Election Fever!

So, as a Social Studies teacher, I have to ask - What do you think about the election results? Any thoughts on the campaign? Favorite moments? Great speeches?

250 years ago, African Americans were counted as 3/5 of a person, now one will be president.

What a great start!

Thanks to all the awesome students and helpful LEE staff for such a great start to the year! I am impressed with the students and their willingness to work hard, even in the 3rd week of school. Waking up early is tough, but you guys make the day seem fast and I appreciate it.

What have you liked about the start of this year?
Post, and include your NAME!
Thanks,
Mrs. Evans

omg, it's time

Hello to Milinh, Morgan and someone called monkeyface (I think I know who you are...). It is nice to see you are checking the blog. Maybe you could post once in a while with advice for new 8th graders, and please, let me know how high school is going.

Back to school is a crazy time, a sad time, and a fun time - all at once. I dearly love summer, but I love school too. Yet, summer can be boring, and school is sometimes a little boring. I love the teaching part, not so much the rules and regulations, which is all I get to talk about for at least a week. Zzzzzzzz. I am going camping this weekend. Maybe a mosquito will bite me and I will get whatever crazy mosquito flu that it is they carry. Then I might have to miss a couple of those first days. But NO, that is a silly fantasy, I will be here, sitting through meetings, feeling restless, anxiously awaiting the first day and meeting my students, because they are why I'm here. Anyway, who fantasizes about catching mosquito flu?!?! Teachers? Freshmen? Me.

Here we go....

summer!

Hi All,
I hope the summer is treating you right. Stay out of trouble and have fun. I have been going to school (as a student) and I am feeling the pain of finishing a 10 page paper. It is hard to stay focused when the weather is so great, maybe that is why we don't have school in the summer. I went to the Police concert, that was VERY awesome. Once school is done, Mr. Evans and I will hit the road and go camping. If you read this blog, reply, and let me know how your summer is going.
-Mrs. Evans

What parts of history are important to you?

I recently watched an episode of American Experience, part 3 on the life of President Harry Truman. He was an interesting guy, and as the show went on, I started to feel tired, yet wanted to keep watching. Why? He was a president of humble beginnings and sorta just fell into the job. He could have been a "do-nothing" president, but instead, he stepped up to the challenge of helping to rebuild war-torn Europe and kicked off America's policy of helping out nations in trouble. He was very unpopular, yet got re-elected. Anyway, I couldn't tear myself away, and still wondered, "why am I not just going to bed, it is late and I am tired, etc..." Then, it hit me, Truman was president when my parents were born and as I watched, I was thinking about what it was like for them as kids, and about my grandparents. I wondered if they liked Harry Truman?

So, after all that rambling, here is the question: What parts of history are you interested in? Not just interested in, but what parts do you love learning about? Why? Can you share a little new knowledge with us? Any postings before June 9, 2008, 5pm will earn 40 team points. The team with the most postings will earn an extra 100. You have to include your name and team and your entry needs to be real.

hawk points? better hurry up...

Today was a great day! We went to the Japanese Gardens - very nice, very peaceful. The first 10 responses to this blog will earn 20 points each for their Hawk Teams! Good luck.

fun times

Hi there,
Just wanted to say thanks to the two awesome students who made it to the Lincoln exhibit. What a fun day!
This week: we begin the war with shots fired on Fort Sumpter. What will your character say to that?

A real (fake) Civil War battle, here in Oregon!

So, I found this funny Lincoln picture and it inspired me to blog. These are obviously Lincoln impersonators. If you want to see some more impersonators, check this out - it is a Civil War reenactment. It will be May 17 and 18 in Lebanon, OR. I don't know if I will make it to this event, but, you might like it. There will be a lot of "living history" and you can watch a fake battle. Maybe there will be some gross out fake blood, who knows. But really, reenactors take these events pretty seriously, and they try to be as accurate and true to the history as possible, so it could be quite cool.

a field trip?

On Saturday, April 26th, I will be heading down to the Oregon Historical Society for the Lincoln exhibit! Very timely - we are beginning the Civil War. You are invited to join in, if you bring your own money and adult. (One adult for every 4 or 5 kids, or whatever your adult is comfortable with) Lets meet at the corner of SW Madison and Park Ave. at 10:15 am. Please, let me know if you are planning to be there, that way we won't start without you. Click on the yellow links for more info!

CW - What do you want to know about?

We are about to begin our study of the Civil War. This topic is quite huge, and really, we could study it for years and still never get it all.

Please let me know if there is something specific you want to learn about during our Civil War study - people, places, battles, inventions, songs, leaders, poems, or gruesome statistics, or something I forgot to mention.

Next week: we will choose sides and examine the causes of the war.