Christmas Island Refugee Tragedy

Read this article: Boat Horror Kills Up to 50 at Christmas Island

Answer these questions in a comment on the blog:

1. Where is Christmas Island and which nation "owns" it?
2. Where are the "refugees" coming from?
3. Why are they trying to get to Christmas Island?
4. Who is responsible for taking care of the "refugees"?
5. What do you think will happen to the "refugees" that survived?

Once Upon a School

Once Upon a School is a Ted Talk done by Dave Eggers. In this video Mr. Eggers talks about a project he started that has flourished. After watching the video answer the questions below in a comment to this post.

1) What is the project Mr. Eggers started?
2) Why in your opinion is this project successful?
3) Would doing this in our community work? Why or why not?

Make sure you answer these questions completely. I want your best work.

You should notice a new commenting system on the post. Use your media history blog for the blog URL, and you can use your email address or the generic yourname@example.com

Sick Santa!

I just got word that Santa won't be making his usual rounds this year. It seems like his overly rich diet has caused him to get gout. This will unfortunately keep him home on Christmas Eve.

The good news is Santa has contacted teachers around the world to ask for help. He has created a special, super-secret Amazon account that he will use to pay for all the presents this year. All he asks in return is that we have one student per family pick out presents for their entire family. Sounds like fun, right?

Your task is to find presents for each person (including yourself) on Amazon and to give that list to me. There is one very important qualification, the cost of each person's presents must be between $195 to $200. You cannot spend more or less. Because Santa is a non-profit organization he gets his purchases tax free so we don't have to worry about adding those in.

You will need to keep track of the items for each person, the url for each item, and the cost of each item. How you do so is up to you. I would suggest you create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel or if you have a Google account you can use Google spreadsheet. Here is a tutorial for creating a spreadsheet in Excel. You could even create a Google form to put in the information you need. Of course paper and pencil will also work. Just make sure the total amount to spend is between $195 and $200.

You may want to check with your family members and ask them for ideas, or you could just pick things you think they will want. Santa expects you to explain why you chose the gifts you have for your family and yourself, make sure to include that information with the list.Whichever you choose, get the lists done and give them to me so I can pass them along. You don't want to miss out on Kris Kringle's gifts and if you don't get the lists finished Kris may decide you are not behaving and deal with you appropriately.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbc9/4226569974/

John Lennon

My students were disappointed that I remember Pearl Harbor day on Tuesday but didn't do the same for John Lennon yesterday. Not wanting to disappoint them, I have created this post.

Here is an article on the MTV site written about the last interview he did before his death.

John Lennon's Jukebox: A documentary about the music he listened to.
Woman: Music video of the song.
John Lennon news coverage of his murder.

The Beatles

The Ed Sullivan Show: Second US appearance of The Beatles
There are some related videos on the right of this page.

In the MTV article Lennon states: "We're born-again rockers, and we're starting over. ... There's plenty of time, right? Plenty of time." Soon after he was shot and killed. What can you learn from this?

BeFunky

BeFunky.com is a picture editor that allows you to put "filters" on your picture. It is a very interesting editing site for your pictures. Go to the site, upload your picture and try out the different filters. When you have decided on a picture or two, click save and choose download to the desktop. Upload them to the Media History blog.

December 7, 1941 A Date that Will Live in Infamy

The Minelayer Oglala capsized at her berth at the 1010 dock

It is pretty unusual for a country to remember the date of one of its worst defeats yet the United States still remembers today. On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the country of Japan. Before this attack the United States had not declared war against Japan or the German/Italian coalition.

On December 8 the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a speech declaring the United States to be at war with Japan.The United States declared war on Germany on December 11, the same day Germany declared war on the United States.

National Geographic has an excellent map that shows the timeline of the attack.
Navsource.org has pictures taken by Americans during the attack and the Japanese.
Americanrhetoric.org has the full text of the speech and the actual audio.
The Military channel has a video clip taken from a news reel. It includes a short clip of Roosevelt's speech.

After reviewing this information leave a comment on this post in the last ten minutes of class. Think about the attack. How would you react if this attack took place today (remember you are not old enough to serve in the military so enlisting isn't an option.) What would you do to help the nation cope with the tragedy?

Chess

Today we are going to play a game called chess. Click here to read about the history of chess. The online chess game we will be playing today comes from Chess Test Tutors.

Click Here to Play

Milestones

I have posted over 500 times on this class blog and have had over 100,000 visitors. In a few weeks the blog will turn four. This blog has led me and my students to so many wonderful learning experiences. I am very grateful to my students for encouraging me to continue to use the blog when it first started and to all the visitors that have come through over the last (almost) four years.

Here is a link to my first post. 

I realize that a little reflection about the blog is in order, but I have already written reflections over it before (you can dig them out if you want to). What I would like to write about is the future of the blog, basically look at where it is headed.

The most important thing I have done is been willing to change the focus of the blog over the years. It has served in a lot of different capacities up to now where I use it mostly to disseminate information for my students to use. I really don't see that changing much any time soon (although with next semesters return to keyboarding classes there may be a bigger emphasis on reporting of school happenings.) 

I really hope that this blog will wear out its usefulness before too long. It seems like there should be a new tool in development that will have a more robust experience for myself and my students. I would really love to create a space like this where my students have the ability to write in a way that makes sense. With posts being buried, it just doesn't work well now. 

Another thing I would like to see happen is to create a more "communal" (yes that is my new favorite word) space where others can gather to share and have conversations. Yes there are CMS's like Ning that can do that, but they are still very impersonal. I may be reaching for something more than technology can provide though :( 

News Beta: What Do You Think?

This is the beta of a new project some of my students are working on. They are creating a news show for the school and we made this one to practice. We would love some constructive feedback.

Coming Soon: Persuasive Writing

Our class has been asked to choose a movie based upon a poster and its summary. These stories are written with persuasive language. Which one do you think is most successful? Go to the link and answer the two questions below:


http://mrraisdana.blogspot.com/2010/11/coming-soonmovies-out-now.html


Which film would you want to watch and why? Which poster and blurb really grabbed your attention?

Fractured Fairy Tale: This Weeks Plan

Monday: Small group story sharing.

Tuesday: Rewrite the story and post on Kidblog

Wednesday: Rewrite is due. Create a storyboard of the story.

Thursday: Finish storyboards.

Friday: Storyboard is due: Small group sharing of the storyboard.

Media History Questions

Fractured Fairy Tale Movies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Truestorythreepigs.jpg

I am reincarnating an old lesson I used to do several years ago, but with a tech twist. We are going to be writing fractured fairy tales and then creating a movie using Xtranormal or GoAnimate.

First, I will read The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Notice how the story has changed when the point of view is from a character in the story. You should notice things like A. Wolf did not know what was going on away from him and how his story was biased based on his thoughts and feelings.

Here is the lesson plan:

1. Listen to the story and discuss point of view.
2. Check out the site GoAnimate and Xtranormal You will choose one of these sites to create your video so make sure you understand what they can and can't do.
3. Choose a fairy tale to rewrite from a specific character's point of view. Make sure you choose one that is well known. Here is a good place to get started: 43 Popular Fairy Tales
4. Meet in a small group 3-4 to discuss the stories chosen and brainstorm which to use and which characters to have tell the story.
5. Rewrite the fairy tale from a new point of view. Use your new blog from kidblogs. The link is on the left side of the blog.
6. Storyboard the story using the template provided by Mr. C.
7. Meet in a small group 3-4 to review your story. Students will critique the story and make suggestions.
8. Make any necessary revisions to the story as a separate blog entry.
9. Create your movie using GoAnimate or Xtranormal.
10. Post your movie on your blog.
11. Screen your movie for the rest of the class!

My Edublog Award Nominees 2010

These are my nominations for the Edublog Awards.

Best individual tweeter:

@IntrepidTeacher: Jabiz Raisdana is honest, raw, and emotional. No one pushes my thinking more.

Best individual blog:

Farview Physical Education is an amazing blog written by Michael Beringer. Although this blog specifically deals with one part of education, it deserves recognition for being the best elementary physical education blog I have seen in four years. Michael has consistently found new and interesting ways to get his students motivated and moving.

Best class blog:

Okay so this is technically a school blog, not a class blog but there is no school blog category so I am putting it here. The Daraja Academy-Official Blog is my choice. While many great teachers have great class blogs that showcase learning, the Daraja Academy blog showcases how the school changes lives.

Best student blog:

Ian Coon's Live to Learn Ian uses his blog to reflect, share, and play. A great combination!

Most influential blog post:

An Easter Monday Proclamation of Liberation by Ira Socol on the SpEdChange blog. It is an amazing post that draws the line between politics and education. A must read in my opinion.

Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion:

#Edcamp What other tweets on education started a new vibrant and dynamic movement this year?

Best use of a PLN:

Edcamp again. These are conferences put on by PLN's for PLN's.


Click here to see the Edublogs Awards home page.

Comments4Kids: Quality Comments Please!

Assignment:
1) Choose  blogs from the list.
2) Leave a comment on posts.
3) Fill out the handout with the information it asks for. 

Do not forget the Rules of Commenting!

Guns, Germs, and Steel

In the excellent book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, the author lays out a very interesting theory about how the Americas were conquered. As we watch the National Geographic video of Guns, Germs, and Steel we will discuss these theories You may also want to look at the PBS website.

Yellow Journalism

For this assignment you will be developing an online "textbook" dealing with Yellow Journalism. What is Yellow Journalism? That is for you to discover. What will you do after you find out? That is for us to decide :)

Actually, I would love for you to not only define the term, but also identify examples from throughout the history of the United States (and maybe even during the colonial period!) How can we find these examples? What resources will we use? Who can we get to help us? How will we split up the work? I guess we will have to figure all that out as we go.

We will be putting the information on a wiki. You may want to check it out and figure out how to use it.

http://yellowjournalism.wikispaces.com/

Interested in Natural Science? Check Out These Games

The first game is Blue Whale on the National Geographic website. The idea is to find and tag blue whales so that they can be studied by scientists. Warning, it is really hard to tag the whales!

The second game is Move which is also on the National Geographic website. Here you lead a migrating herd of animals and try to keep them alive. You have to contend with predators as well as lack of food. 

The third game is from the Discovery Channel, Thrill of the Catch. This is a fishing simulation that also allows you to create and name your own fish. As you  catch more fish, you are rewarded with better boats.

Web Sukoku-

Following this weeks theme of working with math. Today and tomorrow you will be doing online sudoku puzzles via websudoku.com. See if you can get a puzzle done in under 50 minutes.

Create a Pen and Ink Masterpiece: Using Pen and Ink to Draw a Picture

Surrender of Cornwallis by George Trumbull

This picture is by George Trumbull, Surrender of Cornwallis. An interesting fact is that Cornwallis did not go to surrender himself. I guess he was too embarrassed to show his face.

It was not unusual for people to draw their own pictures (there were no cameras in the 1700's). Here is a picture of a map and letter about Williamsburg by Franz Michel. It was drawn in 1702.

Map and letter by Franz Michel

Your assignment will be to draw with pen and ink a picture of the British surrender at Yorktown. Since you were supposed to have actually witnessed the event, you will be expected to be more historically accurate than Mr. Trumbull. If you wish to color your picture, there are colored inks available as well. Can you come up with a good way to use them effectively?

Flat Stanley Visits Our Classroom

In the mail today I had a surprise, Flat Stanley! Jason Schmidt's class in Omaha, Nebraska sent him to us. Here is the letter I wrote with pictures. 


Corrie,

Thank you for letting Stanley visit my classroom today.  He arrived on Monday, November 1. I opened the letter you sent at the beginning of second period.  Here is a picture of Stanley and your letter:

In second period, Stanley helped Chance do some math logic problems on the http://www.logic-puzzles.org/ website. Chance sure needed the help! Here is a picture of Chance with Stanely: 

My assistant principal came by for a visit. Here is Stanley visiting with Mrs. Buttram:

I went on Twitter and announced Stanley’s arrival. He quickly received a lot of “hello’s” from people. One teacher sent a link: http://abbotflatstanley.edublogs.org/  Here is a picture of my friends saying hello to Stanley:

In third period, media history, Stanley watched the last episode of the American Revolution documentary The Revolution, The End Game. Stanley learned all about the battle of Yorktown!

In fourth period I taught 7^th grade math. Stanley helped Kyla find the slope of a line. It was a good thing Stanley was there, I needed the help!

After math we had lunch. Here is Stanley getting a BBQ sandwich. I was surprised at how much he ate! How does he stay so thin and eat so much?

Fifth period we are back in the lab. We will be doing logic puzzles the rest of the day.

Math Problem Solving: Logic Puzzles

This week we are going to be doing some math work. First we will start with logic puzzles from the Puzzle Baron Presents Logic Puzzles site.

100,000 Visits!

The blog officially had its 100,000 visitor yesterday. I would like to thank everyone that has visited and left a comment. When I started this blog almost four years ago I thought it might be a fun thing to use with my class. Since then it has become the most important tool I have ever used. I am amazed at the support I have received through the years from so many great people!

Halloween Games

Here are a couple sites you might enjoying visiting for Halloween. The first site is online pumpkin carving. What kind of face does your pumpkin need? The second site is Zap-A-Ghost. How many ghosts can you click on? The last site is Hidden Spirits. Can you lead a scientific investigation to debunk a haunted hotel?

Online Pumpkin Carving

Zap-a-Ghost

Hidden Spirits

Ben and Jerry's Halloween Fun

Transylmania 2

Here is a Scariest Places on Earth Show you may enjoy watching.

3rd Grade Singing During the Assembly

How to Calculate the Slope of a Line

How To Find the Slope Of a Line on Howcast

Comments4Kids:Commenting Bombing All Week Long!

Since this is a short week, we are going to spend it commenting on blogs. First we are going to look at the Does Commenting Make a Difference? post. Then view Mr. Wood's post on 5 Smart Ways to Get Comments4Kids on Your Blog. Then we are going to pick some posts to comment on here. There are 84 blogs that are wanting comments! let's see how many we can leave a comment on.

I want you to make a link list of the posts you comment on. Put them on a blog post on the 8th grade groups. Hyperlink the list to the actual post.


Does Commenting Make a Difference?
5 Smart Ways to Get Comments4Kids on Your Blog.
Comments4Kids Blogs

Create a Comic Strip: Peace

This month's word is peace.We are going to create a comic strip using the Marvel Create Your Own Comic.You will need to create a strip with the theme of peace. It needs to be no more than two pages. The best one will be printed and distributed to the school!

****Follow these directions to post on the 8th Grade Group****

1) Download the comic. It will be in a pdf.

2) Open the pdf, then copy the image.

3) Open paint and paste the image.

4) Save the image as a jpeg.

5) Upload to the 8th Grade Group as a blog post.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day

Our school had a breast cancer awareness day where students were encouraged to wear pink. There was a fundraiser and our principal, Mr. Nichols, agreed to wear pink if enough money was raised. Do you think we raised enough?

Student Survey for Character Education

Students, you need to take this survey. It should only take three minutes to do.

CLICK HERE

Weather Cycle Animations Using Pivot Stickfigure Animator

We are going to use Pivot Stickfigure Animator to create a video of the water cycle. The software should be installed on your compter. If it is not, see me.

BBC has a video of the water cycle. Watch the video to get an idea about how you will create your water cycle.

Label the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, and run off

Explorer Reflection

Today I want you to write a blog post reflecting what you have learned from your research and presentation. Below is the required information for you to include in the post.

1. What you learned from creating the PowerPoint.
2. What you learned from creating the essay.
3. What you learned from giving your presentation.

Rebelling To Revolution

Pick two of the events below to include in your journal writing. 

Lord Dunmore's Proclomation
Battle of Bunker (Breeds) Hill
Capture of  Fort Ticonderoga
Knox Expedition
Siege of Boston

Poptropica

"Poptropica is a massively multiplayer online game and virtual world, targeted at children ages 6 to 15, where players can travel, play games, compete in head-to-head competition, and communicate safely with each other. There is a role-playing component as players are encouraged to finish "island missions" and get medallions."
Wikipedia.com

As we are missing a large percentage of our students today and it has been a couple weeks since I have given you a mental health day, enjoy!

Boston, Bloody Boston

We are looking at journaling or diary writing. The first entries need to be about activities that took place in and around Boston. Make sure you understand the difference between a journal and a diary. Here is a very interesting post about the difference. Do we want to create a hand written journal/diary? Think about it and we can discuss it on Monday.

Yesterday we watched and talked about the Boston Massacre where British soldiers fired on British colonists. (Remember we were still a part of Great Britain?) This would make a great first person account especially if it was followed up by accounts of the trial.

Boston Tea Party took place in December of 1773 as a protest to import taxes. You should definitely read about Sam Adams (John Adams cousin) role in the protest. Perhaps a quick sketch using paint would be a good addition to the entry.

The Intolerable Acts were a series of acts that came from Parliment in 1774. The Boston Port Act was one act that came as a direct result of the Boston Tea Party. If you choose to write about this you will probably want to record your reactions to them. It is an easy thing to see negatively, but you may decide to take a "loyalist" approach and try to defend them.

We didn't get to see much of the Battles of Lexington and Concord but we did talk a little about Paul Revere. Perhaps you would like to write about his "midnight ride".

Eric Langhorst alerted me to this animated timeline of Lexington and Concord.

If you are reading the end of this post, please point out to your classmates that this does not have to be finished today. Take the time to read the information. Look at some of the citations at the bottom of the Wikipedia articles and follow them to read what they have to say. Discuss what you are reading with each other. I would prefer you spend the whole class period reading and thinking, not writing.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray,_4th_Earl_of_Dunmore

By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of VIRGINIA, and Vice Admiral of the same.

A PROCLAMATION

As I have ever entertained Hopes, that an Accommodation might have taken Place between GREAT-BRITAIN and this Colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, firing on His MAJESTY'S Tenders, and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack his MAJESTY'S Troops and destroy the well disposed subjects of the Colony. To defeat such treasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abettors, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purpose can be obtained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His MAJESTY, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this Colony: and to ****** the Peace and good Order may the sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offenses; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &. &. And I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, foe the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Dignity. I do further order, and require, all His MAJESTY'S Liege Subjects, to retain their Quitrents, or any other Taxes due or that may become due, in their own Custody, till such a Time as Peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them for their former salutary Purposes, by Officers properly ***** to receive the same.

GIVEN under my Hand on board the Ship WILLIAM by Norfolk, the 7th Day of November in the SIXTEENTH Year of His MAJESTY'S Reign.
DUNMORE

(GOD save the KING.)

We will be revisiting the effect of this document at the 

end of our study of the American Revolution.

Comments4Kids: You Choose the Blog!

Today is Comments4Kids Day! You will get to choose the blog and the post you wish to comment on. I have created a new site for teachers and students to register their blogs. There are blogs from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil!

Assignment:
1) Choose four blogs from the list.
2) Leave a comment on four posts.
3) Write a post on the class group about the four blogs you commented on.

Do not forget the Rules of Commenting!

8th Grade PowerPoint Project

Picture of Captain Cook from Wikipedia.com

Here are the links for your explorers assignment. Read the directions very, very carefully and follow them. The links are also found on the right of the blog below the green bar. Make sure you cite your sources! You will upload it to Google Documents when you are finished.

Instructions for the Explorer Project

Links for the Explorer Project

Comments4Kids: Tuesday is Workday!

Thanks to the new Comments4Kids site we have several new blogs to visit.

Savvy 7 is a class of Yr 5/6 ( 9,10,11 yr old) children in Wellington New Zealand. Mrs. C (not my wife ;) asks for ideas to use with the class blog. Give her a good one!


Baily Road Team 17 is a blog for Team 17, a Year 6 class at Bailey Road School in Mt Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand. This post is on a team winning a Netball championship. Congratulate the team but don't be afraid to ask how to play if you don't already know.


Learning Together is a prep blog (5-6 year olds) in Melbourne Australia. Watch the Smilebox presentation and read what the students decided they could do to help the environment. Leave them a positive comment.


The Clem Eighth grade Language Arts blog where they post stories and poems. Pick one and read it, then comment.

Rules for Comments4Kids

1) Relevant
2) Positive
3) Comment only when you have something to say.
4) Always use good conventions (capitalization, punctuation, etc.)

VozMe

I would like to see you using VozMe.com to help you listen to the posts. Copy the words from the post by highlighting the words, then right click on the words and select copy. Paste the words onto the box on VozMe.com and then click the listen button.

3rd Grade Music: A Special Performance for Me!

My daughter's third grade music class sang a couple songs for me today. Here is a video I took with my Droid X using the Ustream mobile application.

It's a Grand Old Flag

Boo

Creating Postcards from Student Work or Pictures

Here is a quick way to let your students show off their artwork and get in a quick lesson on writing postcards. The picture above is a postcard I made in class from picture a student drew to go along with a media history assignment. I took the pictures and printed them onto card stock and cut them out. Then I had them write a postcard explaining the assignment and had them mailed. Soon the parents will get a surprise in the mail!

You can do the same thing with pictures of the students as well. Why not take a picture of the science experiment they are doing, the activity they are doing in their PE class, or them working on a computer? There is something special about receiving handwritten mail and it is even more special when it is from someone you love!

Please note: If you are using a laser printer you need it to heat up before running card stock in it. I print 25-30 blank pages first before I run the card stock through so it heats up enough that the toner sticks to the paper.

Have Your Webpages Read to You: VozMe.com

While I have had the VozMe code on my blog for several years, it has just been brought to my attention that VozMe can be used in two other wonderful ways. 

VozMe allows text to be read aloud. One way to do this is for the publisher of a site to add html to the site that allows a button to be placed on the site. You simply highlight the text you want read aloud and then hit the button. The text is then read to you.You can also download the audio as an mp3. This is great for accessibility when the site owner has the technical skill to add the code. 

Another way to use VozMe is to copy the text you want to have read to you and go to the VozMe website. Paste the code into the box and hit the Create MP3 button. You can even choose between a male or female voice. Very simple to do and the audio can also be downloaded this way.

The third way, and in my opinion the best, is to add VozMe as a favorite or bookmark to your browser. You will need to find the instructions for your preferred browser on this page. Once you have the bookmark, all you have to do is highlight the text and click on the bookmark. It will open a new page and read the text too you. You can again choose from a male or female voice and download the mp3. How cool is that?!

Create a Glog to Encourage Colonization

Today you will be exploring Glogster. Glogster is like a digital poster where you can embed audio, video, pictures, and sound. Play with it a little and see what you can do with it.

Your assignment is to create a mutli-media Glog to encourage emigration to a new colony. Your Glog must contain the following:

1. A video- This can be a commercial for the new colony, a tour of the new colony, an infomercial about the new colony or another idea you come up with. You can take your own video with a camera or use Xtranormal. I must warn you that Xtranormal takes a few days to figure out and it can be difficult to embed. It does make interesting videos though.
2. At least 3 pictures- These should show scenes of the new colony, maybe a new map of the colony, and/or different ideas you may come up with. This does not include clip-art.
3. Audio: Glogster allows you to create audio through the program. You ca also use Vocaroo.com or Voki to create the audio. The audio can be a radio-type advertisement, a testimonial from a colonist, a message from the Governor of the colony, or something you may come up with.
4. Text: Don't overdo the words on the Glog. Let the pictures, video, and audio do the real work. 

Make sure your Glog's background, lettering, etc. are appealing and work with the theme of the assignment. I am not sure if we can embed html into a glog yet so we may not be able to use some of these tools. I will let you know when I find out.

Reasons for Colonization

As we read through this text we want to compare it to A Virginia Colonist's Despair. We know that Hakluyt, the author of this piece did not visit the colonies. he was writing from information he received from other people. According to Wikipedia:

"Hakluyt was also a leading adventurer of the Charter of the Virginia Company of London as a director thereof in 1589.^[9] In 1605 he secured the prospective living of James Town, the intended capital of the intended colony of Virginia. When the colony was at last established in 1607, he supplied this benefice with its chaplain, Robert Hunt. In 1606 he appears as the chief promoter of the petition to James I for letters patent to colonize Virginia, which were granted on 10 April 1606."

As we read through the Reasons, ask yourself why did Hakluyt write this piece? How did Haklyut know this information if he had never been to the New World? How does it compare to The Virginia Colonist's Despair. What is the relationship between Frethorne and Haklyut?

Reasons for Colonization

Richard Hakluyt, 1585




The glory of God by planting of religion among those infidels.
The increase of the force of the Christians.

The possibility of the enlarging of the dominions of the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, and consequently of her honour, revenues, and of her power by this enterprise.

An ample vent in time to come of the woollen cloths of England, especially those of the coarsest sorts, to the maintenance of our poor, that else starve or become burdensome to the realm; and vent also of sundry our commodities upon the tract of that firm land, and possibly in other regions from the northern side of that main....

By return thence, this realm shall receive...most or all the commodities that we receive from the best parts of Europe, and we shall receive the same better cheap than now we receive them, as we may use the matter.
Receiving the same thence, the navy, the human strength of this realm, our merchants and their goods, shall not be subject to arrest of ancient enemies and doubtful friends as of late years they have been.
If our nation do not make any conquest there but only use traffic and change of commodities, yet, by means the country is not very mighty but divided into petty kingdoms, they shall not dare to offer us any great annoy but such as we may easily revenge with sufficient chastisement to the unarmed people there…


The great plenty of buff hides and of many other sundry kinds of hides there now presently to be had, the trade of whale and seal fishing and of divers other fishings in the great rivers, great bays, and seas there, shall presently defray the charge in good part or in all of the first enterprise…
The great broad rivers of that main that we are to enter into, so many leagues navigable or portable into the mainland, lying so long a tract with so excellent and so fertile a soil on both sides, do seem to promise all things that the life of man doth require and whatsoever men may wish that are to plant upon the same or to traffic in the same…
If we find the country populous and desirous to expel us and injuriously to offend us, that seek but just and lawful traffic, then, by reason that we are lords of navigation and they not so, we are the better able to defend ourselves by reason of those great rivers and to annoy them in many places…


The known abundance of fresh fish in the rivers, and the known plenty of fish on the seacoast there, may assure us of sufficient victual in spite of the people, if we will use salt and industry.
The known plenty and variety of flesh of divers kinds of beasts at land there may seem to say to us that we may cheaply victual our navies to England for our returns…


The navigating of the seas in the voyage, and of the great rivers there, will breed many mariners for service and maintain much navigation…
Since great waste woods be there of oak, cedar, pine, walnuts, and sundry other sorts, many of our waste people may be employed in making of ships, hoys, busses, and boats, and in making of rosin, pitch, and tar…
If mines of white or grey marble, jet, or other rich stone be found there, our idle people may be employed in the mines of the same and in preparing the same to shape, and, so shaped, they may be carried into this realm as good ballast for our ships and after serve for noble buildings…


…Moreover, we shall not only receive many precious commodities besides from thence, but also shall in time find ample vent of the labour of our poor people at home, by sale of hats, bonnets, knives, fish-hooks, copper kettles, beads, looking-glasses, bugles, and a thousand kinds of other wrought wares that in short time may be brought in use among the people of that country, to the great relief of the multitude of our poor people and to the wonderful enriching of this realm. And in time, such league and intercourse may arise between our stapling seats there, and other reports of our Northern America, and of the islands of the same, that incredible things, and by few as yet dreamed of, may speedily follow, tending to the impeachment of our mighty enemies and to the common good of this noble government.


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