Chapter 24 - 28 History Essay Questions

In class today, the boys came up with a list of possible short essay questions for the test on Thursday. Three of these questions will be on the test. We discussed all five in depth, so the boys should be able to answer each of the following questions in two to three sentences.

1. What did Phidias do and why did the Greeks think that it was a bad thing?

2. What problem did Xerxes encounter while crossing the Hellespont?

3. Why was Socrates put to death?

4. How did the Persians defeat the Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae?

5. Why did the Greeks choose to fight at Thermopylae?

History Study Guide for Chapters 24 - 28

The study guide for the upcoming test may be seen here. The test will be similar in format to the other tests we have had in history this year.

Who Cares?

I am constantly trying to put my finger on what makes Calvert such a special place. We are blessed in Baltimore to have so many great schools, but in my opinion Calvert has something that is rarely seen elsewhere. I read a few blogs on a regular basis and one is written by a guy named Seth Godin. His target audience is the business community, but there is definitely overlap in what he says to the school community. His most recent post speaks to one of the reasons that Calvert is special. From the top down, the people who are associated with Calvert express a lot of care. This includes the employees, the parents, and the students. Calvert is a great place to be!!

Billy Has a Great Day

The Chinese Acrobats

Here is a five minute highlight reel of the performance today.

Words of Wisdom After a Tough Loss

No one in the Ravens locker room pointed the finger at Cundiff after the game, including Lewis.
"No one play won or lost this game," the Hall of Fame-bound linebacker said. "Could it have put us in a position to keep playing? Absolutely. But one play didn’t win or lose it. There is no one man who has ever lost a game. We win as a team and we lose as a team. There is no ’Billy is at fault, Billy missed the kick.’ It happens. Move on. Move on as a man because life doesn’t stop."



The boys were feeling the Ravens loss today, but it gave us a great chance to talk about how we conduct ourselves when things don't go the way we want. One point that I bring up frequently in class is that we cannot always control what happens, bur we can always choose how we respond to it...we can always choose our attitude. Making the right choice is difficult, and not something we will be able to do 100% of the time. I love what Ray Lewis said and how he is handling the situation. He certainly did not get the outcome he wanted, but he is making wise choices and dealing with it well.

Martin Luther King Jr. Research

In composition class we have started a discussion about Martin Luther King Jr. which will culminate in a composition. We are doing the research in a new way. Miss Gentry was kind enough to share a list of excellent links about MLK that she compiled for her class to study using a program called Pearl Trees. The links may be seen here. We will be looking at these links in school, and the boys have the option of studying them further at home, but no work at home is required. In class today, we did the "K" and the "W" of a K-W-L chart. Now that we have listed what we "Know" and what we "Wonder," we will "Learn" some new facts which will be incorporated into our composition.

A Calvert Cartographer

In history class today the boys worked on a map that traces the routes that the Persians took in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The maps all turned out very well, but the one below was particularly well done. The finished map is shown as well as the sheet as it appeared when he started. Well done!!!

Making Connections in Reading Class

In reading class today we discussed our last reading selection which was a chapter from Skylark. The chapter dealt with a family who lived on the prairie in the time before it was settled. The family experienced a severe drought and a fire which destroyed their barn. In spite of their loss there was a lot of hope and other positive elements in the story. I asked the boys and girls to list themes and elements from the story. They came up with the following: water, loss, change, compassion, problems, hope, joy, and love.

After we made the list I had them think of other stories from our reading book that had similar themes. We listed four stories (Heat Wave, Happy Birthday Dr. King, Pourquoi Tales, and Tomas and the Library Lady). We talked about the common elements between those stories and Skylark and then moved on.

For the next part of the activity, I had the students think of global events that had connections with the themes from Skylark. The students chose the recent conflict in Egypt, the Twin Towers in New York, the conflict in Afghanistan, the recent sinking of the Costa Concordia, the earthquake in Haiti, and the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan. We talked about the elements that these events had in common and then moved on to the last part of the activity.

I asked the students to think of events from their own lives that related to the themes in the story from Skylark. The students talked about a broken arms, a dog that died, books they enjoyed, and the joys of having a dog. We talked again about the connections with our story from class, and then wrapped up the discussion.

The picture below shows the connections. It was a fantastic way for the students to see how the issues in our stories are universal, relating to everything from their own lives to issues on the global scale. I will be having a similar discussion with my homeroom in history class in the near future.

Billy Joins the Ravens

Where Does Wind Come From?

In class today we did an experiment that illustrates one of the ways that wind is formed. In this example there is a disparity in the temperature in two adjoining areas (the hallway and the classroom) caused by opening the classroom windows while the door was closed. This temperature difference is equalized by cool air flowing out the bottom of the doorway while warm air streams in at the top. The students sitting on the floor can feel the cool air as it rushes toward them.

Vi Hart Art

In class this week we got talking about what constitutes artwork and I was reminded of some YouTube videos I saw that were amazing done by an amazing woman named Vi Hart. I am not an artist, but I have had fun trying some of  her doodle games. There are lots of YouTube videos that can be accessed by typing her name into the search box on YouTube. Infinity Elephants is a great one, and I am going to integrate it into my math class when it seems appropriate. I tried one of her doodles on the classroom board and it can be seen below along with the video that inspired it. Guess what I'll be doing over the long weekend?

Billy Has Fun

Where's the Fire?

In reading class, we read a story about wildfires, and I found this great website that shows current forest fires in the United States.

Purple Pride!!

Even the Kleenex are getting into the spirit!!

What Time is it?

In order to get ready for our composition this week dealing with the history of paper, we made paper in class. Given the upcoming game this weekend we made paper to fit the occasion. Go RAVENS!!!

UStream is Up and Running

We had another student out today and based on the success of the other day I am streaming all of the homeroom classes today. I have two channels. One that is focused on the board which I run from my laptop and one that is focused on the students that I run from my cell phone. I do not always broadcast both, especially when I need my laptop for the class activity. To see an archive of the lessons I have streamed you can click here for the camera focused on the students and here for the camera focused on the board. I will also put these links in a link list on the side of the blog, so that you may always find it easily. Please note that there is usually a thirty second commercial that plays before the stream starts. The next class that I will be streaming is history from 1:45 - 2:15. The point of streaming the classes is so that student who is absent may see and hear what is going on in class if he feels up to it.

One of the logistical hurdles I faced with the student camera was how to mount it securely. The pictures below show that I was able to do it with materials close at hand.

Billy Takes a Roadtrip to Carolina

Today's Composition Class

I had three boys absent today which means that they would miss the introduction to our new composition. To give them the chance to see the introduction I streamed the lesson using UStream. The lesson may be seen below. This is the first time I have ever tried something like this, but I think I will be doing it more in the future. I did learn some valuable lessons. The Australian Open was playing on a UStream channel that opened when I launched the player, and I forgot to mute it, so the background noise in the video is the tennis tournament. There is a thirty second commercial that plays before the lesson. I have seen it now so many times as I have previewed this post that I may pick up some Special K on my way home.