Tomorrow is picture day. Even if you aren’t purchasing a picture package, your picture will be taken for the yearbook. Look your best!

I saw this cartoon while working with Jeffrey V. in Homework Club. One thing about 8th grade is that there are tons of great pictures, movies and political cartoons that can help students to understand the content. This one was a great one. There certainly were lots of “roadblocks” that were put in the way of African Americans. Voting is a major part of our system and it is amazing that looking back, there were so many people who were blocked from doing it.

Mrs. Dowling and I went to my parents’ house for dinner on Saturday. A great time was had by all. I began thinking about how important a family dinner can be.

Family dinner was a common occurrence in the Dowling house when we were growing up. Even if we had sports (I played baseball, my sister ran track), the others still ate together. Sometimes it was difficult because of work. After all, my dad worked nights. But somehow, we managed to keep this tradition alive.

Studies have shown that families that eat together has a positive impact on the children. It increases communication and motivates kids to do well in school. It only takes a half hour (probably even less) to eat dinner together as a family. Yet, there are so many positives to be gained in that short amount of time.

Bowling Scores: 150, 145, 170
Reds: “Houston We Have A Problem”…Reds have taken 2 from Houston and are currently 74-81. It has been a disaster of a year but it is ending on a positive note.
Dolphins vs. Chargers at 4 on CBS…I’m not in football mode yet, but I’ll keep an eye on this one. Miami needs this one and it won’t be easy.
Can the Yankees seal the deal today? My answer is yes…only because it really doesn’t matter to either team. I know the rivalry is a big deal but with the Wild Card, both teams are pretty much a lock to be in the post season anyway.

Music to Inspire You: Indiana Jones

One of my former students (Luke) showed me a book he selected for a reading assignment. The book was All Quiet on the Western Front. Although I am not currently reading it, I have read it twice. It is a great piece of historical fiction about World War I and it really makes you think about the impact that war has on the soldiers. Sometimes we have to remember that the soldiers that have fought to protect us are very young and vulnerable to the mental duress that war brings.

From our perspective, the German characters would normally be the “bad guys” in a book about WWI. Reading All Quiet you begin to realize that the soldiers are often pawns in a game of human chess.

The book is probably too difficult for 7th grade, but Moms and Dads, if you have not read it and you enjoy historical fiction, give it a try.

Also, the movie (the black and white version, not the Ernest Borgnine 70s version) is one of my all time favorites. The scene depicting “no man’s land” is a stunning piece of film.

A student mentioned that she posted a comment and it didn’t end up on the blog. If this happens to you let me know because I’m not sure what happened.

Homework Club began today. I was pleased by the turn out and the amount that we accomplished. It was great to see students working independently unless they needed help.

I devoted much of my time to working with one student in particular. He needed help getting organized BIG TIME! I think we have him on the right path.

I am always available to help students get organized. I love to see that you are willing to work at it. See me and we will arrange a time.

On 9/16/09, I posted a thank you for making this the biggest September in the 4 year history of socialstudieswithasmile.com. I am now proud to say that this September has the most hits not just for September but EVER in the history of the website.

Keep checking out the website. Stay up to date on assignments and notes. Your visits make the cost and all of this work worth it.

Thank you!

We are in the middle of our geography unit in Core Extension. Today, the students were asked to fill in a blank map of the United States. Some students did well (one even completed the entire map).

Try the link below: http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf

If you are brave, post your score. Moms and Dads can play too!

I remember having to do something similar to this in college. Dr. Tuchscherer made us list all of the countries in Africa and spell them correctly. I had him as a professor a couple times at St. John’s University. He taught me a lot about Africa. I’ll never pretend to know everything about Africa, but I’m definitely better off after having him as my professor.

This weeks scores…128 (pathetic-although my team won), 201 (including game winning strike) and 205.

Even though most “baseball-guys” play golf, I never got into it. I played baseball in high school and then coached for 6 years but never got connected to the sport of golf. Bowling reminds me a lot of baseball, even though it is a team sport, it comes down to clutch performances where no one can help you.

One day, I’d love to coach the high school bowling team. I think it would be a lot of fun.

If you haven’t done it in awhile, give it a try…the bowling alleys today are very entertaining…music, food, etc.

Terrible loss by the Reds last night…winning 2-0 in the 8th and end up losing 4-3…whether the season is over for them or not, those are games that have to be won. Cordero has been over used, but it was still a game I would have liked to win.