Archive for the 'DJ' Category

Jan

Blog Rules

I haven’t gone over the rules for the blog in awhile so here goes…

1. In order to post, you must provide your name and an email address. In order to get your comment approved, this must take place. Sadly, there was a well thought out post that was written last night. The writer did not post his name. As a result, the post was trashed.
If you intend to share your thoughts, you must share your name. I want to maintain the safety of this blog as much as I possibly can.

2. Respectful comments only.

3. Since the blog is a school-related blog, I expect as close to good grammar as possible. We’re not going to be the grammar police but we should use proper English as much as possible.

4. Have fun.

Today in class we will be introducing the Political Cartoon project. I think this has the potential to be a fun assignment. I enjoyed looking back at the work of former students yesterday while preparing for today’s lesson. You will see some of their examples today. However, I don’t want to show you too much because I want you to be as creative and original as possible.

The American Struggle for Independence practice test is now available on socialstudieswithasmile.com. Be sure to get the Reds question correct. There is also a practice test that will be available in class. It will be made available on Friday. If you want one before that, simply ask for it.
There will be a review session Tuesday morning and we will be reviewing in class tomorrow (Friday).

Remember, a small amount of extra credit can be gained by reading outside reading books. For more information, see the Outside Reading Extra Credit category to the right.
There have been a few opportunities for extra credit this quarter. I noticed that last quarter, the extra credit (which is added to your test scores at the end of the quarter) made a difference for a few students. I recall students going from a B to B+ and A to A+. Take advantage of it while it lasts. There are fewer and fewer extra credit opportunities as the year goes on.

DJ now knows Barry Larkin, Bret Boone and Pete Rose from our Reds Room at home. He’s definitely a die hard Reds fan in training.

Did anyone watch the Firm on Sunday night? I loved the movie but the show seems to be missing something. I’ll give it another shot tonight (DVR’d of course).

posted by Mr. Dowling in DJ,Outside Reading Extra Credit,School,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (3)

Dec

Friday, 12/30

I’ve done a pretty good job of training DJ to be a Reds fan. In fact, one of the gifts he got for Christmas was a Reds jersey. (I was a bit jealous.)
Anyway, if I’m watching baseball on TV, DJ will walk past the television and yell “Go Reds”. When asked his favorite player, he says Chris Heisey. Just recently I asked him who his second favorite player is. He said “Joey Bottle”. I think we still have a little work to do!

Top Blog Stories of 2011

Hurricane Irene Hits Hard

This summer was an enjoyable one for me. I got to spend the entire summer with my family. Playing out back with my son was a blast and so was spending time with little Casey. We started out great with Casey coming home from the hospital on the very last day of school. We ended with a natural disaster!
Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc on the east coast towards the end of the summer. My entire family (including a few cousins) came to my house to stay because they were evacuated from their homes because of the threat. Of course, my house lost power, we were hit hard and their homes were completely unscathed.
Did I mention that I had a vacation planned to Lake George at the same exact time. When that vacation was cancelled and turned into a staycation…at my parents house. We had a good time but as Dorothy once said, “There’s no place like home”.
Hopefully we don’t have another storm like the one that hit us this year.
What happened to you during the storm? Share your story. I’d love to hear from you.

posted by Mr. Dowling in DJ,The Reds,Uncategorized and have Comments (5)

Dec

Thursday, 12/29

Recent pictures of my children. I haven’t shared any pictures in quite some time.

Top Blog Stories of 2011

Weber Middle School=School To Watch
It seems like this happened so long ago but it was in 2011 when we were honored with this moniker. I’m not so such anything changed once we were granted this title but it certainly helped to point out the hard work of the staff and students to make our school such a great place.
I believe that our school is only going to get better in the years to come.
Any thoughts on things that need to be improved upon?

posted by Mr. Dowling in Casey,DJ,School and have Comments (12)

Nov

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

According to a recent study, happy people live longer. Here’s the article from USA Today.

Here’s What Makes Me Happy!

posted by Mr. Dowling in Casey,Current Events,DJ,Uncategorized and have Comment (1)

Oct

Afternoon Thoughts (10/19)

Quick Thoughts Before I Leave For Tonight’s HSA Meeting:

It seems as if no one was overly angry about the $20 bill today. Hopefully it will help us all remember that the Northwest Passage (the waterway through or around North America) did not exist.
Don’t forget to get your test signed.
I didn’t mention this in all of the classes but if you have a glue stick bring it to class tomorrow. I have some for you to use but it would probably be more convenient for you if you have your own.
Tomorrow is national writing day. I’m sure you’ll be doing plenty of writing tomorrow during school to celebrate.

Check out this video courtesy of my sister. DJ was hard at work on this puzzle yesterday during the day.

According to an article I read today, students who took online courses are more likely to fail or drop out of the class than students who took the same course in person. Perhaps the technology age isn’t everything it is cracked up to be.
I never took an online course. Much like books, I prefer the actual thing. I like holding a book while reading, not a computer and I like being in a class with teachers and students.
What do you think about online courses? Do you think you would learn as much in middle school? Is it something that should be introduced in high school?

World Series predictions? As much as I hate to say it, I’m going with Cardinals in 6. I think they’re going to get more innings from their starters and their 3-5 hitters of Holliday, Pujols and Berkman are fierce. The only one I think will shut down Berkman is Wilson.
What are your thoughts?

posted by Mr. Dowling in Current Events,DJ,School,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (6)

Oct

Columbus Day

Tiger Fan With Lip Tattoo
Recently on Twitter, Justin Verlander offered playoff tickets to anyone with a good reason to deserve them. One of the people who requested the tickets believed he was deserving because he was such a big Tigers fan that he got the Detroit Tigers logo tattooed on his lip.
Check this out:

I don’t know if he already had this or if he did it specifically to win the tickets. Sadly for him, he did not win the tickets.
I tried something similar with my son. It didn’t work either.

DJ should be fine with a tattooed face the rest of his life right? Tony the Tiger had a successful career right?

posted by Mr. Dowling in DJ,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (2)

Sep

Friday, 9/30

Did you catch the new look for Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander. The lovable loser has added a hairpiece to his formerly bald dome. Check out the pictures below.

Obviously we can’t tell him what to do. But my opinion is that Jason Alexander should just be himself. On the other hand, perhaps having hair (fake or real) will help him to get parts in shows or movies. He certainly got more publicity in the last 2 days than he’s gotten in 10 years. If it helps him to be more confident/less self-conscious then I guess it makes sense.
What do you think?

Recent Pictures of Casey and DJ

Post Season Predictions
Postseason Prediction #1: This post season will not be nearly as exciting as last year’s post season. That is true at least for Reds fans. Even though it didn’t turn out the way I would have liked it to, it was fun to at least have meaningful games in October.
Now for real predictions. Be sure to share your predictions as well.

1. Detroit over the Yankees This was a tough decision but I think the Yankees are a bit banged up. It will also be difficult to beat Verlander twice in a 5 game set. I don’t have a great feeling about this one. I guess the point of my prediction is that the Tigers should not be taken lightly.
2. Rays over the Rangers. The Rays have been playing meaningful games over the past several weeks. They have momentum on their side. They have pretty solid pitching.
3. Brewers over the D-Backs. I watch about 15 Brewers games a year and I can tell you for sure that their starting pitching is solid. Their lineup absolutely scares me and if they’re going to win they have to do it this year while they still have Prince Fielder. Having said that, if they don’t get out to big leads in these games they are going to have trouble. Their bullpen is not a strength although having K-Rod has helped them.
4. The last one is an easy one for me. Phillies over the Cardinals. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this at all but I hate the Cardinals. I’d like to see the Phillies do to the Cardinals what they did to the Reds last year. Everyone knows the Philadelphia starting rotation is one of the best of all time. The lineup they have also stacks up well against great historical lineups. I liked the Hunter Pence addition. Don’t take the Cardinals lightly…they don’t exactly have a weak team. Pujols, Berkman and Holliday are solid. You know how I feel about Carpenter but he is a big money pitcher.
These matchups should be very exciting.
We’ll do Championship Series predictions right before it begins.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Casey,Current Events,DJ,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (16)

Sep

Vacation Photos

Casey In Her Tennis Dress (Just In Time For the US Open)

DJ Taking Me On A Tour Of The Park

More Bragging About My Children

DJ Shows How Happy He Is

Going Down The Slide For the 1,291st Time

Today is the last day of summer vacation for me. It is back to work tomorrow. This is usually when Wyn makes fun of me for having school when he doesn’t. I wonder who will be taking over that job with the current crop of 7th graders.
I’m excited to get back to work but not happy about having my time with my kids reduced big time.

Final Thought…The Reds are going nowhere…we’ve known that for awhile now. But at least they took two of three from the Cardinals to make sure they have no chance of catching the Brewers. Have I mentioned I don’t like the Cardinals? In fact, for those of you who are new to my classroom, Cardinals, Carpenter, Pujols, etc are all bad words in my classroom and we definitely don’t like profanity.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Casey,DJ,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (3)

Aug

Thursday, 8/25

I haven’t spent enough time here on the blog singing the praises of Joey Votto this year…so here goes. The guy is just simply amazing. Yesterday, he had 2 HRs in the double header against the Marlins. He’s hitting well over .320 and is playing pretty good defense. He leads the league in walks and on-base percentage. I wonder what he would be able to do if he had consistent protection in the lineup.
This year was not what Reds fans expected but it would have been far worse without Joey Votto in the lineup every day.

First an earthquake and now a hurricane. Be careful over the next several days.

How about another picture?

This is DJ enjoying Grandpa Dowling’s birthday cake from yesterday. I think he liked it!

posted by Mr. Dowling in Current Events,DJ,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (2)

Aug

A Day Of Firsts

Yesterday was DJ and Casey’s first trip on a train. Who knew that would coincide with our first earthquake. We were just about to get onto the train when the platform started shaking. It seemed odd because I’ve been on plenty of trains and they usually don’t shake the platform. I brushed it off as the construction that was taking place below us. Found out later that we were getting a few tremors.
Thankfully everything was okay.
Did you feel the earthquake? What were you doing? Did you immediately know what was going on? Share your story!
By the way, DJ loved the train. His response was that the train was “cool”!
Casey slept through both trips.

Check out DJ on his first ride. This took place a few weeks ago.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Current Events,DJ,Uncategorized and have Comments (8)

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