In Like a Lion for Sure!!!!

Welcome back!  What a crazy month so far.  I hope you enjoyed your Friday off!  As I sit here writing this blog post I am watching the news.  The headlining story is that of Winter Storm Stella.  Holy cow!!!  We don't know what this storm will bring; only time will tell.  This site gives us some predictions.  I would also like to ask, no beg, any of you who are doing the "snow day dance" to please stop!  I don't know about you, but I'd like to get out of school before the fourth of July!!  Oh well....hang on to your hats and get those shovels ready one more time!
When you are in school this week, hopefully all five days, Ms. Shepard will be leading your class on some of the days.  I have created a presentation addressing Website Evaluation.  This presentation has been designed to take both classes of the week.  Please be sure to read all text on slides and associated documents carefully and completely.  If need be, please be sure to read again.  You should have all of the resources you will need.  You should be very familiar with this process and I am sure you will do a great job.
Link to Website Evaluation Activity
Have a great week!!
  ~Mrs. White :)

image link

Ready or not?!!!...Here comes Juno!!

As I sit in my warm and cozy house, writing lesson plans for the week, I, like most of you, am struggling to stay focused and fear my planning will be futile.  Okay, go ahead and say it, "SNOW DAY!!"  I know so many of my students are thinking it, but "be careful what you wish for," as the saying goes.  I just finished watching the latest weather report.  Meteorologists are using terms like, "historic blizzard," "hurricane force winds", and "snowfall rates of 2-4 inches per hour."  YIKES!  This latest (really first) storm of the season has been named, "Juno."  Okay my grade 7 history students; who is Juno?  Do you think this is really a fitting name for a blizzard?  Check out the latest from the Weather Channel.
On to those lesson plans, just in case the forecast is wrong.....You will be receiving the feedback on your assessment from last week.  If you did not take it yet, I will need you to do so during class one.  I have tweaked the organizers for your GH projects based on student feedback.  You will need to complete either a map or two-column note formatted organizer with your final decision on your project.  Once you have this complete, you will scan it and upload it to your book in Book Creator.  You will have some time to finish getting your book template ready if you were not able to do this earlier.   You will also need to finish creating and publish your initial post on your Genius Hour Projects page on your blogs.  If you should get all of this done, you should finish tweaking your blog designs, widgets, posts, etc....
I am afraid we will need to wait until next week to begin the research for your projects.

image link

This may not be "Juno", but I feel like she is saying "good bye" to this crazy winter storm for us all.  Maybe she can chase it away.   Whatever happens, please be safe and be smart!!
      ~Mrs. White :)

Welcome 2014....

It's hard to believe it is the year 2014.  I remember sitting at a desk in my elementary school classroom doing the math to figure out how old I would be in the year 2000, and thinking then how old I would be.  My young self never flashed forward past the year 2000.  I guess I would have thought the me in 2014 would be ancient (haha.)

Here we are starting a new year.  Did you make any resolutions?  Are you planning on making any changes in your lives?  Your thoughts and ideas about resolutions would make a good blog post.  That is what you will be doing in class this week, if you have it.  I would like you all to have a minimum of 5 blog posts by the end of next week.  For some of you this is a done deal, as you have more than this, but for others, you will need to get moving!

As I sit and write this post, I am keeping my eye on "Hercules" and the weather maps.  My guess is my students are all sitting at home doing their "snow day dances."  I am hoping we will get in both days this week.  After all, we just had a lovely break!  I have been thinking a little bit about these named storms.  Last year it was "Nemo," and this year it is "Hercules."  Why do our winter storms have the names of Disney movies?  Just something to think about.  Oh well, we will have to wait and see what Mother Nature dishes out.  Hopefully we will not miss these two days of school.  Winter has just begun, and summer is far enough away.  Let's hope we don't push it further back.

image link