Dr. Johnson's Reading Blog

Darius and Aaron made a great power point presentation using Google Docs. They created their presentation during explorations. Have a look and let them know what you think.

Some students seemed interested in this website so I'm posting it here . It is a national competition in which student make video games. More information is found at the website.

Here is the speech we listened to by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Native Americans. It was only fitting that as we are learning about Westward Expansion and relocation of Native Americans that we listen to the words of native people. We read about the Nez Perce Native Americans from our Social Studies textbook then listened to this partial reading of his speech. These words are a partial reading of a speech attributed to Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. The full speech was reported to have been delivered to the US government at Lincoln Hall in Washington DC (1879) where he was meeting with lawmakers to sign over their native lands. What did the speech remind you of? How do you think his words from 1879 still resonate today?

By popular demand, here is the TED Talk we watched in class on smiling. We are just about to finish up our inquiry into Speeches and the spoken word as a powerful communication tool. Look for the other speeches and talks we have seen soon!

I believe through this link you will be able to view all of our expert projects.

I have posted five expert project videos from Monday, October 31 for the following students: Troy Brandon Will Blaise Brennan

Last week (Friday) we completed our models of our cell. The class was broken into four groups in which two groups made an animal cell and two groups made a plant cell. We spent a week in class putting our models together including researching information to label our cells and building our models. While models are often the end product once they are completed, I felt that when a model is built, it should lead to further understanding. Instead of the group models being the end product, students are using their models to create test questions for the other groups. In other words, the plant cell group is putting together a quiz for the animal cell group and the animal cell group is putting together a quiz for the plant cell group. Those groups will then use the other group's models to help them study for their quiz. To make sure each group can adequately prepare, the models need to be accurate in their detail and information. The most important part of this project is not the resu...