Salem Witch Trials Newspaper Blog Post

Choose ONE of the online newspapers created by Mr. Nekrosius's project groups and spend fifteen minutes browsing through the various pages (you can find links to the two newspapers here). When have finished reading the newspaper, create a post that contains three things you learned from your reading and one question you have for the authors. If you are in Mr. Nekrosius's project groups, you should post on the other class's newspaper.

Remember:

You should include ONLY your first name and your class period (NO LAST NAMES) at the end of your blog post.

Also, remember to be positive and detailed in your responses! Your posts are due Thursday, January 7th.

Little Buddies

On Monday, November 30th, our advisory joined Ms. Jacobs' advisory on a trip to the nursery school on Woodlawn to meet up with our new little buddies in Ms. Hamburg's class. The seventh graders paired up with little buddies to read stories and play outside. All of the kids (old and young) seemed a bit nervous at first, but everyone quickly became friends. The seventh graders' enthusiasm and kindness toward their little buddies was wonderful to see; we are all looking forward to getting back together with our buddies as soon as possible! Here are some pictures from the first meeting:

7th Grade Boys Soccer Season Comes To A Close

The seventh grade boys soccer season ended this week. The team finished with an impressive record of ten wins, one loss, and two ties. Highlights of the season included defeating rival Parker twice, defeating Latin at home, tough wins over talented North Shore Country Day and Lake Forest Country Day teams, and a big victory in their rematch at Elgin against the only team to defeat them. The boys worked hard all season and should be proud of what they accomplished. Here are some photos from the year:

The team working hard at conditioning during the last week of summer


Henry and Leo on the bus


The team hanging out on the Montrose turf field



Brownie and James get pumped for the cold weather


The team celebrates a cold, wet win with a cup of hot chocolate

Dunes Day!

On Monday, October 5th, the entire seventh grade headed to the Indiana dunes to conduct scientific experiments and learn about the concept of succession. The class arrived to find a beautiful early autumn day, with crisp blue skies and warm sun above. The students focused on specific areas of the dunes such as the beach, the cottonwoods, the pine forest, and the hardwoods forest, taking various measurements that they will bring back to their science classes to interpret. In between experiments they found time to chase lizards, toss footballs, and in general have a wonderful afternoon. Here are some pictures from the day (there's also a new picture of my advisory on my homepage):


The grade heading to the beach



Ms. Jacobs assisting with measurements



The path from the beach to the cottonwoods




The entire dunes (plus Carl!)

First Blog Post Assignment of 2009--"The Box"

We have spent the past week and a half discussing questions surrounding identity. As part of those discussions, we have read several stories, listened to music, performed poetry, written in journals, and created identity collages to express your own unique cultural identifiers. We have also discussed various examples of "the box," which is a metaphor for any obstacles or barriers that might isolate, frustrate, enclose, or sometimes protect someone from a larger world.

Think back over everything we have read so far for this unit ("Theme for English B," "High Yellow White Trash," "American History," "Crickets," the "Phone Booth" poem, "and "Sylvia's Story" from National Public Radio). Your task now is to write and post a comment in this forum in which you describe a connection between TWO of these works, focusing on the role of "the box." Think about how different characters face similar or different challenges. Think about similarities or differences in the kinds of disguises characters wear. Do you think these characters will escape from their boxes?

When you have made a connection between two works, write a post describing that connection. Make sure to mention specific characters/narrators, and to be clear about how the "boxes" they experience are similar. Your post does not have to be long; three or four sentences is plenty. You should feel free to respond to your classmates' posts, as well as to ask your classmates questions.


*** Remember to use your first name, "Nekrosius," and your class period number when you sign your post (do NOT put your last name). Also, if you choose to respond to what another classmate wrote, please do so in a respectful manner.

Back To School

Hello All,

The weather is (unseasonably) growing cooler, the days are growing shorter, and the soccer team has started practice, all of which means school must be right around the corner. For students and parents who have found there way here prior to the start of school, you can look forward to periodic posts of interest and occasional assignments for my advisees and Humanities students throughout the year. In the meantime, if you have done anything interesting over the summer that you'd like to share, feel free to do so. Among various other travels, I spent a couple of weeks out in New York this summer to catch up with friends and family. Here are some of the better pictures from the trip:

The Brooklyn Bridge, from the Manhattan side




The Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn (it did look like it needed some cleaning up, but it did not look all that fun)




Excellent dinosaur skeleton at the museum of natural history--my favorite museum





Sunset on Long Beach

Exploring the Color Line: Chicago's South Side

Read the essay and view the attached photo essay in Mother Jones Magazine. Then write a paragraph response in which you connect issues discussed in this article to many of the issues of racial boundaries that we read about and discussed in class in the past few weeks. Write about your own thoughts in response to the information and images you see.

You many want to write about A Raisin in the Sun, Our America, or any of the articles, stories, and poems we have read. You might also consider the images we discussed such as The Great Migration series from Jacob Lawrence or the photographs in 12 Million Black Voices.

As always, please remember tp sign your post with your first name and class period.

Colonial Project Blog Post Assignment

For THURSDAY, choose ONE of the online newspapers created by Mr. Nekrosius's project groups and spend fifteen minutes browsing through the various pages (you can find links to the two newspapers here). When have finished reading the newspaper, create a post that contains three things you learned from your reading and one question you have for the authors.

Alternatively, you can choose to write a post on one of the documentaries on Anne Hutchinson produced by Ms. Doyle's project groups. To do so, first view one of the two documentaries, and then write a post containing three things you learned and one question you have for the producers. You can view the documentaries on Ms. Doyle's blog.

Remember:

You should include ONLY your first name and your class period (NO LAST NAMES) at the end of your blog post. All of Mr. Nekrosius's students should post their responses on THIS blog, not Ms. Doyle's.

Also, remember to be positive and detailed in your responses!