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.