Notes Over the United States Continued

Today we continued to discuss the notes over the United States. We touched on the Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and three branches of government (Executive, Legislative, Judicial). A full copy of the notes over the U.S. can be found below in the post from 9/27.

Corrected Notes

Attached are the notes we have been working on in class the last two days.

Health Issues and 3 Assignments Due

I apologize for having been out so often the past week or so. I'm having some health issues and have multiple tests being run. I'm afraid I'll be missing some more time in the not too distant future. Because of this, it is taking me a bit to get my feet underneath me and get everything graded. Bear with me as I am making progress.

Now, there are three assignments that I need you to make sure your student has turned in to me. The first - and most important - is the mapping project mentioned in previous blog posts. This is a major summative grade and any student who fails to turn it in will have almost no chance of passing for the nine weeks. This assignment was actually due this past Monday 9/25. Any student that did not turn it in on time may still turn it in late for a grade up to a 70. This is much better than a grade of 0. The second assignment is a worksheet the kids worked on while the sub was with them called the Chapter 4 Vocabulary Builder. This worksheet was due today (9/26). The third assignment is the standard Chapter 4 vocabulary assignment. This assignment and the instructions for it is attached below. Also, attached are the notes for Lesson 1.

Please make sure your student gets these three assignments completed and turned in ASAP.

Regions of the U.S. and Tornado Alley

Today we discussed the major geographic regions of the United States and discussed a bit about the climate of each. I touched on the fact that we are in central Texas which is considered the southern edge of an area known as "Tornado Alley." This area encompasses most of the Great Plains region and sees more tornados than any other area on earth.

After the initial discussion, I showed a short video that detailed the terrible F5 tornado that struck Jarrell 20 years ago. Jarrell is only 25-30 miles south of us and the video makes quite an impression. I have included a link to the video below (I did show the first 2-3 minutes without the sound on as the filmography uttered a couple of profanities. These words were NOT broadcast to the class).

I have also attached a short video of an elementary social studies teacher mapping out the regions of the United States. Students may want to refer back to this video when they start their mini-project tomorrow.

Chapter 4 Vocabulary Builder Worksheet

Today the students were assigned the Vocabulary Builder worksheet for Chapter 4. They were given most of the period to complete the worksheet. The assignment is due at the beginning of the period tomorrow (I will likely allow 10-15 minutes for the students to finish it up). The worksheet is attached below.

North America Unit Started, 9/11 Video

We started class today by watching a video on the 9/11 attacks 16 years ago. For these students, this event seems like ancient history as the event took place before they were born. We discussed the fallout from the event and how it has deeply affected our Fort Hood community with deployments to Afghanistan.

After the video, we took some brief notes over Chapter 4 - Lesson 1 over the geography of the United States. Attached below are the notes taken in class. Any student who did not finish the notes in class may print these notes off or fill in any gaps by referring to them.

Vocabulary Due, Map Activity, and Online Textbook Access

The vocabulary assignment for Chapter 1 was due today at the beginning of class. Any student who was absent today will need to be ready to turn in the assignment upon their return to class next Monday. The assignment can be found below on the post from 9/5.

In class today the students practiced their map interpretation skills and use of latitude/longitude. The students rotated between five maps and answered questions pertaining to each. Any student who was out of the classroom today will need to make arrangements to come after school and make up the assignment.

Online textbooks can be accessed by following the steps listed below:

- Go to the Killeen ISD home page
- Click the "Students & Parents" link at the top of the page
- Click on the "Learning Resources" link in the left hand margin of the page
- Click on the "McGraw Hill Online Textbook" link

These steps should take you to a log in page where a user name and a password are required. The user name is simply the letter "s" followed by your child's six digit student ID # @killeenisd.org. The password consists of the first three letters of your child's last name followed by their six digit student ID #. So, log in information for a mythical student named John Smith, who had ID #123456, would look like this:

User Name: s123456@killeenisd.org
Password: smi123456

Your child may also check out a hard copy of the textbook from the library if online access is a problem.

Welcome Back, Chapter 1 Vocabulary Assigned

Welcome to the 2017-18 school year. The first week is behind us and the students are now getting ready to go to work.

The vocabulary for Chapter 1 was assigned today. Please see the assignment and instructions below. Make sure your student has this assignment completed and turned in no later than this coming Friday.