Book Covers

You can't tell a book by its cover, so we are planning an event for January in which you can listen to our author's read selections from their books just published.

Our Books and Friday Schedule

This week we publish a sample of collected writings for each student. This project took longer to complete than anyone could have imagined.

And so we want to schedule a group celebration with each author reading selections from his/her book.

We're trying to figure out how many friends and family might be able to come this Friday from about 9 to 10 for this event. I know it is short notice. But Friday is a half day and some of you might already be planning to be here to assist with our class parties scheduled from 10 to 10:50. The morning ends with a group sing in the theater.

So let me if you might be able to attend. Otherwise we will set something up early in the new year.

In any case I wish you all a happy and safe winter break.

This Week

We are putting the finishing touches on the collections of writings each student is "publishing." We are ready for a few assessments before break. This Wednesday we will have the Word List #5 test and the next math boxes quiz. On Thursday we have a short answer and multiple choice test on History of US the Massachusetts colony chapters 13 to 22. I also expect students will be able to write out a list in order the states by region. This a unique and valuable life skill. Students will have a mental image of all the states, their regions, and relative positions.

I think of it as an extended connected trip from Maine to Washington State and on to Alaska and Hawaii.

The list is:

NEW ENGLAND: ME NH VT MA RI CT

MID ATLANTIC: NY NJ PA DE MD WV

SOUTHEASTERN: VA NC SC GA FL

SOUTH CENTRAL: AL MS LA AR TN KY

MID WEST: OH IN MI WI IL MO IA MN

PLAINS: ND SD NR KS OK TX

MOUNTAIN: NM CO WY MT ID UT AZ NV

PACIFIC: CA OR WA AK HI

National History Day

Friday we toured the Middle School's display of exhibits for the annual National History Day competition. Seventh and eighth graders participate in several categories. Individual or group projects produce either a research paper, website, film documentary, performance or panel exhibits. The NHD theme this year nationwide was on the subject of hotly debated or diplomatic issues in history. Subjects included Seward's Folly, graffiti, Cuban missile crisis and the Geneva Conventions.



I've been a coach and judge for many National History Day events at several schools. This is my fourth year judging exhibits at Shorecrest.



This year each student prepared for our visit to the Middle School, by reading the process papers for two exhibits. Students had to take notes on various aspects and then evaluate the actual panel displays.



Each student made a brief presentation to the rest of the class on what they learned and liked.
Everyone was encouraged to show their notes at home and discuss what they've learned about NHD.



Click here to learn more about History Day. Shorecrest Middle School NHD advisor, David Hodgson spoke to the class a day before our visit. He will post the winning results on his blog and they will also be featured on Ebytes.

Animations Project

Link here to view the dynamic animation project from Mrs. Baralt's technology course. Believe me there were many fairly complex steps to produce these "tv news reports." It's way harder than it looks. Ask a fourth grader how it's done.