The week of October 3rd saw the beginning of a new historical investigation, a guest speaker, and the commencement of Pink Out Fridays at Elizabeth Forward Middle School. On Monday, October 3rd, we began Chapter Three: Colonial America in American History Class. Using a Near Pod Presentation, students were introduced to reasons for colonizing North America by the English and were introduced to early settlements such as Roanoke and Jamestown. Students participated in a Thinking Routine that I learned from Harvard’s Project Zero titled “The Explanation Game”. Students are shown an portrait and through a series of guiding questions, students work to identify a famous individual and explain their reasoning. The individual that students identified was Pocahontas. In addition to Pocahontas, students were introduced to the following individuals: John Smith & John Rolfe. On Tuesday, we began our lesson with an introduction on Primary vs. Secondary Sources. Using the Educreations application, students used their iPads as wipe boards to show if an item that I displayed was a Primary Source or a Secondary Source. We took this a step further and examined a Primary Source titled The Starving Time. Written by John Smith, the Starving Time displays the desperate situation that the colonist at Jamestown faced during the winter of 1508-1509. Be sure to ask your students about the Starving Time Primary Source because the details within the source are very interesting! A new historical investigation began on Wednesday, which focused on the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Instead of a historical cold case, students are currently investigating a historical missing person(s) case. To begin this lesson, students watched an introduction video on Ed Puzzle explaining the background of the Roanoke Colony. Students then migrated to a website that I created on Weebly that will act as a central location for this investigation. Be sure to check out the website at this link! From there, students were given another Primary Source, writeen by John White, explaining his return to the Roanoke Colony. Students worked with their investigation teams to read through the source and answer clarifying questions on the Socrative application. On Thursday, students completed their analysis of the john White Primary Source and then assigned different theories to be investigated by each members of their team. These theories help explain what happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke and are the following: Native American attack, Assimilation, and Relocation. Using the website, students began to research their assigned theory and recorded their evidence on their case file on the eBackpack application. Students then began to share their findings with the team members and in order to formulate concrete ideas to explain the mystery behind the Lost Colony of Roanoke. On Friday, Officer Jordan Angelo from the Elizabeth Township Police Department came to visit our students to talk about his role as a police officer and to offer information about drug and alcohol use. Officer Angelo provided students with very interesting information and asked the students to participate in different scenarios. At the conclusion of his presentation, Officer Angelo fielded questions from the students. Not only did the students appear to enjoy this lesson, but it was obvious that they appreciated Officer Angelo taking time to visit our class! Friday also marked the beginning of Pink Our Fridays. Student Council is currently selling EF Warrior Live Pink t-shirts for $10.00. Half of the profits from the t-shirt designs will be donated to a Breast Cancer Awareness Charity! Next week students will conclude their investigation on the Lost Colony of Roanoke and continue exploring topics from Chapter Three: Colonial America. In addition, next Monday is the field trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo! A special shout out to Homeroom 212 and their great displays of teamwork during our first Olweus Lesson this past Wednesday. Students worked together to complete the "Straw-Tower Challenge". Congrats to Caedon, Dan, Skylar, and Jon for winning the challenge!
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Mr. Steve Hartnett
Mr. Hartnett will update the Room 212 Blog with classroom updates on a regular basis. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @ MrHartnett212 Archives
July 2019
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