Fight Summer Boredom!

I'm taking a new class today called Web 2.0. I'm learning about some awesome sites. You all should explore them too. Become the experts!

Photo Peach... yet another cool way to make digital slideshows

Flip Book! Make your very own digital flip book right here

Voice Thread... this is an awesome way to record comments to go along with pics

I'll post more as I learn more! 50 NUPoints to anyone who tries a site and links their project to the comments for us all to see!

The Top 100 Young Adult Books of All Time... ?

I've been enjoying this blog on Schoollibraryjournal.com. Elizabeth Bird is a children's librarian at the Children's Center at 42nd Street of the New York Public Library system. She's been compiling a list of, in her opinion, the best 100 young adult books of all time. It's been so fun to look at the list and compare it to my own favorites.

For 20 NU Points, comment with YOUR list of the Top 10 Young Adult books of all time.

I Love Learning Something New

This week, at the Young Writer's Conference, I learned about two things I'd never heard of before. Author William Durbin spoke about his books and the research that had gone into them. His book, The Broken Blade, is about The Voyageurs of the North West Company Fur Trade. I knew very little about the Fur Trade, and I'd never heard of The Voyageurs before. I found some websites with some information about them.

Info at the Parks Canada website

Info from the National Parks Service website

Canada's First Peoples Website

The other new thing I learned about was the Winter War between Finland and Russia. William Durbin's newest book, The Winter War, is about this subject. I had seriously never heard of this before, and it's an amazing world event. Here is more information:

Fire and Ice: The Winter War between Finland and Russia

Uralica: The Website All About Finnish People

The New American website

For 20 NUPoints, check out one of these websites and comment with something new you learned about either The Voyageurs or The Winter War.

The Secret School

Cast & Crew of The Secret School: FANTASTIC job on opening night. I'm so proud of you! I don't know how you overcame all the obstacles that were in your way during this rehearsal process. The snow days alone would have sunk a lesser troupe of actors. Let's make the final performance even more amazing than the first!

Click here for more publicity...

For 20 NUPoints, comment here by writing a review of The Secret School.

Just in Case You're Not Completely Sick of Looking at Snow...

This website has BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING pictures of snowflakes, up close and personal. Click here to see for yourself!

For 20 NUPoints, leave a comment with a link to something you think is BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING.

The Science of the Olympic Games

NBC Learning has produced several awesome videos about the science that goes into Olympic sports. Click here to go to the site. Click the "Original Video" tab, and then go to "Science of the Olympic Winter Games." They're just fun to watch, but if you'd like 20 NUPoints, comment here about something you learned from each video (20 points for the first video, 10 points for each subsequent video). I just watching the snowboarding video, and it was fascinating. I can't wait to watch the rest!

New Semester!

Time to start fresh, boys & goyles. Set those goals high, and reach for the stars. Clean slate! At the very least, I know you're all happy about tardies and unprepareds starting over! ;)

Quarter Overview: Here's the very basic skeletal overview of the quarter for all of my classes. Enjoy peeking ahead!

6th GOAL: Invent Iowa (2/17/10) & Oceanography Extension

7th GOAL: History Day (3/16/10) & Census Exploration

8th GOAL: Images of Greatness (3/18/10)

7th Language Arts: Design-An-Ad, Word Collages, Disease Detective Research Papers, and maybe Parts of Speech, depending how far we get.

Before things crank up too far and fast, for 20 (and only 20 this time... no extras for additionals) NUPoints, check out one of the sites in my Idleness Prevention, and comment about it here.

I'm Just Wondering...

20 NUPoints for responding to the following...

Watch the video clip. Why do people bully others? Why are there some people who are never accepted into society? Why are some of the most profoundly gifted people in the history of the planet ridiculed and belittled? Why are differences not embraced? Why are gifts and talents not applauded by peers? What do you think?


Britain's Got Talent Andrew Johnston - Watch more Funny Videos

A Note about NUPoints

If you're not sure how to comment to receive NUPoints, see me in class. I don't mind if you respond anonymously, but write your initials into the post along with your period number, or see me in class to claim your post. I want to make sure everyone gets credit for their effort.

For 20 NUPoints today, write a Haiku about any of the following topics:

ice storms
missing school
Haiti
earthquakes
plans gone awry

Remember, a Haiku has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line.

(20 points for the first Haiku, 10 for each additional)

Booktalks

Today was Library Day in GOAL. That means more booktalks! Here are the books I discussed with my students today...

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

Blood Red Horse by K. M. Grant

Iowa Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, & Other Offbeat Stuff by Dan Coffey and Eric Jones

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and its sequel, Catching Fire

Have you read any of these books? 40 NUPoints for commenting with a review to these or any of the books I've discussed in class (40 points for the first book review... 20 points for each additional review). Click the "booktalks" label to see the other booktalk posts.

RIP, Miep Gies

We lost one of the many heros of the Holocaust this week. Click the following links to find out more. Comment with your thoughts for 20 NUPoints.

Chicago Tribune

USA Today

MSNBC

Deadline Adjustments... AGAIN

I hope you all enjoyed your two snow days last week. We'll modify the deadlines again to accommodate the changes.

7th Language Arts: Your final drafts are due for Writer's Workshop by the end of the day on Tuesday, January 12. We'll hold over Week 15 spelling for this week, so that posttest will be on Friday, January 15.

Cast of The Secret School: Stay on schedule. We'll skip over the days we missed and try to catch them up later. That means we'll be blocking Section 2 today, Monday, January 11.

GOAL: Be sure to keep up with your independent reading during time off. Some of you have really been slacking when it comes to your reading contracts!

For 20 NU points, tell me about your New Year's resolutions. What are you going to do this year to improve your life? My resolutions are always the same. I need to eat healthier and exercise more. I hope to actually keep them one day! My new one for this year is to accept my life and be happy. Sometimes I get hung up on "what might have been," and I miss the blessings going on in my life right now. I hope to be better about that this year. What are your New Year's resolutions?

Opportunity for GOAL Students

Here's a cool contest, GOAL students. It's the 2010 SENG Kids' Film Contest. Click here for more information. Make a 2 minute movie telling what it's like to be gifted. There's no entry fee, and winners will have their movies shown on the SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) website.

Your participation is also worth 100 NUPoints.

Happy New Year!

All right, my darlings, back to the old grind! :) I'm looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow. Even though I could lie around eating bonbons for a few more weeks, I'm actually happier when I'm accomplishing. Here's what lies ahead...

* Play practice will start this week... probably Wednesday. I will get schedules to you in homeroom, and I'll put a reminder on the announcements too. When the schedule is done, I'll scan it and put it on this blog so you can access it from here if you forget.

* 6th grade GOAL: We're going to finish independent projects, we're going to continue reading Al Capone Does my Shirts, and we're going to start our work for the Invent Iowa competition!

* 7th grade GOAL: We're going to continue reading epidemics books (you should be done by Friday), we're going to continue reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, and we're going to start our work for History Day!

* 8th grade GOAL: We're going to finish independent projects, we're going to continue reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and we're going to... well... we're going to see where we are when that's done. I wanted to do the Classics unit next, but those snow days before Christmas Break messed up that plan. I need to take a good look at the calendar. We're either going to do the Classics unit next, or we're going to head right into Images of Greatness. We'll see how long it takes to finish up your independent projects.

* 7th grade Language Arts: This Friday is the deadline for final drafts of your Writer's Workshop pieces. I'm headed into school this afternoon for a fun-filled day of editing the work you handed in before break. I plan to work like crazy today getting that done, so you should plan on doing the same this week to get those pieces in on time. We'll also have spelling to mix things up a bit. ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break. Mine was full of many peaks and valleys. One peak was spending several days with my very best friend in Council Bluffs. One valley was going in the ditch and having to be towed out before I got there. What were your peaks and valleys? 20 NUPoints for commenting.

When the Weather Outside is Frightful...

It makes me think of my favorite Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

20 NUPoints (Nelson Universe Points) for commenting about the poem or about piece of writing you think about in winter weather.