Carol of the Carol - Merry Christmas Wishes

We continued working on A Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol. We recorded the first Staveverse but found the process more time-consuming than anticipated. Oh, well, there ARE 12 days of Christmas, yes? Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Assignment: (See last sentence above!)

Quiz Return - CrimCapDisc - Calligraphy Lesson

Today our seventh graders:

• Examined their graded Quizzes over the Ch. 6 Summary: End of Spanish Rule
• Discussed Part II of Ellen Howard's The Crimson Cap (student recorders' notes here)
• Received gifts of calligraphy pen sets and began to learn Edward Johnston's Foundational Hand; you can find online illustrations here, here, and many other places online.
• Worked briefly on a Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol

Assignment:

1. Read Part III, Ch. 1-3 of The Crimson Cap and write and post discussion questions at your blog.
2. Post at your blog your analysis of "Using Primary Sources to Evaluate the Accuracy of Ellen Howard's The Crimson Cap".

Chapel - Ch. 6 Summary Quiz - Carol of a Carol

Today our students:

• Attended chapel
• Took the Quiz over the Ch. 6 Summary: End of Spanish Texas
• Recorded some music for A Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol

Assignments for Thursday

1. Finish your analysis of "Using Primary Sources to Evaluate the Accuracy of Ellen Howard's The Crimson Cap".
2. Read The Crimson Cap, Part II, Ch. 6-10, write and post discussion questions. As we had no time to discuss last night's reading today, we will discuss all of Part II on Thursday.

Student Presentations (cont'd) - The Crimson Cap: Discussion & Primary Sources Analysis and Evaluation

Today our young scholars:

• Continued their presentations analyzing various aspect of the Ch. 6 Summary: End of Spanish Rule
• Read pages from the documented 1698 interrogation of two Talon brothers, survivors of La Salle's colony, Indian captivity, and Spanish "rescue"
• Discussed The Crimson Cap, Part I, Ch. 6-9 - See notes by student recorder here.
• Began a activity called "Using Primary Sources to Evaluate the Accuracy of Ellen Howard's The Crimson Cap"

Assignment

For Wednesday:

1. Quiz over Ch. 6 Summary: End of Spanish Rule (as announced yesterday)
2. Read and write discussion questions over The Crimson Cap, Part II, Ch. 1-5; post your questions, with illustration(s) at your blog.

For Thursday:

1. Finish your analysis of "Using Primary Sources to Evaluate the Accuracy of Ellen Howard's The Crimson Cap".
2. Read The Crimson Cap, Part II, Ch. 6-10, write and post discussion questions.

The Crimson Cap, Part I, Chapters 1-5 --- Chapter 6 Summary: End of Spanish Rule

Today students:

• Discussed Part I,, Ch. 1-5 of The Crimson Cap
• We considered questions students posted at their blogs: here, here, & here.
• The notes by a student recorder can be viewed here.

• Read & analyzed the Ch. 6 Summary: End of Spanish Rule
• First students read the Summary.
• Then each student took a paragraph and related it to the maps and pictures on the Summary page and/or found illustrations online.
• Quiz Wednesday, 12/17 over the Summary page (text & illustrations)
• Students began explaining their paragraphs to the rest of the class. (To be completed tomorrow.)

Assignments

For Tuesday: Read The Crimson Cap, Part I, Ch. 6-9.

• Write post at your blog at least one discussion question for each chapter.
• Be sure to include a good illustration. You might find illustrations at the "Fort St. Louis" site at Beyond Texas History useful.
• As you read, continue considering what in the story is "fact" and what is more likely "fiction." What could author Ellen Howard support with primary source evidence?

For Wednesday: Be studying the Ch. 6 Summary for the Quiz noted above.

La Salle & The Talon Children - A Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol

Today our students:

• Looked at the Table of Contents & Reading Schedule for Ellen Howard's historical novel, The Crimson Cap
• Hypothesized as to the 3 Parts of TCC
• Read the HOTO article on the Talon Children
• Examined a HOTO-Based Chronology of the Talon Children
• Went to the Parish Hall & practiced singing A Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol, making revisions as needed.

Assignment for Monday

1. Read Part One/Chapters 1-5 in The Crimson Cap.
2. Write one discussion question per chapter.

Spanish-French Rivalry - The Crimson Cap - A Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol

Today our seventh graders:

• Continued their analysis of a color-coded Chronology of Spanish Texas, noting how Spanish interest in Texas waxed and waned, based on perceived threats from the French
• Used this map on Spanish Texas to gain further understanding of the concepts
• Asked questions about the Chronology dealing with the French and Indian War, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War of 1898 (and its leading to the acquisition of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba), and the just-released Senate report on the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation on suspected terrorists

• Were introduced to the historical novel, The Crimson Cap, dealing with the Talon children, survivors of La Salle's French colony at Matagorda Bay (aka "Fort St. Louis)
• Collaborated on the Class Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol by
• Working together on this Google Doc
• Gathering around the piano in the parish hall and practicing singing our lyrics to 12345's piano accompaniment

Assignments

1. Finish reading the Chronology of Spanish Texas
2. Reread textbook Ch. 4/Sec. 3 on La Salle's colony
3. Read the following in The Crimson Cap:
• Acknowledgments (I added this; sorry, guys.) - page v
• Characters in This Story
• Before

Chapel - Quiz Makeup - Dramatization - Carol of a Carol

Today our students:

• Attended chapel
• Took a makeup quiz over the Chapter 5 Summary (as needed)
• Imagined and dramatized (using sign language only) the first meeting of Spanish missionaries and Hasinai Indians of East Texas; they focused mainly on attempts to
• Convert the Indians to Roman Catholic Christianity
• Get the Indians to enter the missions
• Get the Indians to substitute the Spanish way of life for their native ways
• Collaborated on the Class Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol

Assignment: Use the Synopses of the 5 Staves to write your portion of the Class Christmas Carol; click here to add your part. If you have suggestions for classmates, add them as Comments.

A Christmas Carol, Stave 4 - Google+ Chat/Videoconference - Reading Ch. 5 on Spanish Missions & Settlements

Students today:

• Discussed several students' questions about Stave 4 of A Christmas Carol in various ways:
• Orally
• Google Chat
• Google Videoconference
• Semi-silently read Chapter 5 on Spanish Missions & Settlements, intermittently pausing to discuss key concepts:
• The role of French imperialism in Spanish policy toward Texas
• The relative importance of God, gold, glory, and the French in Spanish decisions whether or not to settle people in Texas

Assignments - For Thursday:
1. A Christmas Carol

• Read rest of the Carol (Stave Five).
• Write discussion questions.
• Stave Five Vocabulary, if you need it

2. Finish reading textbook Ch. 5: Missions & Settlements.

• Be thinking about the key concepts & questions mentioned above.

Tiny Tim - Discussion of A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Present

Today students:

• Checked one another's blog-posted questions over Staves Two & Three of  A Christmas Carol
• Discussed Staves Two & Three of A Christmas Carol - A few insights here
• Decided to write a collaborative Christmas carol over A Christmas Carol rather than individual carols
• Set up a Google Doc to compile ideas they had written so far
• In answer to a question about Dickens' Tiny Tim learned there was another Tiny Tim from the 1960s. As it turned out, they'd already learned about his music from its being in various computer games, t.v. programs (Spongebob SquarepantsI, etc.). They just hadn't known the singer looked as follows:

Assignment for Tuesday

1. Read Stave Four of A Christmas Carol.
2. Write and post to your blog possible discussion questions over Stave Four.
3. Use the Vocabulary for Stave Four as needed.

Comparing a Mission & a Presidio

Today students:

• Did an activity called Comparing a Mission & a Presidio
• Used Google Maps to visit mission sites of Spanish Texas
• Discussed some of the similarities and differences students noticed 
• Discussed which type of compound would be easier to defend & why
• Compared the Los Adaes presidio with other presidios in the Spanish, French, and British empires

Assignments

1. Finish Comparing a Mission & a Presidio
• Post your comparison at your blog by 8 A.M., Monday, 12/8/14
2. Read Stave Three of A Christmas Carol
• Write discussion questions & post them to your blog.
• Continue working on your Christmas Carol of A Christmas Carol.
• Come prepared to discuss Staves Two and Three on Monday.

Various Zany Approaches to A Christmas Carol - Less Zany Approaches to Spanish Texas

Today students:

• Discussed some of their questions over Stave One of A Christmas Carol - View them here and here.
• Acted out key words describing Scrooge, particularly this passage: "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Things got a little zany indeed, but no one complained.
• Examined the mystery of the origins of the word humbug
• Began writing A Christmas Carol about A Christmas Carol
• We brainstormed various Christmas carols.
• Students chose one and then began writing their own carol based on what happened in Stave One.
• They will keep adding stanzas as we read each Stave.
• Things got a little zany during this activity as well. Indeed.

• Read one another's Essay Ranking Spanish Explorers. They can be read here and here. (You will need to select the second one by hovering and clicking, as it seems to be written in black. It can be read, though!)
• Examined and analyzed two sets of maps showing the competition between European powers to build colonial empires in the Americas
• Began examining a rather complex Chronology of Spanish Texas to note how Spain's interest in settling Texas waned and waxed as French threats to Texas waned and waxed.

Assignment: A Christmas Carol

1. Read Stave Two.
2. Write discussion questions, post them at your blog, add picture(s).
3. Write Verse 2 of your Christmas Carol, based on what happens in Stave Two.
4. Vocabulary help for Stave Two can be found here.

Communion - Brief Review for Quiz - Quiz over Ch. 5 Summary

Today students:

• Attended communion chapel
• Reviewed briefly for the Quiz over Ch. 5: Missions & Settlements
• Took the Quiz

Assignments - Due Thursday

1. Essay Ranking Spanish Explorers - 
• Have your finished essay posted at your blog by 8 A.M. on Thursday. 
• You can copy and paste it but also link to it in Dropbox.
• Mrs. Horner will let you work on it this afternoon, so use your time well.
• Add one or more pictures to the post, just to, you know, spiff it up.
2. A Christmas Carol - Stave One
• Read the rest of Stave One.
• Write good discussion questions. You can add them to the ones you wrote over the first 8 paragraphs.
• Post the questions to your blog. 
• Be sure to add a picture to the post.
• Use the Vocabulary list for Stave One to help you with difficult words.

Quiz Prep - Pre-Reading Discussion for A Christmas Carol

Today, the student and I:

• Prepared for tomorrow's Quiz over the Chapter 5 Summary: Missions and Settlements
• Examined an Animated Chronology of Spanish Settlement in Texas
• Finished reading, highlighting, and analyzing the Ch. 5 Summary
• Quizzed one another over key facts and concepts in the Summary
• Used a Practice Study Map to quiz one another over locations of key missions and presidios
• Prepared to Read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by
• Generating a list of Possible Discussion Questions About Christmas
• Choosing one of the questions and discussing it
• Agreeing to read the first few paragraphs of ACC (see below)

Assignments

1. Quiz over Chapter 5 Summary
2. Be working on your Essay Ranking the Explorers (Due Thursday; Mrs. Horner will let you continue working on it in Grammar/Writing class.)
3. Read the first 8 paragraphs of Stave One of ACC (clicky clicky): "Marley's Ghost" 
4. Write at least two discussion questions over the reading.
5. Vocabulary for ACC: If you're having trouble understanding some of Dickens' "big words," here are some Stave-by-Stave lists of words, defined for your learning and reading pleasure. (Thanks to Phil Jones for doing this!!) 

• Stave One 
• Stave Two  
• Stave Three 
• Stave Four 
• Stave Five

Tolsto(r)y Followup - Explorers Essay - Ch. 5 Summary

Students returned from Thanksgiving and:

• Discussed several followup questions over Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
• Began writing an Essay Ranking the Spanish Explorers - See instructions here.
• They will be able to work on it in Grammar class with Mrs. Horner.
• The essay will be due Thursday.
• Began reading and discussing the Chapter 5 Summary: Missions and Settlements
• Students will take a Quiz over the Ch. 5 Summary on Wednesday.
• We finished the first paragraph, pausing to relate key terminology from the reading to things depicted in the maps and pictures to the right.
• We color-coded key terminology and then inserted arrows stretching from the words to the picture. Click here to get an idea of how this was done.
• We distinguished between missions & presidios.
• Did a sort of anticipatory discussion of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which we will read and discuss over the next week. One question raised and discussed was "Why does Dickens call his chapters "Staves"? Click here to see various formats available.

Assignments

For Wednesday - Quiz over Ch. 5 Summary: Missions and Settlements
For Thursday - Essay Ranking the Explorers