5/13/09 - For Thursday & Friday, your assignments are:
- Finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird
- Write the essay as explained in the email which will be sent Thursday morning
- Read the 3 WWII-related articles at the links provided at right
5/11/09 - OK - Here's the plan for Tuesday: 1) Make sure you read your TKAM assignment of ch 22-26. If you
have fallen behind w/ your reading, use Tuesday to get caught up! 2) Drop the AP reading listed on the assignment sheet.
(You're welcome!) Instead, check out the three Depression-Era readings I've provided links to in the right-hand
column. Read through these first person accounts. I believe these interviews were done with a similar goal to
those done w/ the Slave Narratives that we read earlier this year.
4/23/09 - Tracy earns the right to blow out the 445 candles on ol' Bill's cake today!
- Happy Birthday William Shakespeare! A
bonus point for the first person to tell me how old he'd be... Also wanted to thank all of you for your participation
w/ the Crisis Pregnancy Center Baby Bottle Drive. Your willingness really pleased Mrs. Landau and, personally, I had
fun!!
4/20/09 - Elsa scores with the answers: 1) Maine 2)
Pennsylvania 3) Wisconsin 4) Mississippi 5) Georgia
4/18-09 - Okay - you need to work for this point. Answer all five correctly and don't forget to study your
states!!
- Which US state is only one syllable?
- In what state is the Mushroom Capital of the World?
- In what state is the Toilet Paper Capital of the World?
- From what state was the first football player to appear on the front of a Wheaties box?
- From what state is the MLB team that the Pirates crushed 10-0 today?
4/16/09 - That's 2 for Tracy. Players wore the #42 to honor Jackie Robinson, the
MLB's first black player. Robinson made his debut in 1947 at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
4/15/09 - Question #2 - What jersey number did all MLB players wear today? In honor of what player?
For what was he famous? Okay, I realize that's three questions - still only one point though.
- WOW! That was fast: Tracy
Mee earns this point. Miss Corrie ten Boom was born on April 15th, 1892
and then died on her 91st birthday in 1983. Keep checking back.
- SPRING BREAK BONUS OPPS: Question
#1 - Today is the birthday of what author whose book we've read this year? What else was significant about this day
in that person's life? Note: The Rhetorics have this same question, so the first person in either
class will be the only one to earn the point.
4/2/09 - Be sure that you see & print the email attachment that I sent last night. The email explains the purpose
of the list and what else you need to do on the back of that sheet.
3/26/09 - Friday's assignment sheet says to complete a characterization worksheet before beginning to write. Check
the "Animal Imagery" link under resouces to the right. Print & do as much of pp 3 & 4 as you can. If there
are some you haven't heard of, ask a parent. THEN, on the back of one of those or a separate sheet of paper, answer
the following questions
- What are the main personality qualities of your character? (ex rude, coniving, sincere, etc)
- What is their history & how did that make them the way they are? (ex They ran away from X after so&so
did such&such to them.)
- What is their purpose in coming to Animal Farm and what topic(s) will be of most interest to them?
3/07/09 - Bonus Question #7: What tragic event in the late 1880s cost 2209 American lives? (Tracy gets the final point for knowing this was a referene to the Johnstown Flood.)
3/06/09 - Bonus Question #6: A proposed national monument will have a tower with windchimes. How
tall will the tower be? How many windchimes? What is significant about each of those numbers? (David maxes out w/ this 3rd point - The Flight 93 Memorial will be 93 feet tall w/ 40 windchimes, one for each
of the victims of the 9/11 terrorists aboard the flight)
3/05/09 - Bonus Question #5: While our nation was fighting the Civil War, what monumental building project
were the French undertaking in Egypt? (Elsa scores again with the Suez Canal. This water passage
allowed travelers to move from Europe to Asia w/o having to go all the way around the southern tip of Africa.)
3/04/09 - Bonus Question #4: What president restored citizenship to Jefferson Davis? In what
year? (David goes for two! In 1978
President Jimmy Carter restored ol' Jeff Davis's citizenship. Carter was from Georgia - it figures!)
I'll see if I can sneak the next question up sometime tomorrow when most of you are busy....
3/03/09 - Bonus Question #3: How many Confederate soldiers were killed by Quaker Guns? Why? (David earned this point by revealing that Quaker "Guns" were logs painted black in order to fool the enemy
into thinking the Union had more cannons. Obviously NO rebels would've been killed by these. Of course, some
might've died of embarrassment after learning how they'd been tricked!)
2/27/09 - Bonus Question #2: What Union general wore shoes rather than his issued boots which he claimed
were uncomforable and made it "too hard to think"? (Tracy corrected figured
it was SHERMAN who needed the Dr Scholl's gel pads in his booties!) Watch for
the next question later today!
2/25/09 - WINTER BREAK BONUS OPS will occasionally show up here over the next week. Rules:
1) ONLY the first person to correctly respond to each question will earn the point. 2) There will be a limit of 3 bonus
points for any one student. 3) I will only post the next question once someone has correctly answered the current
question. 4) At that point, I will also post the answer to the previous question. Here's the first one:
In what year was the most recent discovery of human remains from the Battle of Gettysburg? (1996!
- Elsa gets the point)
2/12/09 - Happy 200th Birthday President Lincoln!
- Auntie Em! Auntie Em! How about this
wind? Add a mountain of dust and we might have a taste of what Billy Jo and thousands of real people endured
daily for years.
- We were pretty rushed at
the end of class on Wednesday, so I wanted to make sure you understood what I was going for regarding Karen Hesse's use of
poetry. As we've read Out of the Dust, we've been noticing her generous and vivid use of similes and metaphors.
These poetic devices help to paint a picture for the reader. Rather than writing a couple of sentences of prose, she
is able to present an image in just a few well-chosen words. That makes her poetry powerful and efficient. Some
of you (not all) expressed in class how moved you were by this story. I am convinced that her beautifully potent words
had much to do with prompting your response. Open hearts and open minds, censored by a Christian worldview, allow you
to feel and experience and think more honestly.
12/22/08 - Wow - a month since my last post. Just wanted to apologize to any of you who received multiple copies
of my e-Thank You note for your wonderful Christmas gifts. Not sure how that happened but.... And yes, I do realize
that the wise men were not at the manger but, hey, I liked the music and that it tickled the baby Jesus!
11/22/08 - In case you have a question next week, you should know that I will be out of town and (hopefully) without
computer access until next Saturday. I will be heading to Virginia to visit with family and to see a few Civil War battlefields.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and know that I am thankful for each of you!
11/12/08 - Four more days 'til my Steeler game. Steven is going to be sooo jealous (or embarrassed) when
he sees the crazy hat I'm going to wear!!!
11/05/08 - Just a reminder that there is no official vocab worksheet for Thursday & Friday. Instead,
you are to select 10 vocab words each day and use it in a "good" sentence that demonstrates your understanding of the word.
Bring your 20 sentences to class on Monday.
10/31/08 - I have heard not everyone received my email that Eli Whitney's name needs to be added to the Section
B list. I'll be gone much of today, so I wanted to be sure everyone had access to that information. Also - I still
have three families who have not replied to my Tuesday night email. (see below)
10/29/08 - Be sure that a parent reads & replies to the email I sent last night. It has a subject line of "Dialectic
Omnibus Note to Parents." I want to receive notice that they've read that email BEFORE I mail out the exams. Hopefully
this does not even need to be said, but I expect you to be honorable young men and women and NOT discuss these exams
until after they've been turned in to me. See - I knew I didn't need to say that!
10/12/08 - Adjusted chapter numbers for this week's Frankenstein assignments are: Tuesday =
ch 18-20; Thursday = ch 21-23; Friday = 24-end.
10/10/08 - Just to let you know that I will be away from home most of Saturday. I will send AP quiz confirmations
when I get home in the evening. If you don't hear from me by Sunday a.m, then I did not receive your quiz score.
10/08/08 - For those of you w/o volume numbers in your Frankenstein, your reading assignment for Thursday is
ch 13-15 and for Friday is 16 & 17. I told you in class that there were no Reading Guides BUT I wanted you to finish
Vocab B instead. I think several of you need to be reading more carefully. Today's quiz was not about picky details;
the questions involved key elements to the story.
10/06/08 - Be sure to find the REVISED Assignment Sheet email. No excuses. Also remember that for those w/o
volume numbers in their Frankenstein, you will need to read through Ch 12 for Wednesday.
10/03/08 - A few students have Frankenstein books w/o the Volume separations. If that is your case, you should
read through the end of Chapter 8.
9/30/08 - 1:15 p.m. - I just sent the tests as an email attachment.
- GRRR! Computers problems are slowing me down
today. Get some other work done this morning and keep an eye out for the short story test this afternoon.
9/29/08 - Well, I used Tom's calculator and found the $54 million war debt that Hamilton assumed on our behalf in 1789ish
would only be $2.4 billion today -- no where near the current $7 trillion debt. In fact, it's only
1/3000th of the current debt! Yowzah!
- Also - one more time - regarding the Frankenstein vocab
- you need to have side A complete by Monday. That is when I will check for it. What order and days you work on
this are up to you.
9/24/08 - I will send your Constitution Quiz as an attachment early tomorrow morning. If you are having a tough
time getting through your AP readings, use the extra time you'll have on Thursday to get a jump on that for Friday!
9/17/08 - Just a reminder that you do NOT need to do any more work on the Constitution worksheet. We will complete
the rest of it in class on Monday. You should, however, be looking it over as a review for next's week's quiz.
9/10/08 - I forgot to mention in class today that I will email the Constitution worksheet that you'll need later this
week - probably late-day tomorrow. I enjoyed the enthusiastic discussion today. Good literature provokes
good thinking!!
9/05/08 - Welcome! Poke around a bit and see what you think. I'll see you on Monday!
8/15/08 - Nyjer Morgan steals five bases in one game, tying the Triple-A Indians record for number of bases stolen
in one game. Pirates management finally realizes the man is a miracle and freak of nature and calls him up to start
in center field.
