Veterans Day 2016

What do you already know about Veterans Day?

What would you like to know?

Check out this video to learn more about the holiday before we visit Mt. Soledad this Thursday.

Then, read this article to see what else you can learn.

After you've done that, return to this post, and make a comment. In your comment, tell ONE new thing that you learned about Veterans Day.

Explorer Fair: Dress Rehearsal

Thank you to everyone who came today to help our "explorers" prepare for their upcoming Explorer Fair in Assembly. Here are a few shots of the students in character!

Explorer Project

Here's a video showing how we learned all about explorers during the Age of Exploration. We visited the La Jolla Library; did research in class with text, internet, and video resources; and made quill pens in art class and used them to write letters on parchment paper. Hope you enjoy a peek at our learning process!

Sumdog

Here's a new way for you to build your math skills!

Check out Sumdog!

When you go to the website, please add it to your bookmarks, so you can find it again quickly and easily.

Once you get there, our school code is gillispie-school and you'll need to type it just like that or copy and paste it from here.

Last, you'll need your own login and password, which you wrote in your planner.

Let me know what you think of Sumdog in the comments.

Explorer Resources

Check out Mr. Nussbaum's list of explorers. Find your explorer, and read about his life. You might even find a video to watch about your explorer!

Happy Exploring!

Long Division Video

Hello!

If you'd like a review of long division with 1-digit divisors, check out this video from Khan Academy.

Happy dividing!

FAST Facts!

Hi, friends!

Go to this link and try out one of these multiplication games.

Or, you might like to try this link for a different game.

If you are ready for a challenge, check out Kakooma. (Choose multiplication, please!)

Have fun!

Your Attitude Determines Your Latitude!

Your goal today: Be able to calculate your Corps' latitude and longitude during our Lewis & Clark expedition!

You should be able to:
-Know the difference between latitude and longitude
-Know how to use them to write a specific location on a map
-Know the order in which to write them

Watch this video to learn all about them!

When you're done, take the quiz and poke around the other activities in the Latitude and Longitude section to see what else you can learn.

Once everyone is done, we'll talk more.

Bonus Challenge: Can you come up with your own memory trick to remember the difference between latitude and longitude?  If so, leave a comment with your trick!

Bill of Rights

Today's goal: Learn about the Bill of Rights.
What are they? What rights do they guarantee? What might happen without them?

First, watch this video. You may take notes, if you like. (Headphones, please.)

Then, complete page P1 "Handout 1":
Write each amendment listed in your own words, and give an example of a situation that might happen if we did not have this right.

If you have trouble putting the amendments into your own words, see pages 334 and 335 of your Social Studies textbook for a student-friendly version of the Bill of Rights.

Last, get together with one or two partners, and complete page P2 "Handout 2".
Read ALL 8 cases. Then choose 3 of them. For each of the 3 your team chooses:
-explain what you think the Supreme Court should have decided
-give the number of the Amendment that applies to this case (1, 4, 5, or 6)
-give an exact quote from the Amendment you chose that proves your opinion

Done? You may:
-talk with your group about the other 5 cases and what the decisions should be
-have a partner quiz you on the Bill of Rights: Can you give the number of each right? Can you name the right(s) for each number? Can you name the numbers and rights from memory?
-make up an imaginary case related to another Amendment (2, 4, 7, 8, 9, or 10)

BrainPop: Articles of Confederation

Let's learn all about our nation's first attempt at writing a Constitution! (Here's a hint: It didn't work out so well.)

Watch the BrainPop video at this link to find out more about the Articles of Confederation:

What were they?
What were their strengths?
Weaknesses?
Why were the set up the way they were?
What happened as a result?

Spiderman Poem

Here's the text of one of our favorite poems.

“Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too"

by James Hall

All my pwoblems
who knows, maybe evwybody's pwoblems
is due to da fact, due to da awful twuth
dat I am SPIDERMAN.
I know. I know. All da dumb jokes:
No flies on you, ha ha,
and da ones about what do I do wit all
doze extwa legs in bed. Well, dat's funny yeah.
But you twy being
SPIDERMAN for a month or two. Go ahead.

You get doze cwazy calls fwom da
Gubbener askin you to twap some booglar who's
only twying to wip off color T.V. sets.
Now, what do I cawre about T.V. sets?
But I pull on da suit, da stinkin suit,
wit da sucker cups on da fingers,
and get my wopes and wittle bundle of
equipment and den I go flying like cwazy
acwoss da town fwom woof top to woof top.

Till der he is. Some poor dumb color T.V. slob
and I fall on him and we westle a widdle 
until I get him all woped. So big deal.

You tink when you SPIDERMAN
der's sometin big going to happen to you.
Well, I tell you what. It don't happen dat way.
Nuttin happens. Gubbener calls, I go.
Bwing him to powice, Gubbener calls again,
like dat over and over.

I tink I twy sometin diffunt. I tink I twy
sometin excitin like wacing cawrs. Sometin to make
my heart beat at a difwent wate.
But den you just can't quit being sometin like
SPIDERMAN.
You SPIDERMAN for life. Fowever. I can't even
buin my suit. It won't buin. It's fwame wesistent.
So maybe dat's youwr pwoblem too, who knows.
Maybe dat's da whole pwoblem wif evwytin.
Nobody can buin der suits, dey all fwame wesistent.
Who knows?

And here's a link to the author's post about this poem on his blog, if you'd like to read more about it.

American Revolution Game!

Try this:

 http://www.mission-us.org

I think you will like it! Play Mission 1: For Crown or Colony. Happy gaming!

Book Club Reflection Questions

You did it! You finished your Book Club Book!

Please write a new post on your blog reflecting on the experience of being in a Book Club.
Copy and paste the questions below, if that helps you be sure to answer each one in your blog post.

What was the best part of participating in your Book Club?

What was the worst part of participating in your Book Club?

Would you want to do a Book Club again? Why or why not?

If we do another round of Book Clubs, what would you like to do differently?

French and Indian War

Step 1:
Watch this BrainPop video.

If you need to sign in to BrainPop, the username is gillispie and the password is solar.

Step 2: 
Work with a group of 3-4 people. Make a wise choice about the people you choose to work with: Are you working with people who will help you do your best work and use your time wisely?

Make a poster, newspaper article, paragraph or other product of your choice that answers all of the questions from the French & Indian War Pre-Test correctly.

Here are the questions:

In the French and Indian War, who was fighting against whom?

What were they fighting about?

Who won?

What happened as a result?

What was the Proclamation of 1763?

What happened as a result?

If you don't know the answers to the questions, choose one or more of the following:

Read pages 229 and 230 in your social studies textbook.

Read the information on this website.

Re-watch the BrainPop video.

Ask someone in your group.

If you finish before others are done, add images related to the French and Indian War and the Proclamation of 1763 to your product.

Persuasive Writing

How do you learn to write persuasively?

You start by reading examples of persuasive writing to see how it is done!

Read these two articles:

Students Who Lose Recess are the Ones Who Need it Most

School Suspensions Don't Work

As you read them, pay attention to what the author is doing as a writer to convince you of the argument he or she is making.

Take notes, if you find that helpful.

Be prepared for a group discussion on what we can learn from these two articles to improve our persuasive writing.

Today's Writing Assignment

Hello Authors!

Your challenge for today is to write the section of your informational text that deals with the southern colonies. Use your writer's checklist, and all of the lessons and discussions we've had about informational writing to guide you.

Your draft should include:
-name, number, and date
-word count
-at least one powerful sentence type
-at least two of the following vocabulary terms:
plantation, legislature, debtor, refuge, indigo, overseer, spiritual, tidewater, backcountry

In your notes, we did not include a section on slavery. Do you think this is an important aspect of the southern colonies? If so, what do you think is the best way to present the information to your readers?

When you finish, print one copy of your draft and turn it in to the Writing bin.

If there is still time, you may choose to write anything you like or work on writing for our Gillispie News project: Write a commercial or improve the writing of any piece you have already written. This is still writing time, not rehearsal time.

Above the Line

Exchange City

Over the break, one of our classmates visited Ciudad de los Ninos in Mexico City. It is a reenactment of a life-sized city, where kids can have jobs, drive cars, and earn money. It sounds amazing!

I did some research and found out that the company that runs this place is called KidZania, and they have other locations in many places around the world, including Asia and Europe. You can read about the company here. Unfortunately, they don't have any locations in the United States.

Mr. Bluestein did some research, too. He found a place called Exchange City that is the same type of place. There is one in Missouri and another one in Rhode Island.

You can watch a video of Exchange City below.

Leave a comment if you'd like to visit Exchange City! What would you most want to do there?

If we were to run a city like this at Gillispie, how might we do that? And what would ours be called?