Archive for the 'School' Category

Apr

Outside Reading Extra Credit Opportunity-4th Quarter

This is the only extra credit that is scheduled for the 4th Quarter.

A special opportunity to earn extra credit: Read a book (or two, or three, or four, or five).

After reading your book, go to socialstudieswithasmile.com/blog. Click on the category link Outside Reading Extra Credit.
Answer the questions on the post by leaving a reply.

The questions that need to be answered:

1.Name of the book. Who is the author?
2.What is the book about? Provide a brief summary.
3.Fiction: Who is your favorite character? What did you appreciate about him/her?
4.Non-Fiction: Describe a moment/event in the book that most people are probably not aware of.
5.Would you recommend this book to other readers? If so, who would you recommend it to? If not, why would you not recommend it?

Each book is worth 1 extra credit point. The maximum number of books that can be read in a quarter is 5.
Remember, this is the only extra credit that is scheduled for the 4th Quarter.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Outside Reading Extra Credit,School,Uncategorized and have Comments (6)

Apr

Wednesday, 4/11

Last year I was told that I read too many history books, biographies and baseball books. As a result, this year I decided to read more fiction, particularly fiction geared to youngsters. I just finished reading Deep Down Popular, a book about a young girl (6th grade) struggle to get the attention from the popular boy in class.
A soccer injury brings the two of them together and ends with them going to a school dance together. This book was geared towards a young crowd (even younger than 7th grade) and had a pretty thin storyline. However, I enjoyed it because it was a short, fun story.
I especially enjoyed the side-story of a big business coming into town and putting a mom and pop small business out of business. The main character, Jesse Lou, her grandfather, and the popular boy Conrad work to keep the store in business. It will be that effort that will help bring the two together as friends.

Reading this book was a good distraction from Washington, the book I’ve been reading (slowly) for months now.
As always, I will make the book available in our classroom library.
I should also point out that the book was purchased at Dolphin Bookstore. As Deep Down Popular pointed out, it is nice to visit and buy from the local small businesses.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Books,School,Uncategorized and have Comments (8)

Apr

Tuesday, 4/10

I love bacon as much as the next guy but this takes it to a whole new level. Apparently, there is a company that is marketing a Bacon Coffin.

For $3000 you can be buried in a bacon-designed coffin. Too bad you don’t get to eat it! Then again, I remember trying Henry’s bacon flavored chewing gum…one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made.
You can check out the brief article here.

Speaking of reading articles, I like the new addition of Newsday to our Core Extension. Weekly, we will read the paper and focus on one or two articles. It keeps us up to date on the news of the day. Schools don’t do as much current events as we used to so if we could change that I think it would be good.

Don’t forget, Chapter 11 Section 3 is due on Monday.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Current Events,School,Uncategorized and have No Comments

Apr

Friday, 4/6

I was asked yesterday if I was serious about the one page report on the Reds game. Of course I was…not. If you thought I was serious I must be pretty convincing. I even said in class that it wasn’t serious.
The only assignment you have over the vacation is the one from Tuesday. Many of you already completed that assignment. Check out the homework page for the questions if you need to see them.

I enjoyed watching baseball back in action yesterday. The Reds won by a score of 4-0. I was impressed by the fundamentally sound play of the Reds. From Drew Stubbs bunting for a base hit, great defense, the good base running and pitching from Cueto, Chapman and Marshall, there wasn’t really much to complain about.
Marshall pitched a lights-out 123 inning in the 9th. If one game is any indication, the Reds will be fine with Marshall as a closer. Of course, this is a long season.
I was also impressed by Joey Votto’s defense yesterday. Although he won the gold glove last year, I was never impressed by his glove work. Yesterday was a different story.

Thank you to everyone for all the kind words you had after meeting DJ and Casey in school yesterday. DJ loved walking around the school and playing with everyone. He especially had a good time playing with Mrs. Convey and Mrs. Fishman.
They probably won’t be back for awhile. They are a bit too young to handle coming to school with us.

As I said in class, enjoy the vacation. Take advantage of this time to be with family and re-charge your batteries. We are in the home-stretch. 10 weeks of school remaining!!!
I’ll be around posting on the blog this week. If you have a moment with nothing to do, stop by and say hi.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Casey,DJ,School,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (2)

Apr

Monday, 4/2

I spent last evening watching Wrestlemania XXVIII…If you’re a wrestling fan and did not watch, you missed a good show. I’ve been watching Wrestlemania since my early childhood. In fact, I only missed one live. The reason? I had baseball practice and didn’t want to miss baseball. I guess you can see the priorities of a young Mr. Dowling.

Remember, this week is Spirit Week at school.

Monday: Wear House Color Day
Tuesday: Favorite Sports Team Shirt/Jersey Day
Wednesday: Twin Day
Thursday: Pajamas Day

I’ll be participating in all but Thursday’s Pajama day. Although I do have Reds pjs I’ll save those for next year. Thursday is Opening Day and I have to wear a Reds jersey that day.

Anyone come up with a great April Fools prank?

That’s all for today. Have a great day in school.

posted by Mr. Dowling in School,Uncategorized and have Comments (3)

Mar

Practice Tests

Chapter 10 practice tests are available on socialstudieswithasmile.com. It would be a good idea to print out the word document to bring to tomorrow’s extra help session.

posted by Mr. Dowling in School,Uncategorized and have No Comments

Mar

Monday, 3/26

On Friday, I was greeted by a former student with great news. Current 9th Grader and former Green House Student, Ethan, had a cartoon published in the Schreiber Times. I don’t recall reading the Times before this weekend. I have to say I was quite impressed by the articles and enjoyed reading about past students. I hope to see future copies of the Spartan Times, especially with articles and cartoons by former students.

This weekend the Reds were the recipients of bad news. Over the winter, the Reds signed Ryan Madson to be the team’s closer. Madson pitched quite well for the Phillies last year and was slated to be a more than suitable replacement for Fransisco Cordero. Sadly, Madson had elbow problems once Spring Training started and tests showed that he had torn the ligament right off his elbow. He’s going to need Tommy John surgery and will be out the entire season.
The excitement that I had for Opening Day is still there but I’m more worried about the season that last week. The Reds do have Sean Marshall to step in to fill the void. However, if the Reds thought Marshall was good enough to be the guy, they wouldn’t have signed Madson after trading for Marshall.
We’ll see how it plays out. There is still a slight chance that Aroldis Chapman will be moved to the closer position.

Finally, an interesting “article” from the Daily News.

Like many people who get summoned to jury duty, Jacob Clark didn’t want to go. But unlike most people, he had a legitimate excuse-he’s 9 years old…His dad called the jury commission office in Orleans District Court in Massachusetts to find out what happened. It turns out that someone apparently typed 1982 for the Yarmouth 3rd grader’s birth year instead of 2002. The mistake was quickly corrected.

Have a great day in school today.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Current Events,School,The Reds,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comments (2)

Mar

St. Patrick’s Day

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we’ve gone green here on the blog.

NCAA Tournament
Yikes…I guess I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was picking Missouri to go all the way. Then Duke lost. I guess there’s always next year. At least I’m willing to admit that I don’t know a thing about college basketball.

Have you heard about the Weber Book Exchange? It seems like a pretty good idea. What you do is donate books that you’re finished reading. There will be a box near the Auditorium. You can go before school or during recess to drop off your books and possibly find a book that you would like to read. This was the idea of a Weber student.
I like the idea. Once you read a book it often gets thrown out or ends up collecting dust on a shelf. Why not pass it along to someone who wants to read it.
Of course, we shouldn’t forget that we also have two wonderful libraries to use. The school library is filled with great books and the Port Washington Public Library is one of the best (if not the best) library in Nassau County. I’m not just saying that, I’ve been to several libraries in Nassau over the years.

Have a great weekend. Don’t forget to get your grade sheet signed. Also, be sure to read and study Chapter 9 Section 1.

posted by Mr. Dowling in School,Uncategorized and have Comments (2)

Mar

Two Questions

Question 1: When you were younger (or perhaps now), what were your favorite cartoons?

Question 2: Who’s in your Final Four for the NCAA tournament? I have Kansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Missouri with Missouri going all the way.

Laughs and Lunch is canceled for Friday. The projector is still not working. Hopefully we will be able to resume shortly.

That’s all for today. Good luck on your test tomorrow.

posted by Mr. Dowling in School,Television,Uncategorized and have Comments (4)

Mar

The Weekend of 3/10

It’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned my bowling scores. Sadly, since I haven’t been bowling nearly as often as in the past, my scores haven’t been nearly as good. Last night I bowled a 147, 167 and 148. At least the team I was subbing for won and remains in 1st place.

This week we are going to have Extra Help sessions on Tuesday and Thursday morning to prepare for the Government test. If you are just beginning to study for the test it might be too late. There are a lot of facts that you will need to know. However, we’ll do everything we can in class and during the review sessions to help you succeed.
Remember, the Constitutional Collage is due Tuesday.

There are some good shows coming up soon. Tonight on HBO is the debut of the Game Change movie. This movie chronicles the 2008 Presidential Election, specifically the Republican side of the process. I read the book last year and I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. It should be interesting, especially if you would like a behind the scenes look at politics. Julianne Moore plays Sarah Palin and she looks like she’s done a good job portraying the former Vice-Presidential candidate. In fact, when I saw a picture of her as Palin in the newspaper last week I thought it was a picture of the real Sarah Palin.
The movie airs on HBO so get your parents’ permission before watching.

I’m also looking forward to MSG Network’s 8 part series on the best and worst deals in New York baseball history. The show begins Sunday at 10 on MSG. I’ll be setting my DVR for that one. It looks like they are only focusing on the Mets and Yankees. Apparently MSG is ignoring the Dodgers and Giants. Either way, it is worth taking a look at if you are a baseball fan.
One trade that immediately pops into my mind is when the Mets traded Tom Seaver. Trading Tom Seaver is like trading away Derek Jeter.
The first night focuses on the best New York Mets trades.

If they were making a show on the worst trades the Reds made you’d have to go with when the Reds traded away Frank Robinson. The GM thought Robinson was an “old” 30. He went on to have a stellar 2nd part of his career with the Baltimore Orioles. It still worked out for the Reds, winning 2 World Series in the 70s. However, who know what they would have been able to do before that as well.
The trade for Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t work out as well as the Reds had hoped it would. However, they didn’t give away anyone that went on to be a mega-star.

posted by Mr. Dowling in Bowling,Movies,School,Television,Uncategorized,baseball and have Comment (1)

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