension.
Click here for another set of initials. Let’s see how many famous people we can come up with that have these initials.
Go!
Remember, there is Extra Help tomorrow and Wednesday. The test is Wednesday.
I’m looking forward to seeing your political cartoons.
Although you should have your outside reading book with you every day, you will definitely need it with you on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.
Remember, the reading that you do could be used to get a small amount of extra credit.
A special opportunity to earn extra credit: Read a book (or two, or three, or four, or five).
After reading your book, go to socialstudieswithasmile.com/blog. Click on the category link Outside Reading Extra Credit.
Answer the questions on the post by leaving a reply.
The questions that need to be answered:
1.Name of the book. Who is the author?
2.What is the book about? Provide a brief summary.
3.Fiction: Who is your favorite character? What did you appreciate about him/her?
4.Non-Fiction: Describe a moment/event in the book that most people are probably not aware of.
5.Would you recommend this book to other readers? If so, who would you recommend it to? If not, why would you not recommend it?
Each book is worth 1 extra credit point. The maximum number of books that can be read in a quarter is 5.
We are now one week away from the American Revolution test. In addition to everything that we do in class, I’m extending the extra help that is provided before school.
Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to have a review session focused on DBQ Essay writing. We will discuss some of the things you need to do in your essay and look at two model essays.
There will also be an extra help session on Friday. That session is by invitation only. However, I won’t be turning anyone away.
Next week I will have extra help on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I hope to see you as often as you feel is necessary.
I will be giving you access to the practice test shortly. There will also be a practice test that you can take from class.
We will also be reviewing in class on Monday and Tuesday.
Don’t forget that your political cartoon assignment is due on Monday. That assignment is worth 25 points for the 3rd quarter. Use that grade to start out the 3rd quarter on the right foot.
I finished reading another book this weekend. The book was Making Inclusion Work: Effective Practices for ALL Teachers. This was definitely a teacher book and not something a student would want to read. In fact, it read like a textbook more than anything else. There were a few ideas/thoughts that were helpful. Overall I was disappointed. I was looking for a book that would give me examples of lessons or assignments that I could use in my classroom.
Giants
I’m not a Giants fan but I’m glad that they are going to the Superbowl. Any time a New York team is in a big game there seems to be a little extra juice for it.
Anthony A. from Hofstra has his work cut out for him to get the Giants to win on February 5. We set the bar pretty high this week for a Giant victory. Anthony needs to correctly answer 37 questions in class before Superbowl Sunday. He’s already down to 35 (with 9 more class sessions).
Fittingly, last week he did not meet his goal until he came in early on Friday morning to answer 4 additional questions. It was a form of overtime you could say. Oddly enough, the Giants won in, you guessed it, overtime.
Anthony and I might be on to something here.
The Reds signed Willie Harris to a minor league deal. Mets fans, what can you tell me about Willie Harris? Is he good? Will he make the team? What kind of player is he?
I don’t see him making the team but it is early.
Since it is Superbowl time I’ve decided to dust off the old Socialstudieswithasmile.com Superbowl Commercial. Check it out.
