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.


http://www.sitesalive.com/hl/tg/private/hltgReasons.htm

'Cause That's How I Roll (Like a Rock!)

This week we will be extending your learning about rocks and minerals from science. You are a mineral molecule (let's say silica) and you are about to take an incredible journey through the rock cycle! After doing your information gathering (research) you will write monologue (a dramatic speech!) If you don't know what that is, you are in luck! Here is a video that explains how to write a monologue!

Note, there is a transcript of this video at EHow.com. The transcript button is underneath and to the right of the video.


How to Write a Dramatic Monologue -- powered by eHow.com

Notice the important facts about monologues:

• given by one person (that is you!)
• make sure you know your character (a rock) well
• you have to deliver it (that means you are going to present it in a dramatic form like a play!)

The Rock Cycle: Great static visual diagram of how rock changes
Interactives Rock Cycle: Another great static visual diagram, this time with added flames and water. Roll over the pictures to get more information, click on the rocks to find how they are made!


Interactive Rock Cycle Animation: Animation of the rock cycle in motion.

What Can We Learn from This?

Winning School Speech 2009 from myles webb on Vimeo.

This video comes from Room 8 Melville Int School.This is the winner of the Melville Intermediate School Speech Finals for 2009. The speech is about judging a person by his/her appearance. Do you judge a person immediately after seeing them? Research would indicate you do.

After watching the video, write a post about what you learned. Then copy your post and paste it as a comment on Room 8's blog. Here are a few questions to help you get started.

Make sure you follow conventions.

• Will you try to get to know a person before making a decision about them based solely on the way they look, or will your first impression stay with you?
• Have you ever made a judgment about someone and then found out you were wrong?
• In your opinion, why do we judge each other when we first meet? How can we stop?

Click here for the post to comment on.

Comments4Kids: Let's Leave a Few Comments

Not getting comments? Try leaving some for others!

Sharing Good News 5th grade students in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pick 2 posts to leave comments on.

Journeys 365 Project-June This blog post is by a retired librarian that still loves to educate. This post has pictures taken for the 365 Project that encourages people to take a picture a day for a whole year!

MSTA Blog How to Identify Cyberbullying in Your Classroom  MSTA is the Missouri State Teachers Association. They help classroom teachers with all sorts of issues. This post is on cyberbullying. Since we just learned some online safety information, leave a comment about what you would do if you were cyberbullied.

Springston Explorers Check Out the Photos From Room 8 Party These are year 1 (like our kindergarten) students in Canterbury, New Zealand. Leave a comment encouraging the students to have a great school year.


Mr. McClung's World Interior Design Talk-Jersey Wall Leave a comment telling Mr. McClung how you like his wall decorating idea. 

Rules for Comments4Kids

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

4th Hour Math is Using Kidblog.org to Reflect on Math

Here is the link to our 4th Hour Math class: 4th Hour Math
To sign in click the link on the top right of the page that says >>Log in. Find your first name and then enter the password I will give you. On the top left of the blog site click on New Post. Write your reflection.

Your assignment today is to reflect on angles. Here are some questions you may want to consider answering:

• What new thing did you learn about angles?
• What kind of job could you do that requires knowing about angles?
• What did you already know about angles?
• What information will you have trouble remembering about angles? Why?

Angle Kung Fu: A Fun Game to Practice Measuring Angles

Angle Kung Fu is a great way to practice measuring angles.

You have to quickly decide what the measurement of the angle is to hit the bad ninja. If you get it right you hit him, if you get it wrong he hits you. I would suggest you watch the opening and read the directions for helpful hints. Can you be a ninja master on all three levels?