Sufferin for Suffrage!

Today we celebrated Elizabeth Cady Stanton's birthday. After a long life of fighting for women's rights, Stanton died without ever casting a vote! Wow.

We also checked out the Schoolhouse Rock Video, "Sufferin' for Suffrage".

We had our author visit, which was fantastic and entertaining, as well as informative on the editing and writing process. If you still want a book, it's not too late. Check your student's planner or take home folder for the important information.

Tomorrow we will go to the middle school for additional instruction in art, PE and computers! Make sure to write a short note if you didn't turn in a permission slip.

Several sections got into the Plains Indians and took notes on them. If you want to be ahead of the game, please check the following link for what we discussed or will discuss in the near future.

http://www.google.com/notebook/public/10652289361032661503/BDQJ-SgoQofXagcsj?hl=en

Hopi you are doing well

Today we took notes and got in depth on the Hopi Indians. We talked about the adaptations the Hopi had to make to survive in the hot and dry climate of the desert. We also looked at the slide show on our homepage and talked about how students could make projects from those ideas. Please make sure your student also is thinking about their project, it's due in a few scant weeks! I had a great project already come in. It's a tipi made in Sketchup

We did a before and after chart on the Hopi in a couple of sections (see picture). I stole this idea from another Social Studies teacher.

Project Due December 3

Hi all!

Yesterday and today we talked about the Pueblo tribes from the desert southwest. I also introduced the project every student will do.

This project is open ended and can be about ANYTHING you've learned in Social Studies this year.

Ideas could include, but are not limited to:
Masks
Pottery (clay or salt dough)
Kachina dolls (use paper towel tubes)
Fake arrowheads
Igloos (styrofoam blocks?)
Mocassins (leather?)
Drums (paper/coffee can)
Paper/clay villages
Salmon trap (Kwakiutl)-made of toothpicks or popsicle sticks(?)
Headdress
Physical map (paper mache)
Longhouse or other Native American structures-(roundhouse)
Fabric (bark, cotton using a hand loom)-weaving
Tipi/lean-to/wikiup
Mounds (Mississippian culture)-paper mache
Totem pole
Canoe/dugout
Buffalo/bison and how it was used maybe(?)
3-D model using "Sketchup" program from Google (it's free! and "relatively" easy)
Pueblo
Model of a Native American-label tribe and region
Basket (woven out of paper or other materials)
War shield
Sand painting
Games (lacrosse, Aztec equivalent of basketball)-court?
Quilt
Agriculture (for example how Pueblo Indians irrigated)
Any kind of scene from the tribes we've studied
Hunting tools (bow and arrow)
Wooden carvings
Petroglyphs/cave paintings
Flute or other instrument
Snowshoes (string/sticks?)
Travois

Here's a direct link. We'll probably add some more ideas as we have discussions.

http://www.google.com/notebook/public/10652289361032661503/BDQcjSgoQmP2bicgj?hl=en

Election Day

Today in several sections we went over the Preamble to the Constitution. We also had a lively debate about Election Day! Many of the students had great points for both parties and several people had issues with both candidates. Very nice to see high level thinking out of our students. Yesterday, Obama won the school election in our mock election by a very slim margin, so whoever you are voting for (even if it's Bob Barr!) be sure to cast your ballot and honor our democratic (well, Electoral College) process.

In several sections we discussed the tragic case of Sun Hudson. If your student has questions, please review the case with them. This law that allows "pulling the plug" on infants is a great concern of mine, personally!

We didn't do much in terms of notes, so just make sure everyone is caught up with the Kwakiutl and Nez Perce notes off the website.

Kwakiutl and more!

Today we covered the Northwest tribes in depth. Our notes are online and ALPHA students (and anyone else who was absent) needs to catch up. I will be doing a notes check tomorrow for a grade!!!

It's also Tuesday, Newsday. We looked at articles on a newly discovered set of asteroid belts and what the COROT satellite has been up to. Scientists believe that we will discover several Earthlike planets by 2012 using COROT.

I am passing out a note regarding Halloween bags, and every student will bring home their bag today or tomorrow. This is NOT mandatory, but is like our pencil policy ("take a pencil, leave a pencil"). We will not have a party on Halloween if our policy is the same from last year.

I was very pleased with the work ethic today. Most of our Indian legends are published and out in the hall, so feel free to come by and check out the great work students are doing!!!

Today we published our final copies of our Indian legends (most of us, anyways). Many of the published pieces are hanging outside our doors, so feel free to drop by the 4th/5th grade hall and see how they turned out!

I'm very pleased at the work flow and the better overall efforts in writing. Students are truly understanding paragraphs, strong beginnings and solid endings to their narrative writing.

Our RUNNING WRITING this week is straight out of the Social Studies standards. We are talking abut how Native Americans used their environment to obtain food, clothing and shelter. Students should think about how tribes used wood in all kinds of ways if they are stuck and need a prompt.

We also started mapping out where various tribes lived in the United States. Here's a sample of one room's work. We will continue working on this Tuesday and Wednesday!

Stormy Friday

We did quite a bit today; spelling test retakes, final copies of (most) Indian Legends, and watercolors in homeroom. Students will take these home on Monday; I didn't quite have enough time to take pictures. I also posted next week's running writing topic which is basically standard SS4H1(b) to the letter. We also had counseling by Mrs. Virdin about bullying.


Above is another map from our SS4G1 (Physical and manmade features) project. Check out our class map. This, too is a work in progress.


I will be giving out a rubric for a project next week.