Tuesday, May 27th

Welcome back! I hope you had a great three-day weekend! I spent the weekend with my best friend Heidi, whom most of you met on Friday. She was so impressed with you! On Monday I went to Central Park with Ms. Jelinek and a few of my friends. I definitely didn't put enough sun screen on!

Anyway, back to the grind. I know you love my speeches, but I refuse to lower my expectations, no matter how hot the classroom is, or how badly you want to be outside.

You had a homework assignment due today. Only 15 people turned it in. I expect to see it via e-mail or in class tomorrow. There are no excuses. Here's an excellent example of the assignment:

May 23,2008

Ms.Skrzypchak 725

Once In A Life Time Opportunity!!!

Imagine this: “You are walking down the street on a normal, sunny day with your friends. All of your friends have their own things to be playing with. For example, your best friend has her puppy with her, your other friend has her phone and your other friend has her iPod.” Does it sound sad? Well that all could change when you buy the YOU ROCK 3000! It is the new invention from the great scientist Dr.Jehiza L. Feliz. This invention includes an Ipod, cell phone, text messenger, IM, and games provider. It looks like a typical sidekick LX.

Cost: $25.95

Shipping And Handling: $2.40

Know the difference between Washington and Monroe. Breaking it down really simply: Washington believed in isolationism. Remember the political cartoon I showed you in class (with a fence around the US.) Monroe wanted the US to be a super power. He wanted the US to control the entire Western Hemisphere.

More talk about this tomorrow.

723 and 725 ...You've got homework tonight: vocab words that you need to study, and put in a short story or poem.

724: I expect to see your homework from Friday!

Wednesday, May 21

Today we worked on maps of the Louisiana Purchase.

Essential Questions:

Who were Lewis and Clark? What were they doing and why?

Who helped them?

What did the Louisiana Purchase mean for the United States?

Monday, May 19

New Unit Starts Today.

This is a chance to start fresh. This will be a short unit, lasting only until next week Thursday. That means that you should expect a Unit Exam on May 30th. The month of June will be spent talking about Slavery and events that lead up to the Civil War.

Today we took a close look at a secondary source. It was a picture of Sacajawea and Lewis and Clark looking out over a cliff. We talked about what it is like to be the person learning about a new place, as well as the person describing it.

There were three words I expected you to work on today:
Expedition: A trip people take for a purpose.
Wilderness: Land in its wild, natural state where few or no people live
Frontier: A place where settled land ends and the wilderness begins.

We also talked about fact vs. opinion.

A fact is something we know can be proven.

An opinion is what someone believes.

Sorry for posting so late! See you in class Tuesday!

Friday, May 16

Unit Exams Today.

Remember a few things:
-If you were absent be prepared to make up the test on Monday (I will pull you out of an elective class to make it up)
-If you did sub-par (not so good) on Friday, we will have individual discussions about it and what it means for : your Quarter 4 grade, summer school, etc.
-If you already took the test, I can't give it back to you just yet. I don't want any students to cheat off of your copy. But, if you stick around a few minutes at lunch or after school I will give you your grade

New Unit Monday...all about President Andrew Jackson!

And, get ready to make some awesome timelines in class on Monday! (I know you missed them from last unit!)

Thursday, May 15 *TEST TOMORROW*

Hey Guys-

I wanted to put this up, a few of you had some questions about Shay's Rebellion. Here's a summary below. You can also google "Shay's Rebellion." (You can google anything you learn in Social Studies class, because EVERYTHING I teach you ACTUALLY HAPPENED.)

For Shay's Rebellion, you need to remember a few things. First, Daniel Shay and a bunch of farmers got angry when their land was taken away from them by the State of Massachusetts. (Their land was taken because they did not pay their taxes to the state.) Farmers without land are in a lot of trouble, we know they need the land to plant crops/raise livestock. So, Shay and some other farmers marched to the State Courthouse with weapons. The state of Massachusetts didn't know what to do. They called the Federal Government, and the Federal Government wasn't setup to help them. It couldn't help Massachusetts in any way!

This made the country realize that the federal government was NOT as strong as it needed to be.

Summary: Shay's Rebellion showed the United States that a new plan for government was needed.

Any other questions, please send them my way. E-mail, phone, this blog or aim.

Wednesday, May 14

Happy Wednesday! Wednesday is one of my favorite days, mostly because I get to see all of my classes on Wednesdays!

Please know:
-My MOM comes on Friday! (She is so excited to meet all of you! I've been telling her how awesome you are since September!)
-You have a UNIT EXAM on Friday! This is for all the marbles. You know unit exams are worth 40% of your quarter grade.
-I'm meeting with Mr. Kelly at 11:40 am on Friday to give him a list of students who need to be in summer school for Social Studies. (Lets make sure you are not one of those)
-Teacherease.com is not working. The grades are not up to date. Please tell your parents, and your friends who check teacherease but not this blog. I've been working with their administrators (definition: people who run a company/organization) to get it fixed as soon as possible! Some of you can only see quarter 3 grades, some of you see quarter 4 grades but they are marked as zeros. I will let you know as soon as it is fixed.
-I brag about you all the time. You guys are awesome! And, you get smarter every single day!

You don't have any work tonight. But, you could post on this blog for your extra credit points.

Post one thing you learned from the Experiments in Government Unit and get 3 extra credit points on Friday's Exam!!!

Tuesday, May 13

So, a few reminders:

Even though the school year is ending, my high expectations for you are not. I give you my best each day, and I expect that exact same from you. It is my ONLY job to push your mind farther than you think it can go. 8th grade is only six weeks away. You WILL be ready. Keep working hard, and don't let yourself get distracted.

Because of the hard work you showed today, your exam will be moved to Friday. We will continue the fantastic group presentations in class tomorrow.

Here are the things you need to know for your exam:

Shay’s Rebellion

What it was:

Why it’s important:

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation:

Why did we need a new Constitution?:

Bill of Rights:

What is it?

Why is it important?

Key Definitions (we need these memorized):

Republicanism:

Federalism:

Popular Sovereignty:

Three Branches of Government:

Legislative:

Executive:

Judicial:

Great Compromise:

What is it?

New Jersey Plan vs Virginia Plan:

Notes from class today:

Experiments in Government Lesson 10

Unit Review (Prepare for Exam!)

1.Blast From The Social Studies Past: (Since we are reviewing today, we won’t do a bfssp. But, use this time to take out any handouts you have. AND be sure to get a textbook.

2. Objective: SWBAT prepare for their Unit Exam.

3. Daily Definitions: New Homework: Social Studies Super Stimulus (Stimulus means to cause something to act)

What it means: You will get homework questions that ask you to think about what you’ve learned in Social Studies this year. The homework will be due at the beginning of class. Instead of a Blast From the Social Studies Past, we will review our homework.