Still Learning

I've been playing around with our new Smart software. Here is an experimental video I made with the program reviewing the Legislative Branch.

Three Branches Quiz

Take the quiz below for Extra Credit (and to help prepare for the Constitution Test). The answers will be sent to me. Don't forget to fill your name in.

The Three Branches of Government

The Preamble

the Preamble of the Constitution is a single sentence introduction to the document. It states the purpose of the new form of government with its six goals:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Here is the Schoolhouse Rocks video that teaches about the Preamble:


This video is from the Andy Griffith Show (from the 1960's). In it, the character of Barney claims that he still remembers the entire Preamble from when he learned it in grade school. Watch and see how well he really remembers it:

The Consitutional Convention - An Overview

The Declaration of Indpendence, Illustrated Children's Version

Happy Thanksgiving

President Franklin Roosevelt proclaims a National Day of Thanksgiving:


Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:

Kermit the Frog Helps Write "Yankee Doodle"

The Declaration of Indepence from the Mini-Series "John Adams"

Ben Franklin on the Continental Congress

An actor portraying Benjamin Franklin shares some of Franklin's thoughts on the Continental Congress:

No More Kings

Sit Down John

As we complete our Declaration of Independence, Illustrated Children's Version we are viewing my favorite movie: 1776. Here is one of my favorite scenes/songs from the film:

From Picking Cotton to Picking Presidents

Overlaid:


The images above and the text below were copied from the site http://strangemaps.wordpress.com.
Both these maps show the same segment of the southern United States, and demonstrate a similar pattern. Yet each describes a wholly other era and a completely different process.

The bottom map dates from 1860 (i.e. the eve of the Civil War), and indicates where cotton was produced at that time, each dot representing 2,000 bales of the stuff. Cotton was King back then, and mainly so in the densely cultivated border area between Louisiana and Mississippi, and in an equally dense band of cotton cultivation starting west of the Mississippi-Alabama line, tapering out across Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Other cotton centres are the areas around Memphis and what appears to be Lawrenceburg in southern Tennessee.

The top map dates from 2008, and shows the results of the recent presidential election, on county level. Blue counties voted for Obama, red ones for McCain (darker hues representing larger majorities). In spite of Obama’s national victory, and barring Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, all Southern states (i.e. all states formerly belonging to the Confederacy) went for McCain. The pattern of pro-Obama counties in those southern states corresponds strikingly with the cotton-picking areas of the 1860s, especially along the Louisiana-Mississippi and Mississippi-Alabama borders (the pattern corresponds less strikingly and deviates significantly elsewhere).

The link between these two maps is not causal, but correlational, and the correlation is African-Americans. Once they were the slaves on whom the cotton economy had to rely for harvesting. Despite an outward migration towards the Northern cities, their settlement pattern now still closely corresponds to that of those days.

During the Democratic primary, many African-American voters supported Hillary Clinton, thinking it unlikely Barack Obama would win the nomination, let alone the presidency. When it became apparent that Obama had a good shot at the nomination (and thereafter at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue itself), their support for Obama became near monolithic. As it turns out, president-elect Obama won with the an overall support of 53%, but that includes over 90% of black voters (1).

And while their votes did not swing their states towards ‘their’ (2) candidate, the measure in which black residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina voted for Obama is remarkable in that this particular voting pattern still corresponds with settlement patterns of almost a century and a half ago.

Declaration of Independance Children's Book

Students are currently working on their "Illustrated Children's Version" of the Declaration of Independence. They have rephrased key excerpts from the document into words that an elementary school student could understand and now they are putting the words and images together to make a book.

Interactive Whiteboard Fun!

Recently we have been using our new interactive whiteboard in class. Usually this type of technology costs a few thousand dollars to outfit one classroom, however the school district did some research online and learned how to configure a similar setup using only a Wii controller and an infra-red pen-light.

The interactive whiteboard works like a touchscreen, allowing students to digitially draw, write, or annotate on anything projected by the computer. So far we have used this technology to examine and annotate historical images, to better understand the electoral process, and to model assignments.

Students shared the images they drew in response to Preview 6 ("Describe a situation in which you could have used the words: 'It was the last straw'"):

Before begininning Activity Notes 6 (repharsing excerpts from the Declaration of Independance), we did a couple of examples together as a class:

In the days before the presidential election, students made predictions about how they thought each state would vote. By simply touching the states on the screen they could turn them red or blue (just like on CNN!):

Sesame Street Does the American Revolution

Here are some classic Sesame Street videos about the American Revolution. The first is about Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence. The second video reenacts the choosing of a national bird.

Springfield Trip

There is still lots of room for the Springfield Trip, May 22-23. You can get a registration form from the office or Mr. McCarthy.

The Declaration of Independence

A very good dramatic reading of the Declaration:



And here is the video "Fireworks" from Schoolhouse Rocks

Pop vs. Soda

I found this on one of my favorite sites: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com. You may want to click on the map to view it better.



Here is some of part of the text that accompanied the map:
"When on a hot summer’s day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else? That question lay at the basis of an article in the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996) and of a map, showing the regional variation in American English of the names given to that type of drink.

The article was written by Luanne von Schneidemesser, PhD in German linguistics and philology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and senior editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. And although there might be weightier issues in life (or even in linguistics) than the preferred terminology for a can of soft drink, there’s nothing trivial about this part of the beverage industry.

“According to an article last year in the Isthmus, Madison’s weekly newspaper, Americans drink so much of the carbonated beverages sold under such brand names as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, and 7-Up that consumption averages 43 gallons per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States,” Von Schneidemesser begins her article. “The Statistical Abstract of the United States (1994) confirms this: 44.1 gallons per person in 1992, compared to the next most consumed beverages: beer (32.7 gallons), coffee (27.8 gallons), and milk (25.3 gallons).”

-coke: this generic term for soft drinks predominates throughout the South, New Mexico, central Indiana and in a few other single counties in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. ‘Coke’ obviously derives from Coca-Cola, the brand-name of the soft drink originally manufactured in Atlanta (which explains its use as a generic term for all soft drinks in the South).

-pop: dominates the Northwest, Great Plains and Midwest. The world ‘pop’ was introduced by Robert Southey, the British Poet Laureate (1774-1843), to whom we also owe the word ‘autobiography’, among others. In 1812, he wrote: A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn. Even though it was introduced by a Poet Laureate, the term ‘pop’ is considered unsophisticated by some, because it is onomatopaeic.

-soda: prevalent in the Northeast, greater Miami, the area in Missouri and Illinois surrounding St Louis and parts of northern California. ‘Soda’ derives from ‘soda-water’ (also called club soda, carbonated or sparkling water or seltzer). It’s produced by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in plain water, a procedure developed by Joseph Priestly in the latter half of the 18th century. The fizziness of soda-water caused the term ‘soda’ to be associated with later, similarly carbonated soft drinks.

-Other, lesser-used terms include ‘dope’ in the Carolinas and ‘tonic’ in and around Boston, both fading in popularity. Other generic terms for soft drinks outside the US include ‘pop’ (Canada), ‘mineral’ (Ireland), ‘soft drink’ (New Zealand and Australia). The term ‘soft drink’, finally, arose to contrast said beverages with hard (i.e. alcoholic) drinks.

2008 Election by County

The two maps below compare the national election results when viewed by county versus when viewed by state.

Sidebar Fun

Check out the new additions on the sidebar, including the class survey application. Comment to this post about the additions for extra credit!

Kermit the Frog and George Washington

Cute video but NOT based on a true story.

Election Results by Illinois County

Election Results

The Electoral College

Colonial Town Meeting

On Oct. 27 and 28th we held a Colonial Town Meeting in order to better understand the debate over colonial independence in early 1776. Students were each assigned a specific historical figure. They were given a description of that person's view on independence and were told whether they were a Patriot, a Loyalist, or if they were Neutral at that time. Each student had to create a poster they would use to present their "Key Ideas" at the Town Meeting

The Patriots and Loyalists switched off presenting their ideas to the Neutralists. After each presentation, Neutralists were given the opportunity to question the presenter, and the opposing side was given an opportunity for rebuttal.

The students really liked this activity and all of them did a good job of representing their side. Many students got into their character, which sometimes led to a heated, but good spirited, debate.

At the end of the meeting, the Neutralists had to declare whether they would side with the Patriots or Loyalists.

Patrick Henry's Famous Speech

Extra Credit: The Boston Massacre

Below are two very different depictions of what took place at the scene of the Boston Massacre. they are written from two very different points of view. One of them is from a Patriot's point of view, the other is more likely from a British, or neutral, point of view. Using what we have learned in class (section 5.5 in your textbook and the video we watched), try and determine which is which. For extra credit, write up a brief statement (2 paragraphs) that explains which picture was drawn from which point of view. Your explanation must be supported with details from what we have read/discussed in class.

You must then add a paragraph in which you explain whether or not it is important to know the truth about what happened in history or not.

This statement must be either typed or neatly written on lined notebook paper, with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. It must be turned in to me by Thursday, Oct. 9th to get the extra credit. Keep in mind; the more detailed your explanation is, the more points you will receive.

Illustration 1:

Illustration 2:

Taxation Without Representation

Today students participated in a history simulation in which most of them played the role of colonists being taxed by the "King" and "Parliament". The "Colonists" were taxed on things such as hair color, clothing, and accesories. The "Colonists" had no say in the taxes and, though they were not happy about it, the "King" and "Parliament" kept demanding more money.

King George, Parliament, and the Tax Collectors:





Taxes being collected from the colonists:

Colonial Sales Presentations

On september 25th groups gave sales presentations for their colony. Each group had created a brochure that highlighted features of their colony such as; reasons for settlement, religion, government, economy and occupations, and geography and climate. All of the presentations highlighted the features mentioned in their brochure. Many of the groups did a great job of presenting their colony in a manner that was not only educational, but interesting and entertaining as well. We had skits, puppet shows, raps, and more.

After the presentations we talked about features that were common among the colonies, such as the fact that most colonists were farmers, most colonies were self-governed and somewhat democratic, and most colonies welcomed people of various faiths.

Colonial Life

We are about to begin our study of the English Colonies in America. To give you a little bit of a preview of what colonial life was like I found this video of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia:



Here is a video about the Salem Witch Trials that took place in Massachusetts in 1692

Extra Credit

Since I've been putting a lot of time into this blog lately I have decided to give extra credit points for students who comment on the posts. However, in order to earn points students must post truly reflective comments. That means that you must explain how you feel about the topic, activity, or video that has been posted. It is not enough to simply post; "that was cool", you must explain what you specifically liked or disliked.

Surviving Jamestown

To learn more about what it took for the Jamestown settlers to survive, students had to pose as inatimate objects such as a ship, barrels, axes and trees. They were then asked questions about how they helped the settlers to survive and the challenges settlers would have to face.

Jamestown Scene Recreation

Here are some scenes from the experiences of Jamestown settlers that I have recreated for you.

John Smith (far left) helps Jamestown's settlers survive by telling them that if they don't work, they won't eat:


Captain John Smith is about to be clubbed to death by the Powhatan Indians:


But he is saved by the chief's daughter Pocahontas:


The Jamestown settlers are saved from their "Starving Time" by ships carrying supplies and new colonists from England:


Peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Indians is strengthened when John Rolfe marries Pocahontas with the approval of her father Chief Powhatan:

Jamestown

One of the things we will be learning about in chapter 2 is Jamestown. Jamestown was the first permanent successful English colony in the America continents. Essentially, it was the start of America. The English had failed at two previous attempts to set up colonies in the "New World", and they almost failed at this one as well if it wasn't for the ingenuity of Captain John Smith. After a rough start in 1607, Jamestown eventually grew to become the basis of what would be the colony of Virginia. You can find out more by visiting this website.

My wife and I visited the site of Jamestown, where the fort and buildings have been recreated, on our honeymoon in the summer of 2003. Here are some pictures: