Geography Bee Elimination Round

On Friday, December 9, a written test will be administered to all Wonderkids and Falcons. This will be our elimination round to determine the 5 top candidates from each team. This is not a grade, it is simply the easiest way for Mrs. Murphy to determine Geography Bee contestants. If you ultimately want a chance to win a $25,000 college scholarship in the national contest, I hope you have studied the links I provided for you about three weeks ago. Please continue to go over the information there if you would like a chance to win the WSMS National Geographic Geography Bee. Good luck! I know we could have a Falcon winner!

The New York Times

Click on this link: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html  to access an online copy of The New York Times. This newspaper is an invaluable tool for anyone who truly wants to discover what is going on in the world around you. Granted, its editorial page always leans left of center in politics (which means it is never conservative); however, it offers fantastic stories from around the world and the country. Check it out.

Discovery Education Probes

Please click on the following link to complete this assessment:

http://assignments.discoveryeducation.com/?cdPasscode=PZPZA688922

This assessment is due by January 6th.

Flags, Flags and More Flags...

The count is up to 15 now! We have added Great Britain, Georgia (the country, not the state), and Spain! I know from the posts that we have Jacquelyn to thank for Malaysia, and we so appreciate that help Jacquelyn. Thanks bunches! Can't wait to see who we get next...

Oh, by the way, have you checked our counter lately? We're almost at 18,000 views!

P.S. - By the time I got to school this morning we had yet another flag: Japan! Yeah!!! That brings us to 16. Way to go people!

Hunger Games Unit

A parent emailed me last night with the concern that she could not find a due date on the blog for completing the Hunger Games. Although we have had many conversations in class about starting the activities after our Human Imprint Unit, a hard fast date has never been posted. And although most of you are long finished with the book, or near completion, let me share that Dec. 5-9 will be the week that we enjoy the activities associated with the novel.

Where is Malaysia? Read On...

We got a Malaysian flag overnight, and that means we now have a grand total of 11 flags! I thought I would start posting info about the countries of each new flag as they show up so we use this as a learning moment. After all, the Geography Bee will be here before you know it!  So here goes with Malaysia... (and thanks to our Malaysian viewer!)

Malaysia

Click below for in-depth information:

U.S. Department of State Info Website
Geographia - Malaysia

Wikipedia states:

"Malaysia is the 66th largest country by total land area, with a land area of 329,847 square kilometres (127,355 sq mi). It has land borders with Thailand in West Malaysia, and Indonesia and Brunei in East Malaysia. It is linked to Singapore by a narrow causeway, and also has maritime boundaries with Vietnam and the Philippines. The land borders are defined in large part by geological features such as the Perlis River, Golok River and the Pagalayan Canal, whilst some of the maritime boundaries are the subject of ongoing contention. Brunei forms what is almost an enclave in Malaysia, with the state of Sarawak dividing it into two parts.

Malaysia is a megadiverse country with a high number of species and high levels of endemism. It is estimated to contain 20 per cent of the world's animal species. There are about 210 mammal species in the country. High levels of endemism are found on the diverse forests of Borneo's mountains, as species are isolated from each other by lowland forest. Over 620 species of birds have been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia, with many endemic to the mountains there. A high number of endemic bird species are also found in Malaysian Borneo. 250 reptile species have been recorded in the country, with about 150 species of snakes and 80 species of lizards. There are about 150 species of frogs, and thousands of insect species. Malaysia's exclusive economic zone is 1.5 times larger than its land area, and some of its waters are in the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot. The waters around Sipadan island are the most biodiverse in the world. Bordering East Malaysia, the Sulu Sea is a biodiversity hotspot, with around 600 coral species and 1200 fish species.

The Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion while making Islam the state religion. According to the Population and Housing Census 2010 figures, ethnicity and religious beliefs correlate highly. Approximately 61.3% of the population are practicing Islam. 19.8% Buddhism; 9.2% Christianity; 6.3% Hinduism; and 1.3% practice Confucianism, Taoism and other traditionalChinese religions., 0.7% declared no religion and the remaining 1.4% practised other religions or did not provide any information.

All ethnic Malays are considered Muslim by law of the Constitution."

New Flag Overnight!

Did you see that we got one more new flag for the flag counter? Someone from the Philippines viewed the blog! Yippeee! Now we have ten.... Who'll be number 11? Keep trying!

Have I Mentioned This Lately?

Have I reminded you all lately what fantastic kids you are? You never fail to amaze me each day! I do so like spending my days with you. You're a fabulous group that challenges me to be a better teacher, a more reflective teacher about what I do and how I do it, and you never fail to teach me humor. Thanks for being such a great bunch! You tug at my heart every day.....

2 New Flags!!!

We've gotten 1 new flag from from the Czech Republic and 1 from Poland! Who helped us get those? Thank you, whoever you are! Keep up the momentum!

We Only Have Six Flags....

As of this morning, we only have 6 flags on our flag counter. We need help. Guys, try to network with friends at school who might have relatives or friends overseas. Maybe they can help us. Give them the blog address so they can send it out to friends or relatives in other countries. Or, if you haven't worked on your own friends and relatives, try to do so. We need to get more flags. We have six out of a possible 248. We have to work on this!

Regarding the Flashcard Test....

First of all, Charles Elliot, you had much more than two nights to study. You have had since last Thursday! By my count, that is 5 days! (AND I think any MOTHER would agree that was enough time!) However, I will have merciful judgement on people who did not have full access to the cards. Now, it must be remembered that these people originally had ALL of the cards and simply LOST them. So, in actual fact, it is through their own irresponsibility that they may have tested poorly. But....yes...I will give people a second chance on Thursday. Now, Jaspreet, quit going crazy with the comment button! :) We'll talk tomorrow.

Flashcards Set 2 & Scrapbook Rubric

For anyone who needs this, click on the link words below (Flashcards Set 2) to obtain the official document of Flashcards Set 2 in my Google Docs account:

Flashcards Set 2

Click on those words above and it will take you straight to the Google Docs site and open up right at the Flashcards Set 2.


Now, for those of you who have lost your scrapbook rubric, here it is: (click on it)

Scrapbook Rubric


And here are the original scrapbook assignment pages for those of you who have lost them: (click on it)

Scrapbook Assignments

New Date for Geography Bee

Due to a conflict with the Spelling Bee, we have moved the Geography Bee to Tuesday, January 10, 2012. This rescheduling of the Geography Bee should allow many more students to participate woithout fear of burnout from studying for both the Spelling Bee and the Geography Bee.

More Flags!

Oh my gosh! Just since yesterday's post we have three more flags on our site! I am so excited! I hope we can get more! Remember to ask friends or relatives overseas to help us collect them by viewing the blog. Perhaps you have a friend right here who knows someone they could ask to view it from another country. Oh, by the way, in case some of you don't always read the posts, a few days ago we had a really interesting one. The family of last year's National Geography Bee made a post to tell me how helpful they thought my blog was in finding new geography sites, and how much they liked it. I was so happy to hear from them. I think that was kind of cool!

New Flag Counter Gadget...

I have placed a new Flag Counter gadget at the very bottom of the sidebar. I thought it might be neat to see how many flags we could collect from other countries since we have such a diverse student population. The way a flag is placed on the world map is if someone from another country views our page on the Internet. So, if you have family, friends, email pals, etc., living in another country, contact them and ask them to view our page so we can collect a flag. Remember the address is http://younggeographer.blogspot.com and all they have to do is simply view the page. The counter will do the rest! We have one flag on the map - the flag of the United States. Let's see if we can collect some more!

Geography Bee News

The Geography Bee will take place in December, just before Christmas break. To your right, on the sidebar I have place a video from NAt Geo on the Geography Bee Challenge and underneath it, you will find a comprehensive list of online training links. These links are fantastic and could keep you busy learning from now until the end of the year! Log on to these links and start PRACTICING! We'd love a Falcon winner! Mr. Willard down in the 8th grade hall has told Mrs. Murphy that one of his kids will definitely be this year's schoolwide winner....Let's fool him and make it a 7th grade winner!! I know we've got the talent between our 7th grade teams! Go for it!

The Eroneous Page 5.....

Boys and girls, we know that I made a mistake in calling the next scrapbook page "page 5". I mistakenly thought at the time that we had completed four pages; ergo, (therefore) the next page "would" have been page 5. It is in all actuality, page 4. I thought we had cleared that up in class today, but obviously more than a few did not listen.

The larger, and more important question should be, "why are so many of you waiting until the night before it is due to complete the assignment?" You have had the assignment since last Wednesday!! Mmm-mmm-mmm.....Procrastination leads to problems completing and creating "quality" work.

By the way, you all have a new Study Island Assessment waiting for you - It is the Tennessee Test for Study Island.

* Note* - Remember parents, the homework assignments are listed each day on the Homework page, and all Scrapbook assignments are listed under the scrapbook button on the blog home page.

"More Blogging!" says Divya....

I saw the comment from Divya that said, "could you blog a little more often?" I guess she means, could I talk to you on the blog more. I usually do it a few times a week....but, if you're looking for it, Divya, here it comes!!!!

I hope you're all having a great weekend on this nice, cool Saturday... I've spent the day indulging in my family and doing things around the house. Sounds exciting, huh? Well, it is for me! Any of you guys seen Captain America, yet? We saw it last night, and my family loved it. Action + patriotism means the Morton men (my husband and sons) are going to love it.

I am spending tomorrow grading the map tests from the Tennessee test. I hope they turn out as great as your multiple choice tests did. As a whole group, I'd say you performed very well on them. I was really happy with how excited you got from seeing the grades so quickly on the new scanner. You all were so funny...but, then, you frequently are....

Has everyone gone on the blog and looked at the entire pep rally movie yet? I'm getting ready to take it down, so make hay while the sun shines if you want to see it. John Lyons' mom is sending me some football pix and I'm going to make a movie out of those, as well.

I really can't wait to start the next unit with you guys. I think this one is actually going to be exciting - I can't wait to hear what your ideas are about pollution, the environment, global warming, etc. There are so many things in this unit to make you reflect deeply about what each and every one of us can do to improve the world we live in. I've got some fun activities for us to do, and some great songs and videos to make you think. I'm going to be interested to see how well you like the topic.

I've checked the other blog links of our's that have polls. Everyone has still not voted in the polls. If you haven't done so yet, please get it done.

Okay, I think I should have satisfied you little Divya. Have a good weekend, all. See you on Monday!

Mrs. Morton

The Test is Posted

Okay, show me how resourceful you are. The test has been posted on this, or a related teaching blog. Find it and you'll have a leg up on everyone else for the review tomorrow!  Take the polls!

Homecoming Pep Rally Movie...

Check out the Homecoming Pep Rally movie to your right. It's so cute, and you all look so adorable! I love making these slideshow/movies of you guys. They will be a nice keepsake memory for you someday if you copy them. Tell everybody to log on and watch it, and I'll probably show it in class at some point this week. Enjoy!

The End of October...

Oh my gosh! The end of October is upon us! When I look back over everything we have done in the last few months, I just get dizzy! We have been some busy people! Well, fasten your seatbelts folks, because we're about to get busier... If you look at the link list to the right of this posting, you will see a link called, "The Human Imprint on the Environment." That is my newest unit blog for our upcoming topic. Go and check it out. I think you'll find that it's pretty interesting. After that, we'll be headed towards Population and Migration.

On Monday, we will review for the Tennessee test. If I get very generous later today, I may post the test online. However, after the debacle of the failure to turn in the Tennessee brochures on Friday, I'm not sure how much of the milk of human kindness is flowing through my veins!!!! Check back later today.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I had a great birthday celebration with my family!

Please make sure that you have visited the teaching blogs posted that we have already had, and you take the poll. I need you to take care of that, pronto!

See you tomorrow!

Mrs. M.

Tennessee Projects Are Fantastic as We Progress!!

We are almost finished with these great projects, and the kids have worked sooo hard this week. They combine all of the information we need to know for our state standards, as well as integrate cross-curricular skills. We're going to place them in the A Hallway when our team and Mrs. Murphy's team are finished; they will form the shape of the state of Tennessee. That way we can share our hard work with everyone! Here are some pix as we go:

Walk-a-Thon Fun!!

We had a great time this morning at the Walk-a-Thon! I got my camera fired up and shot a bunch of pix of my Falcons having a great time this morning. Take a look at the slide-show to your left to see the day in review. It's pretty cute!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to take care of your Study Island Assessment if you haven't done it yet!

See you Monday morning!

Don't Forget....

Please don't forget to take care of the last Study Island assessment before tomorrow. It appears that it comes in 2 parts, rather than one big assessment. It doesn't take long to take them either. I watched several people as they took it during class yesterday, and it took about ten minutes max. Remember to be careful as you click on the answers. You want your last grades of the nine weeks to be good!

Please have your notes & homework composition books in class on Thursday and Friday so I can make sure we have your grades. And, don't forget your scrapbooks! I think I have most of those grades now, but if I haven't seen your's, you need to have it handy.

Hope many of you enjoyed the first chapter of the Hunger Games yesterday. We'll do that in class again on Thursday. So many of you are excited by those stories, and I'm happy to see your enthusiasm. Mrs. Murphy says there is a great video on the cast of the upcoming movie on Gaggle Tube, and I'm going to try to find it this morning. We can watch it before we start the Kindle PC version of the novel again.

Friday is going to be a Flash Card practice day. Make sure you have bothe sets with you.

If you haven't visited the Time Zones blog yet - http://www.traveltimezones.blogspot.com/, please do. I need you to vote on the poll.

See you in class!

I'm Back!.........

I'm so glad I can type again, and get back to the blog... So many of you have said to me, "When are you going to blog again?" Well, as we all know, I had to give my 53 yr. old rotater cuff a break from typing. But, I'm much better now, so get prepared for a deluge of blogging!

We had a great lesson today on International Time Zones. Don't you think so? Did you ever think it could be so easy when the maps look so complicated? I've got even more tricks to show you tomorrow! Don't forget, if you want some extra practice, or just want to see the movie again, go to my time zone blog at - traveltimezones.blogspot.com. I may even add a few more things to the site. Oh, by the way Fourth Period, Mr. Page said he was very impressed with you today! Go Fourth Period!

We'll finish up time zones tomorrow, and then we will begin the process of winding up the nine weeks. After time zones, we will revist physical processes one more time to make sure we have wrapped that up for everyone. Then, on Thursday and Friday I will be taking grades for all the loose end pieces. Anyone who needs to make up work can do so this week. Grades are due in by October 13, so we have plenty of time to get it all in.

I have to say that after nine weeks of being with you, I simply love you all and still enjoy being with you each day. You're all a joy to me! See you tomorrow!

New Study Island Assessment...

Check your Study Island. A new assessment has been assigned to all classes. It is called Assessment 2 - Landforms. It is due no later than Monday, September 26 by the end of the day. This counts as a test grade, so take your time and try your best.

Test Postponed...

This is just a reminder, folks....the test will be postponed until next Wednesday or Thursday. We have too much left to cover and our flashcard fest has side-tracked us! Don't forget to email me from Gaggle tonight! That was your only homework assignment. Posting a comment on the "wall" does not suffice.

See you in the morning!

Mrs. Morton

Printing the Map Games Scores...

Shivani Patel emailed this evening and said, "Help! I can't get my scores to print!" So, I went on and played one of the river games, and when I was through my score screen popped up. Then I simply hit Ctrl P (the control button and the P button) and my print screen popped up and I clicked on print. It printed with no trouble at all. Anyone who is having trouble out in the "map ethers" tonight, try that. It works!

We Need Practice....

In order to be ready for the upcoming Study Island Assessments, I think we need some practice. I want you all to go to the following websites and play the map games:

Learn the Continents and Oceans –

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/World_GL.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/world_G0_Click.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/world_G1_drag_drop.html

 

Learn the Geographic Regions of Europe –

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-georegion.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-georegion-click.html

 

Learn the Rivers of Europe –

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-rivers.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-rivers-click.html

 

Learn the European Bodies of Water –

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-lakes.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europe-lakes-click.html

 

We're starting with Europe for practice. Print your scores from the games (or copy and paste them into a word document to print; OR, copy and paste them into an email and gmail them to me....does that about cover all the bases?) Do these until you have it downpat and could show me in class how well you can do it. We'll judge where we stand toward the end of next week.

 

 

 

Wet Your Whistle on This For Awhile...

Mrs. Murphy and I decided that we would read The Hunger Games with our classes this fall. The Honors/Optional department requires that we read two novels a year now with our classes, and this is the one we've picked since many of you have some exposure to the story already. This futuristic trilogy by Suzanne Collins is intriguing young people all over the country right now, as well as in the United Kingdom. I've put the countdown ticker to the movie on, the movie trailer, and two links to play actual games on the Hunger Games site. They're pretty cool...try them out. We also thought that we might try to make the movie in March into a field trip event for our two teams. We'll see if Mr. Page is "game" for it. Get the book by October, and in the meantime, have fun with the game links.

Vokies Are Fixed....

I spent 12 hours yesterday fixing everyone's Voki so they will show up (and that is no exaggeration!) Now we all show up like we are supposed to and EVERYONE'S password works! So, next week we will do our first Voki lesson. Get ready! Now, when you look at your Voki, it may look different than it originally did because I had to change some things to make them show up properly. First of all, don't ever use an animated character or background. They simply won't work right. If your Voki doesn't show up, you can usually just change the background and make it work it right with that one adjustment. If you don't have a microphone, or can't access the voice feature by phone, TYPE YOUR WORDS IN AND LET THE COMPUTER DO THE TALKING FOR YOU. Once you have everything selected, you must click approve at the top to make your Voki show up on the main page. After we look at everyone's this week, and review what needs to be done each time you need to make a Voki presentation, we will get Mrs. Murphy's laptop cart and try it out at school together. Make sure the read the post below this one before you leave the blog. It is most important. See you all tomorrow.

Study Island is Ready for You.....

Mr. Page instructed us to form our classes in Study Island last week and get all of you going on it...Well, I just finished doing that very thing! For those of you who have forgotten - you sign into Study Island like this: VictoriaMorton.wsms; and then your password is either the one you personally created last year, or the word: spartan. Each one of my classes is labelled Morton Third, Morton Fourth, etc. Find your class and then you will find an assignment waiting on you there. It is an assessment that covers what we have covered in the last few weeks. No new material; you should know it all. However, if you don't pass proficiently the first time, you may re-take it until you do pass with proficiency. You have until Friday afternoon to have it finished. There are only about 18 questions on it, I think. So, it shouldn't be too taxing to complete. One word of advice: it IS a grade, so don't sluff it off!

Don't forget that your scrapbook page is due tomorrow, and that your vocab test is on Wednesday.

I sure pray the AC is working tomorrow! The temperatures may be cooler outside, but they won't be in the building for a little while yet. Mrs. Murphy joked that since the temperature dropped, they will probably have the heat blowing in the morning! Oh no!!!!!!!!

Fun at Open House....

Boys and girls, I had such fun meeting your parents at Open House last night! Your parents are so nice! It's always such fun for me to meet your folks and see how much you look like them! They are all so proud of you, and I know the feeling is reciprocated (definition: to show, feel or give back in return) by you! They seemed to enjoy seeing some of the pictures of you on the silly little YoYo & Hoops slideshow, and I was so impressed that they had all been on the blog and knew how it worked. Oh! Guess what? For those of you who didn't come with your parents you might like to know that your poor parents got a taste of our air conditioning problem last night! It was just as sweltering on the seventh grade hall last night as it has been for us over the last two days! They saw first hand what we have been going through! We had such a big turn out at Open House last night, too! It was great to see them all. Please let your parents know how much I enjoyed meeting them all. I certainly told them how much I was enjoying being with all of you!

I hope you have a great day today while I am away. Be good for the sub, and I hope the air is working.

**NOTE: Don't forget that the Vocabulary test on the Word Bank has been moved to next Wednesday, AND don't forget that your Map Parts scrapbook page is due on Tuesday when we return. Have a great Labor Day weekend! By the way, Here are some pictures of the town square of the small town where I am headed this morning (Carthage, MS).

Opportunities for Extra Credit!

Don't forget to take advantage of your opportunities for extra credit. You get five of these per 9 weeks. For each newspaper or magazine clipping that has anything to do with a geographrical topic, (such as: current events of foreign countries, earthquake news, geographic expeditions like mountain climbing, climate stories, world religion, maps, etc.) you will earn 20 pts. Five of these over the course of the nine weeks gives you an extra 100. The other opportunity is to bring postcards in from around the country and the world at large. Again, for each postcard you bring, you earn 20 points toward an extra 100 for the nine weeks. You may also do a combination of the two to earn the points.

Make sure that you bring your book to class tomorrow. We have some vocabulary work to do. In addition, I will give each you your first rubric for the first scrapbook page on Map Parts. You will have a hard copy for your notebook, and I have also pasted a copy at the bottom of the Homework page. Can't wait to see how these turn out!

I will be staying after school on Tuesday & Thursday till 3:30 for anyone who needs to finish up their scrapbook.

Check the syllabus! There's a vocab test on Friday.

Hope you had a good weekend and I'll see you all tomorrow.

Types of Map Samples

Physical 

Political

Contour

Climate

Additional Visual for Map Projections

Pictures of Map Projections

Mercator

Robinson

Polar

Goodes



Voki Problems

Most students' Vokis are saying incomplete. After you create your voki and publish it, you must go to the top and "approve" it. Then, and only the, can I see it, and you use it. I'm loving what I see so far!

I Have Just Discovered Voki !!

Do you see my new avatar to the right of this screen? Click on the play arrow and hear my new Voki avatar speak to you. Voki is a program that is being used by over a million teachers around the world, and is changing the way we can learn. You create your own avatar from hundreds of choices in Voki. Then your teacher assigns you a concept to explore and after you have done the research, you tell us all about it through your avatar. You record your voice, and your avatar looks like it's speaking for you as we hear what you have recorded. This is too cool! An entire class can be assigned different components of a concept, then we put all the small pieces together and see the big picture as we listen to each avatar! I can't wait for us to try this out!!! I just purchased a year-long subscription for our team....Get used to the Yorkie over there; you'll be seeing her quite a bit with new messages!

Scrapbooks….

Well, the time has arrived ! We begin the scrapbooks tomorrow. The first step for the scrapbooks is to create the cover, and that is our goal for tomorrow. There are still quite a few of you who haven’t brought them in, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you remember to do so tomorrow. This is going to be such a fun project for the year; and, it will be an artifact that you can keep for the rest of your life to remember your time in social studies on the Falcon team with that wacky teacher, Mrs. Morton! By creating this scrapbook, you will also be working on those neural pathways in your brain to get the information into your gray matter (the brain) and keep it there! Can’t wait to see what they look like as you create them! See you tomorrow!

Dear Parents....

Your children and I have had a great first week! We have covered the continents and oceans, latitude and longitude, the important lines of latitude and longitude that bear names, parts of a map and map skills, such as scale and plotting latitude and longitude. Whew! We worked hard! And I have had such a good time getting to know your students. They are an exceptionally fantastic group of middle-schoolers. And, by the way, thanks to all of you who helped your student post the Travel Video Project. They were fantastic!

We also began a small in-class project on Social Justice/Human Rights or Animal Rights issues (choose an issue, choose a country, find what you need in one of my National Geographic magazines and create a collage/postcard on an index card). The students are coming up with some fabulous and creative ideas for this project! I can’t wait to put them up next week.

We took a quiz on Wednesday on the continents and oceans. 99.9% of the class made an “A” on that quiz. I was so happy with those grades. However, at the end of the week, we took a test on the parts of the map and two map skills. I was very disappointed that a large group of students reported that they either didn’t study for the test, or they simply “looked over” their notes, or they had not used ALL of the study materials I had posted for them on the syllabus for this test. I have not finished grading all of the tests yet, but I can see this trend reflected in many of the grades, thus far.

Let me explain to you how I prepare students for a test: I cover the material in class, we take notes, practice any skills in class both as a group and individuals, re-teach anything someone may have the need to re-visit, use hands-on materials, games, powerpoints, visuals, smartboard activities and websites to support what we are doing. Then, I post everything they need to have access to on the syllabus that is on this blog. In fact, for this test, I posted an online test for them to review that had half of the questions that were actually on the test to ensure their success. The other half of the questions came directly from the powerpoint we reviewed, and the students took notes on in class. This powerpoint link was posted on the syllabus, as well. They were given every bit of preparation and tools for success to ensure a positive outcome. However, I can’t ensure that they will actually use what I give them in preparation.

So, I am coming to you in this post to ask for your help. Please be aware that everything I do is on this blog. I have already posted the test we took yesterday under the Homework/Quizzes/Tests button on the blog so you can see the test yourself, and the students can access it for future reference. What we do in class is posted on the syllabus. Our themes, our homework, our quizzes, our tests….are all posted. In addition, all of my resources for them are posted to ensure their success, as well. I will never give them anything (a quiz, a test, etc.) that I have not fully prepared them for, and posted the resources for within these pages. So, you can check in every week and see what we’re doing, what we have done, and what is coming up for your student. In fact, check-in often because new posts and info can be posted on a daily basis, and it will help you to help your student.

The transition from sixth to seventh grade is sometimes hard because more is expected of you. We are preparing the students to master the standards for seventh grade, as well as face the challenge of eighth grade. We are also asking students to reflect a higher level of personal responsibility. In addition to which, we are asking our optional and plus students to go above and beyond the everyday norm; to stretch the boundaries and challenge themselves to excel at a higher level. I am confident that every single student on the Falcons team can meet the challenge I place before them, and exceed my expectations. However, as an over-achiever myself, I have trouble accepting work that does not fully reflect striving for excellence.

I know from my many years of teaching, that the most powerful tool I have in helping my students achieve is to form a strong triumvirate relationship between myself, the student and the parents. That is why this blog is such a powerful tool this year…it can keep you all abreast of the needs and activities of your student on a daily basis, as well as provide the pathway for excellent teacher/student/parental communication.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful students with me this year. I take the responsibility of teaching them very seriously, and want you all to know that I try to provide them with the best possible educational atmosphere; one that I would want for my own children. Thanks for your help and I look forward to meeting many of you at the Optional Open House the Thursday before Labor Day Weekend.

P.S. Please feel free to post a comment below after reading this post, or email me at anytime at mortonvm@mcsk12.net or mrs.morton.wsms@gmail.com.

Itttt's Heeeere!!!!!!!!

I'm so psyched up! Mrs. Murphy is signing our school up for the National Geographic Geography Bee!!! Wow! I just know that I have some young geographers on the Falcon Team who will win this bee!! Above is a picture of the official study guide, which you can buy at amazon.com for $9.00. Think seriously about preparing yourselves for this bee. I'd loooovvve to be the teacher with the winning geographer!! You guys are so fantastic, I know that you will get excited about this, too! We'll talk more about it tomorrow!

I Was So Happy to See All of You Today!

Mrs. Murphy and I yacked on the phone tonight about all of our classes and our new students. She asked me what I thought about my new kids, and I said "They were spectacular!!!" I was so happy to meet all of the new faces today, and was comforted by seeing all of the precious old faces from Creative Writing classes last year. I think we are going to have a fantastic year together as we travel around the world and explore the geographical mysteries of this planet...
Don't forget to look at this week's syllabus. It is posted under the syllabus button now. Remember it will be updated by each Sunday with the new week.

Thanks so much to all of you students who have already read the blog and left a comment. Now, that's what I call the "E" in extra which can translate to an "E" in conduct.

Don't forget to bring some index cards tomorrow for journaling and for a postcard. See you all in the morning!!!

Mrs. Morton

Geography Revelation of the Century!

For the past few days I have been glued to my computer, exploring the world of Google Earth! OH MY GOODNESS!!! If this doesn't get you excited about geography, NOTHING will! This program is being used across the nation in universities and classrooms to bring the planet alive right before your very eyes!

I have travelled the globe three or four times and back again in the past 48 hours... This tool is so cool that I am almost at a loss for words...(and if you know me, you are aware that that almost NEVER happens!) If you look at the state standards button that we must learn this year, it specifically lists the major landforms and rivers you are expected to know. Well, with Google Earth I was able to input their relative latitudes and longitudes and then literally fly over the planet to the exact location! It is so amazing and so beautiful!

Believe me when I say folks, we are going to use this tool prodigiously this fall. In fact, I believe you will be charged with the task of creating a project on Google Earth after we learn the basics in class. Watch the video I included from the Google Earth Earth channel on YouTube about Geography and geographers...and click the full screen button to get the full effect.

We are going to have so many adventures with this tool!! I can't wait!

I'm Getting Ready for You....

I am still pinching myself! I can't believe it's true that I'm going to be your Social Studies teacher this coming fall! I'm so excited! You have no idea how hard I worked to BECOME your Social Studies teacher...

Let me share the story with you; I think it's important that you and your folks know the tale...

When I graduated from college (Christian Brothers University), I earned two degrees; one in English and one in history. Later on in life, when I went into teaching,  I became an English teacher and took all of the necessary tests to get my state license for middle school/high school English and Language Arts. I was an English teacher for many, many years and was very happy teaching that subject. However, every once in a long while, I would wish I had also gotten my history certification so that someday I could enjoy my other academic love. Strangely enough, the opportunity presented itself to me in March. Through budget cuts, the Creative Writing class I had taught for the past few years was going to be deleted from the course offerings and there was a social studies position to be filled.

Suddenly, I had THREE WEEKS to get ready for the hardest test of my life! It was the Praxis II World History & United States History for grades 7-12. My goodness! I devoured 4 history textbooks and 1,000 history flashcards to get ready. Believe me, on the day of the test my stomach was full of butterflies! It was not a test that asked you to choose a factually correct answer; it was a test that required you to infer the correct scenario given a specific set of historical circumstances. Boys and girls, I can tell you that my heart was low when I left the test site and I just knew that my dream of becoming your teacher was not going to come true.... BUT!....

As luck and good fortune (and tons of studying) would have it, I made a great score, screamed with happiness and danced a "Jig of Joy" for Mrs. Murphy (the Wonderkids Social Studies teacher). Then, I rolled up my sleeves to get ready for all of you wonderful rising seventh graders who will be on the Falcons team this fall! I can't wait to meet those of you I don't know; and, am looking forward to seeing some of my darling sixth graders from this past year. We're going to have such a fun year!

This blog will be a record of our year, a resource for you to refer to for homework, projects, tests, and TCAP practice. It will be a resource for internet links that I ask you to use or quizzes I ask you to take, as well as a spot where you can contribute your feelings about the journey we will undertake together through the world of geography and cultures.

Throughout the summer you will find new and exciting things added to this blog. Make sure you check out the widgets to the right and below my post; there will be more to come. If you have any questions feel totally free to email me through the gmail account listed at the top of the page (mrs.morton.wsms@gmail.com).

I hope each and every one of you have a fantastic summer and will be fresh and renewed to return to school ready to learn! Remember when you enter my classroom in August that we will be on a year-long search for the role that geography plays in shaping this ever-changing planet we call Earth. Please watch the second video below and be inspired to become a young geographer this fall...

p.s. watch the video on full screen to get a better effect