socialstudieswithasmile.com Blog

Supreme Court Case

Schools Can Search Student Cars Based On Reasonable Grounds
This case hasn’t made it to the United States Supreme Court yet, although I fully expect that to happen eventually.
As we discussed in class yesterday, a lot of your rights as students are left at the door when you enter school.

Extra Help Rescheduled
The extra help originally scheduled for today has been rescheduled. It doesn’t make much sense to have an extra help session today and not a day or two before our test.

Did You Know?
You would have to count to one thousand to use the letter “A” in the English language to spell a whole number.

This Day In History
1848-The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican War and adding another piece to the United States quest for land “from sea to shining sea.”
1864-Ulysses S. Grant becomes Commander of the Union Armies during the Civil War
1876-The first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” What would we do without telephones today? Some people can’t even go 5 minutes without looking at their phones and calling someone, texting, etc.
Today’s Birthdays include Carrie Underwood and Chuck Norris (I can almost hear some of the students beginning their Chuck Norris vs. Jack Bauer debate).
It also would have been the birthday of Lilian Wald, head of the Henry St. settlement house, created to help immigrants and the poor with health care and English and other things. You’ll learn about her next year. It also would be the birthday of James Earl Ray, the guy who killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ironically enough, it is also the day that he pleaded guilty to that murder. Given the crime, it seems to be a fitting birthday present.

Midweek already!

Kids Do The Darnedest Things (And It Is Not About My Son)

During all the excitement surrounding the arrival of DJ, a crazy story was emerging about the Air Traffic Controller letting his son/daughter in the tower to call out important information to airplanes.
Shocking, Stupid, Amazing…I would never have expected something like this to happen. Hopefully, they will make some rules to end this.
I think the political cartoon from Newsday a few days ago says it all.

Did You Know?
If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die because they need gravity to swallow.

Good luck on the Earth Science Test today. Personally, Earth Science was my least favorite class in high school.

This Day In History
1862-The two most famous iron-clad ships, The Merrimack and the Monitor clash during the Civil War and battle to a draw
Today’s Birthdays include Emmanuel Lewis (TV’s Webster) and Charlie Gibson of ABC News.

Back to School

I’ll be back in school today and I’m looking forward to it even though I’d prefer to stay home with DJ and Mrs. Dowling (and that is not an insult to the students…I miss you guys too).

This Day In History
1917-The Senate votes to limit filibusters by using the cloture rule. A filibuster is when Senators give really really long speeches to delay voting because they know that if a vote happened, they would lose. A cloture is a vote by the Senate that ends the filibuster. It isn’t easy to end a filibuster because 60 votes are needed. This was an issue in the Senate until a Republican was elected to be Senator from Massachusetts to replace Senator Kennedy.
Today is the birthday of 24 actor Freddie Prinze Jr.

Did You Know
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were the two left-handed Beatles. I’m also left handed! Hopefully DJ will be too, then he can be a pitcher for the Reds one day.

Enjoy the day of school and this wonderful weather we are having.

The Senator who did the famous filibuster was Strom Thurmond. Sen. Thurmond spoke for a record 24 hours and 18 minutes with only minor breaks. Apparently, he spent time in the Senate steam room to release a lot of liquids so that if he drank he wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom. Thurmond even resorted to reading the phone book.

We are going to be watching 2 other Schoolhouse Rock videos over the next few days. One will be on the 3 branches of government and the other will be on the Electoral College. However, I think we’ve seen the best of the videos already. Shot Hear Round the World and I’m Just a Bill are easily the two best.
What happened to Rachel today was hilarious, although maybe not so funny to her. Luckily, she has seen the video before (one or two or a thousand times).

Why is it that when DJ  burbs, I “praise” him but when he gets older and burbs at the dinner table, I’ll yell at him???  Talk about mixed messages!

Saturday, 3/6

Things sure have been busy these last few days.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! to all of you who have stopped by the blog with your kind words. It was something to look forward to when coming home after a long day at the hospital.
We’re home now and adjusting to our new lives. However, everything has been wonderful. I added another picture from yesterday.

Although I would love to stay home forever with DJ, I do miss being at work with my students. I’m looking forward to my return.

My son and I actually watched our first Reds game together yesterday. He slept through it and was pretty lucky to do so, they didn’t play well at all.

Eventually I’ll get back to the regular swing of things on the blog…I just haven’t had the time (or energy) to discuss my regular thoughts.

Pictures

Raise Your Hand If You Are A Reds Fan!

Boy Oh Boy!

Yesterday brought a wonderful reason to be happy….the Reds announced that Aaron Harang would be the Opening Day starter this year!

Ok…well maybe that wasn’t the most exciting news of my day but it was still cool to find out.

Daniel Ryan Dowling Jr. entered the world yesterday afternoon after a LOOOOOOOOOOONG day. The little guy is doing well and so is Mrs. Dowling.
I hope to be back in school shortly but for now I’m enjoying my time with the new addition to my family (and currently the 2nd biggest fan of the Reds).
I’ll work on posting a picture soon…and will definitely have a few when I return to school.

I spoke to Mr. Joseph. Thank you for being cooperative in class yesterday. As of now, the Government test is postponed. It will happen, we just don’t know when yet. I would continue to prepare for it because it still will include a lot of memorization. Perhaps the extra time will be helpful.

Little DJ (Daniel Junior) was 8 lbs 8 oz, a big boy.

Thank you for those of you who have sent your kind words. I enjoyed them when I got home late last night.

And for those who want to know, Oglethorpe Thunder finished a very close 2nd place for baby name.

Wednesday, 3/3

Today, among other things, we will watch “I’m Just a Bill” from Schoolhouse Rock. Should I be annoyed that this is the most anticipated event from my class? I’m beginning to be jealous.
Actually, of all of the videos, this one probably does the best job of explaining the bill process. You could use the lyrics to study for the upcoming test (3/12/10).

Did You Know?
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth … and whose shame created the expression for disgrace, “His name is Mudd.”

On This Day In History
1931-President Hoover signed into law a bill that made the Star Spangled Banner our national anthem. The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. Believe it or not, we are only a few weeks away from that war.
Call Someone…today would have been the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.
Today is also the birthday of George Pullman, the inventor of the Pullman car.

My time is up for now…I’m sure the anticipation is mounting for the Wrestlemania Moments to return. They will, soon enough.
Enjoy the day.

Tuesday, 3/2

Glad to hear some of your comments on Barack Obama’s smoking. Hopefully the comments that were posted were indicative of the thoughts/beliefs of all of our students.
Don’t Smoke…it is as simple as that.

The US loses the Olympics???
Most of us are aware that the United States had the most medals at this year’s Olympic Games. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the United States also had the 2nd most last place, 2nd to last and 3rd to last place finishes. The only country with more of these last place finishes was Russia. So I guess technically, they were the losers in the Olympics.

Did You Know?
If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

Really long day today. I have regular classes today, then homework club and then I’ll be going to the wrestling matches after that. I’ll probably be exhausted by the end, but I’m looking forward to it. This is my first middle school wrestling meet ever.

This Date In History
1836-Texas declares its independence from Mexico
Birthdays Today Include Sam Houston, the original President of Texas and Dr. Seuss. I was never a big fan of Dr. Seuss. I found his books to be too long. Today also would have been the birthday of Dewitt Clinton. Question of the Day: Does anyone know who he is/what he is most known for?

Dewitt Clinton was indeed known for getting the Erie Canal to take place. He was the governor of New York.
The wrestling matches were great. We had a lot of Green representation and I recognized some guys from the cafeteria also. There were a few Green students who didn’t have a matchup. I’m sure that was because Clarke was scared. Just off the top of my head, the team consists of Ben O., Brian C., Keton K., Mark L. There are also some Green 8 students: Zach H., Nick D., David T., and Joe B. If I missed you, you’ll have to forgive me. It was a lot going on at once.

What’s your opinion?

President Obama recently had a physical and the results were just released.
He seems to be in good health despite some cholesterol issues.
One of the problems that the President needs to address is that Obama still continues to smoke. What do you think of this in light of the fact that his administration, especially Mrs. Obama, have been so involved in promoting healthy living?

Many people look up to the President, especially this one. Could youngsters begin to think that smoking is a “cool thing to do”?

What’s your opinion? I’d like to know!

A New Day…A New Week…A New Month

Back to School and hard to believe it is already March!

I didn’t watch much of the hockey game and from reports of the action, I missed a thriller. I guess I can’t pretend that I like hockey not even for 2 hours. Having said that, I would have preferred a USA win.

Did You Know?
The letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn’t have 1 syllable… it has three.

Today we continue the legislative branch. Remember, there is a homework assignment due tomorrow. I enjoy teaching the government. Unfortunately, it is a lot of memorization so it doesn’t end up being fun for many students.

On This Day In History
1781-The Articles of Confederation were adopted…even before the official end of the war.
This set of rules was doomed to fail. Eventually, it would be replaced by the Constitution. I think that’s been working out for the United States ever since.
1790-Congress authorized the first Census. The Census is basically a population count. It is important for a number of reasons. Perhaps the biggest is representation in the House of Representatives. It also has an impact on the Electoral College. The number of electors will change for 2012.
Today’s birthdays include Dirk Benedict, from the A-Team (he is the guy pictured on the left)
.
It also is the birthday of Ron Howard. It would have been the birthday of composer/bandleader Glenn Miller.

Started watching Frost/Nixon yesterday. Seems like a pretty good movie and worth checking out. It is playing pretty frequently on HBO.

Wrestlemania Moments
Wrestlemania XVI-Pete Rose returns.

Enjoy the rest of the day.