Thursday, December 18, 2014

Here is the link to the Study Guide for Chapter 7 "The American Revolution" - the test is tomorrow.

https://docs.google.com/a/students.osd.wednet.edu/document/d/1SmJ6M7UFU8fgWlKfIeAdrfJJ4pNtJv2S5yA96j82NDw/edit?usp=sharing

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Your Young Person's Declaration of Independence is due tomorrow. Please share your document with me though GoogleDocs. Use the following address to share:

jhaws@students.osd.wednet.edu

P.S. I have been trying to add an assignments/rubrics link to my blog, but for some reason it is not saving correctly. Hopefully soon you will see this link on the right side of my blog.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Greetings! Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that you have homework tonight. You need to complete your planning worksheet for the Young Person's Declaration of Independence. Tomorrow we will look at some past student examples of the Young Person's Declaration of Independence, and then you will begin writing your first draft of your Declaration of Independence. If you forgot your planning worksheet (which is your homework) you may follow the link below to access another copy.


https://docs.google.com/a/students.osd.wednet.edu/document/d/1RzkyCY2DBB903BrPyrfsY77TcgYx0hSjUSIONt8MLVU/edit?usp=sharing

-Mr. H

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday. Please remember that you need to complete your take home exam on The Declaration of Independence. If you lost your exam, you may access it by clicking on the link below!

https://docs.google.com/a/students.osd.wednet.edu/document/d/1SJN9kAETt0r0kH4GupTRj_mtyccY0whkorra7sJDtcA/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Mr. H

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Greetings wonderful students! 

This past week has been all about the Declaration of Independence. We have watched a video of a live reading of the Declaration by famous actors that includes a thoughtful and important introduction by Morgan Freeman. Mrs. Merrigan led us in an investigation of the painting by John Trumbull depicting the moment when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. We learned how to use ThingLink to annotate an historical document. Your annotations along with a brief reflection should have been submitted using the link tinyurl.com/turnindi - please make sure this is done. We also watched an excerpt from the movie John Adams which showed some of the debates and issues surrounding the creation and adoption of the Declaration, and now we are diving into the actual text.

Today we had a good discussion on thinking and reading like a historian. We then discussed the idea that historians have disagreed as to whether the colonial leaders were motivated by selfish or ideological reasons when they wrote and then adopted the Declaration of Independence. We looked at an excerpt from Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and we looked at an excerpt from Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States. Tomorrow we will examine the claims and evidence in both of these excerpts. 

 

- Mr. H.

Friday, November 7, 2014

I apologize for being an absentee poster of late - lots going on. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that final grades for the first quarter are in and I would invite you to check those out on skyward. I have also added comments to those grades, so be sure to search those out as well.

Now is the time for every student to reflect on their progress this past quarter and set some goals for next quarter. I see many opportunities for students to be more proactive in their approach to their own learning. The more you think about your learning and take pride in the work you are doing, the more you are going to get out of it. Focus, effort, and a desire to learn are so important to your achievement, and all of those qualities will help you with anything you come across is this great journey called life.

We have a lot to accomplish this year, and our success depends on everyone contributing to the learning environment. Spend time each and every night on your studies, read for large chunks of time, prepare for upcoming tests, and always know what is coming up and what you need to do to prepare for each and every day. We can move mountains this year. Let's make some magic happen!

Enjoy your weekend!
-Haws

Monday, October 27, 2014

Students, make sure to bring your copy of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson with you to class on Thursday, October 30. As we begin our study of the events leading up to the American Revolution, we will be doing several activities involving this book. Make sure to refresh your memory of the story and be prepared for written work related to Chains.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Thanks to all of the families that attended our Student-led Conferences. I was very impressed with how these conferences went, and I hope you feel the same way. When students engage in their learning and take ownership of that learning, powerful things happen. I was able to see how well each student communicated their understanding of various subjects, as well as their ability to successfully navigate their portfolio of work to share. I saw that wonderful sense of accomplishment on each student's face as they left his or her conference. Congratulations on a job well done!!!

Please feel free to respond to this post with your own reflections about the student-led conference.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Today Marshall students listened to an amazing, educational, and important presentation by Michael Foster on the topic of climate change and global responsibility. For forty-five minutes students and staff listened with rapt attention to this powerful presentation. Marshall students were focused and respectful audience members. Way to go Marshall!

We continued this conversation in social studies and drama class. We discussed how climate change relates to social studies, and the 7/8th grade drama class talked about the presentation style and how Michael Foster was a calm, confident, and prepared speaker. The historical, political, and cultural issues attached to climate change are so important. Hopefully, we can continue this dialogue at school and at home and find more ways to integrate our exploration of science and social studies throughout the year, and particularly around this incredibly important issue. 

If you are interested in getting more involved, there is a free workshop called "Plant for the Planet" from 9am-5:30pm Saturday at Komachin Middle School for students ages 8-14. It is free, but space is limited. You can register for this workshop at www.thurstoncd.com/south-sound-green.html

(this is not a school-sponsored/OSD activity)

We also continued our exploration of colonial life in America. Make sure that you are staying on top of all assignments. Chapter 2 notes, and the preview assignment for Chapter 3 were turned in this week. I will be updating grades on skyward over the weekend. 

Information for student-led conferences went home this week. Make sure to get your spot ASAP!!!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

SOCIAL STUDIES
Today Mr. Fulton gave a presentation on Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) to our class. Please reflect on this presentation and think about the importance of the information presented. You may access the slide show by clicking the HIB link under the "Presentation Links" on the right hand side of this page. Thank you to Mr. Fulton for this thoughtful and important presentation.

Tomorrow we will begin our exploration the English colonies in America and life in those colonies. You will turn in the "Age of Discovery/European Exploration and Settlement" notes from Ch. 2 at the beginning of class tomorrow.

We will not have a current event assignment this week.

DRAMA 7/8
You have homework!!! Please create two characters, the one that is looking for someone, and the one that is being looked for. Think about the physicality of these two characters, their expressions, and the important character traits that will help us to determine the differences in these two characters.

Good Luck!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Today you were asked to listen to the story Encounter by Jane Yolen that tells the story of Columbus’s first encounter with the Taino people told from the perspective of a Taino boy. You were then asked to read the short section about Columbus in our History Alive! textbook, and compare and contrast these two pieces of writing using specific textual evidence to support your analysis. Please make sure this writing is complete before class tomorrow. You can access the prompt on the Social Studies Starter link on the right side of this page. Be prepared to write a personal response to Encounter by Jane Yolen tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Yesterday we had a fabulous trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. I've been going to the refuge for over twenty years now, and each time I go I see something new and interesting. It helped that Davy, the leader of the education program at Nisqually, was with my group. He has a spotting scope and an uncanny ability to locate interesting wildlife. We saw several gaggles of Greater White-fronted Geese, a Peregrin Falcon, several Cormorants, Harbor Seals, Mallards, Canada Geese, the Belted Kingfisher, Sandpipers, several Great Blue Herons, and the find of the day, a Leucistic Great Blue Heron, which is a GBH with a medical condition that causes the feathers of this bird to turn white. Davy said he sees one about once every two years...super rare find! Thanks to Mr. Phillipy for making this awesome educational excursion happen for us!

Today, you had an opportunity to respond to the field trip on your starter. This was the final starter for Week 4 (last week, I know it's confusing). Those were turned in today. I did create a link to past starters on the right-hand side of this page. Please use this link for any missed starters, or if you happen to be absent. The link will bring you to a folder that contains each week of starters so far. Let me know if the link does not work for you.

We also began taking notes on the timeline of European Exploration. Hopefully we will complete these notes tomorrow.

No homework tonight unless you are making up work that is missing.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

SOCIAL STUDIES:
You completed two starters today. The first, an investigation of your homework last night, and whether you did or did not attempt to locate an article related to the current event topic you chose yesterday. The second, a thoughtful and detailed paragraph about our upcoming field trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. You were to identify what you know about the refuge, it's history, habitats, ecosystem, and what you understood as to the purpose of the trip.

We also annotated a timeline: "The History of the Nisqually Timeline." Many of you shared connections you have made during science class, and a few of you were able to relate some of the information on the timeline to your CBA project in 7th grade, specifically the Medicine Creek Treaty.

I hope you are looking forward to our trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge on Monday. It is an excellent opportunity to integrate our science, history, math and language arts curriculums. Remember to prepare for this trip . You will need to be ready for any kind of weather. Dress in layers and wear comfortable walking/hiking shoes.

HOMEWORK (due tomorrow 9/26): Bring in your current event article. Include the topic, title, author, news source, and date published! NO EXCUSES!!! If you want to, click on the link below and "make a copy" of the Current Event Template for this homework. Please make sure not to share this with me (I already have it:) just make your own copy to print or save in your google docs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CX46PeQuiubzb7_XvJ47ATqcRv8A-O21aL4OuJvXGxs/edit?usp=sharing

DRAMA:
Warm-ups

• GO!
• ZIP, ZAP, ZOP
• CLAP
• NUMBERS - we're really getting good at this!!!

Performance

• Empty dialogue - workshop

HOMEWORK: Be prepared to workshop your scene tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

SOCIAL STUDIES
Students, you were to complete the seminar debrief/reflection questions as homework last night. Those responses as well as your observations during seminar and your prep work for seminar were due today. Please check to make sure those assignments were completed with effort and thoughtful and detailed responses.

Today's starter was a response to a current event that has caught your attention. It could have to do with politics, sports, fashion, new products, the entertainment industry, world news, etc... You wrote for 5 minutes on a topic of your choice, and now you must track down an article about that topic. You may use online news sources, newspapers, or even links through social media to find this article. Please remember to include the topic, title, date published, author, and news source when you bring this article to class on Friday.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Today we completed our first Socratic Seminar based on "The Pledge of Allegiance." Students were given the task of rewriting the pledge in their own words, identify their thoughts (comments, connections, etc.) about the pledge and what it means to them, and also to write down any questions that they have about the pledge, it's history, as well as their feelings about the requirement in Washington State that the pledge be recited daily in public schools. I would encourage families to continue this dialogue at home, as the discussions in each class were quite enlightening. Students will be assessed on their preparation, participation, observations, as well as their ability to debrief the seminar.