Making Explorer Board Games

Fun in St. Louis

I just returned from attending two teaching/learning conferences in St. Louis. While I was there I took the time to do some personal learning and sightseeing. This is a .gif that I took from the top of the arch. My Galaxy Note 3 phone's camera app allows me to make them really easily. How cool is that?

Snow Day Survey

This survey is intended only for staff at Noel Elementary School. 

NOVA: The Great Incan Rebellion

Today we are watching Great Inca Rebellion. The students are observation a fascinating video that combines archaeology with forensic science and historical records to examine how what we know about the battle for Lima doesn't fit the Spanish accounts.

Atlantic South America: Traditional Music

As we learn about the countries of the Andes Mountains we will be listening to music from those cultures. Here is a short video of a concert we will view:

Here is the Spotify playlist we will be listening to during the unit.

Critique of the Painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze

NPR Morning Edition October 28, 2002. This NPR program discusses the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. We are listening to this after we read the Introduction to Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer.

Guest Speaker in Geography

The students in seventh grade are studying Mexico in geography. Today Mr. Layne brought in a guest speaker, Mrs Salas, to speak on her experiences growing up in Mexico. She shared a folk tale and talked about how as a child she had to carry water from a local creek to her home so they had water. 

World Geography Games

World Geography Games is a website that uses maps to gameify learning places. It is a pretty basic site and it focuses specifically on factual knowledge but if you like learning geography you might like to play this.

Why Do Some Become Famous While Others Do Not?

This essential question is the guide for this lesson. The students will be examining the role of Paul Revere and Joseph Warren from Revere's famous ride to the Battle of Bunker Hill. We will look at what Paul Revere and Joseph Warren contributed to these famous events. 

Here are the links to the media we will use in class along with pages 134-135 in our textbook.

Andy Griffith Lexington and Concord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3boDX-3iRJg

Lexington and Concord Map http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/virtual.html

‘Real’ Story of Paul Revere http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.html

Longfellow’s Midnight Ride of Paul Revere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hUMQG3MI8

Paul Revere's Ride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere's_Ride

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_death_of_general_warren_at_the_battle_of_bunker_hill.jpg

Joseph Warren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Warren

Ode to Josesph Warren http://books.google.com/books?id=3r-ClEcWHsQC&pg=PA217&

Ode http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode

After learning the stories of Revere and Warren the students will write an ode to Dr. Warren using the following rhyme scheme: ABABCDECDE

Foam Cup Printing

Here is a video of Jose explaining how he created his foam cup print. We created these in conjunction with Paul Revere's etching of the Boston Massacre. The students created a print to represent the massacre from the Loyalist point of view.