Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A Survey About You
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sentence Frames for Theme
In today's world people need to learn that _________ and this story shows us that by ________________.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Final Plot Project for The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- Write a book review and post it on Amazon.com (you will need to make an account if you don't already have one).
- Draw a timeline with 8-12 important events. You will also need to include a couple of sentences describing how you decided which events were important to include.
- Write a "back of the book" review, which will get someone interested in the book, but not give away too much of the story (and NO you can't use the one on the back of the book already!!) :).
- Choose an event from the book and write a newspaper article as if you were a journalist in that time period. Remember journalists always include who, what, when, where, why, and how!
- Pretend you are working on filming a movie of this book. Choose background music to go with an event in the book. Include a paragraph that explains why this music is the best background music for this section of the book.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fix My Paragraph
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Salem Witch Trials Video
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Book Evaluation
- What did you like or dislike about it?
- Was it well written?
- Were the characters interesting?
- Could the story be set in another time or place? Would that change the story?
- Why do you think the author wrote this?
And here is a checklist to help with book reviews, but you might find it helpful to get you started with your evaluation.
- Name the book and the author
- Give a short summary of what happened in the book (don't give it all away though!)
- Give your opinion of the book (Examples: exciting, interesting, boring, educational)
- Support your opinion with examples from the book
- Tell your readers whether you would recommend the book and why or why not
Monday, February 14, 2011
Some Days You Just Don't Feel Like Writing...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Fun Websites
Multimedia and Interactive Websites
American Presidency
http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/5a_frame.html
Artists’ Toolkit
http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/
Bio Medical Lab – the Walker
http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html
Cells Alive!
http://www.cellsalive.com
Coolmath
http://coolmath.com
Create-A-Graph
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/
Discovery Games
http://dsc.discovery.com/games/games.html
Educational Web Adventures
http://www.eduweb.com/portfolio/adventure.php
Smithsonian Education
http://smithsonianeducation.org/students/
DNA from the Beginning
http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/
World Wildlife Fund Fun Stuff
http://www.worldwildlife.org/fun
British History: Battlefield Academy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_gms_bfacademy.shtml
Visualisation
San Francisco Crimespotting
http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/Worldmapper
http://www.worldmapper.org/
Gesture-based computing
(this one is a little farther on the horizon and the technology is not built into your own computers right now, so you'll have to simply look at some of the possibilities)Aukland Museum: The Hybridiser
http://vimeo.com/6580702Mgestyk
http://www.mgestyk.com/videos.htmlmt Multitouch Table
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpzZk0JNOw
From Emerging Technologies class at WOU, Prof. Mary Bucy.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Welcome to Family Reading Night
Please feel free to look around, talk to teachers, and eat pizza. In addition, please have your student and any children under 18 pick a book to take home off the table in the back.
We also have some reading and writing info on the front table next to the sign in sheet.
Thank you for being here! You are the best!
Downtown Learning Center Staff
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
What is the Message of This Poem?
Mac Hammond
The butcher knife goes in, first, at the top
And carves out the round stemmed lid,
The hole of which allows the hand to go
In to pull the gooey mess inside, out -
The walls scooped clean with a spoon.
A grim design decided on, that afternoon,
The eyes are the first to go,
Isosceles or trapezoid, the square nose,
The down-turned mouth with three
Hideous teeth and, sometimes,
Round ears. At dusk it's
Lighted, the room behind it dark.
Outside, looking in, it looks like a
Pumpkin, it looks like ripeness
Is all. Kids come, beckoned by
Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns
To trick or treat. Standing at the open
Door, the sculptor, a warlock, drops
Penny candies into their bags, knowing
The message of winter: only the children,
Pretending to be ghosts, are real.
The poem is from this site: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/108.html
Friday, October 22, 2010
Fun Stuff to do Around Town
Friday, September 24, 2010
2010-2011 School Year
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Some Books You Just Might LOVE!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
More Anne Frank/Holocaust Resources
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Love is...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
New Literature Unit: Diary of Anne Frank
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Rebekah's Books for Break
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Other than that, I'll just see what books catch my eye at the Book Bin or the library and I'll read what I feel like at the moment.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Think About Books for Break
Okay, we are coming up on a 2 week vacation and I don't think any of you want to lose the progress you have made in class so far. I know it's busy and it's easy to forget about reading and school, but I would like to help you make a plan for the break.
In your blog today:
1. Read other student's blogs about books they have read and make at least one comment.
2. Write down which books you think you might like to try reading over break. It can be one that you are currently reading, one that you borrow from me, or anything else you have at home or can borrow.
3. Also, tell me when you plan to do your reading. You should try to read 15 minutes to 1 hour per day.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Fix My Paragraph
Indian reservations are areas of land given to Native American tribes by the united states government. In the 1850-60s the government decided to move indians to land that were unwanted by settlers many of the tribes did not want to move to new lands and refused. Soon the government sent in the U.s. Army force them to move to the new reservation lands. this caused many bloody wars between the Indians and the U.S. Army. Eventually, most Indians did move to the reservations. Today, reservations are run by their own tribal council, and less than half of Indians live on the reservations. Many of the Indians who live off the reservations live in large western cities. Like Phoenix and Los angeles.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Welcome to Our Open House!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
New Book
This book is definitely for more mature young adults. I find that my late high-school age students from 16-20 are just the right age to be able to absorb it and also enjoy it.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Poetry
The Poetry Plan
Most people are scared of poetry, but you don’t need to be. Poetry can be hard to understand unless you know HOW to read it.
You will need to read the poem all the way through about 5 times. Yes, I said 5 times. The more you read it the easier it will be to understand.
The 1st time: Read for SOUND
Just read the poem to hear how it sounds the first time.
Listen to the rhythm
What's your first impression?
The 2nd time: Read for WORDS
Look for any words you don’t understand.
Try to figure out what the word means by looking at the words around it, breaking the word into pieces, or saying it different ways to see if it sounds familiar.
The 3rd time: Read LINE BY LINE
Stop at the end of every line and figure out what the line means.
Try to relate it to the lines before or after it.
Decide what you think the author is trying to say in each line.
The 4th time: Read for THEME (the author’s message)
Try to figure out what the author is trying to tell the reader through this poem.
Why did the author take the time to write this down?
What important thing did he/she want you to understand after reading it?
The 5th time: Put it all TOGETHER
How do you feel about the poem now compared to the first time you read it? Do you understand it better?
You should be so familiar with the poem now that it will be easy to answer questions about it.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Back to School Speech
This Back-To-School speech by President Obama has been very controversial. What do you think about it?
Monday, June 8, 2009
Books I Want to Read This Summer
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
- The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold?
- Cold Rock River By J. L. Miles
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Twenty Years in the Future
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Blog Night Info
Dear Families and Students:
Thank you for coming to Spring Blog Night 2009!
There are lots of other things you could be doing tonight. You are making education a priority in your life by coming here tonight. That is a great statement to make to your family, yourself, and your community!
We invite you to do three things tonight:
1. Eat! Help yourself to pizza and drinks.
2. Check out your student's blog on the laptops around the room. (Make sure they show you what they did at the beginning of their blog and what they are doing now. You'll be impressed!)
3. Ask Beka any questions you have about your student's progress.
Bienvenidos a todas las familias y los padres. Los invitamos a cenar esta noche. Por favor hablen Uds. con las maestras y miren los "Blogs" de sus hijos/as. Esperamos que les disfruten este momento que pasamos hoy aqui. Gracias por su atencion.
Friday, April 17, 2009
I Believe Brainstorming
- I believe that reading is the key to knowledge.
- I believe being nice is more important than being smart, rich, or successful.
- I believe love is more of an action than a feeling.
- I believe people need each other.
- I believe in singing loudly to myself in the car.
- I believe in using only what I absolutely need.
- I believe in making up your own mind about what you believe.
- I believe in ghosts.
- I believe that every situation in life is a chance to learn something we need to learn.
- I believe coming home is a gift.
- I believe happiness is a choice.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Root Word Poem
I see pedestrians in cars,
psychologists going psycho,
cardiologists losing heart.
I see corporations running wild,
manufacterers running the world,
CEO's making a spectacle.
I see a suicidal population,
homicidal corporations,
pharmaceuticals deforming the nation.
I see the populace conform
to the patron saint Consume,
rupturing morals and home.
A prescription for disaster.
I predict a nation of conformity,
deformity, cardiac arrest.
Unless...unless
The spectator becomes captain,
the populace becomes the patriarch,
the videographer becomes the actor,
the audience becomes the speaker.
With complete transformation,
Hope.
Progress Report
Friday, February 27, 2009
Instructions for Adding a Header to Your Blog
- Go to Blogamundo and click on the link to Blogamundo Project Blog (this page)
- Choose a header from the post below this
- Click on the header you choose to see a full size version
- Right click on the full sized picture and choose Save Picture As
- Save the pic to My Pictures
- Go back to your own blog
- Go to Customize (in the upper right hand corner when viewing your blog) or Layout (from the dashboard)
- Make sure you are in the tab called Page Elements (it should go directly there)
- Click on Edit in the box that says Header (it is across the top)
- Click on Browse and look for the pic on your computer
- Double click on the picture header to add it in
- Choose the option that says "Behind title and description"
- Click SAVE in the pop up box. Click SAVE again in the Page Elements page.
- Tada! You should have a new header.