Hi All,

​I'm trying to raise money for video equipment for my 8th graders so they can make Student Documentaries. Currently my project is on DonorsChoose.org. For the next 4 days, DonorsChoose will match ANY donation made to my class. If you have the time and the funds, we would really appreciate a donation. Even $1 will help (because really it will be $2 when DonorsChoose matches it). Please do not feel obligated to donate.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to donate within the next seven days, enter the code [EMPOWER]. DonorsChoose will only match dollar for dollar if the code [EMPOWER] is entered.

Link to my project: http://www.donorschoose.org/project/creating-student-films-in-the-history-cl/1856868/?rf=link-siteshare-2016-01-teacher-teacher_357591&challengeid=113683​  

​Thanks so much for even considering a donation.

Sung to the Tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

On the first day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me an unannounced observation.

On the second day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the third day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me three long emails, 
two ancient textbooks 
and an unannounced observation.

On the fourth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me four new students,
three long emails,
two ancient textbooks 
and an unannounced observation.

On the fifth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails,
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the sixth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails,
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the seventh day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the eighth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me eight teacher meetings,
seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the ninth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me nine extra duties,
eight teacher meetings,
seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the tenth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me ten schcedule changes,
nine extra duties, 
eight teacher meetings,
seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the eleventh day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me eleven days for testing,
ten schedule changes,
nine extra duties,
eight teacher meetings,
seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

On the twelfth day back from Christmas break my principal gave to me twelve state standards,
eleven days for testing,
ten schedule changes,
nine extra duties,
eight teacher meetings,
seven sets of data,
six parents calling,
five reams of paper,
four new students,
three long emails. 
two ancient textbooks
and an unannounced observation.

You sang it didn't you!


Have a wonderful 2016!  Enjoy the second half of the school year. 
​

Professional Development opportunities that is! The application process is open for such awesome summer Seminars such as National Endowment for Humanities or Gilder Lehrman.   Both of these seminars provide a small stipend to help with travel expenses.  I have  been fortunate enough to attend programs sponsored by both groups.  I have blogged about them in the past.  Check it out here,  here or here.  There are other opportunities out there for teachers as well.  Some you have to pay for out of your pocket and some with small stipends like these.  Keep your eyes out and take the time to apply.  It is well worth it.

It's not often you get the opportunity to spend a week with other Social Studies Teachers, learning content and touring historical places you may not have had the chance to visit before.  Who knows, you may run into me!

 thenWhether you celebrate, Kwanza, Hanukkah, Christmas, Festivus or even nothing at all teaching in the Middle of December is tough.  The days are shorter and darker.  They kids are excited and anxious for break and the teachers are stressed.  On a side note, did you know that stressed is desserts spelled backwards?  So go ahead and enjoy the endless supply of peppermint bark in the teachers' lounge.

The question becomes, how do I keep my students engaged for these last few days before the Vacation?  By the way, as I am typing this on my prep I am avoiding the giant pigsty of a desk that needs to be cleaned and the book shelves that need to be organized.  Across the hall is the music room where I have been listening to "Frosty the Snowman" and a variety of other Christmas Carols being sung loudly and enthusiastically with the eighth graders that just left my class.

Way off topic already.  So...what do I do to keep them engaged?  Why prove that Santa is real of course.  I found an old copy of the letter written by Virginia O'Hanlan in 1897 archived by me many, many years ago in my file cabinet.  

Me:  "Who here believes in Santa?"
Eighth Graders:  Eye rolls and groans
Me: " What if I told you that I had a primary source document that proves Santa is real?"
Eighth Graders: Less eye rolls and groans this time, surprisingly a few perk up to listen.
Me: "It all started when..."

I built a little background information for them by talking about the letter that Virginia wrote to the editor of The Sun in New York way way back in 1897.  We chatted for a few minutes and then analyzed the primary source using the document analysis sheet I created a few years ago.  You can find it here at my TpT store.  After analyzing the document, we watched the cartoon " Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus."

I found two cartoon versions on youtube, each about 22 minutes long.  The first one was the one I remembered from the 1970s and the second one was a much newer version.  Interestingly enough, I offered the choice of which one they wanted to watch.  The first group watched the newer version and the second group went for the cheesy cartoon from the 70s!
  

For some reason, the newer video is posted in 3 parts.

The second  group seemed to enjoy the activity a little more than the first.  To each his own I guess.

Teaching the Declaration of Independence usually results in groans and eye rolls.  This year I wanted to engage my students right from the get go, so I did what I do best when planning to teach concepts in a new and exciting way, troll the internet.  I stumbled across an idea to introduce the Declaration of Independence in a unique way. It is called "The Break-Up Letter."

Here is what I did...

After I greeted the kiddos as they walked in the door, I instructed them to review the Content Objective on the board and complete their warm-up activity.  I asked them to list what they know ( or think they know) about the Declaration of Independence as the warm-up.  After a few minutes I had them draw a line under the last thing they wrote, asked them to get up and talk to at least 5 different people and record the new ideas below the line. (More on this activity another time).  While they were happily flitting from person to person I pretended to find a note on the floor.  I made a big production about paper on the floor and asked all of the kiddos to return to their desks.  I told the class that I was very annoyed and tired of picking up their stuff off the floor, after all I am not their mothers.  As I was saying this, I unfolded the paper and read what was on it to myself.  Insert dramatic acting here.  Some how the kids "convinced" me to read the letter aloud.

As I read this letter, there were lots of gasps, giggles and groans.  Well groans is not quite the right word but it fit alliteratively with what I was going for.  In all reality the groans were more like "Oooooh".  Once I finished reading the letter, I refused to say who it was from at first.  After some begging and groveling from the eighth graders, I relented and said " The American Colonies."  At first there were many looks of confusion until one bright little chippy student said, "She's talking about the Declaration of Independence."  Love, love, love that the connection was made!

Boy it sure is easy to pull of a practical joke with eighth graders.  And it is not even April Fool's Day, although that would have made the joke that much better.    I deserve an Academy Award for best performance of an annoyed middle school teacher.  Well maybe not an Academy Award, but I thought my performance was pretty convincing!  

So class continued as we built some background information by reading and annotating an article on the Declaration of Independence and answering some comprehension questions.  We discussed how the Declaration of Independence is the first document of its kind, but many other people have modeled their declarations after ours.  We talked about how Thomas Jefferson was part of a committee of five men selected to draft the document.    We even learned that Jefferson made about 80 revisions and looked at the original draft, complete with cross outs and mistakes.  You can see that document here.  Through out the discussion there was the occasional ,"Wow she got us good," comment! 

So where do we go from here?  Next we will read the actual document and break it down into its different parts.  After that I want to have the students read  and analyze the deleted passage on slavery.  

You can view a brave soul, far braver than I with his video of the break up letter to his class here.

You can see another blogpost about this lesson here.  Ok, I just realized I did not include a copy of the letter.  Oops, sorry about that.  You can find the letter I modeled mine after on the blog post above listed above.

Whoo Hoo!! Super excited today.  Today is the day my guest post was published on Minds in Bloom.  Click the link and check it out.  Let me know what you think!!!

Seems to be a week of firsts for me.  The first first my guest blog being published on Tuesday on the Minds in Bloom blog.  Super excited about that!  My second first this week is my very first Powtoon.  "What's a Powtoon?" you ask.  Well, let me fill you in.  A Powtoon is an online animation studio.

My 8th graders are beginning a research project.  It is an assignment that the Social Studies department took over to help the ELA department at my school with their Non Fiction Writing module.  We are using traditional research skills and following MLA format to write a paper on one of the causes of the American Revolution.  I wanted to use some sort of video or powerpoint to introduce using notecards, so naturally I began trolling the internet for some inspiration.  I stumbled upon the Powtoon site and the rest is as they HISTORY!

Remember before you watch this video... It is my first attempt at a Powtoon.  I will be providing anchor charts and I will be modeling note taking skills with my little historians in class, and THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT A POWTOON.  I am not yelling.  I am showing excitement! ;)

So here it is:
​

Hi All!  Just wanted to let you know that I just finished writing my first  guest post for the blog Minds in Bloom.  It is about using graphic organizers in the Social Studies class.  I will  let you know when it will be up on their site.  So very excited.  That being said, if anyone is interested in writing a guest post for this blog on any pertinent Social Studies topic, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Love, love, love my talented kiddos!  This is what some of the kids did during my prep period!  The girl in blue is being eaten by Frankenstein!  Happy October!

Today my seventh graders and I ventured out of the classroom and into an archaeological adventure on this day the autumnal equinox.  We have been studying Early Man in Social Studies.  Our current unit includes such topics as the Stone Age, Neanderthals and Prehistory.  My esteemed  Social Studies colleagues and I thought that it would be fun and interesting to go to America's Stonehenge in Salem, NH. (About 40 minutes from our school in Lowell, MA.)  

America's Stonehenge is an ancient site dating up to 4,000 years ago.  It's origins are unsure, but archaeological evidence of the site ranges from 4,000 years ago to the 1800s.  There are many different theories about who was there originally.  Some think it may Native American, others believe that it could have been early European Explorers.  Whoever it was created a site that shows they were well versed in astronomy.  The site is an accurate astronomical calendar. 

When I first booked this field trip, I did not realize that today was the autumnal equinox.  Once I did figure it out, I am not going to lie.  I touched a few stones ala  Claire Randall Fraser from the book series Outlander/Starz television series.  I was wondering if being at a magical astronomical calendar on a magical day such as the equinox if I would be transported back in time like Claire.  If you haven't read the books by Diana Gabaldon or seen the Starz series based on the books, you are missing out.

I guess I needed to be there without my students for me to be magically transported back in time.  After all, how would that be explained to their parents?  
     "Well, Mrs. Smith your daughter's teacher was with Janey at the beginning of the field trip, but the kids tell me she disappeared into thin air. "

Imagine if some students transported with me!
   " So I have some good news and some bad news for you Mr. Johnson.  The good news is your child is getting a great education in history this year.  The bad news is that your child has been magically transported to the year 1659 with her history teacher."

All kidding aside, we had a great trip.  We started our day with a quick movie to introduce us to the archaeological site.  Once the movie ended we went hiking on a trail that led us through time from prehistory through the nineteenth century.  We stopped and explored the different sites.  At the end of the trail we discovered an enclosure that housed alpacas, the llamas smaller cousin.  Very cute!  After lunch, there was some more fun as we went on an archaeological dig simulation.  

The students really had a great time.  We saw many different monoliths and stone structures on our hike.  After lunch the students went to the archaeology simulation site and spent about 45 minutes digging for artifacts like real archaeologists.  Who would have thought that a bunch of seventh graders would love digging in the dirt!

So if you live in or around Salem, NH and are able to bring your students there I highly recommend it.

Below are a couple of links for more information about America's Stonehenge.

In seventh grade we have been working on developing skills to learn about and understand the past.  We have explored the connection between geography and history.  We learned that weather patterns, water supply and the landscapes affect the civilizations and the people  living there. Knowing the geography of an area can explain why certain  historical events happen the way they do. 

The students were introduced to some important vocabulary; prehistory, history, archaeology, oral traditions, artifact and excavate. I wanted them to understand the difference between prehistory and history.  In a nutshell, prehistory is the period of time before writing and history begins once writing is developed and people can record the events that happen in their civilizations.  Archaeologists examine artifacts that have been excavated and draw conclusions about their purpose.

What better way to understand words like archaeologist and excavate then to become apprentice archaeologists on a  hot, Friday afternoon.  So I donned my Pith Helmut and engaged the students in archaeology.

The science teacher on my team laughed when he saw me in my get up and said I looked like Smokey the Bear.  I beg to differ, Smokey the Bear wears a ranger hat, I was wearing a pith helmut.

I am sorry, I don't see the resemblance. LOL!  I tried to convince him that I was wearing an archaeology hat, and that it was not the Smokey the Bear hat.  He didn't buy it.  I even showed him a picture in between classes of the archaeologist on the bottom of the vocabulary page.  It was her that I was trying to be.  Minus the khaki pants and vest of course.

Once we reviewed vocabulary we had a brief discussion about what this simulation represents and we set out to work.  Students worked in pairs to carefully excavate the chocolate chip "artifacts" from the cookie "site".   They were given tools that included toothpicks, paintbrushes and plastic clay sculpting knives.  Voila- Chocolate Chip Cookie Archaeology and lots of fun!

Directions for Chocolate Chip Archaeology.

Imagine that you are an archaeologist in an exotic land.  You have been working at a site for a very long time.  You and your team of archaeologists have finally stumbled on a site that is full of ancient artifacts.  You are now tasked with the job of carefully excavating the fragile artifacts so they can be examined, catalogued and eventually sent to a museum were many people will enjoy them.  You must be very careful.  The artifacts that were made thousands of years ago could break very easily.  If they break, you may not be able to identify their purpose and learn about the civilization.  The more whole artifacts that are excavated the better chance you will have to draw conclusions about the civilization.


Granted the activity was about my students, especially the second language learners and Special Education students, understanding the words archaeologist, artifact and excavate, but I see the potential of a creative writing or research assignments to extend the learning.



***** On Monday, I checked to see if they remembered the definitions for archaeologist, excavate and artifact and was happy to discover that the students did! Whoo Hooo!!


  

Day 1 down 179 to go, but who is counting!  Actually, it was a very good day today.  Despite the insufferable heat and the fact that I have to retrain my kidneys and bladder to pee at  specific times during the day, it was a very good day. 

My eighth graders were awesome!  But I already knew that, after all I taught them as seventh graders.  My new seventh graders were well behaved. I am looking forward to getting to know them.

One new thing that I added this year was a Social Studies Handbook. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted it to be and rolled it out today.   This handbook will grow and change as we progress through the year.  I plan on adding anchor charts and rubrics as we do new things.  My thinking is that everything will be kept in their binders.  There will be no excuses, no "I didn't know," no "You never told me that."

The purpose of this handbook in the binder will be a reference.  One that students can turn back to at any time to review important Social Studies information.  One that I can have them turn to and review policies and procedures at any time.  That is my plan.  

So what is in it?  Glad you asked!  For starters, I have classroom expectations listed.  There are three.  Be Respectful, Be Responsible and Be Ready to Learn.  Next I put a new twist on an old activity.  I asked students to to create hashtags for each one.  I provided some examples for them (though I am new to this whole hashtag phenomena) This is what I provided the students in their handbook:

I asked students to collaborate with their groups and come up with more hashtags for each of the expectations.  I thought they did a great job when we shared out.  Here are some of their ideas.

Be Respectful
#treatpeoplekindly
#kindtoeachother
#donttalkback
#appropriatelanguage

Be Responsible
#doyourhomework
#writeyourname
#behonest
#nocheating
#raiseyourhand
#doyourbest
#turnyourworkin

Be Ready to Learn
#listen
#followdirections
#eyesforward

So their hashtags were added to the chart in the Social Studies Handbook.
I also gave them the routine to get started in class, group expectations and some sentence stems for class discussions.  

I am excited and hopeful about this new strategy.  I hope it will be a useful tool for students too!

I just learned that for today only, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match donations made to my classroom project on DonorsChoose.org. I’m so excited!

Before tonight (midnight West Coast time, if we’re being specific), please make a donation of any size to my project, Technology for the History Class and enter the code JUMPSTART at checkout. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will double up to $1,000 per donor - every bit helps!

Thank you so much!!!!!

This week I went back to work unofficially.  I went into my classroom a couple of times to start organizing, copying, and planning for the beginning of the school year.  For a couple of hours each day, I don't mind giving up the last few days of summer.  I love back to school.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer, but it is time to go back.  I start to know it is time when I begin having back to school nightmares.  You know what I am talking about.  These are the dreams that you have in the days or weeks before school starts that involve  60 or more wild unruly students in one class, overwhelming paperwork and correcting and the principal walking into your room just as you freak out on the students and "loose it." 

Well, I have had two dreams thus far that I can recall, so Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off to Work I Go!

So this morning, I got up out of bed, worked out and mopped my kitchen floor before heading off to school. Somewhere in there I managed to eat breakfast and lunch too.  I was able to spend almost 3 hours in my class today.  I felt a sense of accomplishment and was going to stay  a little longer despite the suffocating heat in my room.  That is until I saw a spider.  I am not talking about the itsy bitsy spider either.  This thing was HUGE.  I am talking the size of a Volkswagon Bug.  Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I wigged out when I saw it.  I still have the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.  It is going to be him or me, but I have to muster up the courage to go and find someone who can take care of it for me.  I don't think my husband will come down to school, or I will never hear the end of it if I ask him.  


Enough about the giant spider.


I have been contemplating some new techniques that I want to try to help engage students and manage behavior.  I have been looking at Whole Brain Teaching.  I am not sure if it is too young for my middle school students, but I figure there are a few concepts I can try.  As I get more proficient at implementing the techniques I will decide if it is right for me and my classes.  For more information on whole brain teaching visit http://ashleytipton.weebly.com/whole-brain-teaching.html .  


Another technique, I want to develop more is using an interactive notebook in my Social Studies Classes.  I used to do this a long time ago when I taught fourth grade.  When I switched back to middle school, I dropped this from my bag of tricks.  It is time to bring it back.  Back when I did interactive notebooks before I had kids create foldables to put in their notebooks, but I did not have them reflect, and that is an important step in interactive notebooks.  Trolling the internet and pinterest there are thousands and thousands of ideas for interactive notebooks.  After reading and researching some more I believe that this will become an effective strategy to teach and engage the students. 


I have also been thinking about using a point system for rewards.  I am not sure how I will manage this yet, especially with for classes of 30 or so.  I do know that I want to give each small group a check list and point system for each class procedure, homework, warm-up activity, class participation etc.  I want to tie this in to my Decide Now app, but I have too still work out the logistics of it all.  On pinterest the other day, I saw a great idea for scratch cards to be used as rewards.  The excitement is in the surprise, the trouble is the labor intensive process to make them.  Maybe I can make that one of the options on Decide Now.  I am still thinking about it.


My mind is a whirlwind of ideas for the new school year.  You probably noticed this when you read this post about whacky dreams, giant spiders and new teaching strategies.  Maybe my scattered and random thoughts are because of the excitement of the new year.  Maybe it is because of my ADD ( Self diagnosed!) , or maybe it is because summer is coming to an end.  What ever the reason my teacher brain will calm down in September and I will be more focused.  Once that happens, I can write a whole post on one topic.  Now for that spider...

Here it is August 17, 2015, and summer is quickly ebbing away.  The first day of school for some children and teachers has already happened, and a good many more will be starting in the next few weeks.  With the first day of school quickly approaching for me, thoughts of first day activities keep running through my mind.

Yesterday I was trolling Pinterest and looking for some ideas. ( My new favorite techie site for teaching ideas.  I even created a new board! ...I may need a 12 step program for this, but that is another story for another time!) 

I found some awesome links for Ice Breaker Activities.  I am not sure what I am going to try yet.  These foam noodle activities look like a lot of fun.  I bet foam noodles will be significantly marked down at this time of year too!

This activity is courtesy of http://schoolcounselorscrapbook.blogspot.com/2012/04/small-group-activites.html

Basically, small groups of students (4-6) line up.  Lines can be shortest to tallest, oldest to youngest etc.  Using Duct tape you box them in.  Their task is is to reverse the line without stepping outside of the box.  You can make it more challenging by taking away verbal communication.

Gingersnaptreatsforteachers.blogspot.com has some great first day of school ideas for younger kiddies.

This looks like fun.  I am trying to figure out how to build it without too much cost or too much difficulty!

Both of these activities can be found at http://hative.com/team-building-activities-for-adults-and-kids/ or on my pinterest board Team Building.

A few years ago, I created a freebie for my teacherspayteachers page.  It is a list of simple and engaging icebreaker activities with easy to follow directions.

I still have a few days to figure out what I will do on the first day of school.  Which ever activity or ice breaker I choose I am sure the students will have fun!

Hi Friends, 
I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed, so I just created a request for my classroom at DonorsChoose.org: 

Technology for the History Class 

Give to my classroom by August 17, 2015 and your donation will be doubled thanks to DonorsChoose.org. Just enter the code SPARK on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $100). 

If you chip in to help my students, you'll get awesome photos and our heartfelt thanks. 
Thanks so much, 
Kathy




P.S. If you know anyone who may want to help my classroom, please pass this along! 

Once again, I spent a week immersed in Revolutionary War History.  This time I was at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate, NY.  I want to begin by giving a big shout out to the staff , Rich, Tim and Judy, as well as the many, many others at Fort Ticonderoga.  These people went above and beyond making us teachers feel welcome.  They made sure that every detail of our week was taken care of, so thank you very much.  Next I want to send a shout out to the National Endowment for Humanities.  For without them this program and many others would not be possible.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to improve my knowledge of history, tour important historical sites, develop new strategies and teaching skills and meet exceptional teachers with whom I can connect and share ideas.

My journey to Fort Ticonderoga began this past Sunday when I hopped in my car and drove 3 1/2 hours.  When I arrived at the hotel, I checked in and had the chance to meet this incredible group of teachers at what was a welcome dinner and orientation of the week.  It was a travel day for most of us, so it was an early night; at least for me.

Monday, July 27th began with a hike up Mount Defiance.  Despite the fog, the view was incredible as we looked over on the fort and Lake Champlain.

Throughout the week we had phenomenal speakers who shared their knowledge of Fort Ticonderoga, the French and Indian War as well as the American Revolution.  We learned about slavery, women, Benedict Arnold, and so much more. 

Here is a quick video I found today about Benedict Arnold.  This video focuses more on him being a traitor.  We mostly talked about all of the great things he did before committing treason to the United States.

We also had an amazing opportunity to examine artifacts, primary source documents and tour the fort and some other important Revolutionary War sites such as Saratoga.

This truly was an amazing week to top off the amazing month of July.  Once again I am grateful for the opportunity provided by NEH and Fort Ticonderoga.  I met some incredible teachers from around the country.  I have so many new ideas that I want to put in place in the classroom.  I am looking forward to August as I can relax by the pool with my family and begin to process all of the knowledge I have gained in preparation for the 2015-2016 school year.  Hopefully I will have some time to shut down my teacher brain , turn on my summer brain and truly enjoy the remaining month of August!


                  UPDATE
I just found an article about the NEH program I attended.  The article is from the Saratogian News.  It highlights a couple from the area who attended  two different NEH programs in upstate NY.  One of them attended the same program I did just on a different week.  It was a nice press release for the NEH.  Check it out.

What a whirlwind week this has been.  I spent this week immersed in the Revolutionary War touring Lexington and Concord as well as the Freedom Train in Boston.  I am fortunate to live in an area so rich in early American history.

I worked with a fantastic group of teachers this week as well as instructors, park rangers and scholars.  One teacher had me in stitches today at lunch talking about her first experience substitute teaching.  It has to do with second grade, taking shoes off on the rug to read a book and a fire drill.  You fill in the blanks.  Two were all the way from Ontario, Canada.  Now that is dedication to PD!

One thing that I am excited to do is to delve into all of the amazing resources, or history swag as I like to call it, I received during the week.  Part of the history swag is a set of prints by Amos Doolittle.  Doolittle arrived about a week or so in Lexington and Concord after the battle was over.  He talked to a lot of people and learned about that fateful Day on April 19, 1775.  Afterwards he created a series of four prints describing that day.

I have used these images in class before, but now I want to rethink what will be the most effective and meaningful way to use this with my students.  I still have plenty of time to mull it over.

At one point, we were at the Bunker Hill Museum.  The Park Ranger there led us through a map activity that they do with students who visit.  It was great!  There was a giant map that we all sat around.  We talked and labeled places, then proceeded to put soldiers on the map and showed their movement throughout the Battle of Bunker Hill.  The question on my mind is,  do I recreate this activity for my classroom, or plan another field trip for the kids?

The week ended on yesterday.  The group met at Hartwell Tavern at Minute Man National Park.  There we met 3 living historians and the Park Ranger in Colonial Militia garb as well.  They talked about the different types of clothing, how they were made, who wore what etc.  We even got to handle some authentic clothing from the Revolutionary era.  You read that right, authentic not reproductions!

A truly amazing week.  Thank you so much Minuteman National Park for providing this professional development for teachers.  I learned a lot.

I want to begin by giving a very heartfelt Thank You  to Gilder Lehrman, for accepting me into this very prestigious Summer Teacher Seminar, Gettysburg: History and Memory.  The experience was wonderful.  I learned a lot and really enjoyed the program!  I want to give another shout out  to all of the staff at Gettysburg College including the Gilder Lerhman Master Teacher Nate McAlister, aka the Drew Carey look alike, for making sure we were well taken care of.  Everything you said and did is greatly appreciated.

Late last night, much later than I care to admit, I pulled into my driveway after my week in Gettysburg, PA.  After a good nights sleep in my own bed, I have had time to process all of the things I learned and saw since my whirlwind tour and study of Gettysburg.  Ideas and thoughts about Gettysburg are swirling about in my head, so much so that I spent most of the day today vegging out in front of the television, too tired from my late night drive to do anything productive.  So what did I watch on television in this semi vegetative state?  You Guessed it...the movie Gettysburg staring such great hollywood legends as Martin Sheen in the role of General Lee.  Now that it is almost 11:00pm I have a little more energy, so here I sit thinking, "How can I use this information in my classroom?" " What can I hope the students will take away about Gettysburg?"   "When can I get back to Gettysburg?"

I arrived at Gettysburg College around 4:00pm on July 5, 2015.  Just barely enough time to check in to my dorm room before the group got a quick tour of the campus and had dinner at the dining hall.  During dinner all of the teachers were chatting, trying to get to know each other.  After we were done eating, each one of us was given an historical picture of a site or important building etc. in Gettysburg.  The task was to find the site and take a modern picture from the same vantage point as the historical one.  What a great ice breaker activity.  People immediately started talking and discussing what their picture was, where it possible could be and forming little groups to go on a hunt.  This activity had us out exploring the town and battlefields on our on almost immediately after dinner.  Of course the picture I had was of a building that no longer exists, so I had to do a little digging to find what stands there now!  With a few clues from Dr. Allen Guelzo, our esteemed professor and Kelsey Grammar look alike, I was able to locate it.  I am trying to figure out how to use this at school with my students.

Each morning Dr. Guelzo shared his wealth of knowledge about Gettysburg with us and each afternoon we toured different parts of Gettysburg that corresponded to what we learned about that morning.  

This experience was a wonderful opportunity.  I was surrounded by 30 or so other teachers who were just as excited to be there in Gettysburg.  As my husband said to me, "You were with your tribe!", it is the people who made the experience so valuable and rewarding.

If you haven't heard of Gilder Lehrman you should check them out.

It's the fourth of July, and I am celebrating with my family at the beach, as we do every year.  But this year is different.  Tomorrow I am starting an adventure as my husband and boys dig their feet in the sand and body surf in the waves.  I am heading to Gettysburg to attend a Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar for teachers.  This is my first summer seminar by Gilder Lehrman and I am very excited.  Whoo Hoo!!!  Yes, I know, I am a big History Geek.  This is not my only history adventure though, it is just the first of three Summer Seminars for me this July.  Next week, I will be local as I attend a summer seminar at Lexington and Concord and than later in July I will be attending a National Endowment for Humanities  Summer Institute for teachers at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate NY.

As I am sitting here watching the Boston Pops play and the fireworks explode over Boston Harbor, my bags are packed and I am very excited for what the next few weeks will bring.  Tomorrow morning, I will say my goodbyes to my family until Friday night and I will hop in my car and head south to Gettysburg, PA to begin the first leg of my history adventure.

Stay tuned for updates of my Civil War adventure in Gettysburg!  Oh and Happy Fourth of July to you.

Special shout out to Educlips for designing the header I am using for this blog!

Last spring I visited a school that I taught fourth grade at from the fall of 1998 to the Spring of 2008 when the school closed its doors.  The reason for my visitation was a program called Doors Open Lowell.  You can learn more about it in the previous post.

For those that are interested I wanted to update the post.  I felt compelled to do this because earlier this week I read a Washington Post article talking about amazing chalkboard findings at a school being renovated and I remembered touring the school last spring and finding amazing chalk board finds at the Varnum.  Through the magic of Social Media, I learned of the dedication of the and re-opening of the school happened this week.  Below is a link to the article the Lowell Sun has written about the dedication and a link to the Washington Post article on the chalkboard finds.  Enjoy!

A while back, at one of my professional development workshops, I won a one year subscription to a website called www.storyboardthat.com.  I signed up, played with it for a few days trying to figure out where, when and how to add it to my existing units.  Then, I forgot all about it.  I forgot all about it that is until I received an email in the mail from storyboardthat espousing their newest feature.   

Well, today due to a scheduled science field trip for my seventh graders (one that I knew about but forgot), I spent the whole day with the eighth graders  I saw them in the morning and then again in the afternoon when I would have seen the seventh graders. 

 We are currently studying the industrial revolution and reading the novel Lyddie by Katherine Patterson to learn about it.  Not wanting to read for a double class, I went to the library to see if the lap top cart was available.  I wasn't expecting to be able to get it, but the stars were aligned today!  The cart was available until 12:30.  Whoohoo!!!!!  

I quickly signed it out before any other Last Minute Molly wanted the cart and grabbed it for my 8th graders.  I thought it would be fun to check out storyboardthat with them in the morning.  It was easy to get the students signed up.  They loved it.  Here are a few of their examples.

I started playing around with the website.  My teacher brain was working overtime.  There is so much potential for using this website in the classroom.  I am eager to create a comic strip that I can use to launch a lesson for a new unit, create a formative assessment or even a review study guide for the students.  I am very excited about this!

This past winter here has been horrible.  Snow storm after snow storm pounded the East Coast.  At one point there was at least 3 1/2 feet of snow in my backyard.  Ugh!  Over the course of a five week period my school district had 7 snow days and one "cold" day prior to being blasted by snow for a total of 8 school cancelations this year.

All those snow days have started to take a toll on the students.  Eighth grade itis had set in far too early.  I needed a way to keep them engaged in Social Studies.  Technology was my best option.  After all these digital natives are all about tech.  Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to check out the computer cart or ipad cart.  I think there may be a day or two in June that they are available.  So what does one do to keep digital natives inspired in class?  The answer ...download an app called Decide Now on my own private ipad.

Each day, I have a student spin the wheel.  What ever the spinner lands on is the "Classroom Event" for the day.  This has been a great motivator for my classes.  Hopefully, now that we are in the final stretch, it will continue to work.

I was surprised at how well it worked with the eighth graders.  Every day these kids are coming to class as fast they can so they can be the first to ask me if they can spin the wheel, and have been since February.  They cheer when something will happen that favors them and they groan when something favors me.  Each day I continue to be amazed at how well they are responding to this activity.  Last week I forgot my ipad at home.  I was shocked at how upset they were.  Believe me when I say I won't make that mistake again!  

On a side note, I did have "Talk like a Pirate" as one of the options.  It was fun the first time, but the second time it popped up it did not work.  The solution was to remove it from the Decide Now wheel.  The brain breaks are a list of six activities that are decided with the roll of the dice.  Activities include doing the Cha Cha slide, stretch for one minute, play Simon Says, Dance party for one song, play earthquake/eviction ( a game I use in advisory as a team building activity) and Jog in Place for a minute.  One more thing, one of the girls suggested the bake a cake activity.  I have only had to make a cake once so far!

These digital natives have taught this digital immigrant is that using technology does not have to be complex, just something quick and fun!

Update... On Monday, April 13, 2015 one of the classes spun a cake.  Last night I went out and picked up a some cake mixes and made a cake for my class.  Today I served it to them.  Guess what today's spin yielded for that same class.  Yup, you got it another cake!  Off to the grocery store I go.

With Decide Now, I was able to program this wheel with "Classroom Events." Some favor me and some favor them. 

Daily Classroom Events

1.     Guess the Song- One Random Student will be chosen to guess the song Mrs. Clark plays.  Guess correctly and everyone in the class gets 5 extra credit points.

2.     General Knowledge Question- 4 random students must answer a question.  If all four are correct there will be a five-minute break in the middle of class.

3.     Everyone must do something nice for your teacher or a classmate today in class.

4.     Class ends with 2 minutes of free time

5.     If a single student gets an infraction in class today, the whole class has homework.

6.     Surprise quiz today

7.     Everyone will have free seating for the next class if everyone remains focused and on task today.

8.     A sweet treat for the class tomorrow if 5 random students can correctly define a vocabulary word.

9.     Music can be played in class today.

10. If someone is out of their seat without permission, the whole class will get an infraction.

11.  Spin Again

12.  Spin for 2 events

13.  Brain break game

14.  Mrs. Clark will bake a cake for your next class